The Summer Obsession

Johnny Tightlips Rocks Provo
Conscious Subconscious, Teens, and Provo-Style Parking Enforcement

October 27, 2006 -- The band recently made its Provo debut, opening up for The Summer Obsession.  I was extremely excited because it would give me a chance to play a show with my old bandmate Chris Wilson.

Chris and I started playing in a band together when I was in the 9th grade.  What started out as a basically a Nirvana cover band lead to us creating a grunge band called The Twelfth of Never.  By the time I was a senior in high school, we had both discovered punk rock (thanks to local heroes Homesick) and been bitten by the ska bug, so we added horns and became Left Foot Forward. 

I was a year older than all of my Left Foot Forward comrades, so when I left for college, the band disintegrated.  Chris started playing with some dudes in a band called ECO and made some industry contacts, including the famous studio (and A Perfect Circle) drummer Josh Freese. 

A few months after my mission, Chris got called up to the big leagues.  When Good Charlotte needed a drummer mid-Warped Tour, Chris jumped onboard and played with the band for almost three years.  He’s now playing in a band called The Summer Obsession that just released its debut album on Virgin. 

I only talked to Chris once or twice during the Good Charlotte era, but he regularly haunted my dreams.  At the time, I was sporadically working on the Hover Low EP, but not actually playing any live music at all. I kept dreaming that I, too, was in a big rock band, only to wake up and still be working at Cyprus Credit Union or at SLCC.  (What a drag.) 

For me, the best thing about Johnny Tightlips is that when we started playing together, those dreams stopped immediately.  I don’t really have a waking need to be a rock star, but obviously making music is very important to the wellness of my subconscious. 

The point of all of this is that I thought playing a show with Chris Wilson would kind of be the final step in getting all of those needs out of my system.

The show came and went, but with regards to my mental health, it wasn’t really that big of a deal.  It was cool to hang out with Chris before the show, but mostly because I have always liked Chris and he’s fun to hang out with.  We didn’t have any superstar reunion where we played our Twelfth of Never hits or anything like that (however, if Rhett would have been around, I would have liked to and I think that actually would have been really nostalgic or cathartic or whatever), which was fine as well.

But from a rock and roll perspective, it was a great show.  We were able to play to our target audience – teens (especially teen girls) and lots of ‘em.  According to lead singer Luke, The Summer Obsession shows average a girl to boy ratio of 3:1.  They’re frickin’ heartthrobs.  All anorexic and tattooed with their emo haircuts, the girls simply can’t resist The Summer Obsession.  We play music in the same cosmic realm at TSO, which also means all those teens didn't immediately hate us. 

It was a bit different to actual play to a lot of people.  There were a bunch of girls pressed right up against the front of the stage.  I am not used to performing to people whose eye level is at my feet.  I think at one point I was sweating and I was singing at the front of the stage and said sweat landed on some front row standers.  How gross for them. Gross. Gross.

After our set we loaded up all the equipment back into our cars, which were parked in the lot behind the club.  When that chore was completed, I stood out in front of the club and called to check in with Traci.  I was in the middle of the conversation when Danny yells, “Spencer, come quick!  They’re towing your car!”

I ran to the back of the club to see my car already on the back of a tow truck.  After loading up the stuff, I had moved my car from Velour’s lot literally 10 feet over to the next store’s lot – which was completely vacant because the store had been closed for hours.  That didn’t matter.  No parking is no parking and I forgot that everyone in Provo doubles as an afterhours parking enforcer.  Meathead tow truck guy didn’t care if the store was closed, or that I had only been parked there for 15 minutes.  Pay the $60 to drop the car, or pay the $120 to pick it up from the impound lot, said Meathead.  Don’t worry, towing companies now take credit cards.  I forget why people hate Provo. 

In spite of the parking fiasco, it was still a great night, probably the best evening for Johnny Tightlips to date.