Origins
I started Short Wave in late 2003, though it didn't have a name yet.
Short Wave existed in two distinct phases, died, and was resurrected as a new band, Green Bean, in 2006.
But that's getting ahead of ourelves.
In the begining
My musical journey begins in the year 2000 with my friend, Bryan Cole. We shared a passion for music and the art of recording, which we knew very little about, but we were determined to persevere.
Eventually we wrote our first songs together. They had names like, "Chilli," and "Damn Pineapples," and "Subconscious Thoughts." In some ways they were the most avant garde music I've ever made.
By 2002 we had grown into a five piece band called Ataraxis, and Bryan was on his way out the door.
Ataraxis was wrote and played their own material, along-side the occasional cover song. We played shows in Warwick and Providence. We self-released a full length album (Herd Behavior, compact disc) in 2003. A month later we all went to college.
With college came a branching out, both geographically, and artistically. It was the autumn of 2003. Until this point I was a guitar player, and song writer, but I'd never sang. Now I wanted to sing my own lyrics. Robert, the singer in Ataraxisup til this point, wasn't keen to share the 'front-man' position with me.
Frustrated, I decided to funnel my new material into a 'side-project.' It wasn't my first 'side-project' but it was the first time I'd worked alone.
Though I lived on campus at the University of Rhode Island, I was close enough to drive home to my parents house on weekends. There I would work out song demos in my home studio. Occasionally I'd call in my friend Brian Decoteaux (Nicco, Survivors of the Kraken) to play drums. As the fall semester progressed, so grew my pile of songs. Eventually this pile of songs would be known as Short Wave.
Vaccination (2003 demo)
The first 'Short Wave' recording. Recorded it on a Tascam 244 in my parents garage on a weekend in September 2003, it was the first time I'd play all of the instruments and sing on a recording.
Gateway (instrumental demo, 2003)
Later re-recorded with 'Phase One' Short Wave, this original instrumental demo, recorded with Brian Decoteaux in October 2003, captured the intended mood of the song. If vocals were ever dubbed onto this version it is lost to time.
Freezer Burn: A Short Lived Super Group
By the end of 2003, a semi-working band including Jim Bealieu (Six Pack Fury), Sarah Macreading, Brian Decoteux (Nicco) and myself (Ataraxis) had formed.
We were called Freezer Burn, a name I would briefly return to as a place hodler in mid 2006.
Freezer Burn was a vehicle for Jim and I to play our songs with a band. We did a couple of his, and a couple of mine. We also did a mean cover of Cinnamon Girl comes to mind.
Freezer Burn played one show - a set at JONAH, a community center in Warwick, in December 2003.
Freezer Burn had one member from each of the original JONAH BAND JAM* bands, and so we referred to ourselves as Warwick's first super group (as a joke, of course.)
*the JONAH Center was the Cavern Club to the local bands in Warwick in the early 2000s. There would be shows there every couple of months, sometimes full bands, sometimes coffee house shows. The first three bands to play the JONAH Center were Six Pack Fury, Nicco, and Ataraxis - hence the super group joke.
P.S. JONAH meant "Join Our Neighborhood And Help"
