This post is more about a friendship than it is about a band, but Rory and I became friends because of the bands they were in. Rory is maybe the only person who has been physically by my side through high school, my punk phase, college, and now. They were a big part of the Maine DIY scene and a few projects that I really admired, and when I learned we were going to the same college we made a point of it to introduce ourselves. We didn’t become real friends until my first semester, where we spent weeks playing card games on my bed, listening to music and waiting for the awkwardness to subside.
With Rory being a bit of a
celebrity in the DIY scene, that celebrity extended to college, so being
friends with them felt like I was walking around with someone vaguely famous. It
sounds pretentious, but in the way of college freshmen, Rory was more of a collective
idea than they were a real person, mostly due to their performances at open mic
nights. Because we knew each other before school began, it kind of felt like I
knew the ~real~ person Rory was instead of the projection everyone else seemed
to see. They’ve always been incredibly kind, and whenever we would walk around
campus they would stop to say hi to almost everyone. What I especially
appreciated was being able to see the way Rory wrote songs, because they are
one of the best lyricists I’ve ever encountered. I felt so cool when something
I said or did made it into a song, and relistening to those songs I still feel
the same giddiness.
They would tour a lot with their
old band Street Sity Surf, and occasionally they would all stay at my house. The
band would stay at my parent’s house, all of us spending time rummaging through
the bins of CD’s in the basement. I got my first stick n poke because of their
influence[1].
If the band didn’t stay at my place, I’d drive over to see their shows and
spend hours sitting with Rory after everyone else went to bed talking about
books, finally going home at 4am or later still absolutely wired.
Rory and I didn’t talk for about
three years, but we reconnected over the summer. I listening to Street Sity Surf
and Rory’s other old band, Holy Shadow, and I called them out of the blue. It
ended up that we were in the same city for about 30 hours, and we met up and continued
our friendship like nothing had ever happened. Rory feels like my friendship soulmate.
There’s an ease in our conversations that makes it clear we understand each
other. They’re one of my best friends, one of my favorite artists, and a really
fantastic person.
You can see all their projects
including their current band Rory Strong and the Standard Candles here, here, or here. If you want some very fun beach-punk, Street Sity Surf is here. Holy Shadow is here.
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