Tha hal al Shedad - Jamesless in '95

This was the earliest picture that I could find of Ben and Ed, but it was actually taken in Auburn after I had joined the band (around June 1995).

Here is the recording: The hal al Shedad - Jamesless in '95

For your information, I was not the original drummer of the hal al Shedad - there was another before me. I don't remember very much about him, except he had a white drumset and played right-handed, but with his left hand playing the hi-hat and ride - like Frank from the 42. Ben and Ed did not know him before he joined the band, I believe they found him through an ad in the Creative Loafing. These songs were recorded in their practice space at Black Box, some of which would be dropped once I joined the band, but there are a couple that survived. "That One" became the de-facto hit single for the band, which never had a proper name. "Atrophic Revolutions" was also an early hit - and the most Circus Lupus'ey of our stuff, like "Right Turn Clyde" from Solid Brass. "Good Intentions" was an early song we recorded at the same time as our first batch of singles but never released until the singles collection came out a few years ago.

So they played two shows with this drummer - one at the Driverdome with Tired From Now On and Moonraker from Gainesville, and one at the Godless Red house in Home Park with Inkwell. I thought their musicianship was amazing, and they still in high school! I was two years older, but was so excited about their music, I wanted to be a part of the action. By this time, Car Vs. Driver was breaking up, and I had pretty much stopped playing in the Go-Steadys and The Midget Farmers were winding down. I wanted a new band to play in, and these guys were it. We went to Tortillas and had lunch one day, and when we got back to the Driverdome, I let them know if they ever wanted to have a different drummer, I would be really interested in playing with them. They went out to their car, and literally about two minutes later they told me that I was in. I think we practiced later that day, and played our first show in Pensacola the next week with Inkwell.

So here is the band I heard back in the spring of 1995 that was so fresh and exciting to me. Hope you enjoy it as well.