Formed on a cold winter's night in February 2007, while standing in a parking lot in Edmonton after playing our first gig in Barrhead as 'Ski Patrol', we committed to the idea of forming a real band. We desired to be part of something to call our own, something to which we could rock.
Under the initial membership of Jake, Caleb K, Graeme, Tim, and Ryan, we began a journey towards forming our band and creating our own music.
We didn't meet often, in fact I think the only other time we met was to play an acoustic set for the Sunday morning church service. We wrote very little, and we were undecided whether to from a worship band or a rock and roll band.
ManJam3000 - Down to the core
Over the spring of 2007, we lost our drummer Ryan, who moved away. We also lost Tim, our bass player, who went out to work at camp for the entire summer. We had initially hoped to reform in entirety in the fall, but plans change, and Ski Patrol went down to 3 members. Alongside our decrase in membership, a lengthy and tiresome legal battle came to a disappointing close, and due to supposed similiarities in the name of another band, we were forced to change our name. Thus, ManJam3000 was adopted as a placeholder title, until we found something that could truly define us.
The summer was turning out to be pretty dry for our little band, until something special happened. The 3 members of the band, being Jake, Caleb and Graeme, were able to meet on occasion. We played a little, wrote a little, and talked about being excited for the fall. But we weren't advancing that much, mainly because when we started playing songs we would just end up talking about how awesome this song would sound if only we had a drummer, or how we really needed a bass to fill out this other song. We needed a full band, we needed an identity that we could hold on to and work from, instead of just waiting all the time.
Dirty City Hearts - The band becomes complete
Fall '07. Two things happened. First, we got a drummer, and not just any drummer. We got Caleb H. And for those of you who don't know who Caleb H is, or what his drumming is like, let's just say he could punch you in the face using only the rhythm created by his drum set. Needless to say (but of course I'll say it anyway) we were pumped. And then a funny thing happened on the way to 109th street. Jake was walking downtown one day, and came across something peculiar. He saw some really cool graffiti art, and as you probably figured out, we are all about the graffiti art. There was a cool picture that Jake saw, and beside that picture was written "Hearts Rock Dirt City". That's a pretty cool sentence, Jake thought. So he brought it to the band, and after a little thinking and pondering, we switched some words around to make it work for a band name. Thus, Dirty City Hearts became a band with a name, even though we were not yet a 'complete' band, per se.
So we kept looking for a bass player. After looking into a few possibilities, along came Stu: electric guitar player extraordinaire. But we need a bass player, not another electric guitar. Well, Stu is up to many a challenge, so he learned quick and he learned good. Stu's skills with the shredding on the scales of an electric guitar translated amazingly to the bass guitar, and just like that our band was finally complete. Jake, Caleb K, Graeme, Caleb H, and Stu. 5 members, and a name. Dirty City Hearts was a complete band as of October 2007.
From Garage, to Basement, to Stage - A quest for legitimacy
We practiced for the rest of the fall in Caleb H's garage. But soon the air became rather chill, and the lack of a heating system in the garage became more and more relevant with each weekly meeting. In late October, we decided to make the move from Caleb's garage all the way down to his basement. We continually wrote new songs at a very steady pace now, with many of the new songs replacing the older songs. Of course, that is the way of any emerging musician. Of the older songs you write, only a very small number have any real staying power. New songs emerge, and overshadow the weaker old ones. But alas, the new songs will only live so long until their majority are likewise outshone by newer songs still. With all the new music being created, we were able to pick some of the songs that had more potential, and start focusing our efforts into developing a set list. We developed a general set list, and continually added and took away songs.
All the while, as we were playing through these supposed 'sets' we couldn't help but wish that we playing in front of people. Sure, Caleb's mom would usually come down during practices to serve up some cookies and juice and fruit (you only wish I was joking), but we wanted to play for an entire of group of people. You know, like a sort of 'rock concert' if you will. We talked a lot about how we could start playing shows. December came and passed, and we weren't any closer to playing our first show, though we had written a fair good bit of music.
