Genius was a band I played in in the early-to-late 90's in Vancouver. It was comprised of:
- Brian Green - vocals, guitar
- Dan Fung - guitar, vocals
- Shane Wilson - Drums
- Me - Bass
Dan and Brian wrote the songs. Shane and I did whatever it is we do.
I have known Dan and Brian since high school (Dan since junior high), where we probably started hanging around because we were into music, but we had never been in a band together. Dan and Brian had been in a few bands together. They both moved to Vancouver from Edmonton for different reasons at about the same time, with the common idea of continuing to play music together.
They submitted some songs to a band contest on CFOX Radio, under the name "Zhu Zhu Petal." The songs got them into the final 16 bands, at which point they had to play a live show in two weeks, at which point they needed a rhythm section. Shane and I had been playing together for a few years in Thurston, so we parachuted in, and four rehearsals and a lot of hand signals later, we did a set at the Town Pump.
The band ended up being in the final eight, which meant we got to do a live-to-tape performance at the Centennial Theatre in Norrth Vancouver, which was then played on Public TV stations across the country. It was pretty neat-o.
By that time, we had decided that "Zhu Zhu Petal" was too hard to explain to the 15 people who were not already in a band that had the same reference in their name, so we changed the band's name to "Imp of the Perverse."
This was MUCH harder to explain.
We did our first album, at great expense to Dan and Brian, which was called "Drown" and was co-produced by Saul Davies of James. That album was, if nothing else, a great learning experience. I don't know if anyone in the band was completely happy with it, but I personally got a lot out of the process.
Except for the part where Dan slammed my fingers in the car door. To his credit, he IS qualified to stitch them back on. The guy just can't create a problem he can't solve!
We played around a bit, went out to Ontario for NXNE and did shows in Kingston and Ottawa, where I got to visit a lot of bathrooms.
At some point, we changed the band's name to "Genius" and did a second--and I think, much better--album, called "Twister." By this time, we had found quite a few really good people to work with, and the album was done at Yaletown Sound, Turtle Recording Studios, and Radical Studios (At Radical Entertainment, where Brian was an engineer).
Every single person we worked with was an absolute gem, which taught me a very good lesson: Technical knowledge and gear are the cheapest part of the equation: Only work with people you really want to work with, and who do not have to struggle or impress you with either.
Of all the recording I have done, this is the album I am happiest with. You may take that any way you wish.
We did a CD release party for "Twister," which was the last show we played.
I think Genius was a very good band. Dan and Brian wrote some great songs, and we played them well. Where it all fell apart was that we really didn't know how to go about getting ourselves out there, and there was some discomfort when we played live. We couldn't get it past the front of the stage.
I liked the tunes, I really liked playing with the guys as musicians, and I really like them as friends. So it was all a win for me.
Here's the "Twister" album, in delightful MP3 format. It would be easier on my poor bandwidth if you would download these before listening. For now, you can do what you will, but if my poor bandwidth takes too much of a beating, I'll figure something else out.
All songs ©® Genius, SOCAN 1997 All songs MAPL