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ESOTERIC, JAY'S FIRST
BAND |
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JAY
"HOW IT ALL BEGAN"
In
1990, a TEENAGED Jay ( synths )
-still in high school- had a band called BEVELIN with his
friends
Josh, ( drums ) Saraboth, ( keys) and Jay's brother Dennis occasionally
sang. This band merely rehearsed in the
garage, not daring to actually do shows. It was just for fun
mostly, and they did alot of cover songs, including "The
Chauffeur" ( Duran Duran ), "Nowhere Girl" ( B-Movie ), "If You
Leave" ( OMD ), "That Smiling Face" ( Camouflage ), "Take On Me"
( A-Ha ),
"But Not Tonight" ( Depeche Mode ) etc.... Mostly 80's keyboard based
shit and a couple of originals. This was the 90's and the
start of the shitty grunge, guitar dominated era, so you can imagine why they
didn't want to do shows! The 80's revival was still far
far away.
At the same time, Jay's brother Dennis had a band
called Priority Zero he played keyboards in, with Pat on drums and Garron on lead
vocals. Their band started to break apart, and Bevelin got
Garron to sing with them. After writing a few songs, Josh
decided he wanted to be a Chef, and quit the band to go to
cooking school. That left the band with no drummer, so they
recruited Pat from Garron's old band Priority Zero. By now Saraboth was
also out, college life being too demanding to take music seriously. They knew they didn't want to be an all synth band with live drums anymore, they wanted to add guitars and bass to the mix and be more like a rock band that simply uses synths to augment the sound-than a completely electronic band. Bevelin now got Dennis to play bass with them, EVEN THOUGH HE HAD NEVER PLAYED BASS BEFORE, AND DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO!They already had a keyboard player and a singer ( the 2 things Dennis knew how to do), so Dennis decided to learn bass, being that's what Bevelin needed in the band at the time.
He learned really really quick. Dennis brought Chris Kidd, a PUNK Ramones/Toy Dolls influenced
guitarist into the group, but he didn't last long. Jay
also brought in his high school friend Mark Shuetee( guitar ),so for awhile,
Esoteric had 2 guitarists at once. The band had been through so many
changes that they decided to change the name. Jay came up
with Esoteric from the dictionary. It meant "only intended
for, or known by- an elite few". Secretive, obscure. He thought
it was perfect for the kind of music they played. It wasn't
exactly what was on the radio at the time, and the type of music Esoteric was making was underground again-after being considered pop music in the 80s. Pearl Jam and
Nirvana-angrier mosh pit music for sweaty guys- were all the rage by now, not dancey sexy rock for chicks, and guys who like chicks. Indeed, Esoteric's music
was only gonna appeal to an elite selective few, and that was fine
with them. They wanted to play what they loved, not merely what was declared "hot" and "cool" to sound like. Esoteric was never part of any "scene"-they did their own thing. 
Saraboth, Jay, Dennis, Garron, Josh
Josh, Dennis, Chris Kidd, Jay, Garron, Mark
CLOCKWISE: Garron, Jay, Dennis, Chris Kidd, Pat
This lineup did alot of shows, including the Metro in
Riverside. After Chris Kidd they got Byron Hall on guitar. He
brought a metal influence to it, he was very into Yngwie Malmsteen, Iron Maiden, and the violinist Paganini-and this version sounded
like Motley Crue or Judas Priest and Depeche Mode merging. Kind of cool, but
it left alot of people going "What the fuck is this? Those 2 styles can't blend together!" When
people can't pigeonhole your sound, when it doesn't recall what they already know and love-they avoid it,
unfortunately. Esoteric recorded two 6 song demos with this lineup, but they were
never really happy with the way they came out.
Pat, Jay, Garron, Dennis, Byron
Eventually Byron wasn't working out, he wanted to play more traditional metal-so they parted ways with
him. Looking back, in hindsight, Jay feels the band should have never let him go, his playing combined with Jay's playing was like nothing at the time, totally unique. Dennis was also out, giving up music for good to get "a real job" and start a family. Garron
then met Hector, a guitarist, at the Metro-a gothic/Industrial/new wave club Esoteric always hung out at- and invited Hector to audition. Since they also didn't have a bass player, Hector brought with
him his songwriting partner Henry( Now of electronic band ST VN )on bass to fill out the sound. They
jammed and it clicked.
Henry, Hector, Garron, Pat, Jay-upstairs at the WHISKEY, HOLLYWOOD.
WHAT
HAPPENED?
Things were looking good for this lineup,
until GIRLFRIEND PROBLEMS! The band don't remember the details, but
Garron and Henry's girlfriends got into some kind of a war,
and that severed the ties between Garron and Henry. The band
just couldn't exist with both of them, too much bad blood now-someone had to go. Hector pretty much
opted not to pick sides, and quit the band. Obviously without Hector, Henry followed his exit, and Garron stayed on. This left Jay,
Garron, and Pat with no guitar or bass section. They put out an ad for
a guitarist and a bass player. A bassist named Derek called, and
he jammed with Esoteric, and he kicked ass! From that point on, he was in
the band. The guitar role was not as easy to fill, and the band even thought about saying "fuck it" to having guitar in the band again at all. Esoteric tried for months to find a guitarist. No dice.
Then, Garron broke up with his lady, and decided to
go to Germany to clear his head. He wound up being gone 2
years, but that's another story. Everything was falling apart it seemed. Gained a bass player, but lost a guitarist and now, the singer. While he was gone, they met
another singer- from a 2 year old ad in BAM magazine that Jam found by luck. The singer was Nick. He came down and auditioned, and he
was in that first night. This was midway through the 90's, 94 to be exact.
Nick started a whole new era, and was the second chapter of
the band's history. Now all they needed was a guitarist. They all decided that yes, guitar was going to be 1/5 of their overall sound.
Frustrated, Derek decided to call Hector, just to see if
there was any chance in hell of him coming back. He did. Esoteric
FINALLY had a finalized, solid lineup.
CLOCKWISE: Pat, Jay, Derek, Nick, Hector
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
What
didn't happen next? Esoteric did very very good from this point
on. Endless shows opening for all their musical idols. Dead or Alive,
The Fixx, The Church, the Romantics, Dave Wakeling ( English
Beat), Berlin, Missing Persons, Flock of Seagulls, Cliff
Morrison (Jim's son), Korn, Sugar Ray (they were the Shrinky
Dinks then), 311, Gene Loves Jezebel, Zapp with Roger,
Modern English, Goddamn! It's hard to remember them all. They
recorded 2 full length CDs- Esoteric and No Apologies. Esoteric
feel the first album is the best. "The second one.....Don't
know, it has good songs, but they're not recorded well. It just sounds thin", says Jay. Some of Darvoset's songs come
from this time period, and Darvoset have remade a few songs like
Darkness Of The Night ( this is actually the first song Jay
ever wrote, and is over 14 years old! ), and Velvet Skies.
More will surely be added. The Darvoset versions are 100%
better obviously.
Esoteric even made a video for "Feels So Real", another tune which Darvoset has made their own- but the video is so
fucking cheesy! It's only worth mentioning to laugh at. As Jay says-"It
came out looking like a cheap Mexican soap opera! You know
the kind you can see on Telemundo? lol. Pure Velveeta cheese
wiz man. Wannabe 'dramatic' love storyline and all. But fun to look back on and cringe. You'll never
see it. Too lame."
Esoteric broke up for good because Nick was diagnosed
HIV positive, ( yes he is gay, and open about it) and started feeling weaker and weaker. He
couldn't do shows anymore. He still does some electronic
music on his own from home, and everyone who played with him hopes he's ok.
Esoteric lasted 8 years (90-98) in one form or
another, and set Jay's path. This band did alot, and was a
great learning experience for him. It prepared Jay for what
was to come with Darvoset.
WE'LL LEAVE THE LAST WORDS TO JAY:
"I wouldn't say I'd change those years, cuz I feel to be who I am today I had to go through that shit-
but I do wish I knew then what I know now. I wouldn't have wasted so much time and tolerated flakiness and
bullshit. Or cared what other's think so much. Sticking to such a democratic, '5 band guys with equal say and
input' format proved to be pointless, as you compromise for them, and then they just leave you anyway. lol.
So you're then stuck with music that didn't come out as you truly wanted it, and no band eventually too.
I learned that you have to trust yourself and your own ideas and you own abilities, and not rely on other people
to make you happy or to make your songs come alive. I spent alot of time being afraid, scared of being alone,
thinking I needed others to make my songs good, for them to function properly.
'I can't do that, I can't
play that like he does'- that was my thinking then. An insecure person afraid of looking dumb.
I'm much more confidant now in my own capacity to learn things. It's not arrogance, I know my limitations and
am aware of what I cannot achieve instrumentally--but it's more a sense of feeling up to the challenge now-is all.
I try anything today, any instrument, any riff, any genre-whereas in the past I'd quit before I began.
To break out of your own little boxed in way of thinking....it's liberating. I used to see myself strictly as a
synth/piano player. Today I'm more a guy who does it all, bits on all instruments here and there.
Still, Eddie Van Halen isn't shitting his pants just yet over my guitar playing! lol.
But I used to feel I needed to focus 100% on one thing, be the best I could be on the keyboards ONLY-
now I've allowed myself to be functional, competent-on any instrument. I'll never be as great as Victor Wooten,
Les Claypool, or Verdine White on bass, but it's cool to be able to lay it down with no help from others.
I do what needs to be done, and it serves the song's needs and works. If I bring in anyone else to play a part on
any given instrument, it's due to WANTING THEM, not NEEDING THEM.
Now I know what I need MOST is loyalty and people I can trust- people I enjoy being with and who make me laugh.
More than people who are the best musicians and most talented players. I'd rather have a cool, honest, fun person
in my band, that sucks ass as a player, than some cocksucker asshole who shreds. It's predictable and a clich'e
to say that, but as you get older, you realize cliche's are cliche's because they're so often true."
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