In the past, we have trusted others to write our biography. I figure that it's time to tell the right story of Podunk as seen through our eyes!
Podunk formed in 1992. Wow, that seems like yesterday! We had no idea of the rollercoaster ride that we would be in for. We were 19 and 20 years old when we sighned our 1st independent record deal. We recorded our first ep titled breech. We called it breech cause everything was happening backwards for us. Let me rewind.....
We had made a demo tape in 92 just for the fun of it. Hell, I think we recorded the only few songs that we had written. We were really making the demo so that we could pop it in our tape players on the way to our refinery jobs. About 4 or 5 weeks later, we got a call from an independent record label that wanted to sign us just from hearing the demo. We signed the contract and made breech long before we ever played our first gig.
Making Breech was definetly a learning process. We were vey young and "green" as far as making a record was concerned. But I guess all in all the experienced defenitly made us better.
Our 1st show was headlining in Austin Texas. I can say that that was the first time I have really felt nervous. I was a drummer in every band I was in up until Podunk. I wasnt sure how to be a front man. I'm still not even sure if I do today! (hehehe) The club was packed and I thought I would pass out. But when we struck that 1st chord.....I knew that I would be fine. We continued playing in Texas trying to refine that ole Podunk sound.
Nineteen ninety five. That was a great year for us. We recorded Murlin's Dock with Niel Kernon who produced some major acts and even won a grammy! Our single swan dive was embraced by KLBJ in Austin TX. They played it in heavy rotation for a long time. There are still times to this date where we might be rolling through town and it will be spinning! KLBJ is the bomb. Jeff Carol really knows how to run a rock and roll radio station. I digress....dont get me started on other radio stations!! hehehe.
The year we made Dock, was the year we set out on our first nationwide tour! I think we toured the country about 3 times on that record. We were broke. We got 3 dollars a day per diem. So you could either get a burger, or some smokes and a coke( yes back then $3 would buy that!! :). As you can guess we always opted for the caffine and nicotine. Man did we learn alot on those tours. Those were rough times. But when I look back on pics of me and Paul eating ravioli from a can with huge smiles on our faces, It makes me realize that those were some of the funnest times we had ever had.
Enter "Throwin' Bones". That was a very fun record to make. We had the biggest budget we had ever had to make a record ($175,000) So you do what anyone would do with that kind of budget....you bring in an orchestra and a b-3 player(Danny Smith) and produce the hell out of it. I think in the long run we over did it and it came out a little slick. But there are some good tunes on that record that still sound great to me.
"Wings" went out to radio and we had no idea that it would do as good as it did. We were being played all over the country. We were even #1 and in the top 5 at some stations. We charted in the top ten charts as "most added rock band". We toured and played with some vey cool acts. The list is long..... Tesla reunion tour, train, tonic, kenny wayne sheppard, Jackyl, Kings X, Saliva, Vince Niel, Skid Row, Black water surprise, Buck Cherry, Chris Duarte, Train, The Ian Moore Band, Double Trouble, the might mighty boss tones, flicker stick, the ridlin kids, Creedence clearwater, Days of the new, Mc5, Kittie, Kicking Harold, Live, Better than Ezra, Soul Hat, Pushmonkey, vallejo, Monty Montgomery, atticus finch, and many many more.
That brings us to self titled. My favorite record to date. It's a rocker! We are are touring on it now. We have a new rythm guitar player (Mic D) and he is soooo good!! The reception on the new record has been awesome, and we want to thank all of you for the support.
I gues...since this is a bio, I can tell you what you will see when you come to a podunk show. Four guys letting it rip from their souls. That is simply all that I can say. I've tried in the past to explain it but I can't. If you love rock n roll music I think you would dig the band. There arent alot of bells and whistles. We are definitly an old fashion American Rock band. Kind of a what you see is what you get type of thing. We arent trying to re-invent the wheel......We are just trying to keep it rollin'! We are not main stream, and dont care to be. We do not wear make up and tight leather pants. We do not do coreographed dance steps. We do not sing pop songs.
We believe in the SOUL of music. We still like guitar solos. We like to extend songs and find musical bliss. We believe strongly in the fist with a raised index and pinky finger. We believe in people who dont even know each other but still sing the songs and dance together. We believe in having a blast. And we believe that if you come and see us, that you will to! We love our fans and always will. Please love each other people. In the end, thats all we will have......LOVE
PEACE,
Jason "JROCK" Touchette
Source: http://www.podunkrocks.com
