dave alexandre,
darren bennett,
rob brady,
sean o'leary,
james "parge" pargiter
Influences
fugazi, crain, the knack, rites of spring, embrace, helmet, treepeople, sparkmarker with ryan scott singing, sunny day real estate, jawbox, gorilla biscuits, hüsker dü and probably 100,000 more.
Sean O'Leary Vancouver 2006
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Stovebolt was a band consisting of the following righteous dudes: Dave Alexandre - guitar/vocals, Darren Bennett - bass (1991-92), Rob Brady - drums, James "Parge" Pargiter - bass (1992-94) and Sean O'Leary - guitar.
We were a band from around 1991-1994 I think. We were formed out of the ashes of the pop/punk/Treepeople-ripoff band Lümbre which featured Parge on guitar and vocals and Greg Bright on bass. Parge fell in love with a lady and fucked off (which made us all want to punch him for about thirty seconds, but in the end he was right and so was Cindy).
Dave "The Dark One" was brought in to complete a pissed off all-metal four piece with myself - "The Mind Abuser", Rob Brady "The Anal Intruder" and Greg Levesque, "Bat Child". We jammed on about 4 plodding metal riffs, thus enraging Rob's roommate who liked studying more than he liked the power of rock. DARK HAMMER WAS BORN! We wrote maybe one song, but spent most of our time cruising the West End of Vancouver ensuring that a local hairmetal act NEMESIS GYPSY had no posters that were left undefaced by the slogan "DARK HAMMER - NONE SHALL DEFY". Until, of course, Nemesis Gypsy found out that we lived across the street from them -------------
So we got serious. Greg went to school, and we enlisted former Sparkmarker bass god/gear obsessed beardo Darren Bennett. We quickly wrote the songs that encompassed the Customizing cassette, and played our first show in the fall of 1992 with Sparkmarker (with Ryan Scott singing - the only Sparkmarker with any relevance or style) and Seattle's Engine Kid.
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I chose the moniker STOVEBOLT from an issue of CARtoons - the now-defunct car-gearhead Mad-style cartoon magazine. I remember it clearly the two characters Krass and Bernie ran out of gas, so they said well, why dont we just catch the wind drag from that stovebolt up there and they ended up coasting home under the power of a lead sled DeSoto or some other huge 1940s gas guzzler. Little did we know there was a plodding 70s rock band from Calgary (?) called "STONEBOLT" but by then the gig posters were made, and Keith from Scratch Records snickered at us. I guess my house didnt have a used bin to scan for already-used names of 70s bands from the prairies in. Crap. A stovebolt is also a big, coarsely-threaded bolt used for jerry-rigging large pieces of metal together, like a lag bolt I guess.
We gigged around Vancouver and the Okanagan. We recorded our first demo in CKVU (now CityTV) studios with Chris Cairo. It was a learning experience. These songs became Customizing. I think about 100 were pressed. Correct me if Im wrong.
Soon after, Darren became rather bogged down by the constraints of marriage, 9-5 work and the collecting of Magic cards and announced his departure from the band. Parge, recently returned from an ill-advised sojourn in Victoria with the lovely Cindy, bought Jason Craig's Rickenbacker and we quickly went on a trip to Alberta with STRAIN.
On this trip we learned a few important lessons. First edge dudes can be obsessed with pie-mags. Second if you streak across the Coquihalla highway for money, it doesnt make you rich. Third Len Greenblatts problem was not stupidity but earwax.
Most importantly, we hooked up with Jon Lyne who asked us to put out a CD with his fledgling label COLD. We wrote more songs and recorded with Barrett Jones (Foo Fighters, Wool, Melvins) at Laundry Room studio in Seattle. It was an 8-track studio, but it sounded incredible.
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A few more road trips, and we were done. Bickering - the kind that only young men can do - was the problem, but we were also plagued by a few poisonous folks who wanted to see us fail, scapegoats for the imagined specter of misogyny in the Vancouver scene. Theres a long story behind that that may be told but the most crucial thing to note is that our detractors, even with all their former venom, went on to become decidedly mediocre folks - spineless douche drinkers who know who they are. And it still takes 4 riot grrls to screw in a light bulb.
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Dave is now finishing off his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto and can outthink Jesus, Santa Claus and King Rama of Thailand, all at the same time.
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Darren Bennett - I haven't seen him in years, but he is probably still married to Kristine and smiling about something. Probably bass-related, but in all likelihood he is thinking about Magic cards.
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Rob Brady is now working in the film industry as a grip or something. He makes lots of money and still drinks many Guinnesses.
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Parge is a computer programmer and movie nut. He is now married to Cindy and they have a gem of a son named Oliver who, at 20 months, is smarter than 11 Riot Grrls combined.
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Sean is still a prick and still only thinks about guitars, beer and female breasts but he does it with style.
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Only 7 people will care about this myspace page, but what the fuck.
i was at a party in grade 8 and little mark o'leary showed up all bummed out cause his brothers band broke up. then he gave me a stovebolt tape. good story. really interesting
