BIO: Let’s face it: G Faithful is a terrible name. Every time I tell people I was in a band with this name, I have to do some serious explaining. SO …. Here’s the explanation: After having been in Mulligan Stump, Entropy, and Mulligan Stump AGAIN (none of those names will win any prizes, either); Chris, Nick, and I had a funny idea. Let’s make a joke-sounding band name where the ‘G’ could stand for anything (ganja, God, guns, etc.). Further, we joked about each band member playing live on stage as the leader of a different religious sect. I could be a priest, Chris a rabbi, Nick a Baptist preacher. But instead, we defaulted to some bluesy jam-band songs that for me aren’t nearly as embarrassing to listen to as the names of some of them would lead you to believe. I am still very proud of our six-song demo, recorded with the discerning ear of Rob Ritter. This band had two phases. The first phase was with drummer Ben Levine during a period in which every rehearsal we had (three a week!) was basically a large party, and then with drummer Andrew Squire in which our songwriting got more serious but our choice to play more shows at bars alienated our under-21 fans and did not earn us any new ones. “Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road”, written during Phase II, is still one of my favorites, though. I am fortunate to have played with Andrew again in Seattle years later (in Altura, Cardenas, and Tram Tower).
Band Members: Sergio Chavez (bass, ending vocals on “Rehashed-o-Matic Blues”), Ben Levine (Drums, backing vocals: Phase I), Andrew Squire (Drums: Phase II), Nick Campbell (guitar), Chris Gatley (vocals)
Years of Operation: 1996 – 1997
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Song List:
Very Early Days
Before playing with Ben and Andrew, Nick and I rehearsed once or twice with Karis (whose last name I can’t remember), who was in either Small and Blue or the Supergrovers (maybe – it’s all a big vague memory now. If anyone knows more about her, please let me know as Google hasn’t helped much). Here are a couple of recordings from those sessions:
Jam 2 (this is a good example of why I hate slap bass. I suck at it. I hope I was joking, but I don’t think I was)
Jam 3 (contains the roots of “Psycho Butterfly” and a self-congratulatory “That was so hardcore!” by Karis at the end)
Phase I (with Ben Levine on drums)
These six songs comprised our demo recorded by Science Rob:
Dust Collecting Telephone (this recording is missing the beginning and has some problems in the middle due to the cassette tape it was stored on. I will replace this mp3 with a better recording in the future)
Level Down (there’s a slight skip in the first chorus that I’ll fix soon)
These songs were mostly recorded on a tape recorder:
Crumplefoot (Version 2 – in which Ben Levine gets tired of drumming)
Dust Collecting Telephone (includes a discussion of how awesome we would be in a “party setting”)
Dust Collecting Telephone (take two)
Feathered Lemon (“May the force of the Lord be with you”! Ben’s “drum solo” and laugh toward the end are pretty funny, too)
Moon Baby (Starting with a conversation about if we’re still doing Queensborough Foxtrot or not, and featuring some new interesting parts)
Trash-O-Matic (Yes, every band from this era did this song. And this version was because Nick’s strings weren’t in tune enough to do “Level Down”)
Phase II (with Andrew Squire on drums)
13 (Version 1 – choppy beginning)
13 (Version 2)
13 (Version 3)
Big Box Blues (Version 1)
Big Box Blues (Version 2 – with Todd Pope and the band talking a lot at the beginning and end, and discussions about working out some parts)
Big Box Blues (Version 3)
Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road
Midnight (Version 1 – long discussion at the end about the song structure)
Midnight (Version 2)
Midnight (Version 3)
One Of These Days (The conversation at the beginning is priceless. “Do it two times, then like four, then two, then kind of jam it out” etc. etc. It’s only rivaled by the post-jam analysis at the end, where I declare that I “like it exactly how it is”)
Rehashed-o-Matic Blues (another priceless discussion at the end about how it should be a “40-minute song” and what a “crowd pleaser” it is, and how I could play it “24 times in a row”, and featuring input from our friend and fan Todd Pope, and speculation about an upcoming gig with Giant Steps (where Andrew would be pulling double duty as the drummer for both bands))
These songs were recorded during Phase II at Ubik Sound in Albuquerque by Manny Rettinger:
There is a lot of tape hiss on these recordings due to them being second or third generation copies. I’ll try to get better ones.
Creepy G (this song was made up on the spot during our expensive studio time. A lot of booze was involved in fueling this experimental blues song about a cockroach. Thomas Tomlinson has a drawing he made of Creepy G that can be seen below.)
Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road
Extra info: I remember a photo of us playing some concert at UNM that was featured in the “Daily Lobo” that I will try to locate. There is some punk rocker watching us and when you listen to these songs you’ll see how hilarious that is. Here are additional images from this time period:
He's a cockroach baby, can't you see?
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