Joining a band at UNC

By Louis Cotterell, UNC Chapel Hill, USA

Jeremy Stickler has been going for a few months now, and we have our biggest show yet lined up for this weekend. 

All the stars seemed to have aligned.

The story begins on a random Thursday of last semester. I was walking through the arboretum (a park-type area next to my residence hall) where there was a man (Mason) strumming a guitar and singing. I went over to say hi, and informed him that I lived very close and could come join with my guitar. He, as a music lover, eagerly accepted. We jammed for forty minutes or so before he had to run to class, but he gave me his contact. It later transpired that Mason was the manager of Davie Circle, one of the biggest UNC bands. 

Fast-forward to the beginning of this semester, he invited me to a Sunday event at a house on North Street. They’d moved their living room outside to their garden, and had baked numerous pastries and made coffee. Entry was $5 for most people (which went to charity), except musicians eat and drink free, and at the back of the garden was the musical gathering. A multitude of instrumentalists came together to play, while the crowd drank coffee, chatted, and watched. It was a brilliant place to meet other musicians, and immense fun.

While there I met Nick, plucking a bass. He said we should play together sometime. Coincidentally, I then ran into him again in the gym the next day, and he invited me to a band practice that evening. They already had a lead guitarist, so I’d just be filling in – or so I thought…

The practice space was prime. The rhythm guitarist, Caden, is on the lacrosse team, so we have been able to use the basement of the house as our space. Joseph is the singer, Chase on drums, Nick on bass. After one practice the band collectively decided they wanted me to join fully, and an awkward dilemma emerged surrounding the other guitarist (who I never ended up meeting). They eventually decided to let him go. 

After a couple of weeks we decided upon changing the name of the band. Before I had joined it was “Trophy Husband”, a terrible name in my humble opinion. As we looked around the room for inspiration we saw a sign on the wall, a spraypainted phrase “Jeremy Stickler wuz here”, written by Caden for a Christmas party. He told us Jeremy Stickler was a character him and his buddies had made up, and there seemed to be some lore behind it. We then decided our name would be Jeremy Stickler; arguably no better than ‘Trophy Husband’, but it just felt right.

Our first time playing live was an open mic night on my 22nd birthday. We’d been playing covers up until that point, but on the day of the event it became apparent that only originals would be allowed. That created a very stressful afternoon of teaching the band a song I’d written and getting them up to speed. With a couple of hours we managed to pull it off (with the help of a lyric sheet for Joseph), and all my friends had come to support. To celebrate, we played a cover song, “Naive” by the Kooks – we’d figured since its fairly unknown in America we’d be able to get away with it. We did not. 

The next month Nick and I attended another North Street Coffee party. That’s when Mason told us he’d be able to sort us some gigs, and we ought to set up an instagram page. This was also where I met Leila (more on her in a sec). 

After a couple of weeks we had our first gig booked: Clouds Storm Brewery, a bar tucked away off Franklin Street. We opened for two acts, Ran Albright (a solo artist) and Restless Legs, a reunion gig of a legendary Chapel Hill band. We had a couple of screw-ups here and there, no perfect performances, but overall we played well and it was a great first gig (not to mention the free bar tab afterwards). Furthermore, there was a decent crowd; as I mentioned before, Caden being in the Lacrosse team meant there were 50+ players there to see us. 

After this gig I’d decided we should bring Leila into the band. She has an amazing voice, and is very pretty. What more do you want from a singer? The band agreed it would help strengthen the vocals, and she joined a few days before our biggest gig, playing at He’s Not Here. 

The He’s Not gig was a dream come true. From my very first day in Chapel Hill, when I’d had a drink there with my friend Connor and he informed me that bands play on the stage, I knew it was a bucket list goal to play music at Michael Jordan’s favourite hangout. The show also fell on the night of the Alumni dinner, so it was packed out. At least 200 people. Potentially the best night of my life. 

There were a couple of sound issues as we’d had to sort all the equipment ourselves, but overall the show was a success, and I got to steal a few minutes of guitar soloing towards the end. 

After the high’s of He’s, the lows of last Saturday came around. We opened for Davie Circle for a Sorority party, though none of the girls turned up until our penultimate song. It’s a depressing feeling, playing to an empty room, and the noise complaints the venue received during our set, resulting in frantic calls to be turned down mid-song, didn’t help to say the least. I came away from that show feeling empty, but still appreciative of the chance to play music, to be here, and with these people.

As we look to next weekend, we will be playing Bob’s, a Chapel Hill institution. It will be a 2+ hour set, so plenty of practice this week is necessary. I wonder if we’ll be able to fit it all in. 

I am pushing for our final gig to be played in the Lacrosse house basement for a last day of classes (LDOC) party. The last time we all play together will be immensely sad. I have made great friendships with the guys in the band, as well as a bond through music. I hope they are able to keep it going next year, keeping the flame of Jeremy Stickler burning.

I will probably write a follow up post about how it all ends. But this has been the story so far.