Werwolf - The CEO

Late 2010/early 2011.  I had just joined a band named Werwolf.

I had met Ryan before, but I never really talked with him until August 2010 - where my friends and I had a small screening of our films at an art gallery in downtown Huntington in Long Island, NY.  Ryan was the actor in my friend Zach's film, An Earnest Living, and was at the screening with his girlfriend, Nicole, and his friend Eddie.  Ryan and Eddie went to college in Ohio together and were in a post-surf rock band named "Vietnam II".  Ryan played drums and Eddie sang and played guitar.  They had been apart for some time but had recently found themselves in the same area in NY, and started playing music again, this time with both of them singing and playing guitar.  Ryan's girlfriend Nicole was (learning to) playing bass, and they had one drummer, and then another.  After the screening, we chatted about film and music, and I mentioned that I might need some original music for a film.  Later, at an after party, I would talk to Nicole for hours, who related quite a bit to me, and to the film I had made that showed at the screening, "Tomorrow Will Never Come".  I enjoyed my conversations with her, so when my friend Bryan would go to visit Ryan and Nicole, I would tag along to chat.  I went to go see a Werwolf show with my (other) friend, Brian, and had enjoyed what they were doing.  

Brian, an important member of our little post-college film group, had gone to California for 6 months to act as a documentarian for a Buddhist retreat in Berkley.  He encouraged me to go to another Werwolf show, and go take pictures.  I resisted, feeling tired, but eventually decided to go.  I went to my friend Bryan's (with a y) house first - we hit his bong a few times and were off to the show.  When we arrived at the bar, Ryan was loading in his equipment and told me that Nicole was no longer playing bass as there were issues between her and Eddie.  So, at this particular show, Ryan and Eddie traded off playing bass, and they operated as a three piece.  If you want to see pictures from this show, go to my gallery and search "Werwolf" - they're black and white pictures with splashes of color.  

When Ryan told me about the vacant bass space, I, completely stoned, mentioned that I played bass (really, I played guitar but they're mostly the same to me) and that I would be interested in filling in if they wanted that.  I had only been in one band prior, early in college, which was a short-lived joke thrash/punk band named MUSH (Monsters Under Satan's Hands).  I had been playing guitar for about ten years at that point that I talked to Ryan, and playing in a band (particularly with music I already liked) was intriguing to me.

I ended up practicing with Werwolf a few times before playing one show in the basement of a house, at a small house party.  Eddie was particularly drunk and pulled me aside afterwards, telling me that it was about "the image" and not "the music", not to worry about the music, and to "not listen to Ryan".  Eddie and Nicole's problems had been described to me, and he was intentionally driving wedges between people, talking about one person behind their back to another person, and so on - telling one member that the other member didn't need to be in the band and so on.  There were a few other instances of his behavior that were irritating, difficult to deal with, and as it was causing problems in Ryan's personal life, and his relationship, he decided to end his partnership/friendship with Eddie.  I had grown fond of hanging out with and playing music with Ryan, however, and so we decided to carry on with new members under a new name, A Happy Death, and start with about 3-4 songs that he had written for Werwolf that never went anywhere.

I designed this while bored at work one day, when the band Werwolf was still a thing.