XYCHQ

Domestik Quarrel!!? "Xychq" MP3

Recorded July 23, 1988, using theee trusty olde boomboxe whom I nicknamed Christine after the Stephen King joint of the same name due to its tendency to eat everyone's tapes but mine. It made great recordings due to having a matched pair of stereo mics built in. I still have it, it still rules and it'll probably still eat your tapes but not mine.

So, where are we. Summer of 1988. The core trio of Michael Million, Raymond Lilly and yours truly I See The Stew had been playing together for a few months, first as The Uncultured, with Mark Ward on drums, then as Domestik Quarrel. I played guitar and wrote most of the songs, or was it actually all of the songs? I don't remember writing all the songs but I may have done that. Jeff Sampson played bass and was a wallflower. Michael Million played guitar and Raymond sang.

At some point we turned the corner & called ourselves Domestik Quarrel!!? . .... the name was Jeff's idea, the misspelling was mine. For this first DQ rehearsal we had Aaron Pauley on guitar and Jeremy Rogers on drums, both of the band Prophecy, whom we all idolized. Well, I idolized them anyway because even though they were only a couple of years older than us, their band & their songs were so advanced. You had to be impressed by them if you liked heavy metal as much as we/I did.

It was probably Aaron's idea to do a 'punk project', something sloppy and energetic that he could just kind of shout and be a caveman about. As opposed to Prophecy's much more structured, um, Queensryche meets Iron Maiden finessed songwriting.

And of course in Ohio in 1988, what we called punk was a galaxy removed from the Sex Pistols, Clash, or even the Dead Kennedys. The punk we discovered was S.O.D., D.R.I., um.... other bands like that, which were being called 'crossover' bands since they were half punk and half metal. So too would be Domestik Quarrel!!? .

This recording was made in Jeremy's basement, using Prophecy's gear... We only had two guitar amps so we all wound up sitting out a couple of songs each. But it was funny, it was like musical chairs. Michael didn't play guitar until later in the day. I think I sat out "Silent War." And then Aaron & Jeremy left us four to bash out "Evil Dead" and a couple of other choice numbers with me on drums.

The vibe that day was tremendous, the songs were sounding great and we had the time of our lives. I'm so glad we got such a good recording of the event. I think this was a rehearsal for the big DQ show in August 1988 at theeeeee Flamingo Isle which was the big punk rock teen night club thing in our town.

So... this song is called "Xychq." Don't be confused. We liked the song title so much, we renamed the band after it in late 1988/early 1989. I wrote "Xychq" in a continuous burst of unconnected riffs. The main riff was my approximation of thrash metal. The two breakdowns were supposed to be mellow, metal ballad type things for Aaron first & then me on the second pass to solo over. The guitar solo I take toward the end of the song was my trademark for many years. Starting with a comically repetitive figure, then the fake Guns & Roses vibe and finally a flurry of hammering on & off. I would never attempt anything like that now. The lyrics were meaningless, rhythmic splats. So, writing them out would actually destroy their essence. Plus I don't remember them.