Many of us so-called Gamers completely went nuts with Rockband when it first released. It was a cutting edge game that made it seem as if you could be the next Rock Star. To boot, if you dropped the cash you could have a drum set, but most of us stayed with the guitar. Even then, there was the occasional person who loved singing along to their favorites. What made it more compelling was the fact it was Multiplayer!
That’s right! You could have a drummer, lead guitarist, bass player, and a singer. How awesome! Invite some friends over and enjoy some of your favorite songs and see how far you could go in the game touring as a “BAND”, making your individual characters look a certain way, naming them, and even picking out… a band name and logo.
Needless to say, we were all so super stoked to hear my husband’s friend Russ had the full set up. The drum set seemed intimidating when we walked in and everyone was sticking to the guitars. My husband, being the enthusiastic troublemaker, decided he would dare to master the drums.
“Where’s a chair?” Justin had the drumsticks in hand and towered over the toy version of a drum set. “I don’t think your dining room chairs will work, Mark.”
Mark held up a finger and rushed out into his garage. He came back with a green stool that worked perfect. The height was workable and having no back or arms, Justin could move more freely.
“Alright!” Justin sat and got himself settled in behind the little plastic drums. “I HAVE GREEN STOOL!”
This was only the start of many puns to come involving Justin and his stool. If that wasn’t bad enough, he decided he would create a female drummer. The laughter and tears produced over the feat of his creation and a female in a flesh colored bathing suit and a flame tattoo across her lower belly was to die for.
“Oh shit, you gotta give her a name, Justin.” Russ was laughing, we were all giggling about what he could possibly pick.
We watched in a sobered, wide-eyed moment as he wrote in S-T-D and hit enter and locked it in.
“Justin!” I exclaimed in rebuttal.
“WHAT?!” He was grinning, the familiar sparkle in his eyes. “It’s short for Super Terrific Drummer!”
Later on he would make a game out of making her look like the lead singer of the band, but then we found ourselves in a new predicament.
“Oh… we get to name our band.” Mark smiled.
I threw up my hands, “I may be a gamer, but the band name will be up to you guys.”
After having a fun few rounds with the randomizer and a few more good laughs, a decision was made. I can’t recall who was responsible for the band name in the end… but we ended up with: Pussy Train. Yea, you read that write. If that wasn’t hilarious, enough then I should inform you they made our band logo “the Shocker” and it stuck until the band disbanded.
In the MONTHS that unfolded, we made a weekly ritual of getting the band together and having a good time. Justin ended up being a pretty good drummer and as punishment we would play Jon Bovi’s Wanted Dead or Alive knowing it killed his leg and took all his concentration to make a good score on it.
After a while, Justin and I started sneaking by Mark and Russ’s place and taping handmade, shocker and all, “Pussy Train Band Practice Tonight” flyers for the fun of it all. I swear, I keep my own dusty drum set and copy of Rockband in case Pussy Train decides to get the band back together some time in the future for old times sake!
We still laugh and bring this whole ordeal up from time to time!