Douglas Slachter- Lead Vocals & Guitar;
Christopher Peterson- Bass & BGV’s;
John Hauck- Trumpet & BGV’s;
Benjamin White- Drums & Hup Hups;
Sarah Moyer- Sax;
Adam Bratton- Trombone;
Shae Murry- Lead Guitar;
Stephany Saffle- Trombone;
Nik Hoback- Lead Vocals;
Derek Gade- Drums
Influences
The O.C. Supertones, Five Iron Frenzy, Reel Big Fish, 10 Minutes Down, Save Ferris, B.O.B., The Insyderz, Buck, Skillet, Squad 5-O, Sum 41, Van Morrison, Good Charlotte, Keith Green, Pax 217, The W's, Jimmy Eat World, Sublime
Sounds Like
The O.C. Supertones, Five Iron Frenzy, Reel Big Fish, 10 Minutes Down, Save Ferris, B.O.B., The Insyderz, Buck
Here's a cool article that I found from a Canadian punk who learned the incredible powers of Ska and skanking:
The first time I went to a local Toronto ska show, which was approximately four years ago, I was immediately taken aback by how people showed their appreciation for the music. Growing up in the punk scene and having attended many punk shows prior to that night, the only thing that I was used to was a rough, violent pit of dirty, smelly, sweaty bodies. It took a few ska bands to play in order for me to get adjusted to the less aggressive atmosphere. I don’t even remember who informed me that the dance was indeed called “skanking” but all I remember was thinking how ridiculous it looked. I thoroughly enjoyed my first ska show and vowed to go back as soon as possible. However, being the self-conscious person that I am, there was no way I was prepared to go all out and start skanking.
As time went on and I had the opportunity to attend more shows, I was still adamant on standing quite still and just merely enjoying the music from a distance. I could not imagine why anyone would want to dance around like that. As far as I was concerned, it wasn’t even a dance. From my observations, it didn’t seem as though it took any special skills to dance like that. It appeared to be just the same thing over and over, until there was a depletion of energy.
One fine summer evening, after a beer and a sugar rush, I decided to try it. I managed to convince myself that I really had nothing to lose. I am definitely the worst dancer and it appeared as though skill wasn’t involved, so I thought that maybe it was something I actually could do. Without even thinking, I went for it. I went all out and started dancing with a bunch of sweaty strangers. Now that I look back on it, I can’t even imagine how I got through a show without skanking. It is an incredible adrenaline rush and releases a bunch of endorphins to raise your spirits. Skanking is like a drug, without the harmful side effects and, without a doubt, makes the shows so much more fun.
However, my initial hypothesis was completely inaccurate. Skanking does take a lot of coordination (whether one wants to consider it a talent or not is questionable) and everyone has a unique way of doing it. Once again, being the self-conscious person that I am I had the initial habit of observing everyone else in order to see if I was doing it correctly. The truth is that there really is no right or wrong way to do it. Everyone who puts on their skanking shoes has the opportunity to add their own flavour.
I know, it's sad. We all had some good times and we'd love to say thank you to everyone. Previous and ending bandmates:
Daryl (Shae Murry) our original lead guitaris, Fred (Stephany Saffle) our first trombone, Eric (or Steve or Charles. Fred's Hubby now, whatever your name really is), Chad (Sarah Moyer), Adam Bratton, Nik Hoback, and all of those guys who played brass in the last days of VH that I never met.
Thanks to our fans:
Small Town Nation, Levi the Kid, Charlie, and all of the Deer Park crew, Jessie Alexander, Debbie, the Emilys Handley and Gooch (now Slachter), Kid (Sarah Slachter), Sarah White (previously Sarah Peterson), all of the 3rd West crew and everyone at Whitworth, everyone from Moses Lake, all of the people who saw us at the Gong Show at Creation West back in '04 (including Doug's wife) The String Cheese Crusaders will never die, Cornerstone Community Church for always letting us have a place to play, all of the guys from 10 Minutes Down (especially Ted Teske), and all of our families and other friends that we'll never forget.
Thanks to God:
Though we didn't always do what was right, and though our testimony was tainted by our flaws, our intent was always to glorify You! (doxozo theon!)
Here is a very brief history of VH for anyone who is interested:
Way back in 2003 Ben White, Chris Peterson, Shae Murry, and Doug Slachter were all at Ben's house chilling with some instruments. They decided that it would be cool to start a punk band, since it is the easiest type of band to start and they all liked the music. That was pretty much the end of it until later that fall when Doug got a call from Chris asking him to be the lead vocals for the ska band that he and Ben were starting. So the band was started. Shae took lead guitar, Doug took rhythm guitar and vox, Chris took bass, and The Bighead took drums. They sucked.
Evidently this wasn't a ska band as they had no brass. Chris knew this guy, though that played trumpet in his school's pep band, and the guy had agreed to play with them, per Chris' request.
Then Chris got into a car accident that nearly ended his life. It was a tough time for all of the guys, but Chris emerged from the situation with most of his brain and the band emerged with a name recommended by Shae: The Visiting Hours.
The band continued practicing without either Chris or the trumpet guy (as Chris had never introduced them officially) Eventually they did meet him, and his name was John Hauck. Though he didn't realize it at the time, Doug had at one time played trumpet next to John in a homeschool orchestra.
Chris progressed in his recovery and the band put together more and more songs. Their first concert happened in the late spring of 2004 when they played with Fred (Formerly Stephany Saffle) at Timmy Bauerly's birthday party. They all wore pinstripes.
Later that summer they all went to Creation West and performed at the Gong Show. They placed second, but they ended up with the prize (a 1st gen. ipod mini) because the actual winner was really a proffessional acrobat. This was their unnoficial jumping off point. Though they never really got going hard core, they started getting serious from this point on.
The next year or two continued with sparatic shows here and there. Most of them had very few fans, but they were all fun. Somewhere in there the official band colors became Orange and Blue, and those colors dominated everything from clothes to instruments to Doug's car from then on out.
The fall of 2005 started the biggest time for The Visiting Hours. On the first day of School for Whitworth students VH played a Wednesday night show at Fat Tuesdays. (this venue is no longer around, but at the time it was the friendliest place to unknown bands). They packed the place with over 100 people all skanking and swinging. By this point Shae had left the band (because of a tough and sad situation for the band). It was just The Doogster, Haucko, The Titanium Cranium, and Bighead. The band wore plaid.
After this came the band's one and only tour. It was supposed to be 4 stops all around Washington, but ended up being only 2 stops, one on the eastern Washington/Oregon border, and one in Redmond, Washington. It really didn't do all that well, but it was fun for all involved. Next came a show at SCC where the guys got paid $600 (as well as full catering) to play in front of about 25 people. The guys took the money and decided to invest in a cd. By this time both Adam Bratton and Chad (Sarah Moyer) had joined the band. The band pooled all of the money they had made at shows and came up with just enough for a 40 hour recording session at College Road Records.
Over a one week period the band laid down 8 different songs. During this time Kevin (the screaming chicken) was officially adopted into the band, the horns learned that they all knew the same section of Handel's "Messiah", and Ben lost Doug's soul to Chris in a game of cards.
All of this led up to one thing: Another show at Fat Tuesday's. It was a 3 cd release party. The lineup was Ten Minutes Down, Man of Action (previously Derby), and The Visiting Hours. There was even a radio promo show that the guys got to intro a couple of their songs on. Finally the day arived and the band was a huge hit. They sold almost all of their 100 cds and had the time of their lives. The band agian wore plaid.
Sadly, as is often the case, the band lost intrest after the cd was done. Almost 2 months past before they got together to play again. Eventually they got together again and put together some new songs and took an invitation to play out in Moses Lake. They did this one other time before the summer was over.
A new era for the band began when Doug left for School out in Virginia at the end of the summer. The other three guys (as Adam had left the band) and Sarah decided to enlist the talents of Nik Hoback, a very good friend of all of the guys. They worked for a couple months to get him up on the repretoir and finally played their first big show at Warren Peace, a dorm show at Whitworth. (it was actually the second time the band had played Warren Peace) By then they had recruited two new horns and Haucko had switched over to playing guitar.
This version of the band played a couple more shows the next year or so. The final show happened during early January of 2008. It was an invite to play at SFCC. The show was during the middle of the day, a gray and cold day. Most of the people at the show were there to sign up for college clubs. It was just the base four in their original setup: Chris Peterson on bass, John Hauck on trumpet, Doug Slachter on guitar and lead vox, and Ben White on drums. They played about a dozen songs to a small crowd that seemed to enjoy the upbeat music. The band wore checkerboard.
After this the guys parted ways, and just like that, The Visiting Hours were over.
Hey, I was talking you guys up to Val Workman in regards to Pig Out, now I haven't seen any of you in church or anything yet this summer. What's up with that?
Thanks for friending the newest organization in the fight to promote ska at the national level through collaboration amongst the bands, labels, and promoters!
Check out the myspace and get active!
2007 is a promising year for ska, let's make that a reality!
We're offering all three April shows for only £12! ...instead of £5 per show.
You can get the tickets in advance on the myspace, or you you can pay for the lot on the 5th April!
Here's the flyer for Three In A Row!
and here's the flyers for other shows.
Click them to enlarge.
So as I was sitting in the airport for 3 hours today I was talking to the lovely Emily Handley watching the sunset in a beautiful orange and blue and I was pleasantly reminded of my friends The Visiting Hours. Emily then made fun of me.
I feel so out of it. You guys should post pictures of the new members.
I'll see all of you this thanksgiving break, so we'll have to at least get together to hang out, if not jam. Trust me, I'm missing the band right now.
hey
you guys rawk tons
whens your next show?
ive been converting a bunch of my friends to the light side (a.k.a. Ska)
you guys need to play soon
cause your awesome
Rawk On and God Bless
