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Session Date: May 28, 2011
Posting Date: August 8, 2011
Artist Hometown: Arlington, TX
Links: Facebook, Bandcamp, MySpace
Recorded by: Michael Briggs
3 QUESTIONS
ONE: Eccotone is known for getting shows shut down. How does it feel being too loud for public performance?
Donovan Ford: It’s more amusing than anything.
Nick Bozas: It sucks, though.
Miles Debruin: It’s a mix of emotions. It’s frustrating, but then it’s like, “Yeah, I know.”
Donovan: The first time that it happened, it was really embarrassing, because the police officer was really rude about it and was like, “No, no, this is way too loud! You need to be considerate of your neighbors!” and everything. But now, it’s gotten to the point where it’s almost expected.
Miles: So, we do shows based on—
Donovan:— where we’re going to get shut down.
Miles: We have a show today, and we’re going to get it shut down.
MB: So, is that the goal?
Donovan: Well, we like playing actual shows, but it seems like it’s a lot easier to get shows at Dorm Room Talent Shows and backyard barbeques—
Parker Lawson: That’s spelled “BBQ!”
Donovan: Right. We like amusing ourselves, I think.
Miles: We’re really selfish. It’s about us, not the cops.
Parker: We like pleasuring ourselves.
Nick Bozas: It sucks, though.
Miles Debruin: It’s a mix of emotions. It’s frustrating, but then it’s like, “Yeah, I know.”
Donovan: The first time that it happened, it was really embarrassing, because the police officer was really rude about it and was like, “No, no, this is way too loud! You need to be considerate of your neighbors!” and everything. But now, it’s gotten to the point where it’s almost expected.
Miles: So, we do shows based on—
Donovan:— where we’re going to get shut down.
Miles: We have a show today, and we’re going to get it shut down.
MB: So, is that the goal?
Donovan: Well, we like playing actual shows, but it seems like it’s a lot easier to get shows at Dorm Room Talent Shows and backyard barbeques—
Parker Lawson: That’s spelled “BBQ!”
Donovan: Right. We like amusing ourselves, I think.
Miles: We’re really selfish. It’s about us, not the cops.
Parker: We like pleasuring ourselves.
TWO: How did you meet? How did the current line-up come about?
Donovan: It started in eleventh grade…
Miles: It started in eighth grade…
Donovan: It’s not the Two Knights story…
Parker: Yeah, fuck that band.
Donovan: Me and Miles started hanging out because I heard that he played drums, and we sat down one day and were like, “Hey, let’s ‘jam!’ ” And then we wrote ‘Army Song’—
Miles: And ‘Eye to Eye.’
Donovan: And ‘Eye to Eye.’
Miles: And ‘Rancher Jumbo’ and another called ‘Fretless Song’ that we don’t really play anymore.
Donovan: We wrote three of the eight songs that we still play just like that.
MB: When was this?
Donovan: I was in tenth grade…
Miles: It was in ’09…then, we had another member.
Nick: Zak.
Donovan: Yeah, it was my friend Zak. He was a good guitar player, but he was never really consistent with showing up or wanting to play anything…
Parker: He was consistent with hiding empty beer bottles in couches.
Donovan: He did a lot of shady stuff. So, we added Parker, so that we had two guitar players—
Parker: I hope he doesn’t read this.
Miles: Whatever.
Donovan: And then we very slowly kicked him out of the band. And then we did a whole lot of nothing, and then last year we decided, “Hey, let’s just add another drummer,” and then we started playing shows all the time.
Miles: It started in eighth grade…
Donovan: It’s not the Two Knights story…
Parker: Yeah, fuck that band.
Donovan: Me and Miles started hanging out because I heard that he played drums, and we sat down one day and were like, “Hey, let’s ‘jam!’ ” And then we wrote ‘Army Song’—
Miles: And ‘Eye to Eye.’
Donovan: And ‘Eye to Eye.’
Miles: And ‘Rancher Jumbo’ and another called ‘Fretless Song’ that we don’t really play anymore.
Donovan: We wrote three of the eight songs that we still play just like that.
MB: When was this?
Donovan: I was in tenth grade…
Miles: It was in ’09…then, we had another member.
Nick: Zak.
Donovan: Yeah, it was my friend Zak. He was a good guitar player, but he was never really consistent with showing up or wanting to play anything…
Parker: He was consistent with hiding empty beer bottles in couches.
Donovan: He did a lot of shady stuff. So, we added Parker, so that we had two guitar players—
Parker: I hope he doesn’t read this.
Miles: Whatever.
Donovan: And then we very slowly kicked him out of the band. And then we did a whole lot of nothing, and then last year we decided, “Hey, let’s just add another drummer,” and then we started playing shows all the time.
THREE: How would you describe the music scene in Arlington, past and present?
Nick: Nonexistent.
Donovan: It’s like if you took a bunch of high school kids, and forced them to all be in bands, and then you only kept the ones that really wanted to do it. So, the inevitable really terrible bands occur, but they fade away very fast, and eventually it’s the same few people hanging out with each other.
Nick: Yeah, ten people in fifteen bands.
Miles: We played a lot of shows in the past few years at Love and Reason, which was the venue.
Parker: The only one.
Nick: Rest in peace.
Miles: Rest in peace. Now there’s the Health and Harmony House, which—
Nick: Which is not going to work for Eccotone.
Parker: We’re never going to play there.
Donovan: The music scene, for us, was just hanging out at Love and Reason with all of our friends.
MB: Do you think that is going to end now that most of your friends are moving to Denton?
Miles: I think it will still go on.
Donovan: There are always going to be bored high school kids. Arlington will always have a music scene, because there’s nothing better to do.
Donovan: It’s like if you took a bunch of high school kids, and forced them to all be in bands, and then you only kept the ones that really wanted to do it. So, the inevitable really terrible bands occur, but they fade away very fast, and eventually it’s the same few people hanging out with each other.
Nick: Yeah, ten people in fifteen bands.
Miles: We played a lot of shows in the past few years at Love and Reason, which was the venue.
Parker: The only one.
Nick: Rest in peace.
Miles: Rest in peace. Now there’s the Health and Harmony House, which—
Nick: Which is not going to work for Eccotone.
Parker: We’re never going to play there.
Donovan: The music scene, for us, was just hanging out at Love and Reason with all of our friends.
MB: Do you think that is going to end now that most of your friends are moving to Denton?
Miles: I think it will still go on.
Donovan: There are always going to be bored high school kids. Arlington will always have a music scene, because there’s nothing better to do.