A Band Without A Home

By Fringe Staff

Give Em Hell

By Danny Bernardini

On a fall day in Pleasant’s Valley, just outside of Vacaville, the sun had reclaimed the skies after a rainy couple of days. Several small birds fluttered around, sending out their calls for the day. Cattle could be heard mooing and grazing in a near by field.

After pulling into the driveway, the serenity of those sounds soon shared the stage with a muffled bass and guitar as chords were bent and beats were slapped. Those sounds were coming from the practice room of Vacaville’s selfdescribed “posi-core” band Give Em Hell.

The practice area ruckus was being created by Daniel Terry, or “Peaches” as he is affectionately referred to, and Bobby Rose on the bass. Drummer Brandon Cherry, whose house they jam at, soon arrived from the adjacent home with cinnamon rolls for the crew.

“Wow, look at this guy,” Terry said, while grabbing the over-sized breakfast treat to help cure his ailing hangover from the show at Pizza Pucks the night before.

Singer Zach Peterson and guitarist Jon Korn would soon arrive, each bringing along a headache which they, too, picked up the prior evening. It wasn’t long before the five began ripping on each other for various questionable decisions while drinking, including, of course, a good urination story.

It’s not long before the group assembled and started shedding layers in anticipation of rocking out for an hour or so in preparation of their show later that day. Soon Peterson starts his controlled screaming, backed up by chants and choruses from the other guys. Peterson explains it as “posicore,” hard-core music with a positive message.

It’s a heavy sound, but clean. The explosiveness of the music is sent through the band as they jump, kick and flail while jamming.

“It’s high energy,” Peterson said. “But we’re not talking about hoes and bitches or being in a gang or anything.”

Like most bands, there were a few versions with some members coming and going, but eventually got it right. Peaches said he was a fan of the band in the past, but was playing in another group.

After seeing a few shows and meeting the other guys, he said it was time for a change and to get serious with Give Em Hell. “I said ‘today’s got to be the day,’” he said. “I couldn’t keep living the lie.”

Peterson said when the current pieces were finally put together, it started to click. “It (came together) really well,” Peterson said. “It feels like a complete band now.”

Starting electronically, the band turned to MySpace for exposure and ended up climbing from 1,000 to 5,000 friends. And recently the band signed a development deal with Sacramento’s Ethos Entertainment. Ethos will now help book shows, promote the band and help with studio time in the future. Peterson said it may be just what they need to put them over the top. “Everything you need to know about, they show us,” Peterson said. “By the looks of us, we’re not good at 9 to 5 jobs. We didn’t know what we were doing.”

The band is steadily picking up shows, which they can be seen driving to in their white van full of friends and fans. Korn said he wished they could play more shows in Vacaville, but the scene just isn’t there.

“We’re a band without a home,” he said. “There’s nowhere to play.”