Chain Me Free

In 2001 I was unemployed.  I left my last job and was depressed.  I got into the music business because I was such a fan of music and had no musical talent.  I was just really good at listening and liked to share music with people.  A&R was my way of doing just that as a job, but beyond a mixtape turning friends into bands already out, I could now “discover” artists that hadn’t broken through and I could work with to take it beyond a mixtape… take it to the world.

But after 10 years of living my dream job, it started to make hate music… so after my last job, I walked away when my contract was over.  I thought it was over.  At that time in Los Angeles, there was a need for teachers and there was an opportunity to take a test and by passing it, you would be granted an emergency teacher credential… I loved teaching, so dove into that… it had been over 10 years since I had been in school or thought of any of the things that would appear on a test for teaching.  I ended up enrolling in a class that was given on weekends at California State College.  It was a 6 week class and I’d drive over every Saturday to dive into my next career.  I would drive in silence.  I used to drive listening to music.  But at this point, nothing sounded good.  Silence was magic.  At the end of the course, I took the exam and passed.  I got my credential and signed up for substitute opportunities… I would call in ever morning at 7am

And see if there was a place for me.  Some weeks I’d work 5 days, some weeks maybe once.  The service I worked with only did private schools and I was available for Kindergarten through 12th grade.  The service also took a chunk of the pay out, so a full week paycheck was not a very livable wage. Especially coming from the music industry.  I was lucky that over the years I was doing well, I never lived beyond my means and put away money for situations just like this.  The saved money helped cover what the job was shorting me on financial responsibility. 

Substituting taught me a lot.  I learned about kids and milestones, I learned about how easy it is to lose a kids attention when teaching something they didn’t care about… I also learned that it’s so easy for teachers to have burn out.  But, I also learned that at the end of the day, you could have made a difference in someone’s life.  Parents would thank you for something you said or did that their child told them about.  A feeling I hardly ever felt from being in the music business.  If something did well, the person responsible was the last to get the credit.  A “thank you” wasn’t going to happen, so you learn never to expect it.  So when I’d get one, I had no idea what to do with it.

Being in private schools, I would see people I worked with dropping their kids off and would have to hide to avoid the “what are you doing here” an the look of “poor guy” that you know was going to come if face to face.   Kids of famous people, who are now big executives, actors, musicians.  Great kids when I had them in a class and I can only hope they still are.
It was a rewarding gig and I loved it.  Again, It wasn’t making ends meet, which really increased my admiration of teachers and all educators.  What was a bonus is that I would drive to my assignment and started listening to music again.  I was enjoying it like I used to. Would make a mix cd and just be back to what I loved.  This was a huge breakthrough as everything I had listened to up to that sounded like white noise.  I couldn’t tell if anything was good anymore.

The other thing that happened over that time was I wanted to go see shows again.  That had been something I did on the regular since I was 13 in NYC, but lost the desire. But much like not wanting to run into the parents of the kids at school drop off, I didn’t want to go to shows and run into friends that were still at it.  I didn’t want to have to answer “what are you doing”… which is the 1st question asked in LA.  Status is everything.

So I decided to go to where I would t run into people.  One of those places was leaving LA, getting on the 5 to the 91 and exiting on Lincoln Ave, making a right and a left on Lincoln and pull into the strip mall parking lot.  Chain Reaction.

I first heard of Chain Reaction from a young assistant for an agent, who was one of the biggest go getters I had met.  I have always been just as interested by the next agent, A&R person, manager, label in the making as I have about the next band.  I befriended her and couldn’t have been happier to go to shows with no job, no reason other than seeing music with people that were just working their hustle to get a move forward.  Today, Corrie Christopher is everything I knew she’d be and more.

Going to Chain Reaction was the same as teaching.  A room full of innocent, happy people in a community away from parents and living and creating an identity for themselves. That was the bands as much as the audience.

I was used to going to see bands that had a manager, a lawyer or some kind of buzz.  A full room of industry people looking around the room reading reactions to see how they should be reacting.  The more industry people in the room, the higher the deal… 2 songs on a demo tape and 45 minutes of forgettable songs.  Not Chain Reaction.  Chain Reaction was the physical version of MySpace.  Where people could meet in person and share common interests and experience things together beyond a computer.

Chain Reaction was a packed room from doors to the ending.  No alcohol, just a candy stand, walls lined with t-shirts of bands that played there, $10 tickets (or less) for a night of fun and community.  And a room full of kids singing every word of every song… bands whose names you never heard, but they sure as hell did and were committed to this new scene. Well, new to me.
This was 2001.  In September of that year, the world would change.  Innocence would be lost and a refuge for escapism would become the Emo Scene… there were no major label Industry people within 5 miles of it and it was beautiful.

When going to this venue, I got to meet some people who I still am friends with today.  First, Jon Halperin (who just texted me today and I love and we were born on the same day, same year).  Booking shows, working the box office and the best host you would ever meet. Genuine music lover and kind. Kevin Knight aka theScout.net, working the door, cleaning up after shows, another true music lover who was hungry to take the next step,  Chad Pearson co owner of indie label The Militia Group.  Fresh off a stint of working at Tooth and Nail Records and taking it all on to start from scratch.  All people I would get to know and remain close with some even today.

Jon was doing just fine.. putting on shows, hoping to be a stepping stone for so many of these amazing bands coming through. He made Chain Reaction the venue that would welcome and host bands that weren’t big enough for LA and guaranteed a place for kids to go.  A always loved the email address for Chain Reaction was www.allages.com … you couldn’t describe the club any better.  Bands loved playing there, it was a built in audience.  People came for the community and for the scene. You couldn’t buy what was happening there.  

Kevin started his website www.the scout.net and would make mix cds and try to get them to industry people.  I took notice of him and he was the portal to the scene of anyone who would pay attention, Hands down. Nobody was paying attention at the time, trust me.

Going to see bands and meeting Chad, I started listening to the recordings The Militia Group was putting out.  Noise Rachet, Rufio and The Beautiful Mistake, who I would end up managing and am still very close to.  Chad is not only a visionary, but he’s one of the kindest people out there (see a pattern at Chain?)… too nice for what the business can do to you.  I remember him being legitimately “honored” that I would take his call or talk to him about his label and the business.  I was less of a big wig and more of a Farmer Ted.  I would give advice, they were doing better than anyone could in that scene, since they lived it, but when it came outside of their bubble, they were deer in headlights.  I remember they didn’t have a lawyer and I hooked them up with my pal Doug Mark, who was the attorney for Epitaph.  If anyone would know how to work with an indie, it was Doug.  I also made an introduction and got the wheels in motion for The Militia Group to get a distribution deal with Sony.  I still was unemployed and loving it.  

It was at Chain Reaction where I fist saw a bad called Death on Wednesday.  A bad that was one part The Smiths and another part Social Distortion.  The bad was good, but I didn’t love them.  But there was one stand out…both as a musician and also as a person.  His name was Jorma Vik, and he was the drummer of Death on Wednesday.  We became friendly and I remember after a show at a skating rink (also in Orange Country) they played with another up and coming band called Sugarcult featuring an old friend named Marko Desantis.  Jorma asked if I would manage Death on Wednesday.  I wasn’t ready to do anything yet, but I told him not this band, but whatever he does next, I’ll do it… fast forward a year and I run into Jorma in front of the Troubadour with a guy who he introduced me to as Joby, the guitarist for his new band and handed me a CD with a paper sleeve and a stamped logo that looked like an ad for roach killer that just said The Bronx Sure Death.  I think I called him by the time I got home listening to it on my drive home saying “I’ll do it”… that’s another story.

My going back to shows again for fun, eventually lead to many things for me.  One was discovering bands, bringing them to A&R friends with no reason other than feeling these artists could be something with the right people.  I had no ties to any of them other than being a fan and a connection to the industry (for better or worse)… from the artists getting signed, many times, it would lead back to me.   Also, while teaching, I would ask kids if they had ever heard of any of these bands (90% would not have, but I promise would become their favorite bands the next year). 

From that I got calls from executives asking for meetings.  From thinking I was done, I found the passion again and got a second shot.  I was offered full time teaching jobs, but I wasn’t ready to give up my passion yet (for better or worse) and took a job and stayed working for many years.  I also was working (on the DL) with an up and coming management company bringing the talent I thought was great, but not ready for prime time and could “ghost manage” them and help develop.  See, back then, managing a band while having a job was conflict of interest and was forbidden. Today it’s just the norm.  Triple dipping is rewarded.  But at that time, I was able to put “emo” in the mainstream music business.  The bands I brought in were by no means "big" but very well known in the scene.  This company was the only "reputable" management company that represented any bands from the scene and it those bands helped become the endorsement when meeting with bands later that would create the dynasty the company is today.  I wasn’t the first by any means, but I know what we did…

My last trip to Chain was last year when (another band I managed) Further Seems Forever played a show.  It was the same parking lot, the same (some updated) t-shirts, a bar now vs candy bar, but the same vibe, just new faces in the moment of community and music. Seeing Jason Gleason 20 years later in the same space was beautiful and took me back to the feeling I had back all those years ago.  Music is about taking you back to a time, a feeling that will never happen again, so is a venue like Chain Reaction.

Anyway, 2002 Chain Reaction was the Orange County 1977 version of CBGB’s.  I could write for days about the people I met there, saw there, what it did for bands, what it did for fans… but reading its closing on December 18th is the end of an era… I hope there is another place out there making a safe space for music and kids to grow and discover, to build their independent foundation of the person they will become through the influence, memories, friends and impact a venue can have. 

The list of bands that came through Chain Reaction is so big and so impressive, i'm not even going to try to list them.  I can only say I saw a handful compared to the kids that spent their youth being part of the community.  Chain Reaction is the venue many can say 'I saw....there before they blew up"

I think about those days very fondly and am thankful of Corrie, Jon, Kevin, Chad, Jason, Jorma and so many others for bringing me life again at a time that the business had slowly been poisoning me… Chain Reaction.  You are a legend.  Salute.