david mcwane.

david mcwane is one of the most important musical figures in my life. a lot of the people i'm friends with probably don't even know who he is and may not have ever even heard of him. and that's too bad. in the world of your lady gagas and your nickelback's (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5tBJ34wfOA), very few musicians in popular music seem to have a heart, a soul, and sometimes even a pulse. there are some exceptions. dave grohl seems to be about as genuine as they come and he's one of the most successful musicians of the past 20 years. but if you watch the foo fighters "back and forth" documentary, he too seemed to go through a period of being a rather awful person.

david mcwane is geniune. and to reverse his own lyrics, has a heart and has the soul. a few weeks ago, however, i was worried about how much longer he would in fact have a pulse.

david mcwane is the singer of punk/ska/stroll bostonians "big d and the kids table." he's also the only person left on the planet who wears cargo pants. and just over a month ago, news came out that the band had to cancel their current european tour because he was diagnosed with "throat cancer." this was one of the first real times that i concerned myself with the life of a "celebrity" in quiet some time. but it's tough to call dave a celebrity.

although big d's most recent album, "for the damned, the dumb, and the delirious" was not at all the smash hit for me that "fluent in stroll" was, the guys who are and have been in this band are people i will respect forever. i've written about it before and i've had conversations with the band themselves and some friends, but the punk community and the way they handle a band changing their sound is something that can really cripple a band. and from an outsider looking in, it really put a lot of stress on big d.

fluent in stroll is, in my opinion, one of the most upbeat, positive, and engaging records i've ever listened to. it came to me at a point in my life where i was down right miserable and it just put a smile on my face that wouldn't leave for a long time. but it wasn't a punk/ska record by definition or design. instead, it was a poppy blend of 100 musical stylings, perfectly meshed into the ultimate summer album. punks don't like that. they want you to sing about how the elitist los angele'ietes (don't think that's a word) are assholes. they want power chords and loud drums. they want stage dives and obnoxious horns. so outcome the guns with fluent in stroll in their scopes. bass player steve foote had a long talk with me about this twice, once in rochester after their show and once in buffalo before their most recent stint in wny. it hurt the band, and it showed.

they had a lot of line up changes. long time trumpeter dan stoppleman left the band, founding guitar player sean p rogan left the band, live fill-in brian klemm from the suburban legends was in the band for only a few months before being replaced by nick pantazi. steve foote even left for this past warped tour to, in his words, "have a real job to pay the bills...that i hated." that's a lot of line-up changes. with the subtraction of the doped up dollies, and all the above changes, this past warped tour, the only familiar faces were ryan o'connor on sax, derek davis on drums, and of course....david mcwane. now, it's hard for me to say with complete assurance, but i really think how poorly received fluent in stroll was by the more vocal members of the punk community had a lot to do with all these changes.

so out comes the new record. it was a self-proclaimed "return to form," bringing back the rock. is it a great record? eh. it has some killer songs on it and has an awesome opener, but it doesn't touch their past 3 releases in my opinion. and, again, a lot of other people's opinions were equally critical. it's funny in the punk community, you're bashed when you take a creative leap and then you're bashed when you scale it back and play it safe. what the fuck is that nonsense?

so on top of all this, david mcwane is diagnosed with cancer and the band claims they lost over 10,000 dollars by canceling the tour early. a huge bummer. i was terrified about the fact that i might never again see a band i've jammed to sense 10th grade.

see, like i said, david mcwane is real. so is every member past and present (or at least from "how it goes" on). i've hung out with all these guys, drank beer with most of them, done shots with brian klemm, helped dave find ryan's cell phone, the list goes on. hell, at the most recent show, me and who i was with got kicked out cause he didn't have his id on him. ryan o'connor snuck me in through the back door... and then they talked about it on stage at the end of the show. that's awesome.

these guys don't deserve some of the shit they get, they're the most legit people in music.

they've influenced my life in countless ways and i can not be happier to hear that he should be back on tour in a couple months. it's tough because these guys have been around for a long time and they only have a couple founding members left. it's hard to say they're going to blow up and take the ska scene by storm. they'll most likely forever be regarded with a lot of respect in the community and that's that.

but in my mind........different story.

hell, if the band ever happens to read this, and you guys don't have much luck with the new guy on 6-string, hit me up. i know probably 30+ songs of yours, live on the east coast, and have professional grade equipment...just a thought.

music's a steady riot in my soul. and i hope like hell that the one day where they stop stealing beer from clubs and stop hanging at the bar with the late night punks and lousy women......well i hope that one day never comes.