Before MIDIAN

Before MIDIAN: The Days of Usher

Long before MIDIAN, Jamie Nichols and I (Tony) already a history of bands together, including Usher, Usher A.D., Mystic Knights and Mind Warp. 

Back in the day, Jamie was styling himself as a big-haired 1980s singer in the tradition of Faster Pussycat, Poison and Guns N Roses. He sang briefly for one of my brother Greg's early bands. I distinctly recall him humping the speakers in his enthusiasm to put on a good show. But he was always best as a bass player.

I, on the other hand, grew up singing in church. I'd been singing since the age of 4. I'd always wanted to play drums but we could never afford a set and we moved a lot so I probably would've ended up having to sell that kit if I'd ever got one anyway. My first foray into rock was subbing for Tracy Allen at a gig in a fly-by-night all ages club called Flashback in Time. My brother Greg and bassist Jeff Null were also in that band, which was called Bad Habit or Justus or something like that. I sang a couple Skid Row songs that were way out of my range. Greg was convinced I could pull it off because I could sing tenor, but Sebastián Bach's high notes were like nothing I'd ever attempted!

Usher

A little bit later, I attempted to join a band that would come to be called Usher as the drummer. I wasn't good enough, but Davy Cain (MIDIAN's future drummer) certainly was. Jamie was in the band as a bass player. Chris Apple, my best friend at the time, was the lead singer. Ironically,  I ended up in a strange role in that band: song writer. 

Now the songs we we wrote for that band were, for the most part, not at all serious. The band's musical style was something like a cross between Motorhead and the Misfits. Our signature song was a Beastie Boys-styled anthem called "We Suck and We Know It." No, I'm not making that up. We wrote a few other songs besides that. None of them were particularly good. I recall that one song was called "Which Way Did He Go, George?", which was literally a retelling of the famous 1940 Merrie Melodies cartoon, "Of Fox and Hounds" with the addition of our infamous stanza "Hey! You're the f###ing fox!"

One particular song, "The Mask," was more serious,  but it was written by Chris Apple. I still recall the chorus.

"We all wear the mask/Of silence/They do not care/They control us.

We all wear the mask/Of silence/Who has the right go judge?"

Usher A.D. 

Jamie and I continued on afterward sort of loosely under the Usher A.D. banner, except now I sang. It started with just singing Aerosmith's "What It Takes" behind the Grand Central Mall (Vienna, WV).  Then one day, someone handed us lyrics to a song they wanted us to sing, "Without End." The song was about life's suffering continuing on after death. Jamie wrote "Winter's End" about kids dying in children's hospitals from cancer around that time too. I wrote "Leave Me Be!", a song opposing censorship during that time, vocally close to Queensryche's Geoff Tate. 

I graduated from high school and moved into my own apartment. Jamie became an unofficial roommate almost immediately,  but his grandmother always supplied free spaghetti dinners for the free babysitting. It's here that things get connected in a weird sort of way.

Jamie and I were still together musically, mostly singing acapella. Honestly, I did most of the singing. I remember singing Queensryche's "Silent Lucidity" and something by Faith No More. He would occasionally play an acoustic guitar to one of the original songs. 

It was around this time that I met Angie Flannery. I was immediately smitten but I had this best friend named Chris Apple who had a habit of swooping in and dating whomever I voiced interest in, so I kept it to myself. Angie and I were "mortal enemies" in everyone else's book but there was always something there beneath the surface. And yes, like most great stories, at its heart this is a story about a girl. 

Mystic Knights

My first roommate, Heather Gerlach, got the idea to form a band called Mystic Knights. Aside from the songs Jamie and I had already written, we only had one song, the self-titled "Mystic Knights." I remember the first verse and chorus because it was weird.

"Mystic Knights come from the darkness of the night/We are faithful to the wizard who gives us light/Castle of Skulls will protect us with thy might/Freeing the people from the sorcerer's lies

And we know our master's name/For we are eternal slaves/And our story remains the same/Until the fateful see the grave."

That band ended because Heath moved out with strong "encouragement" from Chris Apple. My next several roommates included a cousin, Davy Cain, and Apple himself. Apple tended to kick everyone out after a month was up. Ironically,  it was I who kicked him out after his month was up. He was an alcoholic. We tried to do an intervention. He broke my window in anger and that was how it ended. The friendship included.

During that time, Angie Flannery came around more and more. Jamie and I spent a lot of time trying to talk to her, but she really liked to hear me sing. Honestly,  despite our facade of being "mortal enemies", we were both secretly smitten with one another. 

Usher A.D. official 

Later, if memory serves, we played in a more official version of Usher A.D. I am certain that Jamie and I were in the band. I'm pretty sure my baby brother, Jason, was also in it. I can't recall who played drums. We wrote "In Search of Atlantis" at that point, which I realized years later was Jamie's first undeni act of plagiarism. It was nearly identical in parts to Iron Maiden's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," which had a similar nautical theme. We also wrote "Insanity Blues," a song that about patients in a mental hospital, vocally riffing off Faith No More's Mike Patton. And we brought back "Without End" and "Winter's End."

It was during this time that Angie Flannery and I realized we were madly in love with each other and made it official. Everyone was stunned to find out were dating, but there was no denying what we had.

Mind Warp

All of this eventually led to an actual band: Mind Warp. 

Mind Warp consisted of Jamie on bass,  myself on vocals, Kevin Knopp on guitar and Zack... well, just Zack on drums. I honestly can't remember that kid's last name. Kevin told me he ended up dying in a fire, which is frankly horrible on so many levels. That kid had so much talent as a drummer.

We practiced in Zack's garage and wrote several original songs. The prevailing wisdom at that time was that you did a lot of covers and threw in one or two original tunes; however, Jamie and I had seen Davy Cain's band (with Kevin Hannah on vox and guitar and my high school friend Kenny Bartlett on bass) play at the Battle of the Bands at Parkersburg's Smoot Theater the year before, and while the win went to trophy boys Jet Black, we were impressed by their all original set. So we set out to write a bunch of original songs.

I can't remember the names of all of the songs. I remember one was called "Life Goes On." I'm pretty sure there were at least 4 or 5 original songs. One was about war and it was heavy on the bass. I think it was called "No Reflection." I still remember the chorus.

"There's no reflection/in the mirror I know/ There is no end to this harvest of carnage/ and there is no place to go."

Another song was about individuality. I remember part of a verse and the chorus 

"Drowning quickly. Hand me a line as quick as you can/Don't ignore me, cause like you, I am man."

Chorus

"What if I want to be free?/Live my life as it suits me?/Law of the lost

Shattered hopes in poverty/Life's unholy recipe/High is the cost

Oh, you can't ignore/I make war/Lie in wait

I cannot stop/ I can't wait another day."

I seem to recall carrying over "Without End" and "Insanity Blues," but I'm not certain. We also did a couple covers,  "Blister in the Sun" by the Violent Femmes and "Mountain Song" by Jane's Addiction. Those were definitely Kevin's influence.

We played two shows. One was at a community building somewhere. I think 4 people showed up and that included girlfriends. We should've known better. No one knew who we were.

Altared Fate

Jamie also played bass for a show in another band fronted by Tony, Altared Fate. Altared Fate was originally named something else I can't really recall.

Anyway, Kayman's Shame was basically an acoustic MIDIAN without a drummer.

MIDIAN was technically preceded by an acoustic band called Kayman's Shame, which was really just Jamie and Tony (and later Brett, whom Jamie more or less taught to play bass), informally performing songs from previous bands along with a new song called "An Hour Ago."