Today we’d like to introduce you to David M.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
So…Meredith and Kyle met in junior high school (I think the school was called “Woodbridge” or “Rancho something?” Who cares). They bonded over both being posers. Then Meredith met David like eight years later, and they fell in love and were married. Kyle was at the wedding (Fun Fact: I think we played some “Tammy & the Amps” songs at the reception because we knew he’d like it). Then a few years after that the three of us decided to play music together BUT there was a problem; no drummer for the group (there were other problems, too, which we’ll get to in a minute). Meredith had recently met Jesse at clown school. Jessie had never played the drums but was a gifted dancer, so everyone assumed that drumming would come easy. Did it? Depends on what you mean by “drumming,” but yeah, sort of. Okay, the other problems; 1.) Aside from David, nobody in the group had ever played their chosen instruments. We didn’t even own instruments. 2.) No place to practice. 3.) No ambition.
So the only thing we had going for us was undeniable, blinding talent. And we all could sing, more or less. So we got a keyboard for Meredith, a drum set for Jessie, a bass and amp for Kyle, and we set them up in Kyle’s bedroom, then later in Jessie’s living room. And that’s how we started. Then some other stuff happened; Jessie and Kyle retired, Noah and Laura joined up, then Laura moved and Don, Tommy, Sam, and Allen all started playing with us. One by one, they all moved out of town, and Kyle rejoined the group. Then Alice became the new drummer. So that’s how it’s been; lots of boring personnel changes that nobody cares about. All you really need to know is that the group now is David, Meredith, Alice, and Kyle. They made the last record, “Is This What It’s Like.”
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Our biggest struggle has always been that our music is not well-liked by the general public. We underestimated how much of a disadvantage this would be! Nevertheless, we’ve tricked a lot of people into listening. We have about 500 fans now. At this rate, we’ll have over a thousand fans by the time we start dying. Right now, the group is Alice, Kyle, Meredith, and me. Alice will probably die first because she’s had pleurisy off and on for years. I don’t know if it will come back, but I’m sure it’s basically destroyed her lungs. Listen to her sing! You can hear the damage. I’d guess the next to die will be me. I have unhealthy habits, I start off every day with coffee and NSAIDs on an empty stomach and usually won’t eat until later in the afternoon. I wound up in the hospital with gastritis a while ago! Very painful. ALSO, I don’t trust doctors AT ALL, so I may die from some super-treatable disease that I ignore. When I had typhus (I’ve written a lot about surviving typhus, and I can’t possibly get into that again – please look it up), I told the doctor “Listen, I think it’s typhus” and he told me “I’ve been a doctor for 30 years, I’ve never had a patient with typhus, you don’t have typhus” but IT WAS TYPHUS.
And right after that, I started seeing signs in my neighborhood saying “PEOPLE IN YOUR AREA HAVE BEEN INFECTED WITH MURINE TYPHUS” and I laughed and laughed because I was the people. Next to die? I don’t know, probably Meredith. She’s got super strong arms from throwing pottery day in and day out but she doesn’t exercise. Stress is her only means of getting her heart rate up, and that can’t be good. So I guess that leaves Kyle. He’ll dance on all our graves. But he’ll cry while he dances because all his friends will be dead. Actually, he’s got other friends besides us, so he’ll just be dancing.
Other struggles? We’ve made crucial business decisions based on knowledge revealed to us in dreams. When I say “we,” I mean that I’ve done it and everyone else has suffered the consequences. The thing is, you never know if a decision is good or bad until way later, if ever. So…Kyle will just have to make the call while he’s dancing on our graves and knows how everything finally played out. I trust his judgment in this! I don’t trust him to care enough to actually think about it, but I do trust him to evaluate the effects of these bad decisions fairly if he ever did think about it (he probably won’t).
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We are known for singing and playing instruments. We’ve made five albums and traveled around both hemispheres playing for small to medium-sized audiences (and a couple of big ones, but that was out of the ordinary). We’ve played in Paris, Moscow, New York City, etc., etc., etc. BUT we’ve never played in Orange County. Even though three of the four of us grew up there, we’ve never played in Orange County. A prophet is without honor in his hometown…you know that old excuse. Where would we like to play in Orange County? On the beach at sunset in front of the Montage hotel and casino in Laguna, I guess. Maybe for someone’s wedding! Or at Camelot, in Anaheim, which the kids called “Scam-a-lot” back in the day. They all said that, but they didn’t do much scamming. Personal note: I saw a kid barf into his Dr. Pepper cup at a pizza party at Camelot. The cup only had a little bit of Dr. Pepper still in it. He just leaned over and threw up right into the cup and filled it right up to the brim with vomit. Not a drop ended up on the table, it was neat and clean. I won’t say his name here because he may want to put all that behind him now. Years later, I egged his house. Don’t feel too sorry for him, though, because he was a kleptomaniac. Does that mean he deserved his misfortunes in some sort of karmic way? Yes but only because we all deserve nothing but misfortune.
Notice how I called this crappy thing my friends and I did to his family a “misfortune?” That’s a pro PR move. But I do regret the egging. Best place to play? Paris, France. Second best? I don’t know, maybe Glasgow? New York? Brussels, too. Worst place to play? There are so many….for our group; Columbus Ohio. Also, Lawrence, Kansas. I’m sure they’re great towns, but not for us. Another thing; our music videos are great, go watch them. Every single one is really great, except for the one with the ostrich, which isn’t even really a music video. Blame Alice for that one. I made the video, but she’s the one who encouraged me to make it. What else? I’m working on developing a rehab center that’s way, way out in the sticks. And we just drop the people off out there, just abandon them and there’s no staff or anything. This is still in the very early stages, so I don’t know what happens after they get dropped off, but it’s a work in progress. I just really want to help people who are struggling with addiction. What else do we do? Hmmm. Meredith makes ceramic lamps. Kyle teaches theatre to teens. I don’t know what Alice’s job is, internet stuff?
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Yeah, lots of risks. Lots of super risky living. Mostly cutting across traffic to grab parking spots and stuff. Also, I’m unafraid of food poisoning and will eat pretty much anything. My friends got me into dumpster diving a while ago (they are in Jeremy Seifert’s movie “Dive,” which is entertaining. Ex-BoW players Noah and Allen feature prominently in this film, go see for yourself), and, although I don’t do it anymore (the world of scrounging is very different now than it used to be), it made me feel a lot better about eating “garbage.” Also, I rewire lights and stuff without turning off the power. If you’re careful, you don’t really need to worry about getting electrocuted. And even if you do, a 15 amp circuit won’t kill you or anything. And it may even help alleviate some of the more intense symptoms of severe depression (lots of evidence for this). So really, it’s not even a risk because there’s such an incredible upside. What else? I guess I already told you about how I don’t trust doctors and won’t consult them. Is that risky? I doubt it. The cure is worse than the disease so often. And if something was so wrong with your body that it needed medical interventions, you’d (almost always) know it. If I knew it, I’d go to the hospital, so you can stop worrying about me. I’m pretty much fine. Physically, I mean.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bodiesofwater.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bodiesofwater/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bodiesofwater
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebodies
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUppbOSBt96R5Y7mjNSJ43A
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/bodies-of-water/
Image Credits:
Andrew Duncan
