UNCERTAINTY vs CERTAINTY
BIOGRAPHY - ROOTS
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UNCERTAINTY vs CERTAINTY
THE BOY HITS CAR JOURNEY
He rose again from his shadow to contemplate the decision before him. The sun was decending into the west, and he felt it exploding him from behind. A few feet from where his eyes rested upon his young face, stood two signs. One sign pointed down a road where a car awaited to take him into the womb of certainty, should he choose that path. The other sign pointed towards a narrow trail that disappeared into a lush forrest.
He looked at the sign pointing at the car. Upon it, in big black gleaming letters was the word, CERTAINTY -10 miles. Underneath this word, written a bit smaller, it read: Acceptance and Security. He stared at the sign for a moment before shifting his gaze to the other. This sign was older looking and the words were a bit faded- it read: UNCERTAINTY- miles unknown. Underneath, like the other sign were two words: Risk and Freedom. The boy became confused and distraught once again as his eyes began to swell with water. Most of his life he had been told that this day would come. They had all said for him to prepare himself, and he now knew that this would be the biggest decision he would ever make.
A resolution that would decide his life course. Those close assured him that it would ultimately be his decision; but at the same time he felt urged to get into the Car, which would lead him to Certainty. They had all been where he was now, and they would convince him that getting in the Car would be the safest way to live his life. Most of them had chosen the path of Certainty. They had all sat down in the comfort of the car, and like most before, had all ended up secure and accepted.... but were they happy? Were their hearts singing everyday they awoke? The boy thought about this as he turned to let the setting sun dry his face. He watched the beautiful merging of the sun and ocean.
The sight seemed to return a calmness that had been absent from his soul. He breathed deep, longing for the rays of light to enter his body; to maybe melt away his emotions. Then, after awile, he closed his eyes and slowly turned to face the inevitable. The boy retracted his eyelids to let all perception enter. He glared at the first sign, trying to dismantle the words until they were naked, revealing their true meaning. CERTAINTY... ACCEPTANCE...SECURITY. He couldn't figure out why most of the world was obsessed with obtaining these things; why most deemed this path the safest for ones life.. He shifted his eyes to the other sign, looking deep into the words. UNCERTAINTY...RISK...FREEDOM. He repeated the words over and over as he read them. Then, slowly but suddenly; quietly but urgently, the revelation crawled.
.... into his head and rested upon his brain.The boy quickly looked up, beyond the sign to the trail disappearing into the lush green canopy. Then he glanced at the car. He felt his heart begin to beat harder. He looked back to the trail and the beautiful forest which eventually enveloped it. The boy watched as a bird took flight from one tree to another. He noticed a squirrel run down the base of a tree, then disappear under a bush. He realized that animals are not concerned with security or acceptance. They are content with being who they are, and they are satisfied with what they have. His breath quickened as he looked back to the car and the looming city beyond. He pondered all the people scurrying around in the shadows of those towering buildings. He wondered if they were content with who they were. He wondered if they were satisfied with the path they had chosen
The boy concluded that maybe some were, but most were trying to fill the void where their childhood hearts once sang. Most were trying to get somewhere the Car could not take them; because in this life, nothing is certain... He felt a wonderful burning in the center of his chest, as he finally turned his back to the Car forever. As he moved to the head of the Uncertain trail, he glanced at the sign which pointed to it. A subtle smile crept across his face. for now he knew what the sign meant. The boy stood before the path of Uncertainty, held his head high, and said these words aloud... "This is the route for my life. I know because my heart has shown me the way. This passage will not be an easy one. There will be numerous obstacles blocking my way, and many challenges to overcome; but by doing so I know that I will learn and grow from every experience, pleseant or unpleseant.
I understand that by taking this uncertain path, I may risk acceptance
and security, and at times life might be filled with suffering; but if
the risk is taken out of life, then there will be no true living. Through
the risk of the life I'm choosing, ultimately...I will be free..."
Tears of joy began to gather in the boys eyes as he took to the path of
Uncertainty, because he knew he was following his heart, and his heart
had told him to stay true to the dreams of his youth. Just before the
boy was consumed by the thicket of trees he looked back over his shoulder
to where the car was. He began laughing aloud and singing lovely songs
of freedom because the car...had vanished.
CRegg
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THE BOY HITS CAR BIOGRAPHY
"The lights onstage dim, the audience erupts into cheers, and from the powerful rumble of the drums coming at you like an out-of-control 18-wheeler to the sweat glistening on the chest of...
Fuck all that. We're Boy Hits Car, no bones about it, we'll kick it to you straight. My name is Scott, I'm the bass player in Boy Hits Car and this is our bio in my own words:
Louis (guitar), CRegg (vocals, acoustic 12-string guitar), and I all grew up together from early childhood. Louis and CRegg were neighbors in the same condo complex and knew each other since they were mere toddlers wearing diapers. I lived a mile away so it wasn't until the beginning of elementary school that my path crossed with theirs.
Looking back now, it seems fitting that the first time I ever saw CRegg he was singing. A happy kid with wild blonde hair and a big smile, he was in the schoolyard belting out that song from THE WIZ, "C'mon and ease on down, ease on down the road" over and over as he'd run toward the chainlink fence at the edge of the playground and bounce into it.
I remember seeing Louis around from time to time but my first encounter with him wasn't until I was 11. He'd ripped a friend of mine off, selling him a crappy BMX bike which he'd painted over and plastered with Red Line stickers, trying to pass it off as the real thing. Teased by all the kids, my friend quickly realized he'd been taken so we set off on bikes to find this "Louie" character and get a refund. We tracked him down at the local video arcade where he'd already spent the kid's money. No refund was granted but Louis and I wound up becoming great friends.
Louis, CRegg and I spent a lot of time together over the years, having fun, hangin' out at each other's houses, getting into trouble (I was usually the instigator, "always scheming" as CRegg puts it), and finding ourselves.
In 1990 CRegg was burning with a passionate idea and told me that we had to form a band. "Scott, you've already been playing bass, Lou's been playing guitar--he can play all kinds of Slayer and Metallica stuff--and I can sing!" A mutual friend of ours played drums and our first band was formed. We played parties and had fun and all was going well until our drummer announced he was quitting to join another band. We were hurt, but with 20/20 hindsight I now see that everything happens for a reason.
We decided to form a new band and go in a new musical direction. We met and jammed with a slew of drummers, mostly meat heads; usually within the first 30 seconds we could tell it wasn't going to work. Forming a strong band is much like dating: you search and search until you find that perfect person for you, that soulmate who understands you and who you understand; someone with whom you can connect. When it is true, you know it.
Flashback: Michael (drums) was born and reared in Los Angeles until his dad's job transferred the family to Connecticut. He adjusted and life was good until his dad's job relocated the family again, this time uprooting Michael's ties and landing him at the beginning of his 10th grade year in a small country town, just a blip on the map somewhere in Texas. "That's where my nightmare began," Michael puts it. A small, fast-talking city kid, he stood out from the crowd, never really fitting in, and became a self-professed "loner." It was during that time that he spent countless hours locked away in his room playing drums. He played in many bands and eventually his drumming brought him back to L.A.
The music gods led him to us as we found each other, of all places, in a "Drummer Wanted" ad we'd placed in an L.A. paper. And in February of 1993 Boy Hits Car was born.
We wrote songs and gigged locally. Los Angeles has what we call the "pay-to-play" circuit where certain clubs will sometimes charge bands up to a few hundred dollars to pre-sell tickets to their own show which ensures them a slot on a good bill. Since we always agreed bands shouldn't have to pay money to express their art we opted not to take that route. Why do what is expected of you? Why let the car hit you? We agreed to stand strong as the boy and hit the car. Going it this way was sometimes tough. We never did pay-to-play but with no fanbase we were given the worst possible time slots, like 12:15am on a Tuesday or 7:30pm on a Friday. We got used to playing for next to no one and in turn, we learned how to play for ourselves, to connect with each other, to feed off each other's energy and give it our all; blood, sweat, and tears (literally). We became stronger as a unit.
In March of 1995 a booking agent got hold of our demo tape and sent us out on a six-week tour. We'd hardly been out our front door and there we were traveling across the country, just the four of us and all our equipment in our brown van, "Scooby," living together, playing our music and growing closer as band mates and as brothers. We were still playing to next to no one but we were living our dream.
Once home, we wrote more songs, played more gigs, and recorded more demo tapes. We did some more short tours over the country and in 1997 we got signed to a very independent record label. We recorded our first album, "My Animal" (released in May 1998). We gave it all we had but the label gave it no promotion and 2 weeks after its limited release and low sales, they dropped us.
Feeling discouraged and disheartened we pressed on and believed in the music we were creating and in ourselves. We continued to do what we had always done. We played more gigs with shoddy time slots and little by little more people kept coming out to see us.
Toward the end of 1999 we began garnering interest from various record labels and in January 2000 we signed with our first choice, Wind-up Records.
In February we picked up a handful of dates on the SnoCore tour opening for System Of A Down, Incubus, and Mr. Bungle and recently we opened for Papa Roach on a couple of dates, layin' it down to some crazy crowds. After years of sweatin' it out to small crowds these gigs were a step up to a new level for us as we found ourselves playing to the largest audiences we'd ever been in front of; sometimes as many as 3,000 people. It's amazing for us to play in front of large audiences and to connect and to feel the power and energy coming back to us. But whether we are playing in front of 3,000 people or 3 people our motto is the same as it's always been: "Play all-out from the heart or don't play at all."
I know not where tomorrow will take us; all I know is where we are today. And today I feel fortunate to be able to create and play beautiful music with my three brothers. And in this moment we are pouring everything we've got into this record to make it the sickest, loveliest, ugliest, prettiest, most beautiful, melodic, heartfelt album coming at ya straight from the depths of our soul.
People always ask me, what does Boy Hits Car stand for? My answer is simple: Boy Hits Car believes in living from the heart and following your dream. It doesn't matter what your passion is or what you do, it just matters that you do it with love."
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In February of 1993 Boy Hits Car was born.
"We wrote songs and gigged locally. Since we always agreed bands shouldn't have to pay money to express their art we never did pay-to-play, but with no fanbase we were given the worst possible time slots. We got used to playing for next to no one and in turn, we learned how to play for ourselves, to connect with each other, to feed off each other's energy and give it our all; blood, sweat, and tears (literally). We became stronger as a unit.
In March of 1995 a booking agent got hold of our demo tape and sent us out on a six-week tour. We'd hardly been out our front door and there we were traveling across the country, just the four of us and all our equipment in our brown van, "Scooby," living together, playing our music and growing closer as band mates and as brothers. We were still playing to next to no one but we were living our dream.
Once home, we wrote more songs, played more gigs, and recorded more demo tapes. We did some more short tours over the country and in 1997 we got signed to a very independent record label. We recorded our first album, "My Animal" (released in May 1998). We gave it all we had but the label gave it no promotion and 2 weeks after its limited release and low sales, they dropped us.
Toward the end of 1999 we began garnering interest from various record labels and in January 2000 we signed with our first choice, Wind-up Records.
In February we picked up a handful of dates on the SnoCore tour opening for System Of A Down, Incubus, and Mr. Bungle and recently we opened for Papa Roach on a couple of dates, layin' it down to some crazy crowds. After years of sweatin' it out to small crowds these gigs were a step up to a new level for us as we found ourselves playing to the largest audiences we'd ever been in front of; sometimes as many as 3,000 people. It's amazing for us to play in front of large audiences and to connect and to feel the power and energy coming back to us. But whether we are playing in front of 3,000 people or 3 people our motto is the same as it's always been: "Play all-out from the heart or don't play at all."
People always ask me, what does Boy Hits Car stand for? My answer is simple: Boy Hits Car believes in living from the heart and following your dream. It doesn't matter what your passion is or what you do, it just matters that you do it with love. "
Scott and Boy Hits Car
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