Pain
Pain was a pop-punk band formed in 1994 in Tuscaloosa by a group of friends who first met at Mobile's McGill-Toolen Catholic High School. The group was led by songwriter and vocalist Dan Lord. Other founding members included bassist Mark "Pose" Milewicz and guitarist Adam Guthrie. The three worked on building up a catalog of songs and gradually attracted more musicians to the project. Keyboardist Liz Milewicz, Leo Nieter, trumpeters Brian Currah and Jamie Boyle, and drummer Steve Scott appeared on their 1994 9-track demo "Goggins". Pain's overall sound was primarily influenced by punk, but the group was quite often associated them with the 1990s ska revival.
Three years later, the band released its first album, Midgets With Guns, on Birdcage Records. At that time, euphonium player Demondrae Thurmond and Mark Kramer had replaced Nieter and Scott. On the follow-up, released late that same year, trumpeter Stuart McNair, saxophonist [[Jay Campbell] and trombonist Jason Reid had taken the places of Currah, Thurmond, Boyle and Nieter.
Pain had two videos on heavy rotation on MTV2, and toured with the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. In 1998 the band was hired by the Cartoon Network to record a promotional song for the 1970s cartoon "Jabberjaw". Parsonnel for the 6-track "Jabberjaw" EP that came of the commission included Lord, Mike and Liz Milewicz, Guthrie, Reid, and McNair, along with saxophonist Chris Johnson and Rusty Valentine.
That lineup, with drummer George Kennedy succeeding Valentine, recorded Full Speed Ahead. The band's final album, On Air, was comprised of songs recorded live for various radio station appearances. In 2000 Lord decided to dissolve the band in order to pursue theological studies.
Pain's 6-year tenure was documented in the DVD "In A Band" which included unreleased demos, live performances, music videos, photos, set lists and commentary. Rebecca Pugh, , produced a 12-minute documentary film about the former band which debuted at the 2019 Sidewalk Film Festival.
That same year, Lord reached out to former Pain bandmates who came together as Salvo.
Records
- Pain (1994) Goggins. Goggins Records
- Pain (1997) Midgets With Guns. Goggins Records, reissued 2003 on Springman Records
- Pain (1997) Wonderful Beef. Springman Records
- Pain (1999) Jabberjaw (EP/CD-ROM). Springman Records
- Pain (1999) Full Speed Ahead. Vegas Records, reissued 2004 on Springman Records
- Pain (2001) On Air. Vegas Records
References
- Howard, Art (October 1999) "The Pleasure of Pain!" Feedback
- Specker, Lawrence (September 10, 2019) "Not the same old Pain: ‘90s Alabama rock band gets second life as Salvo." Al.com
External links
- Pain website