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| Wills Dissolve |
No?
Hmm. What if this band had a cast of characters that have lived all over the United States and beyond?
What if they're going to tell you about Vietcajun food? (Now that...that gets me curious and nearly willing to head to Houston.)
In the meantime, don't miss out on their brilliant release. You can get that on BANDCAMP. While you're grooving to that slap of tastiness, check out the boys themselves with a bit more detail.
1. St. Louis City is my hometown. I've lived here for most of my life in and around the city. Where are you from?
(Nick Block) I am from Ft Worth, Texas. I lived in Hungary from 9-16 years of age, so the town of Kaposvár that I lived in probably feels more like my hometown at times.
(Andrew Caruana) I'm originally from northwest Indiana: I grew up in Crown Point, then moved to Chicago, then Houston.
(Branson Heinz) Houston is our bands hometown. My personal hometown is Waco, Texas.
(Shaun Weller) Bay City, MI is my hometown.
2.We have three things that don't really exist anywhere else: the slinger, the gooey butter cake, and toasted ravioli. Tell me about your hometown delicacy.
(Nick Block) It's a big enough thing to exist in most states, but Tex-Mex is king.
(Andrew Caruana) Chicago Dog: People are really particular about their hotdogs there.
(Branson Heinz) A cuisine that is unique to Houston is Viet-Cajun. Houston is home to the 3rd largest Vietnamese community outside Vietnam and were also on the Gulf of Mexico.
As a result you get Vietnamese flavors mixed with Crawfish, Shrimp, and other fish.
(Shaun Weller) My hometown isn't really known for any kind of food (we have a lot of Chinese buffets now), but one thing I haven't really seen anywhere else is the Olive Burger.
3. In St. Louis, though there have been others. Our biggest hometown team is the St. Louis Cardinals (formerly the St. Louis Perfectos, nee: the St. Louis Browns, not the AL team that moved to Baltimore.) There is nowhere you can go to escape it. I'm a hockey fan, not a baseball fan, so it's a bit weird to me. Tell me about your hometown's big team.
(Nick Block) My favorite teams are the Texas Rangers (baseball) and Dallas Stars (hockey). The Dallas Cowboys own basically the entire state of Texas, not just the DFW area, so they are definitely my hometown's big team.
(Andrew Caruana) I am a Blackhawks fan myself, but the city lives and the breathes The Bears; most of the colleges that don’t have a football team basically treat the Bears as their own.
(Branson Heinz) Right now the Houston Astros are probably the most popular because they won the World Series last year. I'd say that football is more popular overall though. I don’t keep up with the Texans because I'm a Cowboys fan.
(Shaun Weller) No sports teams in Bay City except for the high schools.
4. St. Louis isn't really known for any one type of music scene. The biggest acts I can think of to get out of here alive were Gravity Kills, Nelly and the St. Lunatics, and Sheryl Crow. There's always been a vibrant concert scene though. What about where you are?
(Nick Block) Pantera was from Arlington / Ft Worth. Absu is from that general area, and King Diamond lives up there now.
There are a lot of good bands up there now like Turbid North, but other than that the area is mostly known for producing Kelly Clarkson, Toadies, and Townes Van Zandt. Turns out Ornette Coleman is from there too, which is really cool.
(Andrew Caruana) Novembers Doom and the Atlas Moth are my favorite Chicago bands, but the two most notable are probably Ministry and Disturbed.
(Branson Heinz) Houston is known for a specific type of music but it isn’t metal. Houston is known for its hip-hop and R&B. We've had famous acts like Beyonce and Travis Scott come from here. Other very talented rap artists from Houston include Z-Ro, UGK, and (my personal favorite) Scarface.
The style of music the city pioneered is called “Chopped and Screwed” rap which was started by DJ Screw. Its basically music to listen to while you're drinking “Purple Drank” which is another Houston creation consisting of cough syrup, Codeine, a Jolly Rancher, and sprite.
(Shaun Weller) I think the biggest person to come out of Bay City was Madonna, but nobody here really cares about her, so it's whatever. Otherwise the music scene is pretty decent, as there's a ton of musicians here. Mostly because there's nothing to do but play music and get drunk.
5. 20 years ago, St. Louis had about 300 murders each year, floods, and all sorts of other fun things. You might have heard about us being named the Murder Capital of the USA. Nowadays, a lot here is 150. But there are lots of parts of the city that are returning to former glory. On the whole, St. Louis is a better place to live today than before. Is there any thing like that where you're from?
(Nick Block) Ft Worth is a pretty chill town. That being said, I grew up in a really poor neighborhood, and there were frequently gang shootouts in the grocery store parking lot a block from my house. It isn't any better now, as there is now a WalMart where the open field behind my house used to be. The only time I stepped foot in that store I saw a couple people with gang face tattoos and rubber banded rolls of cash.
(Andrew Caruana) Unfortunately yes; Chiraq is a meme for a reason... I’d like to say it’s getting better but I don’t think it is.
(Branson Heinz) I'll answer this from the perspective of Waco (my hometown). Back in 1993 we had a religious cult called the “Branch Davidians” that set up shop on the outside of town.
They had stockpiled a ridiculous number of weapons and their leader (David Koresh) was having sex with underage girls. The FBI attempted a raid but many people died. Then there was a standoff that lasted for weeks.
Eventually the compound burned down and most people from the cult died in the fire. I remember being in 3rd grade at recess on the playground and seeing the smoke billowing in the distance. Even though I was only 10 years old, I knew that many people were dying and many were children. Our teachers called us into the auditorium and explained what had happened and it was very somber.
It was a very surreal time. I remember seeing reporters from the BBC, Australia, and even Russia at the grocery stores and around town.
(Shaun Weller) Right now there's a pretty bad heroin epidemic there, a lot of people getting hooked on that and meth. Honestly, I got out at a great time, because it all started going downhill shortly after I left.
6. Are you still there?
(Nick Block) I left Ft Worth when I was 9 and moved to Hungary. I learned Hungarian and went to public school until I was 16, when I moved to Virginia just outside of DC. I've lived in Houston for over 9 years now.
(Andrew Caruana) Nope, left seven years ago and have been in Houston ever since.
(Branson Heinz) I was born in Waco and graduated High School there in 2002. I never went back. I've lived in Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago, and now Houston since then.
Houston is where our band is based out of and I anticipate I will be here until I retire.
(Shaun Weller) I moved away from my hometown a little over four years ago. I go back to visit a few times a year for family and friends, but I'm always trying to persuade them to move down here.
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