F.O.M.
F.O.M. was the misguided name of my first cheesy Christian band. The name stood for Fishers of Men and was taken, in a moment of "inspiration," from a fellow band-member's Christian t-shirt. The band was made up of myself and brothers Brad and Joey Wright. All three of us shared guitar, vocal, and song-writing duties, which is a bit silly but actually worked out all right since we usually wrote three different guitar parts and always wrote complicated harmonies and supporting melodies. Joey also played piano from time to time. On a couple of occasions my brother Jesse played bass for us (awesome!) and friends Tim or "Patty" played percussion. That was fun.
When we started F.O.M. Brad, Joey and I had all recently found a renewed love for and commitment to Christ and his mission so we naturally wanted to serve him with our musical skills. So a few weeks before I left for college for the first time we holed up in someone's living room for a few days and knocked out our first ten or so songs. A week later we went into the recording studio and got down the best live versions we could with the limited amount of studio time we could afford. A graphic design friend volunteered his efforts and we pumped out a couple hundred audio tapes just in time for our first gig (this was just prior the proliferation of c.d. recording). Amazingly enough, just before the first show we were interviewed on a Dallas alternative Christian radio show and had two of our songs played. (It helps when the emcee is your Younglife leader!) After our performance we were approached by someone in the audience and asked if for our second show we'd like to open up for Caedmon's Call. We were dumbfounded. Caedmon's was still an indie band on the (mostly Texas) college circuit and we were huge fans. So a few weeks later we opened up for them and got to go out to eat with the band afterwards. They were great to us. So F.O.M. was off and rolling...
Then not much at all happened--at least not in the way of a big discovery or anything. Though we did all end up at The University of Texas and were able to perform together around the state for the next few years. Sometimes I really miss it a lot (not the "Christian" band, but the gigging). It's such a sweet thing to make original music with really talented friends and get to share it with people. We had so much fun. I'll offer a few high- and low-lights just for the sake of reminiscence.
Once we did a show with friend and fraternity brother Brent Palmer (who, by the way, just performed at the Austin City Limits Festival a few weeks ago. Way to go Brent!) at Mozart's Coffee House on the lake in Austin. Well for some reason word spread and 300-400 people showed up. We were opening up for Brent. So after our routine and two songs into his set the manager at Mozart's came out to tell Brent that the large crowd exceeded fire codes and, what's more, had bought up ALL the coffee already. They had nothing left to serve! We were going to have to shut down early. Brent, who could have been upset at his loss of a chance to perform for so many, let a big smile break out on his face and ran over to us, slapping high-fives and yelling, "Dude. We shut the place down! Rock on, we shut the place down!"
Another time I was at a D.C. Talk concert during their "Jesus Freak" tour. I brought one of our (by this time very poor, mistake-ridden and outdated) tapes to the show with me, convinced that if I could get one into their hands we would be discovered. So during their encore, during their last song, "Jesus Freak," while the lead-singer is jumping around, I held our tape up in the air. And he grabbed it! And proceeded to sing the end of "Jesus Freak" while banging his head in the air and holding my tape up high in the air. Amazing. Everyone was like, "Cool, man. Way to go. They got your tape." I was so excited. It was probably only two or three weeks before I became very embarassed.
We once performed at Brad's Junior College in East Texas during lunch, in the lunchroom. (What was the name of that school?) I had to rent one of those 3-square-feet Ford cars to get there. I could barely fit myself and my gear in. No one paid us any attention.
We got to perform at Jon Patillo's inaugural, and controversial due to the name, "Big Ass Pancake Party." Lots of nice Texas folks there. And lots and lots and lots of Texas-sized pancakes. I think we played with good friend Scott Krippel that night.
Our best and final show was at The Door in Deep Ellum, Dallas. A dear friend of ours, Traci Bryan, had recently been paralyzed in a car accident. So a bunch of musicians from our high school got together to throw a benefit concert for her and help raise money to purchase a wheel-chair accessible van. Our friends Shane and Shane were humble and kind enough to open the show, then F.O.M. played ( what was probably our best performance), and then friends Forty Days (for whom my brother was playing bass at the time) closed the show. That was a sweet and worthwhile way to go out. (And can you believe all of these guys graduated from the same high school, Lakeview Centennial in Garland, Texas [with the exception of Shane Barnard, who went to a high school down the street]?)
Anyhoo, what prompted this stroll down memory lane was my recent discovery of Joey Wright's newly updated website. He is the only F.O.M. member still playing regularly. I still write songs, and sometimes record them on my new iTalk, but I only perform for my wife and twins. So while looking on Joey's website I saw an old pic of F.O.M. during our performance that shut down Mozart's. And I had bleached white hair at the time, as the picture reminded me! I dyed it when as a leader I lost a bet to my Younglife group. I'd be interested to see if anyone else can find me with white hair.
So what do you think, Brad and Jo, how about an F.O.M. Reunion Tour?
When we started F.O.M. Brad, Joey and I had all recently found a renewed love for and commitment to Christ and his mission so we naturally wanted to serve him with our musical skills. So a few weeks before I left for college for the first time we holed up in someone's living room for a few days and knocked out our first ten or so songs. A week later we went into the recording studio and got down the best live versions we could with the limited amount of studio time we could afford. A graphic design friend volunteered his efforts and we pumped out a couple hundred audio tapes just in time for our first gig (this was just prior the proliferation of c.d. recording). Amazingly enough, just before the first show we were interviewed on a Dallas alternative Christian radio show and had two of our songs played. (It helps when the emcee is your Younglife leader!) After our performance we were approached by someone in the audience and asked if for our second show we'd like to open up for Caedmon's Call. We were dumbfounded. Caedmon's was still an indie band on the (mostly Texas) college circuit and we were huge fans. So a few weeks later we opened up for them and got to go out to eat with the band afterwards. They were great to us. So F.O.M. was off and rolling...
Then not much at all happened--at least not in the way of a big discovery or anything. Though we did all end up at The University of Texas and were able to perform together around the state for the next few years. Sometimes I really miss it a lot (not the "Christian" band, but the gigging). It's such a sweet thing to make original music with really talented friends and get to share it with people. We had so much fun. I'll offer a few high- and low-lights just for the sake of reminiscence.
Once we did a show with friend and fraternity brother Brent Palmer (who, by the way, just performed at the Austin City Limits Festival a few weeks ago. Way to go Brent!) at Mozart's Coffee House on the lake in Austin. Well for some reason word spread and 300-400 people showed up. We were opening up for Brent. So after our routine and two songs into his set the manager at Mozart's came out to tell Brent that the large crowd exceeded fire codes and, what's more, had bought up ALL the coffee already. They had nothing left to serve! We were going to have to shut down early. Brent, who could have been upset at his loss of a chance to perform for so many, let a big smile break out on his face and ran over to us, slapping high-fives and yelling, "Dude. We shut the place down! Rock on, we shut the place down!"
Another time I was at a D.C. Talk concert during their "Jesus Freak" tour. I brought one of our (by this time very poor, mistake-ridden and outdated) tapes to the show with me, convinced that if I could get one into their hands we would be discovered. So during their encore, during their last song, "Jesus Freak," while the lead-singer is jumping around, I held our tape up in the air. And he grabbed it! And proceeded to sing the end of "Jesus Freak" while banging his head in the air and holding my tape up high in the air. Amazing. Everyone was like, "Cool, man. Way to go. They got your tape." I was so excited. It was probably only two or three weeks before I became very embarassed.
We once performed at Brad's Junior College in East Texas during lunch, in the lunchroom. (What was the name of that school?) I had to rent one of those 3-square-feet Ford cars to get there. I could barely fit myself and my gear in. No one paid us any attention.
We got to perform at Jon Patillo's inaugural, and controversial due to the name, "Big Ass Pancake Party." Lots of nice Texas folks there. And lots and lots and lots of Texas-sized pancakes. I think we played with good friend Scott Krippel that night.
Our best and final show was at The Door in Deep Ellum, Dallas. A dear friend of ours, Traci Bryan, had recently been paralyzed in a car accident. So a bunch of musicians from our high school got together to throw a benefit concert for her and help raise money to purchase a wheel-chair accessible van. Our friends Shane and Shane were humble and kind enough to open the show, then F.O.M. played ( what was probably our best performance), and then friends Forty Days (for whom my brother was playing bass at the time) closed the show. That was a sweet and worthwhile way to go out. (And can you believe all of these guys graduated from the same high school, Lakeview Centennial in Garland, Texas [with the exception of Shane Barnard, who went to a high school down the street]?)
Anyhoo, what prompted this stroll down memory lane was my recent discovery of Joey Wright's newly updated website. He is the only F.O.M. member still playing regularly. I still write songs, and sometimes record them on my new iTalk, but I only perform for my wife and twins. So while looking on Joey's website I saw an old pic of F.O.M. during our performance that shut down Mozart's. And I had bleached white hair at the time, as the picture reminded me! I dyed it when as a leader I lost a bet to my Younglife group. I'd be interested to see if anyone else can find me with white hair.
So what do you think, Brad and Jo, how about an F.O.M. Reunion Tour?
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