I quit school two months before graduation in my senior year. I should say, my classmate were going to graduate but, due to my misaligned values about attending classes, I was not to be paroled any time soon. Looking ahead to probably two more years of school, I knew the die was cast and the smartest thing to do was leave school and jump into the work force before all the "good" jobs were taken. (Chuckling to myself.)
Being seventeen and a high school drop-out, my immediate employment opportunities were considerably limited. I took a job as a dishwasher at an all-night diner in town. Later, once I turned eighteen, I took a job as a porter at a film processing center which led me to getting a job at a gas station. What a career path, no!
As I was bouncing through these different jobs, Todd and I began toying with the idea of playing as a band again. Now that school was out and we were both working, we had some badly needed funds for equipment purchases and beer. We were set.
We still had the eternal struggle for a rehearsal space so we would squeeze in band practices whenever possible. We set our site on another recording session, planning to learn from our previous experiences, we felt confident that the outcome would be dramatically better.
As we re-engaged the rehearsals, we were still on the look-out for a bass player. Reminiscent of "Spinal Tap", we just could not seem to keep a bass player on the roster. Through our entire experience as a band unit, we had nine different bass players over an eight year period.
We spent the rest of 1977, until spring of 1978, looking for a third member and continued our writing. I once again changed jobs and took a position at KMart as a stockman. While at KMart, I met a fellow employee named Jeff Lightfoot and we became friends. Lo and behold, Jeff played bass!
