In December of 2004, Sean asked me if I had any interest in singing for a new band he was doing. I made the drive out to Minneapolis, sang an Unbroken cover, and that was that. Over the next couple of months, we wrote the four songs that became our demo. We played a ton of shows over that winter and spring, including some trips to Milwaukee, Winnipeg and Eau Claire. We started talking to some people about putting out an EP, and things picked up. The next logical step in our cursed existence of course was for three out of five members to quit.
For the rest of the summer, Sean and I kept in touch about how we were going to keep playing. We had no gear, no van, and no members. Things were looking good. I talked to Isaiah about playing bass. We played in a band together before Regret, and he seemed down. Then on bowling night, Brian was probably drunk and brought up playing drums with us. He will probably look back on that moment as the catalyst for the rest of his miserable adulthood.
We got into a shared practice space in Wisconsin. It was dirty, had one working lightbulb, and had as much garbage as it did abandoned musical equipment. This was where we began writing the "Misery Brigade" EP. Around this time, Clint from Organized Crime met up with us and discussed putting out the EP with him. Truth be told, Regret most likely would not still be a band if it weren't for Clint. He has always taken good care of us, and he seemed to appreciate our stupid, pointless sense of humor. It was a lifelong friendship in the making.
In the spring of 2006, we went into Joy Ride studios in Chicago and recorded the EP. Clint also somehow talked us into repressing the demo as a limited 7". That summer we went on our first tours. We met a lot of great people and bands, and learned a lot about ourselves as well as the state of things around us. We lost a lot of money, blew up our van once or twice, hitched some pretty creepy rides, snuck into a lot of hotels and visited many a Taco Bell. It was great.
As of Christmas 2006, we're getting ready to go on our next tour and working on songs for an LP. In 2007 we're going to tour as much as our hectic, dumb lives will allow, and hopefully record again. Sean tends bar, Brian designs a magazine, Isaiah and I pretend to go to school and work shitty jobs in between keeping up with television, and Clint is still the brains behind the operation. We'll keep doing this because we love it, for as long as we can. Thanks to everyone that helped out along the way.
M. Keil
Christmas 2006
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"Misery Brigade" MCD
