Last week we told you how went the epopee of our first gig, now we want the recount the path that took us to the release of our first album: The Sky.
From these two milestones it passed almost 4 years.
For years full of events, gigs, evolutions and line-up changes.
After the first gig, we had immediately other requests for further concerts, but Fly (the founder drummer) pulled back, leaving us without drummer.
He canned not ran like the bands wanted and so he had not the possibility to prepare the drums parts in time; fairly decided to give the place to a more practiced drummer.
Like done at the first gig, the choose went on Eng.
Second G.A. gig (BJ – Pav – Eng)
But, unfortunately, Eng had other dates fixed with his main band and so gave us the availability only for another pair of concerts.
The fate wanted that some days after BJ met one guy, Curly, some years older than us, that was searching a band where drumming, he was very talented and prepared.
Unfortunately, the musical tastes were slightly different, but the dates fixed where near and so we decided that there was no time to be picky. So, we decided to let him join the band.
Pav – Curly – BJ
We are around the June of the ‘99, we played every 2-3 weeks end, and so we started composing our own songs and in the autumn of that year we recorded our first demo, all DIY in “direct take”.
There was a great experience, and the DIY became a philosophy that never leaves the band, even today.
Firt Curly gig with G.A.
Developing the songs writing, we realized that we need a second guitarist, both for giving more freedom to BJ to the sung, both for giving a better musical impact.
The first guy that covered that position was Delfo, a great musician from a closer valley to our city, but with an even more distant music style from the direction that the band wants to follow.
BJ – Curly – Pav – Delfo
The collaboration lasted just one moth, with one gig, then he leaved.
It was the prelude for a first historical line-up settlement of the band.
It was middle of February. In those days Pav were attempting to convince an old classmate of the elementary schools to play with the band. That guy was performing with some metal bands and he had great technique and execution speed. The pressing gave its fruits, and Marmo became a guitarist of Green Arrows.
The year 2000 continues with a high frequency of gig, and along the way, grew the desire to release their songs. But for doing that, they needed at first a contract with a label, and for reaching that they needed a professional version of the demo to spreading out.
There wasn’t enough money (same old fucking story) for fixing a recording studio and so they walked other alternative ways, like participating to music contest where the prize were money or recording studio hours.
The contest’s gig: Marmo – BJ
The biggest opportunity arrives in the autumn with a big contest of 30 bands, where the 6 best bands will have as award 3 songs recorded, mixed and mastered in a professional studio and the releasing of them in a compilation.
Obviously, we jumped in, and in the same day that the organisers confirmed our registration, Curly leaves the band.
Without falling in despair, like the year before we searched the help of Eng, that answered affirmatively.
We performed in one of the 3 sub-regional contest gigs, it was in Laives, 12km south from Bolzano. We did the best we canned, playing precise and hard, but we weren’t so confident that was enough: all other bands played other styles like jazz, rock and all other that can be catchy in a contest.
We saw no chances for a Punk-Hardcore band there, and so Marmo and BJ leaves the theatre before the end of the contest, just at the end of the exhibition of the last band.
Pav and Eng remained there, just to make sure.
After one half hour the jury announced the outcomes: we won.
Incredibly we reached our goal, our performance convinced the jury, our energy prevailed on all the other pimped and composed lounge bands.
We had the chance to record our demo.
GREEN ARROWS 