Otter Limits

This is a list of the Top 4 bands whose name comes from a geographical location (country, city, etc…)

1. Boston
2. Asia
3. Green River (early grunge band named after a river in the Seattle area)
4. Otisburg (ok, so it’s a fictional city that never existed but I have to plug the band again somehow. LOL!)

Also posted at YouTube.

Here is a video that I put together on my laptop of the Otisburg song “Goodbye California.”  It is posted on You Tube and the Otisburg MySpace page.

Here is an interview that Dave did with my band Otisburg recently. Dave has done a LOT of interview with bands over the years so it was pretty cool to have him do one of us. Thanks Dave?

Scott and I have been diligently writing new material for the CD.

So far we have a pretty large amount of songs written and we are now pretty much in the process of rehearsing the songs and trying to pick out a list of the ones we actually want to record.

To help with that process, I have been recording some demos at home on my laptop. Not the best of recordings but they serve their purpose which is to get a feel for which ones we will end up liking the best.

So far, I have about 6 songs completed, including a cover song that we decided to do.

I will be doing some more demos as the week progresses and then at some point we should have a decent “working list” of what songs we will take with us into the recording studio. Speaking of which, we have not picked one out yet but there are two likely candidates.

No possible album titled to report right now.

I will be posting more updates as events progress of course.

Stay tuned!

– Otter

For those not familiar with our previous work, you can listen to some of our songs here.

This post is an update of sorts to one of the very first posts on this blog. It was originally written in March 2005.

Anyone who knows me personally, or has read any of my stuff knows that music plays a big part in my life. Way back when I first wrote the post, I had just recently left the band I was currently playing with (a band which by the way I am back together with) and it got me to thinking where have I been (musically) in my life.

So tonight I thought I would update that history a bit and instead of just updating the original post, I would re-post it on its own here.

Enjoy!

1990

This year, a friend of mine (Von) and I formed our first band. I think we started it right after graduating high school but we might have still been in, I can’t really remember correctly.
This band was originally called Hate Machine. We decided to change the name for 2 reasons. (1) There was an album called Pretty Hate Machine by Nine Inch Nails that we did not want to be associated with; and (2) There was another local band that went by the name Hate Party and did not want to sound like we were copying those guys.
So after several ideas and failed suggestions, we went with the name ABF which was the name of a fictional dance club in a book about a punk rock vampire.
The name originally did stand for something, as ABF was actually the acronym for this dance club in the book. However, over the years progressed in this band, it came to stand for other things as well.
When we first started the band, I was singing and playing guitar. Well, let me rephrase, I was, attempting to play the guitar. You see when we started the band we did not have a clear cut idea of who would do what because neither of us actually played an instrument (unless you count Von having been in high school marching band). I happened to own an electric guitar although I did not know how to play it. So I figured out somewhat how to play while Von was singing and attempting, like me, to play the drums.

For the most part 1990 was an uneventful year for this band except that we spent a lot of time writing songs.

1991

This is the year things really started to take off for the band, mostly because we got a little more serious about actually having a band. Von switched to full time vocals and we hired a drummer (Josh). At this point we never got around to hiring a bass player and played our first show in the living room of a friend’s house. Josh was actually only around long enough to play this first show.

Also after this show, ABF was put on a brief hiatus while I joined another local punk rock band called Goon Squad for a short time as their 2nd guitar player. This band was in all respects, the aforementioned Hate Party but with a different singer (and me as 2nd guitarist).
This band did not last long. Probably long enough for 2 or 3 shows.

After leaving this band, me and Von hired a bass player (Brian) and drummer (Chad) for ABF.
Shortly after beginning rehearsals with this band, Brian and I switched instruments as his suggestion. The problem was, I was still not worth a crap as a guitarist and had absolutely no control and kept breaking strings. He suggested we switch because it was harder to break bass strings.
This lineup only lasted long enough to release one E.P. and do one “official” live show. We did, however, have several “open practices” in the garage we were practicing in.
At some point in time, Brian left the band for unknown reasons.

Also in this year, I started another band with another friend of mine (Sonny). It was a huge departure from ABF in that it had a more “heavy metal” feel to it. It was called The Punished. In this band, I sang and played bass and Sonny played guitar. The drummer position was filled by several different people. We never actually did any shows in this band and it only last a few months. I don’t remember really being all that into it.

1992

ABF went through 2 totally different lineups this year.
In the first one, Brian was replaced by an old school chum of ours (Dennis). He played with us a few times until Chad decided to leave and form another band with Brian.
This left us in a bit of a pickle because we had a really huge show coming up for us and needed a drummer quickly. Someone that could pick up the music just as quickly. Dennis suggested his former college roommate (Skosh). He came in and started practicing with us and essentially did what we needed him for.
He probably would have continued being in the band but the problem was that he and Dennis both started getting in the habit of skipping practices so we let them both go.

The second lineup consisted of Frank on guitar. How we found him I honestly can’t remember but I do remember him joining the band had something to do with the fact that he really liked the band Bad Religion. The drummer position this year sort of revolved for a while. In fact, I think while Frank was with us, we went through 3 drummers. Sort of the Spinal Tap of punk rock, except our drummers didn’t blow up.

1993

Strange year for ABF this one was. For some reason which I can’t remember, I ended up switching back to guitar. We played quite a few shows in the first half of the year but we had so many different drummers and bass players this year that I don’t remember them all.
I am still quite shocked that the band stayed together at all this year. In fact, in September of that year, I left college and joined the military, thus ending the band for the rest of the year.

1994

When I returned from boot camp and technical school, I oddly enough ended up getting stationed in the same place I had just left the military for. Very strange. It worked out though for a while.
ABF never really got off the ground after I returned though and I ended up joining a band called The Crackbabies, but only as a singer.
Another friend of mine (Jay) and I had been talking about music late one night while drinking. He mentioned that he was trying to get some sort of band off the ground with him playing drums and his 2 friends, Mike the bass player and Bob the guitar player. So he suggested I come sing for them. So I did.
Some really cool shows were played with this band and there were some very interested tapes released of this band including one of a live show at a club called Alcatraz. I had a lot of fun with it and was actually a bit sad when we stopped playing, mostly because Bob had decided to focus more on his schoolwork as he decided to go back full-time.

So with The Crackbabies gone, I invited Jay to come play for a newly resurrected lineup of ABF. Another friend of mine (Charles) came in and began playing bass for us (Charles actually ended up becoming another “core” member of the group, besides Von and I, as he stayed with the band until its eventual demise). So with this lineup we did a few shows and a live tape was released.

1995

The Von/Me/Charles/Jay continued at the beginning of this year and remained that way almost the entire year.
Toward the end of the year however I learned that I was being transferred to Alaska. So, we decided to record and release another album (which ended up becoming an ep instead) before I left. Unfortunately, Jay left us shortly before we began recording it. We brought in a temporary replacement (Dan) to finish the album for us.
Thus began another extended hiatus for ABF.

1996-1998

The first few months of being in Alaska were very trying. I did not really hang out with very many people because I was still trying to get my bearings.
Early 1996 I became acquainted with a guitar player (Cameron) who was into all the same types of music I was into. And he was also into beer. So we became fast friends.
He knew a guy that played drums (Chris) so we started jamming and started my first and only Alaska punk band.
Originally the band was called Astro Zombies (we were both big Misfits fans) but soon found out there was already a band with that name so we started thinking of other names and eventually came up with Ice Station Zebra.
The lineup for this band was me played bass and singing, Cameron playing guitar, and Chris playing drums.
Eventually, another friend of ours (Dave) came in and started playing bass leaving me to being just a singer again.
The drummer Chris actually did not stick around for very long after Dave showed up. Actually, I think he might have been transferred somewhere else but I can’t remember. After he left, we ended up using a drum machine for recordings and I don’t remember what we did for live shows. I do remember we did quite a few though
During the course of this band’s lifetime, we had 2 bass players (besides myself). There was Dave and another Chris who had recently moved to the Alaskan frontier.
This band’s life came to an end because I left Alaska and left the military itself.

1998

After returning home from Alaska, Von, Charles and I started another lineup of ABF with a friend of Charles (Jason) on drums.
After practicing for a while with this lineup, Von started missing practices and eventually ended up leaving the band altogether. I took over singing duties after he left. For the first show we did after his departure, we actually got an old friend (Jay) to fill in on guitar for me because I had still not gotten used to playing the guitar parts and singing at the same time. That one show did turn out to be a really good show and we almost thought about keeping Jay permanently. I am not really sure why we did not go with that plan.

1999-2001

At the beginning of 1999 (and ultimately until the demise of this band) remained as me, Charles and Jason.

This year, we went into an actual studio and recorded some really promising material. However, due to reasons that I would rather not get into here, the masters for those recordings were destroyed thus those songs never saw the light of day.

In 2000, in addition to playing with ABF, I started playing bass for a bar band that played some country, some old rock n roll (Beatles, Stones, Motown, etc..). It was a lot of fun and I don’t remember why I quit playing for the band. We did a ton of shows that year and even made some decent money doing it.

Also in 2000, I moved into a house with Von (we were still friends even though he was no longer in the band) with a bunch of other people and we had started discussing ideas to start another band. Nothing really got off the ground though. I don’t think the other guys were all that serious about it.

Mostly we just practiced and kept writing and only ended up doing maybe 2 or 3 more shows during this whole time period.

The end of this band came when my interest with the band (and sadly my interest in playing) became dulled and I also had decided to leave Oklahoma and move to Seattle. So, after 11 years, ABF was finally a band no more.

2002-2003

These years were very not interested year for me musically.

Scott made the official announcement on his website today.

Most of my readers here probably already know that we have been fooling with the idea ever since I moved back to Seattle but I guess we never really made an “official” announcement that we were back together.

So here it is!

We have been writing quite a bit of new music and hope to get into the recording studio sometime soon to get something released for your listening pleasure.

You can listen to songs from our previous release here.

Enjoy!!!

This post is a response of sorts to one of Dave’s comments on my Labels post. 

I have not written much about my band Otisburg lately so at the request of my good friend Dave I will let you know what has been going on with us.

We have not been doing any shows at all lately, nor do we intend to any time soon.

We have been spending a lot of time writing.

We are essentially not playing any of our material that pre-dates Born Yesterday anymore (with a couple of exceptions) and have been trying to focus more on newer material.

The writing process itself has been going quite well. We have about a dozen new songs in the works.

We will most likely start putting together some demos of the new stuff and get ourselves prepared for getting into the recording studio again to record the stuff.

However….we will be taking a bit of a break before any of this happens because Scott will soon be on his honeymoon (he get married this Saturday by the way. Congrats Scott!!)

Other than that, not much else have been going on.

Oh yeah, actually directly contradicting what I just said about not doing any shows, we might end up doing a short acoustic set at a concert I am trying to get set up at my church within the next few months along with a few other bands.

I know it has been a long time since we have updated this site but a lot has gone on in the months since our near absence from the web. Steve returned to the Seattle area (2 years in Oklahoma were apparently 2 years too many) and he and Scott are planning on putting things back together and getting the old gang back together. More updates as events warrant!