I decided that I would share a story from my past this week. Don’t worry, there will be more show and CD reviews in the future as well as interviews but I thought my 2 or 3 readers would find this interesting. I’d like to reflect back on one of the best summers of my musical life. When I was 17 years old and still in high school, I put together a band with some of my friends from school.  We were called Primrose Way and we were heavily influenced by the music of the grunge/metal era. We wanted desperately to be the next Alice in Chains or Pantera. 

We found an ad in one of the local papers that said, “Demos Done Cheap….Really Cheap!”.  We wanted to start playing out but we had no clue of what to do.  We called the number and the “engineer” agreed to bring the gear to our practice space (my parents’ living room).  His massive amount of equipment (Tascam 4-track, Wal-mart microphones, etc), blew this group of high schoolers away!  We were sure that this was our big break and the sky was the limit from here.  We proceeded to sloppily record 4 songs throughout the afternoon into the evening.  By late in the evening, our singer was recording his vocals.  My folks were not endeared to hearing a teenager screaming his best Eddie Vedder impression in their living room at 11:00 at night.  While he had headphones on and could hear all of the music, nobody else could and it sounded like a murder was taking place in my house!

We finished recording the demo and the engineer’s friend thought (I’m not sure why) that we would be a good band to open up a show his group was doing at 328 Performance Hall (may it rest in peace). He was the singer for a group called The Grinning Plowman.  We were extremely excited to be on the bill for a real gig in downtown Nashville.  Our parents were not as thrilled.

 We practiced very hard over the weeks leading up to the show. We ran back and forth from The Grinning Plowman residence picking up more show flyers to staple and attach anywhere we could.  We were excited to find out that our show was listed in the Nashville Scene for that week.  Unfortunately, we were listed as Prime Rose Way in the paper but we were still thrilled to be mentioned.  The night of the show arrived and we were very nervous but excited nonetheless.  The lineup for the show was The Grinning Plowman, The Mayonnaise Farmers, Spider Virus and us.

Spider Virus Album Cover

A few minutes before we were scheduled to go on, I was using the backstage facilities and nearly freaked out when I noticed that the bathroom walls were covered with signatures and messages of nearly every band that ever played 328.  There was a non-stop list of stars on the walls.  Ace Frehley, The Black Crows, Alice in Chains, Tool, etc.  Then, I was walking out the back door to the alley and noticed a fist imprint in the metal door with a message written saying, “Pantera did this motherfuckers!” and all of their signatures below it.  This was a high school headbangers’ dream come true! 

The show was a bit more forgettable for us but fun nonetheless.  Considering we were a bunch of high school kids and no one had ever heard of us AND we were the opening band, we did good to draw maybe 20-50 people.  But it was still a thrill to play a live show in a bar that we weren’t even old enough to be in! The Mayonnaise Farmers were very impressive.  Their music was very much ahead of its time. I wasn’t really into Spider Virus but they were a tight group that wound up getting a national deal and had a national radio song a couple of years later. The Grinning Plowman were certainly “interesting” to put it mildly.

Grinning Plowman Album Cover

Over the next year we played other gigs such as The Cannery, Lucy’s Record Shop, The Phoenix, and Easy Street in Madison. Ever since that summer, I’ve missed playing gigs and meeting and hanging out with other groups.  I’m lucky to be married to a woman that has pushed me to go back into it.  My new group, SAY UNCLE! will be heading to the studio soon to record our professional demo and hopefully by next Spring, we will be playing gigs with some of the other great bands that Nashville has to offer.  Thanks for taking a minute to read my drivel.  If anyone remembers the groups or clubs that I mentioned or (by some miracle) remembers Primrose Way, e-mail me and we can talk about it.  Later!

Until next time, I’m out like the Houston Astros!

Message from Uncle Daddy: Remember, only YOU can prevent a lame local music scene.

To reach Chris “Uncle Daddy Longlegs” Czynszak, e-mail him at: