The Official History of Instant Dogma

(Woodrose, snakes & ladders, Freak Music,
Punk Rock Treehouse and everything else.)

                                   1998                                 
Summer '98, there were many gigs (Tammany Hall,
Riverbend Farm Festival, Sir Morgan's Cove,
Worcester Pride etc.) We tracked a live set of demos,
in anticipation of making an album, and recorded an acoustic ep.
The band was busy. 

snakes & ladders
Worcester Pride

Then two fairly dramatic things happened -

It was September, we were playing
at The Espresso Bar. In the middle of the set, my left hand
suddenly lost it's strength. Every musicians' worst nightmare.
“I'm sorry folks, we can't continue playing. Good night.”
I would learn my ulnar nerve had been pinched (due to a
wrist injury when I was eight.) This put the band out of commission.
It would be a couple of months of physical therapy before
I could play guitar again. And then... we discovered Dean was gone,
along with my Rickenbacker bass and three months of unpaid back rent.
To conjecture further into that is to discuss the nature of addiction.
                                                           




Video still from
A Day in The Life
 

    
Live demos
Available here
                                                                                                                          
 
Dave Nader

 Winter/Spring 1999

During that brief performing/playing hiatus,
I engineered two projects for Worcester poet and writer Dave Nader.
One session featured Dave reading, with Ed Barnett, Ursula Sturms,
and Bob Jordan providing music. The other was a recording
of Woody Woodbridge, one of the original Congress Alley folk.
His prose and poetry were quite bracing.      

                         




Once my hand was functional, I worked on the second Kudzu disc,
using tapes Bret sent from Eden, NC, and started the process
of finishing the snakes ep. Titled Acoustic, it was intended
as a companion piece to our first demo. Upon review,
it became obvious Dean's tracks were unusable.
The decision was made to ask Pete to fix the bass parts.
He obliged, performing in his usual fastidious (and inspired) way.
This would set the stage for next part of our saga.

 

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