Histories of Other Bands Associated With RAG

After the original recording of "Annihilation", the band recorded a few more takes of the song. Minor changes were made from take to take, and fuck-ups were corrected sometimes. Other times, more fuck-ups were added. Soon, the band was ready for some new material. And for a real drum kit. After doing some investigating, someone found out that there were actual rehearsal rooms in Loyola Hall which students could use. A little more research, and they discovered that one of these rooms had a "community" drum set in it. Well, if it wasn't really a "community" drum set for anybody to use, they were sure the owner wouldn't mind them using it. As long as they didn't find out. So, one afternoon, the band packed up everything they needed, and made the trek over to Loyola. Mark even brought his trombone.  Once they borrowed the key and got into the room, the band set up their equipment. Mike jumped behind the drums and started banging on them. Immediately, they could tell the drums would make a big difference. Once set up, "Annihilation" was recorded again, and the drums gave it even more energy and loudness than it already had. Of course, with the louder noises in this room, Rich had to sing even louder, which turned his vocals more in the direction of screaming than singing. That was fine with the band, it gave the song a harder edge. Once "Annihilation" was recorded, the band broke out some new material. The next song recorded wasn't much of a song. And there was no lyric sheet. The song "Die!" simply consisted of Rich screaming "Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie..... Now!" on top of an assault of noise. One take, and that song was finished. 

Next up was perhaps the most powerful and riveting RAG song ever recorded. Graphically describing the usage and effects of heroin, the song "Smack" ventured into uncharted territory for the band. The song actually had two parts to it! With no acoustic intro used for this song, the tune ripped right into the main riff and drum beat. After each verse, the music would come to a halt and wait for Rich to recite the chorus: "I feel like the world is on my back... Gimme some smack!", then rip right back into where it left off. Definitely a song that would be a classic forever, recording "Smack" may have very well been RAG's finest moment.

The fourth and final song ever recorded by RAG recounted their trips to the local liquor store to buy alcohol. "The Run Song" explained the details of the typical beer run. At this time, the band was still under 21, so buying alcohol was a bit of a task. And most of the liquor stores in Connecticut were run by uptight yuppies who strictly adhered to the ridiculous federal laws. There were no bodegas to be found. And, believe it or not, you could not buy alcohol in stores after 8pm. Can you believe that shit!? But despite "the man" trying to keep the band from getting their hands booze, somehow they found a small liquor store that suited them just fine. The sketchy looking owner of the store soon knew them as regular customers, and he was lovingly dubbed "Dirty Boy" by the band. But, he always had specials on cases of Busch, and never questioned their obviously fake IDs. And so, Dirty Boy was immortalized forever by RAG in their final recorded song. It had a catchy riff that alternated between slow and fast for each verse. It would become yet another RAG classic.

At this point, the Battle of the Bands which had inspired the formation of the band was drawing near. The band had to make their decision. Would they actually go on stage in front of the whole school and play these songs? Opinion differed a bit at first. After all, they only had 4 original songs, one of which was only 11 seconds long. And the other 3 songs combined would be less than 10 minutes. They could probably learn some cover songs, but which ones? And would they be good enough? And they had no frickin bass player. Finally, the decision was made. There was no way the band could really participate in the Battle of the Bands and be competitive. And they probably would have offended most of the audience as well. But just because RAG would turn down this opportunity to perform in public for the first time, the band still had big plans for the future.   

Next Chapter: The RAG Drinking Game & Marketing The Band