David Lawson: Tesla, Aerosmith, AC/DC, George Lynch, and many of the
great band of the 80's. Long live the MULLET!
Chad Havlat: Old Metallica, Evenesence, Sublime
Daniel Vigert: KISS, The Who, Hoodoo Gurus, The New York Dolls
Mike Plith:
It's the early 1990's and four hungry musicians all have the same goal of
getting up onstage with their instruments and delivering a Rock and Roll
show that would barbecue an audience and leave them craving their next
show! Problem is, only two of these people actually know one each other.
Daniel Vigert and Mike Plith grew up in the same neighborhood and knew of
each other, but it wasn't until 1993 that they began playing in a band
called "Clownboxer" together. They played all of their own music and
really had a hard time getting gigs and they did not seem to have the same
idea with the other members of where the band should be going, so Vigert and Plith parted from the others one of and took their drummer with them.
Across town, Dave Lawson is playing drums for a local cover band called
"The Footprints" and has a desire to actually turn in the drum kit and
sling a guitar over his shoulder in another band that would fill his guitar
craving ambition. What band that would be was unknown until Mike and Dave
met one another at a local printing company both were working at. Mike,
knowing he needed a guitar player for the band, asked Dave to come over to
his place where "Clownboxer" had been rehearsing and give it a try. Dave
agreed and came over to Mike's and met Daniel Vigert for the first time.
"I was absolutely amazed that you could name about any song and Dave would
play a riff from it. It was like...this is our guy!!!" Vigert said.
The new quartet continued with an "all-original songs" approach to their
show, but eventually started throwing a few cover songs in to the set lists
which would really please the crowd when they played and thus more and more
cover songs were being added to the sets. It was eventually decided that
cover songs, with a few originals mixed in, would be the new angle of the
band as this would bring in more people to their shows and open more doors
into clubs.
They also needed a new name, but what? They wanted something
that would sound heavy and would have some sort of a meaning. After
tossing around several ideas, they agreed on THE VICTIMS which was their
own self-description of their failings in the previous "all-origianls"
scheme. It should be noted however that THE VICTIMS did have success as an
originals band. In 1998, they were on a local cable access show and wound
up being on the program's "most requested" show for that year, but the guys demanded mayhem at every show and knew they needed to keep working for that to happen....they would need to make more changes.
When time to replace their drummer came in 1999, the guys knew they had to
hit a homerun with their next hire. Chad Havlat was an unknown to any of
the other three until he would up at a party at Dave's house and started
jamming with him. Dave was very impressed and was equally giddy with
Chad's vocal capabilities. Lawson anxiously called Danny immediately and they
invited Chad to try out. Havlat had been involved in the garage rock scene
around Lincoln in recent years and was also waiting for something special
to happen. It did for all four of these guys!!! After asking Chad to join
the band, he accepted and the four rocking crusaders practiced their asses
off for about two years (gigging sparingly) before really starting to get
jobs with any consistancy.
THE VICTIMS big breakthrough may have been on April 14th, 2001 at THE ROYALGROVE in front of about 300 people (a huge audience for a local band) where on the club's big stage (where many famous rockers have performed) they turned heads with their high-energy style. They were not totally tight yet, but nobody could deny their energy and stage presence.
They were all over the place on that particular evening...playing hard and running and jumping around...the audience fed off the energy and it was at this point Chad Havlat, DanielVigert, Mike Plith, and Dave Lawson knew they were onto something special, but surely no local band could pull off this kind of performance time and time again, right? Hell yes, man...only suckers dream!!!
THE VICTIMS have realized that hard work, teamwork, and lots of natural ability onstage do make dreams come true. Any band knows that without a past there is no future and THE VICTIMS cherish and reflect on their past as much as they anticipate their future.
The story does not end here....Hell no!!! It's only the beginning!!!
I finally get to move. Say goodbye next Tuesday, the bar was cool enough to hire a really good band. Advance tickets suggested...$15 and well worth it!
