The Krebscouts were the first “real” band I played in. I say “real” because the bands I’d been in before didn’t know how to tune their instruments. It’s true, I never tuned my bass once until Ben showed me how when we started The Krebscouts. That might seem pretty lazy or dumb, but nobody ever told me that was something you were supposed to do. Oh well.
In the fall of 1995, my friend Dan Nygard told me that he’d found some kids from Fargo South High to play in the band we had been trying to start. I was a bit skeptical, we went to Moorhead High after all, but at least they weren’t from West Fargo, I figured. Dan took me over to Ben’s mom’s house one day, and when he answered the door, I recognized him from Island Park (the premiere skate spot in those days), so I figured he was all right.
Originally, I was to play 2nd guitar and Dan’s brother Leif was going to play bass. I didn’t really want to play guitar because I pretty much stunk at it (still do), but Leif was an amazing bass player so that was the thinking there. Well, Leif never showed up to practice so I got moved to bass by default. I was fine with that.
Nate had originally been slotted to play drums but couldn’t for reasons I don’t recall. He was probably grounded or something. We ended up with Mr. Joe Vessel on drums. Joe had played in a really cool and popular local band called Pathos, so we were pretty stoked to get him. He was a bit older than us, more worldly.
Perot House. Summer, 1997. Dan, Nate, Jim, Ben
We practiced forever, for several months actually, before we played our first show. I don’t know why it took us so long to play out. It might have been because up to that point, most of the bands that came through town were of the AmRep/K Records variety, which is fine, but not really what we were playing. Around ’96, Ski and Troy from West Fargo had started setting up shows and booking more traditional punk bands, mostly in city parks. That, and it seemed that a lot of the old guard were graduating college and moving away, clearing some space for all of us snotty high schoolers to make some noise.
So, in July of 1996, The Krebscouts played our first show. That night the lineup was Dan on vocals, Ben on Guitar, me (Jim) on bass, and Joe on drums. We opened for The Crumbs in a park in West Fargo. I still, and always will love The Crumbs. It was a really cool honor to play with them. I even have a Crumbs tattoo. That night, I think they may have missed us, but that’s OK.
The Bowler. South Fargo. August 1997.
That was the only show we played with Joe. I stunk up the bass, but boy, what a time we had. I’m grinning just thinking about it. Soon after, Nate got off of grounding, or whatever, and joined the band permanently, only missing a few shows here and there. Ski was our go-to replacement when Nate got grounded again. A really amazing bass player named Casey filled in for me a couple of time too while I was out of town. Unlike me, that dude could really play.
The Bowler.
We ended up playing for only about a year before Dan joined the Army and I moved to Minneapolis and eventually took off on my hobo adventures. I’m told we’re still pretty highly regarded back in Fargo/Moorhead. I’m not sure why, but it’s an honor, I suppose.
This demo was recorded on a boom box in Ben’s mom’s basement in the Fall of 1996. It was our first attempt at “recording,” and at the time, we thought it turned out pretty good. It’s not so good, but It’s still really fun to listen to, especially if you were around back then.
I’m pretty sure that the copy I’ve included here was at least a 4th or 5th generation dub, adding to the poor quality. I’ve attempted to “remaster” it, but it’s still pretty bad. What are you gonna do?
I couldn’t track down the original cassette cover, so I recreated it from memory, with a few embellishments. I’ve come a long way from using the copy machine at the library, scissors, some tape, and a glue stick.
The Bowler.
There are a few more boom box recordings that got made over the next year (’96 to ’97), but I have yet to track them down. I’d really like to get my hands on the live recording that was made at the Perot House in the Summer of ’97. That one is really wild. The Crumbs were supposed to come back but broke down somewhere, so we ended up “headlining.” The recording probably isn’t as good as I remember it, much like this one, but I remember that you can hear the energy in the air. If anyone has that tape, hook me up!
Anyway, The Krebscouts were a whole lot of fun while they lasted, and I’d like to thank each and every person that came to our shows. I’m still in contact with many of them and I hope to see most of them in Fargo when I take my family up there to visit this summer. It was an honor to play in the band, and it’s an honor to be remembered for it.
That’s me at Krebscouts practice in 1997.
Dan.
Ben.
Nate.
James is a writer, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.