Band Biography
By Aaron Cometbus
Bill and Mike were in one of the bands who rehearsed at the
House-O-Toast, my old house, while I tried to sleep. They had their
hands full playing in that band and one or two other bands each, but
they still pestered me, saying we should play music together. So late at
night, after all the other bands had finished rehearsing, we started
working out songs. Not to form a new band, but just as a release,
without the worries or restrictions.
That was the early part of 1990, an exiting time in the East bay. A time
of new energy and rebirth. Basically 1989 had destroyed everything and
people were just starting to come back out to pick up the pieces. I
didn't have a steady band at the time, and wasn't ready to start that
again in the east bay. I was biding time until I left town, filling in
on drums for Billie's band when their regular drummer couldn't make it,
occasionally playing second drums in Blatz while Billie played second
guitar. When Billie's band left on tour I tagged along as roadie, then
got dropped off in Arcata looking to make a new band and a fresh start.
The problem with having a band in the east bay was that everyone had
five other bands, and anyway I was always leaving town and couldn't
commit to anything steady. The problem with having a band anywhere else
was no one had the kind of drive and the same kind of style as people in
the east bay. My band in Arcata couldn't even agree on a name. I wanted
to call it "Pinhead Gunpowder", after the high octane green tea at the
Arcata co-op. They wanted to call it "50 Foot Hesher". We couldn't even
agree on how to play the songs.
In the spring of '91, after a few months of rehearsing and one
disastrous show, I gave up on the band and living in Arcata. I brought
the name and the songs back down to Berkeley and rounded up the obvious
candidates for a band. Bill and Mike, plus Billie who I had written
songs with on tour. A band of people who were always at the same shows,
always dancing, always hanging out. Dedicated enough to put all their
energies into a band, but so busy with other projects and travels that
we knew Pinhead Gunpowder could only be part time, once or twice a year
for a few months at a time.
And that's the way it's been ever since. We've gotten together to work
out and record new songs, or to play a few shows, or to do a west coast
tour, or sometimes just to rehearse for a few months and not play at
all. the band is the one thing that has remained steady through so many
other changes. It's funny because we barely knew each other when we
started, and though we don't really hang out at the same places or go to
the same shows anymore, we're much closer now. The only big change in
the band itself was Mike leaving in 1994, and Jason joining in his
place. he'd played in a band with Bill, lived and toured with me, and
was already busy with two other bands.
From "The Pinhead Gunpowder Story" courtesy of Lookout!
Records 1997 Catalogue.