the reason i had the "gobo" in my name is very simple.

i put it on the first Doc Hopper record as a false middle name b/c i thought full names but with silly middle names was funny, see the first DOUGHBOYS record for proof (Jonathan Widdalee Cummins).

it was NEVER a nickname; no one ever called me that.

UNTIL Guitar Center.

first James Tsaptsinos.

then Mark Lahey.

then there was a time i knew where someone knew me from by what they called me. usually its 'chris'. old friends use 'pierce'. if your were from the GC world, you called me 'gobo'.

justin told me that he has heard the "gobo is dead, long live gobo" slogan from a few GC uppers. that weirds me out, although word is that i really bummed Peter out. good, that guy made so many people feel like shit on a daily basis, i'm glad that i could have a similar effect on him. too bad i had to shout it out to a couple hundred employees in an email for him to realize he's a dick.

again, it wasn't a nickname, but its not being used anymore. that was my Doc Hopper name, now that is over for good. really.

now back to the All Star game. go yankees, or at least jeter, a-rod and mo.

#1. They told Gary, our bassist, he couldn't use his SVT b/c it would be too loud. Instead, we used a shitter SWR combo. After the show this douche tried to shake Gary's hand, and Gary told him to go fuck himself.

#2. The address is 169 East Broadway. Who knew that all 3 Broadways (which is wierd enough) run parallel north-to-south?

#3. They had 5 singer/songwriters BEFORE our show started. THEN they had a cover band play. Our show (4 bands slated for 10pm) started at about 11:15.

#4. The men's room kept capturing people and holding onto them for a few minutes at a time. I just pissed in the garbage can in the back room. So did Gary.

#5. We were cut off after 6 songs. Really. My tunes are about 2 minutes each, which equals about 15 minutes even if we tuned and talked between songs. The club's promoter said "Sorry to cut you off, but you played for almost half an hour." Bullshit.

#6. No drink deals for the bands. Their policy was for every ten heads paid, the band gets 1 drink ticket. What a load of sober shit.

#7. We got paid $20. That's not so bad, but when the door was TEN FUCKING DOLLARS, you gotta wonder who they buy their coke from...

#8.  The house drum set was offensive to touch. The mounted tom we found in the back room had dried puke on it.

#9. The mic stand I chose to use kept whacking me in the mouth. And they kept saying I had to turn down.I hate that.

#10. They told TRUE LOVE to turn down, and then just stop. They didn't know the greatness they had in their midst.

A few people have asked about the studio's gear, so here's the toys list. This is how I do what I do.

Console: Trident 24 Series 32x24x2..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Monitors: Genelec 1030a (pr), Krk K-Rok (pr), QSC power amp (70's)

Tape Machine: OTARI MTR 90II (2"/24tk), Otari MX70 (1"/16tk), Otari MX5050 (1/4"/2tk), Denon DNC550R Cd

Burner, Sony A6 DAT machine, Tascam 302 Dual Cassette. Ongoing project: Otari MTR90 MkII  2"/24tk (missing parts. If you know of parts contact me ASAP)

Outboard

Pres: Trident S20, Amek PurePath, Joemeek VC6, Rolls MP105, ART ProMPA, Behringer T1953.

Compressors:  Joemeek SC2.2, dbx 160x (2), dbx 163x (2), RNC/Mercenary Edition '69 Merc (2), Bellari RP282a, Fostex 3070.

EQ: Tascam PE40, Joemeek VC5, BBE 822 Sonic Maximizer.

Delays/Verbs: AKG BX20 reverb tank, Lexicon PCM80, Lexicon PCM60. Lexicon MPX100, MXR Digital Delay (rack mount), MXR Digital Time Delay (ditto), Deltalab Effectron, Deltalab Effectron II, tc electronics M300, Alesis Microverb, Behringer Vitualizer, Univox Phaser (w/ lit logo), Acetone Echo Mixer, Univox Multi-Echo tape echo/reverb, Line6 POD.

Microphones: RODE K2 tube, AKG C414B-ULS, AKG D112, Oktava MC012 (matched pair, non-GC version), Oktava MK319, Oktava ML52 ribbon, GT/Alesis AM40 tube, GT/Alesis AM11 Class A FET, BLUE Baby Bottle, CAD E200, Sennheiser MD421 (2), Sennheiser E609, Shure Beta 52, Shure SM57 (4), Shure 55sw,  Monarch MC80 ribbon.

Guitars: 1980 Gibson LP Deluxe, 1975 Gibson SG std, 1974 Fender Telecaster Custom, 1970 Dan Armstrong lucite, Fender Strat mongrel w/ 70's hs, Kramer aluminum neck, Epiphone Sheraton, Epiphone Korina V w/Duncan pu's, Dan Electro 12str, Fender Jazz bass mexi rw, Epiphone J200 acoustic, Washburn D28 copy,  and a few beaters for noise.

Amps: Marshall JMP 50w, Hiwatt DR103 50w (mid 70's), Orange GR120, Orange OD80, Park 75 75w non-master, Sundown Rebel100 w/ 4x12 (made by Dennis Kager in Edison NJ), VHT Pitbull, original 1970 SVT w/8x10, Fender Super Six 6x10, Traynor YGM-3 1x12, Vox 2x12 cab bulldogs, Marshall 8x10 guitar cab,  Orange 4x12 w/ 75's, Orange 4x12 w/ 25's, Green 4x12 w/ 25's, Vox Brian May, DanElectro 1x5, Dean Markley 1x8, Smokey amp.

Drums: Ludwig Vistalites blue 22", 14", 13", and 12". Ludwig 5 1/2x14 Maple snare, Ludwig 5 1/2x14 Steel snare 60's, Pork Pie 5 1/2x14 Clear snare, Slingerland 15x15 marching snare. Assorted hand percussion.

Cymbals: Zildjian 20" K Dark Dry ride, Zildjian 17" K Dark crash, Zildjian 14" New Beat hihats, Zildjian 20" crash/ride, Paiste 20" 2002 crash. 6" & 10" Zil-bells. Many broken cymbals for effects.

Stomp boxes

Zvex- Fuzz Factory, Super Hard On, Super Duper, Lo-fi Loop Junkie

DOD- Punkifier, Buzz Box, Milk Box, Envelope filter, Analog Delay 680

Boss- TR2 Tremolo, SD1 Super Overdrive,  FZ2 HyperFuzz, FZ3 Fuzz

ElectroHarmonix- Big Muff, Muff Fuzz, Electric Mistress, clone Theory, Small Stone

Way Huge- Aqua Puss analog delay, Swollen Pickle jumbo fuzz

Snarling Dogs- Mold Spore ring mod/wah, Fire Bawls wah, Bawl Buster wah, Erogenous Moan volume pedal.

MXR- Phase 90, Dyna Comp, Distortion Plus, 10 band graphic eq.

Dan Electro- Dan-Echo, Back Talk reverse delay, Grilled Cheese distortion, ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Rocky Road rotary effect, Tuna Melt tremolo.

Morley- Echo-Chorus-Vibrato, A/B/Y switch.

misc- Bixonic Expandora, Coleman Astro Fuzz, SuperFuzz, Dunlop Fuzz Face, 5:00 Shadow fuzz, BlackBox Inferno, Rat 1&II, Roadkill distortion,  Visual Sound Visual Metal distortion, Visual Sound Jeckyl&Hyde, Dunlop Crybaby wah, Rocktron Hush noise gate, Line6 FM4 filter modeler, WD Green Ringer and Orange squeezer, Tech21 Bass Driver Sansamp.

Keyboards & other toys: Novation K Station, Ensonique 7600, Casio MT500, Sitar, Ukelele, Big Briar etherwave Theremin.

So even with wrting things down so I wouldn't forget, I forgot a few musical projects that I was involved in...Thanks to Fid and Jay McGill for the reminders...

SHEMP- drums- Spring 1992 (i think?) Highschool friend Jay McGill on bass and Nick Forte from RORSCHACH on guitar. We wnated to play country-thrash like the first Meat Puppets single. Practiced a few times then splintered. Great name thought.

ROCK, STAR- drums- I engineered the first Rock,Star demo cd in 1997. This was Zach Kaplan from Worthless' REAL band. Total Jawbreaker pop tunes with Sue Werner from Stormshadow on 2nd guitar. They broke up and reformed 2 years later and did another 'record' that never came out. The BEST thing ever to come out of the New Brunswick and PRACTICALLY NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT THEM, They lost their drummer and I filled in for a bunch of shows in summer 2000. Great somgs and fun band, too bad they never did anything else.

SPARKS FLY FROM A KISS- drums- Irecorded some demos for Ralph/AVISO back in fall of 1999, and it turned in to Sparks Fly. They had drummer issues in the beginning and I played a buncha shows with them until they found Crocco. Fun to party with; first practice I was handed what I thought was a glass of iced tea that turned out to be Jack Daniels STRAIGHT. Don't rememebr the shows except I know one was NYC, perhaps the Continental? Fun times.

WITHOUT YOU- I knew Fid since moving to town and this was going to be me finally getting to play with him for real. He played guitar along with Nate Gluck from ENSIGN and it was total fast Dag Nasty or Samiam pop. My schedule caused them to get another drummer eventually, but we did record a few tunes to remember them better.

And I also forgot that Fid played bass in Doc Hopper while John was studying in Japan back in the fall of 99 or so. Maybe 2000, I'd have to check. He also was our fearless roadie for the Lunachicks/Buzzcockstour and he was a blast to have around. And to think he didn't drink then either.

That really should conclude Chris Pierce's musical career-to-date. Let's see if I can fit in another 30 bands in the next 18 years...

All my friends used to make fun of me for being in many bands.

Let's see if I can remember ALL the bands I was in and give a brief recollection, timeframe and other random memory. Purely a self-aggrandizing task I know.

This took a few days of trying to remember and then write.

DISTORTION- guit/vox- in jr high. We played lotsa Twisted Sister and Judas Priest.

ANARCHY- guit/vox-MY first band. speed metal. We played all of "Kill 'Em All" and then I started writing songs that ripped off Megadeth. jr high and high school.

KILLER BROWNIES- drums/vox- purely a joke, but we recorded it to cassette. Stupid originals made up about people we knew. Funny to us.

ANAL DISCHARGE- drums-practiced twice, we tried to be 'grind' but just sucked. 1988, junior year in hs. "Mommy with a Mohawk" was our one t shirt design and a song called "Nancy Reagan has lumpy tits".

NOTHIN' MUCH- drums- high school hardcore. We played like Dag Nasty&Swiz and wrote songs about equality and tolerance. Funny. We had a ubiquitous character called "Promo Man" and he looked like Ziggy with a big nose carrying a satchel full of demo tapes.

BIG LAWN- vocals-I joined this 'established' high school combo as singer. I met guys who I would know for the next ten years here. Featured Jesse (from The Automatics) and Malcolm and George who were in the first line-up of Doc Hopper.

THE A.G.'s- drums- I joined when I was still in high school, 1990 to be exact. I skipped my graduation to go on the Vibra-tour. Life lessons a-plenty. Reformed summer of '91 for two years pre-Sinkhole mach2.

FLATULENT YOUTH- guit/vox-we played the talent show May 1990. We did Descendent's "Hope" and GreenDay's "only of you". This was the foundation for Doc Hopper. George Wiegand and John Dingus were my mates.

SINKHOLE (mach -1) drums-The Ag's splintered on the summer tour so this was me and Jon Clark's college rock band. Sept 1990-nov 1990. We played one show in Orono (UMO.) Chris Keene from Nothin Much and Jonah Howard from local high school hippy band the Rhythm Fish who had Jon Madden who would soon be wooed to leave college to join Doc Hopper.

DOC HOPPER- guit/vox- I really started it in Oct of 1990 with George and John. I wanted to sound like Quicksand and Helmet, really. I liked hardcore. Then in Jan '91 Jon Madden joined and we began to forge the pop-metal machine that we would be until 2002. First show was at WMHB radio at Colby College, Waterville Maine April 23 1991. Thanks Rich Boulet wherever you are. These people were in the band: George, John, Jon Madden, Malcolm Felder, Seth Lepore, Scott Thibeau, Greg Hoffman, Matty Anderson, Brian Luff, Jeremy Mederios, and Justin Ingtrup. Ernie from TOKEN ENTRY/BLACK TRAIN JACK played second guitar for us at a show in Philly in 1994 and it was awesome. There was a almost riot.  We were occasionally great and usually fun.

SINKHOLE (mach 2)- drums/vox- This was the second time The AGs broke up and me&Jon started SINKHOLE again. This time it was just The AGs plus Eliot on second guitar. I sang b/c no one else wanted to, really. I took more from these guys that any other musicians I have/will ever play with. 1992-1997. 4 LPs and a whole buncha singles and comp tunes.

Then I moved to New Jersey

DEADGUY- guit- I joined after Tom quit because I loved DEADGUY and they were good friends of Doc Hopper. They were a hardcore band but I tried to make them sound more like Black Flag with my Ginn-style solos. We broke more vans than any band on earth. It was a fun 8 or 9 months. The first show I played Erie and the PA blew the first few tunes so we did an instrumental set with all the kids screaming and hitting each other. Pretty cool. There are a few videos of this line-up and it's pretty funny to see me up there.

THE STUNTCOCKS- drums aka Lil' Jimmie Stuntcock- These guys were local heroes with a drummer problem. Stuctcocks-MACH 2 was me, Johnny, JJ, and Ralph from AVISO'HARA (and I can't remember his stunt name) and boy was it fun. And drunken. We occasionally played songs to enhance our drinking. Lasted from 97 to 99 or so.

CASANOVOCANE- drums/vox- I recorded their record that never came out and became their drummer. Great sugary pop like Weezer and Weezer. Simple songs but the three-piece set up with girl bassist (and her skirts) was fun to watch. I played with them from 98 to 2000 or so.  I recorded a few tunes with me on drums that never surfaced. Actually, none of it did except a promo give-away that Frank the singer made.

BLACK ARMY JACKET- I played bass for the New Year's Eve BASH at my old studios space on Jersey Ave. 400-500 people were there for these parties. I think this one was 98-99. They had a room at my place, they wanted to play; they were good friends, so I filled-in for fun. Grindcore party-style. I think we 'played' 5 or 6 songs. Thank you Andrew and Dave and Rob. I was never IN the band, but I played a show so it counts.

NO WAY NARC- This was supposed to be me and Andrew Orlando's (see above BAJ) pot-rock band but he didn't have time. So it was me, Pops and Cripsy from DEADGUY and Mike Pollili from NB legends Buzzkill. Me and Crispy both wrote tunes and boy was it fun. Total Black Sabbath, Black Flag and Mountain riff-rock. We had a pal who did lights at raves who came to do a light show for us as well. The first few shows were AMAZING, with the lights and the mountains of amps and the whole thing. We did some cool shows and people around New Brunswick kinda liked us but I was a control freak and we never recorded except demos where I played everything. Then Crispy disappeared and we played as a 3 piece for awhile, then Tim's (Pop's) roommate Kilo who was in Seti Alpha Six started to play with us so I could solo more. Then there was that time I smoked opium with Lord Sterling and I felt like my hands weren't attached to my arms and we sucked (it didn't matter, it was Agfield Day and we were painfully loud even outside.)  This is one to claim you saw even if you didn't, I'll probably never know. You don't know pain until you go both up and down the fire escape at the Melody Bar with an 8x10 cabinet or two.

THE SLOW WIRE- drums/vox- This is Dave Urbano's pet project post-AVISO'HARA. Good quirky pop tunes with a little Slint in there to build the tension. He did a record, then I joined in 2002 or so and we had some fun. We did a record that was supposed to be a split with TRUE LOVE but the label flaked before it saw the light of day. I quit in 2004 due to time constraints, right after my good pal Mina joined on 2^nd guitar.

FIVE FINGER SPREAD- guit/vox- This was a project started by my ex-coworker James Tsapstinos; he wanted to call it Normandy and he got all his pals to play but we took control and quickly lost interest. The all-star line up was James on guit, me singing and playing guitar, Gentleman Jim Norton on 3^rd guitar (yes, he was from Crucial Youth), Justin from Doc Hopper on bass and Chris Penne from DillingerEscapePlan on drums. Yeah, it was an amazing little combo, except James. He muscled his way onto the New Year's Eve show at the Melody Bar 01-02 and that was the only show we ever did. We ended the emo-drenched set with Cheap Trick's "Surrender" with Jim singing. Funny to think about, less funny to hear.

NICE DREAMS- guit/vox- This eventually turned into The Groucho Marxists with different guys. It was me, Crispy, and Dan Hornecker who was in a few hardcore bands like 108, Resurrection, and Lifetime (arguably-depending on who you talk to). Dan wanted to make it big and had a few rock tunes and I had my stuff so we tried it out but couldn't find a suitable drummer. This was 2001-2002, up until I got married (05-25-02) and then we (they) lost steam. Made some great shirts with the CheapTrick type print.

THE SUREFIRES- guit- I did their first record, then they had some real rough times; their drummer died and things were slowing down, then they went on with the band with a new drummer and they did ANOTHER record with me, and since we were all friends, I ended up playing 2^nd guitar for them, and I still do. Not the most active band, but if you like Stiff Little Fingers and The Clash the stuff is cool. Features local funny guy Eric Fiorito, Bill Gerber, and Kyle Roggendorf who owns a guitar repair business call Raritan Bay Guitar Repair. Have him set up your guitar, he's worth it.

BUBBLE/GUM- I did their record and LOVED them, so I played the record release show doing the extra guitar and synth parts we put on the record. They are a 2-man band with fuzzed-out guitars and brutal drums, like DinoJr or Black Flag but with a poppy side like Nirvana. We've done two cd's so far and I hope they keep wanting to make record with me because this is the reason I do it. Not a member, just a side performer and engineer.

HEARTS ON FIRE- drums/engineer/producer- I knew these guys from Jersey but they moved to Brooklyn to be cool rock guys (half-kidding). Good songwriters that I wanted to try to produce to see if I could make them better. It worked. But then they gave the drummer the boot the weekend before I was to record a 7"ep for them, so like the soldier I am, I learned the tunes and recorded the drums myself. I think they have since split which is too bad since I thought they were good. Never played a show with them even thought they asked me a few times but like the jerk I am I can't.

RayC/DC- guit- This was part of a cover-a-whole-record series I did with the True Love guys and it took on a life of its own. First we did "London Calling", then "Dark Side of the Moon", then we did "Highway to Hell" and we all knew this was something more than just a cover evening; this was our future. We later did "Powerage" and following much prompting by friends, we did a night where we did "Powerage" then "Highway to Hell" and it was SO MUCH FUN. Now we just talk about going further back, but we do hold true to the no-post-Bon records.

YOUR LAST AFFRONT- guit- My Black Flag tribute band. Me, Justin, Ray from True Love and RayC/DC, and Pops did this at a couple of shows. We did most of "Live '84" and a lot of the early stuff too. Fact- lots of people CLAIM to love Black Flag, but few really LISTEN to Black Flag, especially the late metal stuff. Not me and Justin. We LOVE Black Flag. Too much in fact. Yes, we did "Your Last Affront", "I won't stick any of you unless and until I can stick all of you" and other fun instrumentals. We will play again, I swear it. We will do all of "IN MY HEAD" and clear the room.

 THE GROUCHO MARXISTS- guit/vox- This is my new BAND. We are good. You will like us. I stole Austin and Brian from the Stuntcocks MACH3 and Justin from Doc Hopper. Very similar to DH in writing, but not in execution. Justin quit and we found Gary thru Ray. We've recorded some stuff and have an lp almost finished.  This is the best band I've ever been in, and I've been in a few. Book us, will you? Look us up here on myspace and make us your friend.

That sums up all of the bands I have either been in, performed or recorded with. If someone can show me up and remember something I have forgotten, congratulations. Let me know and I can either confirm or deny.