411 was a band that was a slice of a little something different in the early 90's. During their brief existence, they spit out a equally brief 7" and an incredible 12". With the impending 411 discography release, I asked singer Dan O'Mahoney if he'd mind cluing us in on how the band formed and how their great debut 7" came to be. He agreed and I couldn't be happier with all the stuff he provided for the piece. Dan currently fronts Done Dying, who head out on their first European tour later this week. Photos provided were taken by Dave Sine.
"With the upcoming 411 discography
looming in the very near future I've taken up SITP's kind offer to
let me tell the tale of how it all began.
As I remember it 411 sprang from two
different pools. The first being an attempt by neighborhood friend
Josh Stanton and I to finally do some music together, the second
being a generous offer from Al Quint of Suburban voice to let me
contribute to the series of 7"s he was featuring in the 'zine.
At the time NFAA had gone to it's grave
and while Carry Nation was fun and promising it certainly wasn't a
departure from what we'd done previously. I was in the mood to
explore.
The Suburban voice thing seemed like an
opportunity to combine forces with a Boston legend whom CN had been
doing shows with during his first run in Down by Law. Dave Smalley
had committed what I still think might be the best lps worth of
vocals in hc history via Dag Nasty's Can I Say lp and I wanted to
work with him.
The doing a band with Josh thing was
quickly morphing into a band with fellow Workshed musician Kevin
Murphy from head first, but prior to the SV idea the sound had been
more Neurosis than Dischord and Vaudim Rubin of Half Off had been
playing drums.
During that time I asked Kevin how he
would feel about writing a few Dag type songs that Dave and I could
record for the zine. What he gave me was more than I expected... two
songs that I found more exciting than anything else I'd worked on to
that point. I wanted them for myself and I wanted my next band to
have that sound.
The O'Mahony/Smalley side project
pretty much died right there although Dave did contribute via some
duet time in 'Say It' and 411 did eventually contribute a live
offering on a Suburban Voice 7".
The final piece in the puzzle and the
point at which the band became something to really be proud of was
the addition of Mario Rubalcaba. This pro skater, mountain of dreads,
and force of nature on the drums remains the most amazing musician
I've ever played with. I'd met him through Chuck Treece during
Voicebox and had made the mental note that someday I had to play with
the guy. Mission accomplished.
Things came together quick and in the
ultimate cherry on top moment we were able to nail down Brett
Gurewitz from Bad Religion to record and engineer the e.p. The band
was the tightest I've ever been in, the guys some of the most
talented, and the recording one of the best I've been privileged to
be a part of... and none of it was as it was supposed to be at the
start"
411- Say It Thoughts That Feed The Fire 7"
![Mayday - Victim [demo 1993]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNu1BD8eki-O6k8I4pN5KD6E73RK9aq7z4l4BQs8qSGNa6AB4OhbO-u9ACy-gWD_cwSmLJUqY_l8FtIzl0dYgpxhNH_55rrU5fDoHK9ggKrl4rw_j0Xk4-wMmszw-wokfmB9b1xnOqcB74A_9P2gmv1isDkT0J4jPFGnCnPnVMrVW2MpjPRsPWnMkgORk/s72-c/cover.jpg)
