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Current mood:  thoughtful
Hello, David Obuchowski here. Matt is far too
modest to talk about how important and great he is. So, I wanted to write this
as a sort of a toast to him, as well as an honest explanation as to why he's handing the reigns over as the bass player of Goes Cube. Though I'm the one who wrote this, these are Kenny's sentiments, as well.
When I moved to New York in 2003, it was strictly
to give the band thing one last go. I'd been trying it since I was 12 or 13, and
in high school, I came damn close finding some success. By the time I was a
senior in high school, a small indie had put out my band's single, numerous
others included us on comps, and we'd played with some amazing bands. We were
about to put out an EP on a large indie label when the inevitable happened: I
graduate high school. For reasons to numerous and not the interesting, I won't
go into why, but suffice it to say: that band was over. I went to college pretty
bitter about how close I came to acheiving my dream only to see it slip away so
quickly. But this isn't about me. This is about Matt Frey.
I met Matt Frey that first day of college. We lived
in the same dorm. He and I immediately bonded over music. We shared a taste for
punk rock. His skewed more toward a certain type, and mine another. So it wasn't
just a matter of saying, yeah this band is awesome; but we were introducing each
other to bands as much as sharing the same favorites. It only took a year or so
before Matt and I started forming bands. Some would last a year, others a day or
two. They were all jokes, though. That's what linked them. I told myself I'd
given up my dream of playing music the day my high school band broke up. So this
was just about fun. And it was fun. Though, some of our bands (like Robototron)
made some pretty awesome music with just a casio, guitar, and a toy laser gun.
I graduated college, got a job, moved a couple
times, and two years later, I realized that I had given up on my dream to play
music (to be in a successful band or something like that) far too easily. I
decided I needed to give it one last truly serious try. There was no question as
to who I'd need to recruit in this effort: My best friend, Matt Frey. He'd
recently moved to Brooklyn. Not to start a band, mind you, but to find work in
the photo industry. So I moved to Brooklyn and told him we needed to start a
band. He agreed.
We had a drum machine. And I knew how to play
guitar. Matt didn't want to much sing. And we knew we wanted to play heavier
music. So we decided Matt should play bass guitar. He'd never played one in his
life before. But I told him I'd teach him. Not that I'd ever played one before.
Before we'd even played our first show (which was at CBGB, by the way), I was
talking to him about Getting Signed! and Going On Tour! Matt would laugh and say
one of his trademark phrases: "Easy, guy."
Before we knew it, though, we were practicing twice
a week, playing shows every two weeks, trying to record demos, and even going
out on the road on weekends. And then when Kenny joined and we ditched the drum
machine, the whole world changed. Now we were getting good press, and better
show offers, and we had more incentive than ever to record and try to do little
tours.
Kenny and I were in our first band together. He was
13 and I was 12. The music thing wasn't just my dream; it was Kenny's, too.
And when Kenny and I met back up again in 2005, he was having
a crisis of his own, which inspired him to decide to put all his energy into
music.
Time moves very quickly. And so here we are
six years after Goes Cube started. Kenny's
31, I'm 30, and Matt will be 30 in a matter of weeks. We've toured a lot. We've
spent all our money on Goes Cube. The sacrifices we've made for Goes Cube have
been staggering. This is hard enough for me and Kenny---two people who've
dreamed of living this life. But Matt never had that dream. He always had fun in
bands, he loved the music and all that, but this was never his dream. And yet
for the last three years, he's slept on more disgusting floors, and shitty motel
rooms than we can count. He's been across the entire country only to play a
laundromat in San Francisco for two people. And there wasn't even a working
microphone there. So we played an instrumental set that night. That show was so
bad that the band we were touring with at the time took one look, and quite
literally booked plane tickets home. That was it. No more touring with Goes
Cube. Oh, and the night before in Bakersfield,
California? Let's not even discuss that other than to say that the band who
played before us (consisting of some 11 and 12 year olds) played for a bigger
crowd than we did. And their entire audience happened to be the three of
us.
We toured and toured and spent and spent, and after
each time, we'd get home only to lock ourselves in the practice space for 10 -
12 hours a week at least. All the while, we're getting older and
poorer.
We always knew this wasn't Matt's big dream. But it
was also easy to not have to really face it. After all, we weren't signed, and
we could just stop whenever we wanted. But when The End Records came along, it
was time to take stock and figure out where we were all at.
It wasn't an easy decision. In fact, it was one of
the hardest decisions any of us had ever made. It wasn't just made as a band,
but as three best friends. And at the end of the day, one of our best friends
was exhausted, stressed, and poor as a result of going along with two other
people's lifelong dream. Did he have a good time? Hell yeah. Did it mean the
world to him? It absolutely did. But, it also wasn't his big dream.
Matt is
just as dedicated to Goes Cube as me and Kenny. He co-founded the band, and he
brought us to where we are today. Even though he won't be playing the bass for
us after the May 14th, he'll always be a part of Goes Cube. It sounds cliche,
but it's true. And the fact that he did every bit as Kenny and I did and yet
this wasn't his dream, kind of makes us think that maybe he's been the one to
have made the most sacrifice of any of us. And as
an act of selfless dedication, Matt ultimately came to the decision that it
would be in Goes Cube's best interest to go on without him. On 5/15, Matt Tyson (who's toured with us for five weeks as a documentarian) will be taking over the bass duties in Goes Cube. Indeed, Matt Frey has toured
longer and harder than he even said he would, or ever thought he could. He's
spent more time and money than any of us dreamed we ever could or would.
Without Matt, this
record would have never happened. In fact, without Matt, this band would have
never happened. Who's to say where Kenny and I would be. Matt's developed his
own style of bass playing that neither Kenny nor I ever think we'll hear again.
Matt continues to be a best friend to us. We love him, and to say we'll miss him is an
understatement. But then, we're also incredibly excited that Matt gets a
well-deserved retirement after six very long and difficult
years. Plus, we'll still be bowling and drinking beers with him all the time, so we'll only miss him on tour, when we roll into a Wal-Mart and no one's pushing over the elderly and disabled to get that last motorized scooter.
Please join us on
May 14, 2009 at the Studio at Webster Hall. Not only is it our CD release show,
but you could also say it's Matt's release show. too. Help us make it a great
celebration.
9:10 PM
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