the 12th

I haven't updated in a few days because I've been extremely busy and exhausted from working 9 hours a day at Filet and Vine. I have hardly had any time at all to read the paper and watch the news so I'm going to use my fourth blog post, which happens to be on my 20th birthday thank you very much, to promote The Zealous Friars.

The Zealous Friars consist of AC Demoss, Will "Wild Bill" Massey, Davis Hudson, and Mitchell Parrish (me). The night before my senior year started, AC and I were at a huge "annual" high school party, drunkenly conversing and having a good time. I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but the subject of music was brought up and we both agreed that we had not played enough music together in all of high school. Both of us were a part of a group of about 9 or so musicians in our school that would casually jam at someone's house and play in the annual Battle of the Bands; but, we had never really sat down and really tried to perfect a cover or write a song.

But that night we decided that we would get together and play a little music and "see what happens." The first day that I came over, we wrote a song that we still play called "Somethin' Awesome." A few days later, we wrote another song. Then another. Then another.

We decided that two acoustic guitars weren't going to cut it-- we needed a drummer. So we called up Wild Bill one afternoon, told him that we wanted to jam to some originals and the lank-master flash arrived a few minutes later, bringing with him a book called the Prophet by Kahil Gibran and a little bit of creative energy, however ridicilous it may be.

AC ended up coming up with the name The Zealous Friars one day during I think a Mr. Benton World History Class. I remember him walking up to me in the school hallways with an open text book and the band name scribbled across a sheet of notebook paper saying "Dude, what do ya think about this for the band??"

During my senior year of high school, us three played pretty frequently and produced some low grade GarageBand recordings of originals and covers. We really learned a lot about what our strengths and weaknesses were as musicians and for the first time we felt confident that we had the potential to be a really good band.

However, the band had to be put on hold, at least for me, after I went away to college in Vermont and they stuck around the Gumptown for their senior year. I thought that it was possibly the end of our creative endeavor but fortunately AC and Bill were able to continue right where we left off by adding Davis Hudson to the group. Davis, who had just recently started played the guitar, had jammed with us a couple of times toward the end of the year and during the early part of the summer. Just before I left, we taught him the song "Runaway" and asked him to play bass.

When I returned home for the Christmas holidays, I learned that those three guys had been pretty serious about playing music during their free time. They had produced a few more Garageband recordings and had even played a few small gigs. Unfortunately, they played their first high school party/gig with two of our other friends on the bass and back up guitar because I hadn't been around for practicing. From what I have seen and heard, the show dubbed Saltypalooza by the host Neil "Salty" McCorvey was a success and they rocked out to some great songs like "One Big Holiday" by MMJ and "Dixieland Delight" by Alabama.

This momentum was probably the turning point in our summer. They were pumped up with the thrill of a good live show and wanted to take it one step further and produce a legitimate album. AC texted me about it in early June and as soon as we could we hit up the trusty Hudson garage that Davis' dad lets us use as a practice area.

In just one night, I was able to learn the four or five new songs that they had written throughout their senior year and even throw in some ideas of my own. I had officially moved from guitar to bass in our band line-up which I think was probably the best possible move. Now we had AC on guitar/vocals/keys (when we needed them), Bill on percussion/drums, Davis on electric guitar (as long as he uses sexy tones), and me on bass.

A few weeks later, the Zealous Friars hit the studio. AC and Davis found a record label called Atmosphere Records in Montgomery just off the Eastern Boulevard that was essentially made for local artists to just show up, record their stuff, and see what happens.

The Zealous Friars did just that.

After several hours of recording, mixing, playback, and experimenting, we emerged from the studio with a Demo EP called "See What Happens." We all are proud of the four songs that we have put on the CD and we think that it is just the beginning of what is to come. But I'd really like to know what you all think. Obviously, it is not perfect. We have a little ways to go before we get to the level we really think we are capable of. However, it is the biggest step we have taken as a band (fronting the money for studio time which I promise is not cheap) and we hope that everyone will like it enough for us to do it again-- this time a full album.

So please check out our myspace. Tell you friends, family, relatives, Josh, anyone. Even if you don't particularly like it because I promise after a few listens it will grow on you. The link is at the top or you can click here to view our myspace. We only have one song up at this point off our EP called "Explosions" but if you are interested in listening to more, email me at mitchp8910@gmail.com and I'd be more than happy to send you some songs. And happy birthday to myself