The Cable Car Theory

May 16, 1997 - Sept 13 2003 John Farag-guitar/vocals Joey Cingrana-drums Derik Moore-drums Brian Galvin-bass Sean McCann-drums Nicholas Carlucci-guitar In the spring of 1997, things were changing on Staten Island. The new breed of punk rockers were obnoxious. The older kids were growing impatient with the lack of enthusiasm. And those of us stuck in the middle were just that - stuck in the middle. We had the sense of urgency and desperate social counter culture mindset, but we had the obnoxious "we will carve our own niche" ideals that being a little younger allows you to have. It was the best of both worlds, and we tried to represent that urgency and individualism in what we wrote and played. There was one really big problem at the beginning though - we were not very good. After a few shows, a few trips, and a quickly banged out demo, we got a little better. We tightened up. We focused the ideas that we were trying to discuss or provoke in the lyrics. The music got a little more complex and at the same time a little more diverse. We would spend hours listening to records and just hanging out like a happy family. We did a benefit show in 1998 for our friends Emil and Coleen, who had lost their little girl Alexis. At that show, we finally got it. It hit us over the head. We were able to put those ideas to use for a good cause and at the same time we were expelling our demons. at that show, at the same time, it seemed that fate was smiling on us for our good deed (Alexis had a hand in it I am sure) and Sean Mallinson of Immigrant Sun approached us about doing a 7" . Emil told us after the show that since we did something good for Alexis, that she was doing something for us, and Ill never ever doubt that statement. The 7" was recorded, and we hit the road for 10 days in January of 1999. it was hell. The worst case scenario of any bands first tour. Half the shows were broken. I mean cancelled. The other half were really good times. The tour was essentially saved by Dave Diem of 12 Hour Turn who booked 2 of the shows that actually happened, and put us in contact with 2 of the other kids who actually came through. Thanks Dave, you were a life saver. We returned home from touconfirming the tour of europe. . .discouraged to say the least. But we continued to play shows all over the north eastern US for a few months. Then that summer, we parted ways with Sean McCann and it seemed the dream was dead. That fall, Derik Moore returned home from Albany New York to New Brunswick NJ and told us that Monster X was, once again, done. So we quickly acquired him, and literally within weeks were contacted by Andre Funke from Germany who asked us to do an LP and a tour of Europe. The torch was lit again, and we sent the tapes to Germany. The entire process of booking the European tour was done through e-mail, which, in 1999, was very risky and uncommon. Only one phone call was made prior, and it was the biggest risk any of us ever took. It was the beginning of the best run the band, and we personally, ever had. The tour was amazing. We made many friends. We had a lot of laughs. Todd (Scarlet Letter) and our friend Sharon (Let it Burn/ the Harletts) came with us on this tour. It was the thing that dreams are made of. We all still speak of this tour as if we were in the land of OZ. What an adventure and what a journey of self discovery. The next 9 months were spent sporadically playing, but mostly concentrating on writing an LP. The majority of the material we wrote was scrapped. I had written about 8 songs that have never been heard on tape that were intended fr the Deconstruction sessions, but we were changing direction. . .becoming more focused. The recording of the deconstruction was a little stressful as it was done while both Brian and I attended engineering school and worked full time. In the end, it was rushed. I am still proud of this record, but at the time I was a little too hasty and should have listened to Sean Mallinson when he told me to take a little more time before we began recording. After the Deconstruction was recorded, we had a slump of cancelled US tours and just as it seemed we were to start getting on the road and getting things done. . .we parted ways with Derik Moore. He wanted more time to devote to the Scarlet Letter and with his new job, he was feeling a little cornered in. He remains a trusted and devoted friend. Just as the Deconstruction was hitting the pressing plant, Joey Cingrana joined the band. His drumming style was much more straightforward and closer to Sean McCann's, so again we shifted direction a little with songwriting. The first 3 months he was in the band were spent trying to rectify the old songs to the new groove emphasis as opposed to the thrash skewed style we had been paying. We played a bunch of good and well booked shows after joey joined, including our one and only show at the famous CBGB's in lower manhattan, which we played with Coheed and Cambria and Homesick for Space. For the next year, things were relatively quiet and we even began to play on Staten Island again, which we hadnt done for 3 years. Shortly after that, we were asked to go back to Europe, and as we had such a struggle in the states Brian and I decided that it was go time or it was over. We recorded an EP of some of the new material with our friend John Carbonella, and we were put into contact with Philip from TCB booking by the Defiance records guys. We undertook a grueling 40 hour a week recording process in addition to everything else. 3 weeks later, I was burnt out and the record was done. "Fables and fiction of the human condition" was complete and the tour was going to be 6 weeks of long drives in cold weather. We were going to do a first for a Staten Island band in that we were playing in England. I remember that when Philip asked us if we wanted to do England, I smiled so brightly he heard it through the phone. I had many conversations with John Lisa in the past where he expressed to me the desire to take Serpico to England, and it never gelled for them. So I had the feeling we were, for the first time, treading new ground for our circle of friends. Of course that's not true since Indecision/MPB had done it a few times at that point, but still - what a great feeling. Enter the drama. As we were getting ready to record the record, Joey got a new job, a great Job actually. One so good, as a matter of fact, that the idea of him playing drums in Europe was out of the question. Nick Carlucci also had to step aside for another tour due to work. So we were stuck. 11 weeks till tour and no band to go. Then one night on the way to practice, Brian and I bumped into Nick Gambacorta of All for Nothing at 7-11 while getting coffee. He was in. We had a guitar player - a really fucking solid guitar player too. Now all we needed was a drummer. That was a series of phone calls and promises by acquaintances ending in heartache. I was about to call it a day completely when Brian called me and said that Benny Horowitz of the Low end Theory was willing to step up, practice 3 times a week, and bang out a tour with us. The tour line up was set. I look back at the prep time for this tour bitter sweetly. I was getting through some serious personal shit, and the prospect of the tour was one of the few things I had left to really look foward to. We would spend hours e-mailing people in Europe, practicing, and doing the regular prep shit you need for a hop across the pond. Finally, it was time to go sometime in the end of january. We kissed our girls goodbye, had a big breakfast that my mother made for all of us, and Todd drove us to the airport early enough in the morning that the crust was still forming in my eyes when we got through the gate in the airport. One of the most vivid things I remember about that morning was the wait for plane at our gate.We all sat at the bar, very early in the morning, and had a few beers. We drank quietly with nervous anticipation. We flew from Newark to South Carolina, and then back over New York on the direct flight to Frankfurt, Germany. When we landed and met up with Big Rock, our driver for the tour, we all laughed when we realized that we all knew him from when he toured with Leatherface. That night, we arrived at the hall in Schweinford where we would kick off the tour the next day. We slept in the venue as they had a room for us, and we got drunk and bonded in one of the many timed over the course of the tour where wine brought out our silly sides. The next day, Sean Mallinson arrived and we had a great day.We shopped for lunch food to throw in the van so we could save money on buying food, and we set up the sound check. That show was great. We got to see the record as the Defiance guys sent some over to us for tour merch. The tour kicked off great with a really good show and then a dance party in the club there afterwards. I don't remember a lot of that night, mostly because of the many, many bottles of beer and the vast amounts of other things we consumed. What a party!! The next day we set off for England. we got up very early in the morning and drove through France, which really sucks. Never go to France. The place is gross. We stopped for a little culture at Waterloo. The best part of Waterloo was the bush I peed in while an old woman stared at me. hahaha no - France was actually very pretty, but Ill tell you - all the dog shit on the sidewalk really sucks. Then we took the ferry over to England where we would spend the first hard week of the tour. we met a lot of really cool people and played some great shows in small venues. It felt like playing at home because of the sizes of the venues and the way the kids were all so friendly. It was awesome, just really damned expensive. We were all really on edge about money because England ate up a lot of it, and were only 9 days into tour by the time we crossed back from Dover to France. Once we landed on the Continent again, we raced back across France to Spain, another first for us. Then it was on to Italy. By this time, a few things were getting tense between some of us. There were a few personality conflicts, but Brian and I had been through that before and we were going to be damned if we let that bullshit ruin the tour, so again, we grabbed a few bottles of wine one night on one of the long hauls, drank our fill, and in the words of B, with some great nights in Benny "Let the wine loosen our lips enough to get down to it" Probably the next most memorable night of the tour was in Prague, where we met Rocks room mate Chilly, who walked us around for a little culture and a lot of Absinthe. I think we were completely bombed on the stuff by 1 PM. By the time we got to the coffee house where we would send e-mails and chill for a bit, we were a little over the top. The show that night was awesome. We met up with Mira Patty who had been an old friend of the Serpico, 3 Steps Up, and Murdock guys. That was cool. Brian met a girl in a spider shirt that said "we could mate but Id have to Kill you" She was awesome, but her shirt was hilarious. The we all went out on the town with Chilly and got so hammered that all I can ever tell you for sure about Prague is that it KICKED MY ASS. In any case, that's the night that NIbbles got so drunk we found him passed out on a toilet bowl in the bar with his pants around his ankles. WHOOPS!! Alright. . .I am not going to bore you with too many more details of the tour, maybe I will print a tour journal on here one day, but in any case, the tour took a real toll on me after that. I was tired, broke, moody, and still dealing with some of the shit that was the inspiration for the lyrics on Fables and Fictions. . .when we finally reached Berlin, I snapped. I was so drunk when we played that I imagined a conversation between Brian and Benny that actually never happened. When we finished our set, I walked off the stage all pissed off and didn't look back, even when they were yelling at me that the crowd wanted an encore. I was a real asshole that night, and I think I could have really ruined my friendship with Brian if I didnt try to rectify things fast. I was so depressed that I e-mailed Todd from an internet cafe that night that I was quitting the band and wanted to come home on the spot. The next morning, I pulled everyone aside personally and apologized. I did my best to convey to them how horrible and awkward I felt about it, and I made a promise not to get drunk before we played again. The night before we came home, we had our last little bonding session for the band. We grabbed dinner at the hotel in the airport, and had a bottle of Jagermeister left from one of the shows as well as a few beers. we drank and were merry that night and we called home to arrange the pickup from the airport. I think I called Eleanor like 3 times I was so excited about coming home. When we arrived home, things were changing in our personal lives. I am pretty sure we knew on the flight home that it was over. I was burned out, Brian was wrestling with trying to settle into a career, and we both had had our fill of being the backbone in a band that was always revolving members and swimming upstrea just to get shit done. We called it quits on sept 13 on Staten Island. (written by john- taken from their myspace page.)