Static Cling is four guys who are juniors (and one senior, Mike, who reminds us constantly) and we are the best band that practices in Danny's parents' basement. We are also the only band that practices in Danny's parents' basement. Josh is writing this page because he is the only one who read the HTML book. Everybody else "contributed ideas" which means they stood behind me and said "make it green." So it's green.

We started in February of 1999 when Josh and Mike were sitting in study hall and decided that being in a band was a better use of study hall. Danny got a bass for his birthday in March, so he was in. The name comes from the time Mike came to practice with a sock stuck to the back of his shirt and nobody told him for two hours. We were almost called The Wet Basements, because Danny's basement floods, but Danny's dad said no.

These are OUR songs. Written by us, in the basement, mostly by Josh, with Mike adding the parts that go "weedly-weedly." If you were at the battle of the bands, this is what you heard, in this order, except we skipped number 5 because we ran out of time.

1. Detention Song — our fastest one. About 1 minute 50 seconds. Danny counts it in and then it's over.
2. Girl in Third Period — Josh will not say who this is about. Everybody knows who this is about.
3. Mr. Halvorsen Is Watching — about a certain vice-principal. Names have not been changed.
4. Y2K (Kiss Your Computer Goodbye) — Mike's dad keeps buying bottled water for the millennium so Mike wrote a song about it.
5. Cafeteria Pizza — a slow one. A sad one. It is about the pizza.
6. Basement Anthem — our big closer. Has a part where everybody is supposed to yell "BASEMENT!" and so far only Danny's little brother does.

Plus we do a couple of covers, a couple of songs you'd know, which we play when the crowd looks like it's about to leave. We're not putting the names here because Mike says we don't want to get in trouble and Mike's cousin is "basically a lawyer."

June 12, 1999 — Danny's cousin Rachel's 13th birthday party (backyard).
Our first real show. Crowd: about 20 thirteen-year-olds and Danny's aunt. We played all 6 songs and then they asked us to play them again, so technically we did an encore. Alex was not our drummer yet. The drummer at this show was Kevin. See below. Rachel's mom paid us in cake.

August 21, 1999 — Mike's garage, for no reason.
We opened the garage door and played until a neighbor walked over. Crowd: 6, then 5, then the neighbor. We are counting it.

September 25, 1999 — THE BATTLE OF THE BANDS at the rec center!!!
Nine bands. Fifteen minutes each. We went on 6th, which Mike says is "the sweet spot." WE CAME IN THIRD. Third out of NINE. That is top third. The band that won had a guy who could actually sing and a drummer who owned his own drums, so no shame there. The band that came in second had matching shirts and we think that's what did it. We got a certificate and a gift certificate to the music store, which we are going to spend on strings and probably a drum key because Alex keeps losing his. Danny's mom videotaped the whole thing so if you want to see it come over and she will make you watch it whether you want to or not.

Special thanks to everybody from school who came and screamed. Especially the girl in third period. (JOSH WROTE THAT PART, NOT ME. — Josh) (wait)

Ok so here's the deal. We have had four drummers since February. This section is permanently under construction because it keeps changing.

• Kevin (Feb–June): quit after the birthday party because he "wanted to focus on baseball." He is not on the baseball team.
• Kevin again (July): came back. Quit again two weeks later because of a girl. Not the girl in third period. A different girl.
• Tyler (July–August): had a drum machine instead of drums. It was fine until it wasn't. He quit when we said we didn't want to play the song where the drum machine does a solo.
• Alex (August–now): our current drummer and the one who actually played the battle of the bands. Alex has quit twice already but he was back before the next practice both times, so we're not sure it counts. Alex, if you are reading this, please don't quit. We'll let you do the drum solo. A short one.

If Alex quits for real we are looking for a drummer who: (1) has drums, (2) has a ride to Danny's house, (3) is not Kevin.

Josh: an electric guitar that was his uncle's and a little practice amp that goes to 10 but sounds best at 4. Also the microphone, which is plugged into the practice amp too, which Mike says is "wrong" but it works.
Mike: a nicer electric guitar (he mows lawns) and a distortion pedal that he stomps on for every song, including the slow one.
Danny: a bass and a bass amp that is bigger than he is. Also an extension cord that is the most important piece of equipment we own.
Alex: a drum set that is missing one cymbal, which he replaced with a cookie sheet. It sounds sort of cool actually.

PRACTICE: Tuesdays and Thursdays after school, 3:30 to whenever Danny's dad gets home, and Saturday afternoons if nobody is grounded. Danny's parents' basement, which has carpet on the walls now (thanks Mr. and Mrs. D.!!!). We have to stop at 9 on weeknights because of the neighbors, who have already walked over once. See gigs.

We recorded four songs (Detention Song, Girl in Third Period, Mr. Halvorsen Is Watching, Basement Anthem) in the basement on Danny's dad's tape deck with two microphones taped to a broom handle. It is called "The Basement Tapes" because we are extremely original. The cover is a photocopy of a drawing Alex did. There is a little bit of Danny's mom yelling "DINNER" at the end of song 3 and we decided to keep it.

If you want one, e-mail Josh and we'll figure out how to get it to you. If you go to our school just find any of us. We have a stack of them in Danny's locker. Bring a blank tape and we'll dub it right there, or it's $3 which goes into the "Alex's missing cymbal" fund.