"Dope Train" - SWiLL

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Suggested by Wendy.

Oh SWiLL.  My dear, dear, SWiLL.  This particular blog entry could go on for days, I tell you.  This song, this BAND, is a HUGE part of my life.  But let me start at the beginning...

In August 2003, one of my favorite L.A. bands, the Peppermint Creeps, came to play in Kansas City.  They played a club called the Bunker (after that day, and until its demise, became my "Cheers"...damn, I miss that place...) and played the show with SWiLL.  At that time, I had heard of SWiLL, but had never seen them.  Peppermint Creeps got done with their set, and I was hanging out with a few of their members at the bar, chatting, when SWiLL began their set.  "Dope Train" in particular was the song that made me stop mid-conversation to walk into the main room to watch their set.  I was in awe, and I instantly loved the band.

A few days later, both bands played in Detroit.  I made the crazy, 15-hour drive (after a 10-hour work shift...  I'm definitely too old to pull that off now!) and went straight to their show with my friend Alison, and met up with some other friends there (Leigh, Ann, Stefanie and Julee).  I ended up selling Peppermint Creeps' merch, but not before drinking half a bottle of Goldschlager and dancing in a cage to SWiLL's set. I was WASTED.  I ended up drunkenly conversing with all of the SWiLL guys after their set.  They then stayed at Alison's house and we often talk about that night to this day.

That was the beginning.

From that day forward, I literally went to EVERY SWiLL show they played for the next 3 1/2 years, save for one (I went to Sturgis that particular weekend), even the out of town shows in Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa, right up until the week before I moved to Texas.

Yet, all of this does not even begin to describe this band's influence on my life.  Because I went to show after show after show, I became friends with the band...and their girlfriends and wives...and their crew...and their friends...  I was even part of their crew for awhile.  SWiLL, and everyone in their entourage are my family.  To this day.  Not even being 750 miles away will change that.  When I go "home", it isn't to see my real family.  It's to see them.  They were there for me when my real family shunned me and threw me out like yesterday's garbage.  When I was at my lowest, my SWiLL family made life worth living again.  I am beyond this band's biggest fan.  They are my lifeblood.

When I think of my closest and most dear friends, three-quarters or more of the people I consider as such are people either in SWiLL or that I met because of SWiLL.  I don't know where my life would be right now if I didn't go to the Bunker that fateful night...