Five on Friday: The Vinegar Sting's Chad Carnahan

“2X4’s” by Thinking Fellers Union Local 282

I remember getting up off the couch to see what had happened to the CD player. It sounded like something went wrong and was melting. Come to find it was just my mind. My boss, Robert Trick, owner of the famed Tempe restaurant House of Tricks, told me that the guy who owns The Sun Club was eating on the patio. He also informed me he was “a drug addict.” This was my chance, and I made my run. “Hey dude, you know I am in a band, and we would love to play your place sometime. I’ll get you free food here.” And that is all it took.

The next time he came to eat, he brought a paper calendar, and we selected a couple of dates. One of those dates was playing with a band called Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, whatever, he said they were from San Francisco. The night of the show, Alan Bishop picked us up in his station wagon, which was nice because none of us had cars, and he said he knew the people in the band. On the way home, some frat boys pulled up to us at a light and asked him what was up with all the equipment, and he said, “I stole it, you gotta problem with that.” Anyway, that night my life changed: I decided singing was not enough and that I needed to learn to play an instrument. I also learned that I love a band from San Francisco called, of all things,

Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. This song "2x4s" lives rent-free inside me. Once, I was flying to the Bay Area, imagining how great it would be if they happened to be playing while I was there, and they were, and I went, and they opened with this song. It lives inside me, and I am so glad I learned to play an instrument.

“Promises Kept” by Sonny Sharrock

What does movement mean to you? How do you define spirit? Have you ever seen something that was invisible? Can a band be one instrument? How does glue work? When does power weaken things? Do we ever truly “stumble upon?” What is the cost of culture? How does a line work? When are things broken? How do they heal? Don’t ask me, ask the ages.

“Frail” by U.S. Saucer

Every music fan has that one song that they just need. They did not choose it; it chose them—that song that you put on for protection, the one that keeps you safe. For me, that song is “Frail” by U.S. Saucer. In fact, the entire record Tender Places Come from Nothing is my safe place. Have you been up for five days, hallucinating with a sore jaw, put it on. If a dear friend left you and you miss them to death, put it on. Are you ashamed of yourself? Put it on. Are you insincere and just putting people on? Then put it on. We all have that song, and this one is mine.

“Praha in Spring” by Ruins

I read something about the band Ruins in the S.F. Weekly in like, 1991. As a bass player, the idea of a two-piece band of just bass and drums sounded interesting, and my tiny mind just could not grasp what that might sound like. Remember, kids, pre-internet days here, and I am a wannabe hipster from Chandler, Arizona, who is only like three years removed from wearing his soccer socks all day after the game and smashing bean-and-cheese burritos at Elmer’s Tacos while touching himself. So off to Berkeley I went to see what two Japanese guys on bass and drums could do. As doo doo fell from my pants, I quickly realized that life was different now. The only thing I can really compare it to is the cartoon video game Dragon’s Lair, which came out when I was like eleven years old. Life was different now.

I saw Ruins the next night in San Francisco, and I stood there in front of the stage, mouth agape and brains on the floor. That night, I studied Hideki Kawamoto's pedal board, went home, and changed the way I played the bass. Trying as hard as I could to rip somebody off that had a million times more talent than I did, and way less doody in his pants. I never played the bass the same after seeing Ruins live. Life was different now. The next year, when they came back, I was lucky enough to get to record them live and chat a bit in broken Japanese. When you hear this, it might be hard to believe, but this is two people, and this is exactly how they sound live. It is funny, though; I do not really listen to Ruins records anymore. I do not get from them what I got from them 35 years ago. It always amazes me how something or someone can be so monumentally influential to you and then just be almost forgotten years later. It is also so bewildering that someone could eat a bean-and-cheese burrito while touching themselves.

“Street Contest Run at Tempe Diablo” by Neil Blender

I know this is not a song, but this event changed my life forever. I was about fourteen years old, and what I learned that day has shaped my entire life. In this video, you can hear me yelling in the background. So, listen up, friends, and take a lesson from Neil Blender. Just because you are a skater does not mean that you cannot paint, and just because you are a painter does not mean that you cannot dance. You see, unlike everything else in this fucking world, art has no rules.