Editors Note: This is a guest post from “Gabriel The Gun”.
The year was 1985, the place was Loara High School behind the Orange Curtain in Anaheim California. It was a very exciting time for us outcasts of sunny Southern California. Punks, Mods, Skinheads (non-racist kind) and Rock-A-Billies roamed among tourists from far off elusive lands all to get a glimpse of the over-grown mouse on steroids over there at Disney Land … D-Land, as we liked to call it.
It was a melting pot of ideas and sounds that were cooking in Anaheim that year, and myself and a small group of like minded cats were about to start something new. A group of us “band geeks” that played in the marching band, who all happened to be into the Mod and Ska scene that hit the West Coast in the late 70ʼs and early 80ʼs decided to form a Ska band. The name of this early trendsetting Ska group was Applecore. Yeah I know, kinda lame. But after a number of performances at our school, other schools and a church, and after some personnel changes and additions … we voted on a name change, the winning name was No Doubt.
Thus a new era was to begin for us “band geeks” on that beautiful sunny So-Cal day. We started to play covers at every party we could, mainly in and around Orange County. From these parties, word got around concerning this new band of ours and the cute little blonde that fronted the band who would instigate the craziest mosh pits you would ever see. Yes, a Ska band playing music with the biggest mosh pits you could imagine, and creating cloud storms that could be seen from space! The parties started to get out of control, and no home could contain the crowds that would accompany the soon to be legendary band from Anaheim.
Next was Hollywood, and there was no stopping us at that point. Within no time, we owned Los Angeles. Every club and “hotspot” in LA wanted to have No Doubt on their stage, and we weren’t complaining. With our new found stardom, there came a desire to have killer gear and the right look, and letʼs face it … we needed to look cool, and walking around town with my ax in a traditional Trumpet case just wasn’t very cool looking.
I had started playing Trumpet in the 7th grade. By the time I started to attend high school, my wonderful mother had bought me a Bach Trumpet, which is the brand I still play, and am endorsed by today. I needed to transport that ax in style! I knew a Reunion Blues rep, who happened to have a brand new RB leather gig bag with him. He pulled that thing out of the box, the smell of freshly dyed leather and a look of class … man, I was sold! Needless to say, not only did that RB bag make me look good, but it was also a pivotal moment in my professional career as a Trumpet player … it was the first time, that I had felt as if I had finally made it! My first “gig bag”, are you kidding … I walked around like I owned the joint!
That was 25 years ago, I still have that same gig bag. The new leather smell is no longer present, but that bag is sexy as ever. Weathered with age and sublime … if that gig bag could talk, the stories would be worthy of an Oscar winning film. Trumpets come and go, but that same RB gig bag has been with me for years, and I have never had a problem with it … BUILT TO LAST BABY!
So the rest is history, concerning the band I co-founded. I am very proud of them, and the sound that I helped develop. Both will be around for a long time … and so will that Reunion Blues gig bag I bought 25 years ago. My oldest son plays the Trumpet, and he will soon have that gig bag that has protected my weapon of choice for so many years. I wonder … what stories of his, will that bag tell … if it could talk …
) and regardless of what the answers are to my previous questions I am for anything that will put a real instrument in the hands of more kids.
