DETHBED

Music may be the oldest language humans ever had. Long before words, early humans are believed to have made sound by answering the world around them, birdsong, animal calls, the noise of the wild. Some of the oldest instruments ever found are bone flutes, carved tens of thousands of years ago. Angst thinks about that every time he remembers the band house he bought on Trowbridge Street, less than a mile from where Tesla's solar panel plant stands today in Buffalo, the same industry Angst has built his career around for more than twelve years now in California. Back then, it was just a basement, a few guys playing loud, and Angst's dog howling right along beside him. Maybe the dog was just responding to bad pitch. Or maybe it's the same thing that's always been happening, one voice reaching for another, the same thing still happening years later, when Rick was on drums and Adrian was creeping in on guitar during an off-the-cuff session, and a puppy barking through the wall became the song's name, 'The Pupa.' That same earthiness, hand drums, atmospherics, voices answering each other instead of just playing over one another, is what 'Wonderful Animals' finally let the band explore in full.

Nearly every real, lasting friendship in Angst's life has come through music, in a practice room, a recording studio, or on a stage somewhere. Rick Andolina was one of those friendships. So was Mike Morales, a good friend Angst carried as a pallbearer at just eighteen years old. So was Jose Gamez Sr., who built the studio this band still records in. Every one of them is still in the room somehow, in the songs, in the sound, in the reason any of this keeps happening. Each of us is a part of all of us.

Nearly every form of energy on this planet traces back to the sun, even the ground beneath it. Angst spends his working days helping people capture that energy directly, and he's spent the rest of his life writing songs the same way, someone plays a riff, and Angst answers with whatever comes out, no plan, just response. It's the same thing the band did back when it was still called Medic Sun, before Rick's diagnosis gave it a new name. The source hasn't changed. Just what they call it.

Most people only get celebrated once they're gone, all the stories finally told, all at once, too late for them to hear it. A death bed usually marks the end of a story. Dethbed is built to work the other way. The name came to the band while Rick was still here, while there was still more time with him than anyone realized. Jose taught Angst something different, he was a stern protector who trusted Angst to be a good husband to his daughter, and who built this studio as an act of that trust. Angst is only now realizing how little time he's actually spent in the room Jose built for him. That's the irony Angst carries, that celebrating a life often waits until the life is over, when it should have been happening all along. Knowing the bed is coming isn't a reason to wait, it's the reason not to. Every song, every stage, every studio session, is Angst's way of celebrating life now, while he's still here to feel it, not saving it for a service. Celebration of life and love turn out to be the same thing, given while there's still time to feel it land.

Dethbed is looking for standby musicians to play live shows and record with us. We play most Tuesday nights, with occasional weekend dates, and we've been fortunate enough to coordinate a few Jam Night appearances this past year too.