“I really don’t recall the first piece of vinyl I purchased with my own money. It was probably a King Crimson record or something. That said, it certainly wasn’t as important to me as the first piece of vinyl I remember falling in love with.
When I was 3 to 4 years old, I was a downright rabid, J. Geils Band fan. I mean, I ran the Delaware chapter of their fan club…and I couldn’t even read. I collected all their stuff. You know that “Monkey Island” limited edition press on clear vinyl…yeah, I had that. But it was the “Centerfold” b/w “I Do” (live) single that really got my weird stiff. I just loved that song.
Soon after “Centerfold’s” release (probably sometime in1982) my stepmother bought me my first set of drums…an “Animal” signature series on which I would primitively bash with wonton abandon. Often, I would hold “Centerfold” air band sessions in my bedroom with whatever family member I was able to cajole into participating. I played the Geils’, Stephen Jo Bladd to my sister’s Magic Dick or Peter Wolf, depending on the volume of her perm on any particular day.
It was also around this time that I first discovered MTV. I was completely enraptured by it. Almost nightly, I would conduct covert operations that involved me sneaking downstairs after my father had gone to bed to hopefully catch a glimpse of ol’ Peter Wolf and the gang mixing it up with those scantily clad vixens in what I was to learn years later, was every teenage boys’ wet dream.
Screens | Pop Logic
It was during one of these late-night viewings that I decided to take my “Centerfold” rehearsals to the next logical level. I figured I would try to simulate the dramatic breakdown and subsequent rollicking snare drum fill that kicks into the “na na na” coda at the end of the song, as portrayed in the video. In the video, this is punctuated by what looks like white paint, or milk splattering forth as Stephen Jo Bladd mercilessly attacks his snare drum. So I went to the refrigerator, absconded with the half-gallon of milk, and proceeded to empty out my family’s calcium source all over my drums. I think I got in one good fill, before my father found me soaked in milk and laughing like R.M. Renfield.
That was a great record.”
—Andrew Becker
Dead House, Screens’ debut full-length, was released yesterday, May 17, 2011 on drummer Andrew Becker’s own What Delicate Recordings. Enter to win a copy of the record by letting us know you want one and why in the comments to this post. We’ll choose one winner a week from today (5/25 ) who makes the most convincing case!
Screens Myspace | Bandcamp | Soundcloud
