Although it may be hard to believe, I, Ian Sorensen, was a lead singer in a punk rock band. Its true! When I was around the ages of 14-16, my best friends and I decided that we could create a band, and eventually write our own music and even produce a cd. It helped that my friend, Brandon Ballard, had parents who provided him not only with the space (and tolerance) to play, but all the instruments and equipment needed--thanks!
It all started while in middle school. Brandon, Brenton Parks, Eric Lane, and I gathered together to form a punk rock band in the likeness of some of our favorite bands at the time. I say 'punk rock', but after having spent some time in England, punk rock is not necessarily correct; what I really mean is 'pop punk'--a softer form of punk. The genre known as 'punk rock' in England (and maybe in the US too) generally means more 'hardcore', anarchy, rebel types of music. The music that we tried to emulate was a lot softer than that. We listened to bands like New Found Glory, Rufio, Green Day, Unwritten Law and of course Blink 182. The city where we all grew up seemed to be a center for punk rock music. The aforementioned bands of Blink 182 and Unwritten Law both originated from Poway, CA and went on to stardom. We thought that we would give it a shot.
Unlike 'punk rock', our pop punk variety was built off of one basic concept: we would sing all about relationships because thats what the big names did. The one big problem is that none us actually had any relationships to sing about. We essentially sang songs about the girlfriends that none of us had. Other than girls, our songs were either just for fun--singing about nothing--or we mixed serious words that rhymed together to make a seemingly analytical song about society. The good ole days!
When it came time to practice, write songs, and come up with a name we ran into our first real struggles as a band. Brandon had been taking guitar lessons for a few years and played really well considering his age, so he was designated our lead guitarist. Eric was chosen as our bassist despite having never played before, this was because he had a serious resolve to learn that eventually paid off. Brenton was designated to play the drums, and began to train. In my estimation, I was selected to be the singer for three reasons: 1) my mother sang so we all figured I could too 2) I was the only one that could really carry a tune or was willing to do so infront of a mic 3) I did not want to be left out and would take anything available. I remember some of our first practices well. I remember standing infront of a mic. in Brandon's garage on a sunny day. The whole band began playing their intro to the song and then it came time for my cue, but I failed to start on time because I was nervous, timid, and unsure of how it would sound. Considering that this was not the first time it had happened, the band began to get a little frustrated with me and telling me that if I did not learn my part just like everyone else then I would be out of the band. That was all the incentive I needed; I did not want to miss out on this adventure with my friends. I began to tap my feet to the beats so that I could time things right and perform well. Next, I decided to disregard my inhibitions and just belt out the songs as they were written without thinking about being timid; besides, it was only my friends listening. It worked.
As with all good bands, we hit our first inevitable intra-band conflict. Brandon and Eric both were the brains early on in the band, but their styles differed greatly. Eric not only learned to play the bass, but he learned to play it well. In time he would rival and surpass Brandon. But the division came over a song that Eric had written with the assistance of Brandon. Both wanted to do something different with the song and could not compromise. Eric in general did not get along easily with Brandon, so this proved the final straw as the two had artistic differences. Eric left the band.
After Eric left, the band quickly reformed and moved forward. We finally settled on a name--Sonic Disarray at the request of both Brandon and Brenton. I did not care for the name at the time, but it slowly grew on me. We began to write lyrics to the tunes Brandon had created and make a repertoire of songs. The only thing that slowed our pace was school. Brandon and I attended Poway High School, while Brenton went to a private Christian school that was far from home. This meant that with school and extra curricular activities we did not see Brenton often. Brandon and I saw each other everyday at school so it was easy to collaborate and talk about the band. You may be asking yourself at this point how we dealt with the departure of our bassist? Well, as I said previously Brandon's parents purchased him all the makings of a modern band. He had every instrument, the amps, mics., and the recording equipment needed to record tracks and cds. So without a bassist, Brandon would record the guitar on one track and then play it back while he recorded himself playing the bass to the guitar he previously recorded. He was almost a litteral one-man-band. Because of the distance, Brenton gradually became more distant from the band as Brandon and I really put on a two-man show. On the chances that we were all together we were pretty productive and were able to produce a few songs and get some good practice in.
Throughout it all, I was very adamant that we never swore, nor had offensive material in our songs. My friends had no problem with that, of which I was thankful. Additionally, Brandon's mother had a large say in the workings of the band. At one point Brandon wanted to have someone scream in our song (I look back at this and think...why?) like some of the bands at the time, but his mother came down and said no-way-Jose! Before a show once, Brandon wanted to wear a bandana that had skulls on it while he played, but again his mother intervention prevented him from presents such a 'hardcore' look to our mild-mannered band. As for me, I looked exactly the same. I had parted hair coupled with smart dressing. The only difference was that on occasion I began wearing a baseball hat slightly tilted to the side as a sign of my rebelliousness. In everything we did, we really just had fun and tried to be funny. As far as I am concerned it was a great way for young men our age to spend our time in creating something as a team.
As we progressed with time, we wrote several original songs as well as covered several songs from other bands; We had a pretty solid playlist for any event that should arise. Surprisingly, events did arise and we were able to play at a slew of varied events. Twice at a Luau that Brandon's parents threw at their own house, once at a "Teen Night" at the city just north of Poway called Ramona, twice at a battle of the bands at Brenton's high school, once at a local block party, and once at the Epicenter in Mira Mesa. Of all the places we played, the Epicenter was the most...epic. This was when we had really reached our peak as a band. We were invited to play at the venue after we sent a recording for their sampling. It was not only the biggest venue we had or ever would play at (Blink 182 had got their start at that very same venue), but it was also the first time we were paid to play--all of $20, but hey it was money! We recorded our only cd which was titled Short of a Deck with almost entirely original songs. We even made our own stickers for distribution at shows. Things were really rolling...to a slow dissolution.
Our band's demise came at the hands of life. All of us were involved in school and other various activities. I played lacrosse for my high school, was a boy scout and worked. Brandon was active in a budding education in cinematography as well as being a boy scout and working. Brenton became distant with his school, work and life. Ironically, I also saw the band dissolve because my friends actually had girlfriends. Their girlfriends demanded more of their time, thus leaving little for the band. We never officially ended the band, but we all just slowly stopped caring or being as involved. Thus the tale of Sonic Disarray is relegated to legend.
Short of a Deck:
Below is a little sampling of an original song that we produced. This song is probably the leitmotif of our band. It was written about a girl that Brandon and I knew. Brandon is playing the drums, the lead guitar, and singing back up vocals. Brenton is playing the base, I am singing, and my friend Ben Wilford chipped in some back up vocals.
This next song is a cover. We all really liked the band Agent 51 who were a local band, and so we decided that we would do a song of theirs to see how we measured up.
This next song is an original entitled the Final Chapter. This is probably one of the better songs that we did artistically and musically. The lyrics are very serious as they reflect upon society and life in general as a teenager facing peer pressure and life. In reality, we chose all of the words because they rhymed and made for a good song and sounded really deep. It kind of makes me laugh when I think back on it.
