Hello and welcome to Mini Music Monday, the Deep Wound Edition. Welcome, welcome to Mini Music Monday, the Deep Wound Edition. Quickly, let's go to something fun and whimsical, like me being 15 years old and in a hardcore band called Deep Wound. Were you a sophomore in high school?
I don't know. I always... You don't know? I always exaggerate.
I want to believe that I was a sophomore, but because I want to believe that I was a sophomore, I might not have been a sophomore. I might have been a junior. Well, 15-year-olds are generally sophomores. I was probably 16.
You don't even know what I'm going to do. I've already lied to you today, but when I retell these stories, I want to always tell it that I was younger. Texting how you're going to be 12, like Tommy Stinson in the replacement. I was always really jealous of him because he really was.
He was legitimately young. I think when I started, I'm pretty sure. I don't know the exact date when Jay Mascos came to my house. His father drove him to my house, perhaps his mother, but I think it was his dad, and the family station wagon with his drum kit to my house in Westfield, 25 miles away or so.
We brought Jay's drums upstairs to my attic of my parents' house, and we jammed. Scott Helen, me and Jay. And Charlie, was Charlie there? I don't think Charlie was there.
I don't think we had a lead singer yet, but Jay brought Charlie to the band, our lead singer. Where did Scott come from? He went to Westfield High with me. He came with you.
He came with me. He was my buddy. We were buddies. We were punk rock lunch buddies.
Oh, I love Scott. We love you, Scott. We love you, Scott. Great now.
Great then. Awesome. Really great person. He sure is.
Anyway, he and I ate lunch together, and then we put an ad up in the one really cool local record store. We were looking for a drummer to play as fast as possible, paraphrasing, and Jay called. That's so cute. The rest is history.
The rest is history. It's still, you know, and just yesterday I flew in from Boise with Jay Mascos. Fifty-year-old, fifty-something-year-old men still. Fifty-seven-year-old Jay Mascos.
Playing loudly together. Fifty-six-year-old Lou Boon-A-Dix. Now you're in Jay's attic. Now you're in Jay's attic.
We know we're in Jay's attic. Oh my gosh. And Scott's still a musician. That's his full-time gig.
So I got to, I'm going to do something I've never done. Wait, I have to ask you first. So after that, when Jay came over and just like brought us a drum kit and you guys played together, did you like look at each other and go, yeah, do you want to be in a band with me, man? Or was there like a conversation to like...
There was one thing that Jay said, like Scott and I had some songs. We'd already started writing songs together. Oh. And we had a neighbor who actually literally played pots and pans with us.
But he wasn't really into it. And he wasn't really, he wasn't really punk. Let's just put it that way. He wasn't punk.
And we were looking for someone who was into punk. We were looking for a punk, a fellow punk. You just take those pots and pans and go back home. Jay brought a real drum kit.
It was insane. And he could play. He was like in the jazz band in high school and he could play the shit out of his drums. It was, and he had this crazy haircut.
Like, totally, I think he had Doc Martins on. I mean, holy shit. And we played him one of our songs. And he just looked up because you guys were the fastest band in Massachusetts.
And that's what I knew. I was like, this is it. And that's what I began. So it was like, I guess, so I'm still intrigued by this.
So it was like an unspoken agreement. You're just like, we're a band now? Or how did the name Deepoon, like, do we? Jay brought the name.
So again, like, was there multiple sessions where we're like, we're going to now have each other's parents' phone numbers and call each other and then make plans for jamming? We started rotating. Like, Jay's dad drove him the first time in the case. And then my parents drove Scott and I up to Jay's basement in Amherst.
And then, yeah, I think actually we practiced. I think even like Jay's sisters or brother would be enlisted to drive him down to Westfield. Scott's Helen's dad was like, so cool. This guy, and they drove, he drove like a VW bug.
I don't know if we ever went up to Amherst in the bug, but he was like the super cool guy that listened to jazz and loved music. And Scott had an older brother who was extremely talented. Did this shift in your life, like finding Jay and Scott and forming this kind of loud band, this kind of help you move through the rest of high school. Did it kind of give you something to look forward to?
It did. It did. I don't think I've ever thought about it that way. I was just wondering that right now.
It did. It actually, it really reinforced me. Kind of gave you some focus too. My classmates didn't know that I played in a band.
Yeah, because this was sort of your secret thing. Well, you didn't, I mean, at that point, you had to be careful if you were going to be punk and sort of act out or dress a certain way because you had to deal with the social implications. Meaning I didn't want to get my ass kicked. So I stayed anonymous.
Under the radar. Yeah, I stayed under the radar other than drawing on my jeans and covering desktops with like minor threat and lash. I mean, etching punk bands. I actually went, I took a kind of spray paint down to the local public pool and I spray painted buzz cocks on the side of the building.
I thought I was such a badass. I can't believe you did it. That actually seems like, I'm like you. And then on the sidewalk, I'm going to take a clash, I think, on the sidewalk.
Yeah, I did. That's graffiti, mister. I was definitely 15 at that point. I was definitely freshman, sophomore, and I was like, wow, doing graffiti.
Oh, yeah. That's I feel like you would be horrified now. It's like what it would be. Of course I would be.
I'm all about social norms now. Toe in the line. No, but I was inspired. I like a, I would be dead Kennedy symbol.
I mean, I did anyone find out that you wrote the buzz cocks. Nobody found out. Did you just see it and what did it give you? Like a little everything.
Oh my God, it gave me so much joy. I wanted to stay out there. You know, I was a very guilty person. I still am.
I think I'm going to get caught for something all the time. I never thought I would get caught for that. Did you? No.
I was invincible when I did it and I knew I would never get caught. And that's like, that's unusual because I. This is, well, honey, this is just Catholic guilt. You're just, you're one of many people who are constantly feeling worried about getting caught for things they haven't done because that's growing up in the Catholic church.
I mean, I haven't done them. What do you mean? I was guilty. Of what?
I don't want to get into it. Red light. Let's get on. Let's get on.
I like this. I like what you're asking me questions. I feel like I'm being, this is great. I'm being interviewed about my, my history with Deep Loon.
Well, I'm feeling sort of sheepish and kind of embarrassed to say I never really thought deeply about what who you were in high school. And it's making me feel bad because I married to you. Well, you know the high school is kind of bullshit. Yeah, I know.
It's just sort of like feeling bad about not having like a real curiosity about that. But no, as I'm saying it, now I'm realizing I am curious. I just, I know there's just happened this moment right now. I have to say the way you're asking me this question because often oft times when I refer to the old days of Deep Loon or stuff, you know, you are a very attentive listener.
We have a very good connection when we speak, but when I speak about old hard school or being in a band, yes, the sparkling your eyes dims slightly. I mean, I get really worked up. If I start talking about old days and bands and seeing these shows and. No, I'm sorry.
I start glazing over. I can't, I don't know. So it's not my imagination. Oh, guilty, guilty guilty.
I understand that. I think right now I'm sort of realizing that I am liking picturing who you were as like a young, all kind of dude. You know, it's funny. It's like my history with Jay and the bands that we have is so complicated and it does, it's defined my life in all kinds of ways and been, you know, an impasse and also a great, like, you know, delete it.
So great, like, you know, delivery to a great rockin' place, you know, that I, but I don't think I've ever thought about thinking about it as something that got me through high school. Just gave me a, I have this real swell of gratitude and love. So I kind of nailed it. Yeah, I'm almost feeling like I'm feeling a lot of love for that time.
That cookie band. Yeah, and like what a gift, right? What a gift to have that and to have this really wonderful, like really rich secret life of like driving to Boston and the family station where I get playing shows with exciting bands. I know and your eyes must have lit up because you loved music.
I loved it. You were just... Oh my gosh. Yeah, so you're like, holy shit, I'm now doing music.
I'm part of something. And Jay was really like, he was so instrumental, so to speak, in making that happen because he got the, he really took the initiative. I think when he saw Scott and I, he just, he latched on to us because he, we were all like-minded and he just, he really carried the band and sort of stepped in pretty immediately and started shaping the band and bringing, he brought songs to it. We were both writing songs.
And the very, it was kind of an interesting collaboration and we actually started, one of the last songs we did was a real collaboration. So we actually were really, we kind of just all of a sudden just entered each other's orbit. And he had a really, but he was a big planet. He had a lot of pull and it was amazing.
But he called, he made all the phone calls. He wrote the letters. He made the connections with other bands. He engineered us, you know, being able to record.
He figured out us recording in Boston. You know, it was, yeah, he was, it was, it was amazing to have that in my life and to kind of be like, I don't give a fuck about high school. I don't care. Yeah, it wasn't for you.
Yeah, I'm like, I can't wait to get out of here. Mm hmm. And gosh, I mean to have something like that to hang on to while just having to kind of, you know, like do the thing, like you got to go through high school, right? But it's like, that must have been nice to not just have to go through high school and have nothing else then.
It's like you actually did have something that was rich and growing. It was, yes, I did. I don't know why I have it in the fight and that kind of a dramatic light, but it's true. I think I'm just reflecting on it now because we were looking through some of my old journals.
We can say that for another day talking about journals, but it got me thinking a lot about things that kind of help us through hard times when we're young. And for mine, it was being like on the theater crew at high school, you know, like doing the, the building, the stages and painting the sets and stuff like that. And that now looking back when I read these journals and I see like, oh, I was really struggling, but then the things that gave me light was this little, my little kooky world of the theater kids. The theater kids are always the best, right?
I don't know. I mean, you're an artist too. You're a musician. So it was like, you know, kind of they go hand in hand.
I think many of the most of the people I had no, I had no involvement in my high school, but you know, like Jay did with his. He was in the band. Yeah. And actually he had a really rich, he had a really good group of friends from high school.
Mm hmm. And well, and Charlie who was ended up also in Deep wound. He was a classmate of Jay. So they had charismatic classmate of Jay's.
Were they friends? They were very good friends. They had a radio show together. They had a college radio show.
They weren't in college. They weren't high school. They had a show on Sunday mornings just before the polka show. Mm hmm.
W anyway. Oh, what's that? You've been talking for 15 minutes. We never even played the song yet.
Hey, you've been talking for 15 minutes, okay? Okay. So our Deep wound episode might be a little bit longer than 15 minutes. Well, you're asking, you're so interested now.
Well, I am, I guess to be honest. So I'm going to play. So we brought some songs. We brought songs.
Scott, I've written some songs together. I can't remember if this song, if it seemed almost like Scott would make the instrumentals and then I would write the lyrics to them. Okay. And then Jay would play the drums.
And Jay would play the drums. What did Charlie do? Charlie sang. What'd you do?
I played guitar. Oh, so you didn't even sing this? You just wrote the words, but you didn't sing it? Yeah, I didn't sing it.
Oh, but this, what we're going to do, we're going to start with a J song. This is one of the first songs that Jay brought to the band. Wait, you're going to play two songs? I'm going to play three songs.
No, we're going to have to divide this into more than one music then. Oh, how short are they? A minute. Oh, okay.
So this should take three minutes. Okay. This one's a little longer. This is Jay's epic.
It's called Psyched to Die. And these are his lyrics. These are his lyrics. He wrote the music.
It's amazing. I mean, he brought these songs and it was like, oh my God. Okay. Okay.
I'm going to turn this on to Mike. He got me all excited. I'm psyched to die because life's no fun anymore. What fun can you have?
When you don't even know what it's for, life's a constant drone. And I can only see one way out. When you're six feet under, then you'll know what it's all about. Psyched to die and psyched to die.
And psyched to die and psyched to die. And psyched to die and psyched to die. And psyched to die and psyched to die. No point in existence.
You'll never make a dent or a scratch. Grab all the gas though you can. But it's only death you'll ever catch. Oh, why am I alive?
I guess I'll shrivel up and die. But I won't piss in moan. And I'm sure not going alone. I'm going to take you with me.
Psyched to die and psyched to die. Psyched to die and psyched to die. Psyched to die and psyched to die. Get a job in a family.
Together, supposedly, happily. But kin and zara and grateful little burdens. They'll soak you for your all and kill you for insurance. It's not worth this strain on, stir-life.
It's not worth this question. It's only scramble your brain. The who and why and how. Last chance I'm going under.
Bye-bye, friends. Psyched to die and psyched to die. Yeah? That was one of Jay's songs.
Okay. You know what I liked about that song that made me giggle? Is he wrote the word gusto? I'm glad you mentioned that.
Actually, I think that could have been a Budweiser commercial at the time. Go for the gusto. He's referencing what was then like a popular commercial catch phrase. I thought it was very clever.
It is. It's funny. It made me wonder, what are often the word gusto is used in a song? Not that often.
It's a gumption. How often gusto, gumption. What's the next song you're going to do? I'm going to do this song.
This song is originally titled Pressures. I wrote the lyrics. I'm pretty sure Scott came up with the instrumental part of this. And then I wrote the lyrics.
Okay. So these are my lyrics. This is me. High school.
Baby Lou. Pressures! Things are all coming at me. They're not even real.
I cannot grasp their existence. It's the things I cannot feel. I dropped in in decision. I have to take two condemned.
I'm not righteous. I cannot be extreme. All these ideas. They seem to have no value.
I can't distinguish right and wrong. And while I cannot view, there are no solutions to the problems they present. If I take no position, I'm someone they resent. I'm labeled as inactive.
What the fuck can I do? I'm not your savior. I'm only more confused. I have no desire.
If I touch away the green. And I won't change anything. To satisfy the worthless need. Pressures!
Is that the whole song? Yeah. See? That's a hardcore song.
Hardcore indeed. You guys are really just shouting a lot weren't you? Yeah. What a hootin' in Hollerin.
That's a real hootin'nanny back then. Come on down to the Grange, 2PM. Sunday hootin' in, hardcore hootin'anny. Deep wound.
Grey matter. The Vatican commandos. Adrenaline OD. Deflex from pain.
That's such de-control. No preservatives. Oh my god. Is that really a bad thing?
Yes. I love that. You're a hootin' baby. No preservatives.
Sweet little kids from me, Sampton. What happened to no preservatives? Eric Gaffney could probably tell you. Okay.
Thank you for listening to Part One of Mini Music Monday. The Deep wound is a great thing. I'm not sure. I'm not sure.
I'm not sure. I'm not sure. More than half of Mini Music Monday. The Deep wound edition.
Check out Part Two next week.