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How Archetype Got Started:
The first version of our band consisted of the core members, who have been part of
the band from the beginning: Mike Faust, Kevin Maddocks, and I (Nick Wersel), along with Ben Trisco on bass. Our name was
originally Spaced Out, and we were all rather inexperienced when it came to playing our instruments. That was in 2002, when
we were all in 6th grade. Eventually Reed Johnson joined as our second guitarist. Soon after we started Ben began missing
practices like mad, and there was an entire summer where we only had one practice.
That wasn't working, so we started
over with a new name, Ichor, and only the core members. Reed rejoined, but didn't perform with us until later. Then we recruited
Mark Dunston as our singer. He could belt out Smoke on the Water like no one else, so we kept him. We played our 4th of July
show with Mark at my family's annual party, and everyone liked us. My mom made me sing "Brainstew" by Green Day, which isn't
a bad song, but to be honest it's insultingly simple. I didn't exactly feel very talented for being able to play that simple
drum beat and sing some straightforward lyrics. Overall, though, it was a fun show. Mark also sang for us at Mike's end-of-the-school-year
party, which turned out to be a kickass party, ending the show with me running into the back yard and jumping into the pool
fully clothed. Needless to say, eventually everyone at the party except two people followed me into the pool, and then me
and Kevin spent the rest of the night standing by the fire with Michelle, our pants literally steaming from being close to
the flames. Good times.
We then renamed ourselves again, this time the name stuck, and probably will for quite a while
yet: The Archetype Project. We practiced completely new songs (although we kept our favorite opener, "Metro"). Then, a bit
unexpectedly, Mark announced that he was moving to Georgia. So then we were singerless, but continued practicing our new songs,
hoping we would find one before our next performance. Soon Reed got a new bass, and now plays that. Things turned out
just about how we were hoping they would. The City of Waukesha JanBoree Jam and Waukesha District Battle of the Bands came
into view, and we entered, sending them an instrumental demo, which I personally didn't expect them to accept, considering
we had no vocals. However, they did accept, and we were added to their schedule, without a singer, and with our play list
in the unknown. Luckily Mike's friend Emma wanted to join. On her tryout recording, the variations she added to "Metro" sounded
awesome, and within seconds the whole band had agreed we'd found our singer. She managed to learn all of our songs in the
two or three practices before our show. Also leading up to the show the whole band learned Toxicity in the two practice days
before the performance. It went as smoothly as imaginable, and our show was phenomenal in comparison to anything we'd done
before. Somehow, I might add, my drum solo ended up sounding cooler during the show than it did in practice, which really
surprised me, considering only the last five to ten seconds was rehearsed, and the rest was improv. I was expecting to make
a couple mistakes on account of being nervous. And somehow most of the band wasn't nervous at all like we thought we would
be. We couldn't have played much better.
So far, that's how our band fell together into what it is now, something far
more stable and creative than when we started four years ago. Our future as a performing group is constantly looking better
and better as we plan and enter into more shows and lengthen our list of original songs.
~Nick
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