Counterfeit Digits, Vol. 2

People would always ask us where the name “Counterfeit Digits” came from. Well, one day Matt and another one of our roommates named Scott were doing math homework around our apartment dining room table. They were discussing imaginary numbers and thought that might be a good band name. So they played with it and tried different word and synonyms until they came up with Counterfeit Digits. As that was a long and boring explanation, we usually told people that it was in reference to a girl giving you a fake phone number after you asked for it. Which was also true ha!

Not long after our tryout, we were informed that we made the cut!! Not only that, but we would be in a sense “touring” with the club at various locations around Provo. The venue we were most excited to play at was a scenic little place near main street called Velour Live Music Gallery. The whole group would be playing their respective sets in the hopes that the owner of the Velour, Corey Fox, would like their sound enough and be offered their own spot to play at Velour’s upcoming Battle of the Bands.

It was a lot of fun to play at Velour. It was an afternoon show which was unusual, meant more as a tryout for all of us as much as anything else. Mr. Fox was impressed with our act and gave us an invite to play at his Battle of the Bands show. We were stoked.

We needed to find us a bassist to put up with us and play with. We had a mutual friend named Jeremy who agreed to join us on our crusade. Jeremy came and went a couple times due to other commitments, but we were always glad to have him back. He truly did pull our little group together.

The Velour Battle of the Bands showcase arrived and we were ready to play. I can’t remember if it started here, but we always had the tradition, a sort of “pre-game ritual” as it were, of praying together right before we went on stage. You see, as much fun as we had with all of this, and the glitz and glam that came with it all, we really wanted to be a force for good in the world. No matter where this thing would go or how big we would maybe get, we wanted to be good examples to others, and never take for granted how we got to be where we were. We recognized God’s hand in our lives and were very grateful for the blessing we had to do what we did.

So long story short, we played, we had an amazing turnout of friends, and Corey liked what we brought. He said as long as we keep bringing a good crowd he would be happy to have us play regular shows at his venue. We didn’t win Battle of the Bands, but what we accomplished meant more to us than simply winning. After that we decided to stop playing with the university club. I think Paul was a little disappointed we wouldn’t be staying on, but we did what we thought best at the time. I’ll always be grateful to Paul for giving us our chance to shine.

We played shows wherever we could in Provo. We played at a freshman orientation in front of 3,000 new students, we played outdoors, BYU’s Battle of the Bands-type show, and various indoor venues. We always came back to Velour though, and that was definitely my personal favorite place to play. It had a rustic, gypsy-like interior with stained glass windows and velvet red curtains as a backdrop. This place was music heaven to me, and it still gives me goosebumps thinking about it. The stage was a little tight for the five of us, but it fit me just right.

As time rolled on, we all collaborated on original songs together. Matt would write the lyrics and melody, and then we would all come to practice to fill in the rest of the parts and share input. We played original songs such as “Handle With Care” (which was actually about a painting heist), “When You Were Here”, “One Last Dance”, “Falling Behind”, “In Your Eyes”, and “Falling Down”. We would also fill in our acts with cover songs from band like Coldplay, Oasis, The Killers, and The Proclaimers. We even played “Waterfalls” by TLC to close out our very last Counterfeit Digits show. Jeremy played guitar and sang lead, Matt played base, and I followed with backup vocals. It was quite amazing. General hilarity and awesomeness ensued.

To be continued...again...

Counterfeit Digits, Vol. 1

Counterfeit Digits!

We played numerous shows, pleased crowds of friends/family and fans alike, had our own T-shirts, two recorded EP’s, about 15 original songs, a couple shots at the big time, and it all began in a tiny college apartment with a friend’s guitar, our two voices, and my cousin playing drum beats on a Little Caesar’s pizza box.

During college at BYU in Provo, UT, I met my good friend Matt. Matt really enjoyed playing the guitar and he was/still is, much better at it than I. I was much more confident in my ability to sing. So, we figured out that between the two of us, we could play and sing a few rock n’ roll songs and woo the lady-folk with a fair amount of success. We did this for a little while and eventually we heard about a sort of music club on campus called Footlights. It was spearheaded by a kind gentleman named Paul as a way to give local musicians a breakthrough into the bustling local music scene.

Matt and I wanted to try out for the club and see if anything would come of it. We had both recently worked on our first original song together while watching an NBA game featuring Dallas Mavericks great Dirk Nowitzki. It had a mellow, almost melancholy tune with verses supplied by Matt, and I came in with a higher arching chorus. We named the song “European Man” and everyone we played it for seemed to really enjoy it.

We knew that we needed to recruit a rhythm section to complete our little ensemble, and maybe even some other instruments/musicians. Luckily, my cousin Tommy had only recently returned home from a church mission to Portugal, and he just so happened to play the drums. Tommy and I had always nonchalantly mused about how cool it would be to start a band someday, but now we had the prospect of it actually becoming a reality!

Our first time playing together, we had nothing but a Little Caesar’s pizza box for Tommy to drum out a beat. Eventually he brought a Djembe which provided a nice smooth rhythm to accompany Matt and I. Matt also had a hometown friend named Miranda who played the piano. We thought that a keyboard would be great to fill in our rough edges, and we sold Miranda on the idea. Though she never did get to sing in our band (😉), she really did round out our sound and bring a whole new dimension that we wouldn’t have had without her.

So, we practiced up and took our mob orchestra up the hill to campus to try out on a sunny summer afternoon. We introduced ourselves and performed in front of Paul and a couple of other students from the club in a large classroom/auditorium. I remember feeling nervous, but we played confidently and felt good about our effort! Afterwards, the four of us went back to the apartment and debated about what the future might hold.

To be continued....!