Lee's First Band

Q from loyal reader: Lee, what's the story of your first band?
A: From eighth grade until 10th I was in solo artist mode, but in 10th grade I was invited to join a rock 'n roll outfit that needed a guitarist. The band frontman insisted on the name "Extreme Delusion." I was not thrilled at the moniker (are we conceding that we have delusions of being a band?), but in the interest of getting down to business I did not lobby for an alternative.

The frontman decided U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday" would be our first song. Now, you might think we'd start off with some Chuck Berry or "Wild Thing," but no; we had to try a song with challenging drum and vocal parts, in the same key that Bono sang it. That song never came together, but we did play a good cover of The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (I have a live performance on tape), an original I wrote about an unrequited crush (taped from the same concert), and an original about Anthony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange," which we performed as an English class assignment (the recording was lost, but I know how the tune goes). At the end of 10th grade, I changed schools and we did not have the momentum to continue. But it was a fun time creating something with others, and we managed to rock out in public a few times.

During college, I saw a new reincarnation of this band, which went by the name, "Urine Sane." The band had gotten much better, but the name had gotten much worse. I shook my head.