Brad Perry (Worn in Red, drums)
SPB: What do you remember of playing your first live show ever?
Perry: The first show I ever played was with my high school punk band, Officer Friendly. I was 15 and played bass. Ryan Geis (who works at No Idea and was in Rehasher & Savage Brewtality) played guitar -- it's crazy how long he and I have been friends. Anyway, no regular venues in tiny-ass Fredericksburg, VA would let a punk band of 15 year-olds in, but we were dying to play out. So when a friend of mine told me she was having a class pool party at her house, I didn't even stop to think about the fact that it maybe wasn't the best fit. I just immediately started bugging her to let us play. She eventually said OK and we did it. It ruled. We were loud and hyper and singing about how the PMRC sucks, and how small town cops are just power tripping rednecks. I don't think the parents of Mrs. Gill's 9th grade Honors English class were quite ready for a band of kids obsessed with Dead Kennedys and Minor Threat shouting and writhing and jumping off the cabana furniture. But pretty much all of our classmates loved it. We spent the rest of the party getting everyone to pretend to stage dive into the pool.