run amok

What the hell is loss4words?

In the middle of wasted of a wasted physics lesson in Grade 11, Duncan looked over at my book to see what I'd done about an AC-DC converter in my circuit diagram. I hadn't. I was writing a song, I had some lyrics and had mapped out some basic chord progressions. He read it, and commented that it didn't suck, so we decided to start a band. Flimsy, I know. We didn't actually do anything until mid-way through the following year, but we went home and made a website anyway, on our original hosting provider Webjump. What a site. It was so fucking shit, I don't even know where to begin. The whole thing scrolled vertically and had banner ads, but it was great, and for two years we sat around and lazily wrote songs and did nothing with them. Eventually in early 99 before we'd started uni, I managed to get my hands on a midi editor, and wrote in drumm and bass parts to make up for the instruments we didn't have. We recorded about 14 songs, with classics like Disjointed, On Your Way, Unwanted, She Doesn't Fit Into The Change Machine, and Techno? Heck no! They never went much further than a few mp3s and some poorly-distributed demo tapes.

The pace was picking up, but we had problems; no bass or drummer. So, Duncan hastily bought a bass, I got a new guitar, and that was one of two problems solved. There we sat for two months until Nic introducted us to Steve, the drummer from her old band DogRocket. We all got drunk at a party of his and ended up being the last ones standing at 3am singing along to Life In General. It was agreed; loss4words was go.

We got a show booked before we'd even played together; the guest artists at a Battle of the Bands at CQU, in a months time. We practised once a week for four hours, and learnt four songs per session. eventually we kept 12, and our first set was complete. As per usual, a spot opened up the night before the show, at a place called Cloud 9, so we played it too. We got paid $330 for the CQU gig, and got drunk at Cloud 9. It was everything I'd ever hoped it could be and more. Eventually we expanded to two sets, interspersed with covers and yrmom jokes. We played semi-regularly until the end of the year, when Steve moved to Brisbane and Duncan to Rockhampton.

A few months later, I asked Hayden if he knew any drummers. He said he'd learn to play drums, I laughed and said ok. Fiona had earlier agreed to play bass, but I was still understaffed. Two weeks later, Hayden called me and said "I can play drums now." I was in shock. He had, in a fortnight, become a competent drummer. loss4words was back on. Hayden and fiona were already in another band with Dane and this other guy Mike, called Skint, so when the first jam rolled around, Dane came too. I don't really know how he ended up in the band, he just kept coming, so he stayed. The band continued in this form for the end of the year, until we all moved away.

In early 2001, I found myself living with the original drummer Steve in Brisbane. Hayden and Dane also lived in Brisbane, so we decided to take the pieces of our broken bands, the loss4words songs, and the skint songs, to form a superband: 4FS. We kicked so much ass. We only ever played a handful of shows but goddamn, it was awesome. There was more concentrated talent in that practise room than I'd ever been privvy to. By the start of 2002, we'd all gotten bogged dwon with our lives and no-one had any drive for the band anymore. We never really broke up, and as late as Christmas 2002, there was still talk of a reunion. IT never happened however, and it wasn't until march 2003 when Dane, Hayden and Steve started playing acoustic cover sets at the Tin Billy that the final nails were driven into the 4FS coffin.

It was then, as usual, when faced with defeat that inspiration struck. I decided I wasn't going to give up, and that I was going to Dave Grohl it; write all the songs on my own, drums, guitar, bass, vocals, get some recording gear at home and creat something new from the music of the last four years. So I did. I kept writing and playing and eventually ended up with 22 songs I was happy with.

Then, tragedy struck; a burglary. My bass and my guitar were stolen. It would be months before I could get replacement equipment, and just as I was finally getting to have enough equipment to start recording again, I met Dave, Dave and Jake. They were looking for a bass player, I was looking for a band. They were something a bit different to what I was used to playing, but once I heard it I was definitely down with it, so the loss4words resurrection took somewhat of a back seat while I started jamming with what would soon become Run Amok, ironically enough, the fourth incarnation of their band as well. I took a few of the songs I'd written that I thought went along with the Run Amok feel, and started bringing them to the new band.

Sometimes people ask me if loss4words/skint/4FS is ever coming back. The simple answer is, "I don't know". These sort of things take time, and only time will tell.