PULVER

PULVER formed as early as 1994, by David Gordon (guitar) and Danny Bates (vox) from Sibley and Ringgold, respectively. The band's original name was "ASH" (c'mon - Evil Dead 1 & 2 - y'know?!?) The first years together were spent learning covers of such influencial bands such as GWAR, Sepultura, Danzig, Nirvana, Deadhorse, White Zombie-(actually gaining local notoriety for & repeat performances of their rendition of "Thunderkiss '65") and of course Metallica.After switching rhythm sections like socks (every so often...), they actually managed to write 6 or 7 original tunes that they would keep till the end and finally, in late '95 made their debut live appearence at a REAL club- The CELLBLOCK. (thanks Drac - The owner freaked out on MyraMains because of the blatant marijauna use depicted on their flyer; so he cancelled their upcoming show and handed it off to ASH.) They were accepted warmly by a sing-along crowd (they closed with CLUTCH's "Binge and Purge")Immediately after that first show, a new drummer was brought in, a metal-head from Lake Bistineau: Britt Cloud -and away they went. Bar shows whenever they could get'em, but they stayed in practice by playing where they were most comfortable: a good'ol House Party. They were seen at birthday parties, grad. parties, people's living rooms while the folks were away.After a while, they seemed to be somewhat popular, (at least I thought so...) Assorted low-quality recordings were made in attempts to have something to listen to, but good equipment and people who know how to use them were a rare find in 1996. Not to mention, that the live energy that they displayed on stage was impossible to capture on tape. But, nevertheless, recordings were made. The band were first offered to participate in a Co-Op compilation CD of local bands on Chicken Ranch Records (in Ruston, LA.) by a friend, drummer of (now-defunct) Habitual Sex Offenders, and founder of Chicken Ranch Records: Mike Dickinson.There would be 4 of these. When the first came around, They were in name turmoil due to the fact that some folk-alterni-band from Ireland had just signed under the name "ASH". So under pressure, the band had to be promptly renamed. After less than an hour's contemplation, the name "WEBSTER SPEEDWAY" was chosen. (taken from the local racetrack) 'Wayne, Master Of Dumptrucks' was recorded on an analog 4-trk by BUILT FOR SPEED's Jonathan Brasell. After recording, it was fine, but somewhere between there and the CD, it turned to mud...So the next several months were spent without a name. Nothing sounded good that wasn't already taken in some form. While riding around with their original bassist, LELAND, a decision was made to not exit the vehicle until a formidable name was chosen. Nothing. No. Let's take big words & chop them in half, let's spell'em backwards...No, That sucks... Then Danny farted... interrupting the mood, quite considerably; David rolled down his passenger window as fast as he could to quickly ventilate the methane-filled cab, observing with delight: 'Wow, that wind 'pulverized' that fart really quickly!" And Danny pointed out:" That's what I'm talkin' about- cut 'Pulverize' into "PULVER", y'know? Something like that"- but as it turns out, no one could get that word out of thier heads.So by the next Chicken Ranch Round-Up, a new bass-player, Stevie Weiss, had been recruited. This version of S.W.A.T. was recorded by a friend Keith Buck, who had just spent alot of $ on recording gear- his (& the band's) inexperience shined through.Pulver continued to infect Shreveport Bars with their presence; Proud mary's, Toons 624, the Cellblock a few more times, They ventured to Ruston, Monroe, Alexandria, El Dorado AR (Pulver played a town festival which also included classic-rockers THE GUESS WHO"), They squeezed their way into an opening act slot for CROWBAR ('95)when they came to Proud Mary's in Shreveport. Usually playing alongside other local bands such as Covenant, MPD, SpiderMidgetBitchFrog, Malevolent, Antidote, $ociety Of the Damned, and of course, CEED.Somewhere about this time a 7-sond demo cassette ("Porn Stars Are People Too") was produced with the help of JP from $ociety of the Damned. (If anyone ever got & still possess THAT recording &/or artwork - please, git in touch!)The track for Chicken Ranch Round-Up #3 was recorded in '97 by Scott mcElwee, (currently of POWER PELLUT and OPERATING ROOM STUDIOS) Finally, a recording to be proud of. Instant Crazy. This would turn out to be the only decent recording the band would lay to tape.Over the next year, equipment troubles come and go, and so does the bass-player, Stevie. We quickly replaced him with seemingly able bassist- (in retrospect, that decision deserved more deliberation than that...) The departure of drummer Britt, came soon after. Even sooner, there was a new drummer, which at first agreed to learn the 10 or so existing songs, but refused to listen to any previous recordings. So therefore, PULVER changed, slightly. A little more inventive & complex in ways, but also kind of stupid in the cheesy way. But that was OK. Humor is a big deal, which PULVER showed in lyrics, the composition of some songs and in the costumes they'd sometimes wear. (you had to be there...)With the addition of a (seemingly) powerful new rhythm section, 2 or 3 more songs were written, re-hashed and fine-honed. It was time for an album. T-shirts and stickers could be seen from Minden to E. Texas, but no music to show for it. So PULVER went back to McElwee with 10 songs. After months of work, interest was lost, money was scarce, and the recording went down hill. All that ever came of it was a ratty cassette tape crudely mixed down and tucked away. if anyone is interested MP3s will be available for that pretty soon.After a while, PULVER shows happened not as often. Pulver continued to play the same songs with little change-up aside from the occasional cover-tune (which was usually a CLUTCH song: "12 Ounce Epilogue" was more or less adapted into their style and as staple in their live set (a live recording of Pulver's version was recorded ang added to the previously mentioned demo tape and given personally to Neil Fallon of CLUTCH. Who knows what they thought- assuming that they ever bothered to listen to it... )To add to the assumption that PULVER might be a Clutch-clone: At the Screaming Dog in Bossier (when CLUTCH came down to play with Sevendust and Stuck Mojo) David and Danny managed to shmooze themselves onto CLUTCH's bus, to "hang-out" for a while... Later on Tim Sult, appeared onstage wearing a PULVER shirt! I'd guess nobody would remember that but me. Pointless, but still pretty cool.Around January '99, there was a local gig @ the Progressive Men's Club with Dead Industry, Malevolent, Optimus Prime, SlawPOP, and others. (see flyer) Pulver's performance that evening was less than great, but a CD was made, buy soundman Chuck Scroggins (sorry about the mic, Chuck) - I've heard there is video footage of that too...It all went downhill after that. By October of that year, PULVER had a chance to play a Halloween party here in town, or break the norm, and play a bad-ass party in Lake Charles with ICEPICK REVIVAL, HAWGJAW, CHOKE, and locals MALEVOLENT, VENUS IN SPURS and CRACKFIGHT. Chances to take it out of town came rarely, so the band decided not play at a good friend's house party and head down south with everyone else. All was well until the caravan pulled into Lake Charles and PULVER realized that the fuckin' rhythm section would not show- nor did they ever speak to David and Danny again.So, as it goes, PULVER tried to replace their drummer & bass player, but it just didn't work out (sorry Scott & Ryan)Danny played dead for about 3 years then bought a guitar and joined forces with Lonnie (Crackfight/Io/Ketea), Trey (Optimus Prime/Ketea/Power Pellut) and Shane Ruff ( HO)))SS ) to form the short lived "mouthbreather" (2003-05)David became a tattooist an is currently employed at Sacred Temple Tattoo, and in his spare time slowly prepares to launch his one-man band "SHANK WILLIAMS".I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4