Categories > Celebrities > Good Charlotte > Bender
Festival Song
0 reviewsJesy tells more about her life and the other most important person in it outside of her band.
0Unrated
Chapter Two
I've always felt pretty much like a total outcast, both within my family and within my school. This has changed over time; I've come to settle into a position at school that I'm happy with and I don't really care if other people aren't. I still feel at odds with my parents and sister most of the time though because they don't really see this whole band thing as real. I always got the impression that my parents were humoring me, and just going along with Nikki and Damon and Nathan's parents as we set this tour up, not expecting it to actually happen. I know they want me to do the whole college then 9 to 5 job thing after high school. College is definitely on my horizon, it is for all four of us, but the desk job thing isn't for me at all.
Eight grade was a real turning point for me as far as becoming myself was concerned. It was my first chance to see the band Everclear, who I had begun listening to in fifth grade and loved to death, and I still do despite the fact that the band kind of went downhill. They played a radio show in Philadelphia with Good Charlotte, The Wallflowers, Fuel and Live. I went for Everclear, but Good Charlotte ended up winning me over. At that point in my life, I needed something to hold on to, and GC's self-titled album provided it. After the show, I got autographs from Benji and Joel. Joel said nothing, but then Benji I got a chance to talk to for a few seconds, and I told him, me being this little awed 14-year-old and all, how impressed I was by their show, how touching their music seemed to me at first listen. He thanked me, signed my show program, said that they really appreciated that and they were glad to get through to fans, smiled and told me to have a good night.
And, okay, laugh at me all you want but at that point in time it was pretty much mandatory if you were a young female Good Charlotte fan to have a massive crush on one of the twins and Benji just won be over. Yeah. Totally. I was completely in love with the guy, pretty much through the release of /The Young and the Hopeless/, I was infatuated.
At that point though, I started to lose interest. No, that's not the right way to put it. I thought the band started disconnecting with fans from their self-titled era. For the lack of a better way to put it, they went mainstream and their shows began being polluted with 12-year-olds wanting to get back stage and go down on the band. No one seemed to care about the music anymore, and the band just went after these new fans and left us old ones out in the dark. People on the Internet felt the same way. People on the Internet were dumping the band, getting rid of their copies of CDs, moving on to different bands and distancing themselves from ever having been a GC fan. Good Charlotte stopped being Good Charlotte for me. And frankly, I thought - and still do feel - that they pretty much suck.
Once things got going sophomore year with Durden, the quality of my own happiness skyrocketed. I finally was cool with myself and knew people who were honestly 100% cool with me because they were the same type of person. I got my license in April of that year, which made everything so much easier. I would pick Nikki up at 3:00 when her school let out and we'd drive to Damon's house. He and Nate would be waiting for us, we'd chill out for maybe half an hour, get a drink or something, and then go and work on the wonders of Durden in his basement. Damon's family is awesome. He's the youngest of four with two older sisters (first and second children) and an older brother (third child) and he and his brother were both big into music. His brother, Alex, is mainly big on bass, but he picked up drums somewhere along the way, so there was already a kit in Damon's basement that Nikki would use for practice. There were plenty of amps there to use, so it worked out perfectly. Plus, Damon's basement is just huge, where we would practice was tucked away in a nice nook with the three best couches you'll ever find and a big screen TV, so we'd crash there a lot.
Damon and I were both raised on the whole piano lessons deal, our mother's ideas. After a while with the band, I guess this was winter of our junior year-ish, we were all getting bored with our standard bass-drums-two guitars sound. A few weeks before, we had all seen this band Houston Calls play in New Jersey, and they had a keyboard player, and Damon and I were both really getting into that sound. We hauled out his family's old goofy keyboard, the kind that's got all the pre-recorded songs so you can look like you're playing but you're really not, and since Damon was the better guitar player I started to play the keyboard on some songs, guitar on others. Think for sound, The Reunion Show, Houston Calls and a bit of Something Corporate thrown in a blender with Alkaline Trio and Green Day, and an added dash each of Motion City Soundtrack and Hot Hot Heat and spit back out again. Durden, folks.
Before I get too much further I feel like I need to introduce you to someone else incredibly important to my life. This is Grey. Grey is the best smelling guy I have ever met and the only guy I've ever had a total loser crush on and then was asked out by and well... from there we've been together since. He is a freshman in college and has always been a year ahead of me in school. We started between my freshman and sophomore years and have been together since.
Grey and I went to school together, but we never really go to know each other. We would recognize each other if we were out in public because our school is so small, and as I mentioned I had an absolutely huuuuuge crush on him. Finally, we bumped into each other at a place where it made sense to start talking, a 311 show during the summer after my freshman year. I was there on my own because Nikki really does not like 311, and anyway, I've been to so many shows alone that I don't mind so much. Grey and I saw each other there, and lucky me, he was alone too, so the rest of the night we hung out together.
I guess Grey liked me more than I thought, since we kept hanging out. We hooked up a bunch of times after the show and through the summer, but I was starting to get pretty frustrated with him just hooking up. I like commitment to anything, I'm good at it and it works for me. And then right around Independence Day he actually made it official, so it will be three years this summer. Grey goes to Temple University right now with an undeclared major and I doubt he knows what he'll end up studying. Grey runs track and he's got this floppy straw-brown hair and green eyes, but not intense. In my senior year, it's at least nice to know that whatever happens, college, grades, (God bless me, worried about grades) this tour, I've got that boyfriend problem solved. No matter what else goes on, I can say that I've got the boyfriend department covered.
Okay, no more trying to rip of Chuck Palahinuk for me. God, I'm terrible at it.
But at least I do have that sofa problem covered!
Or not.
I've always felt pretty much like a total outcast, both within my family and within my school. This has changed over time; I've come to settle into a position at school that I'm happy with and I don't really care if other people aren't. I still feel at odds with my parents and sister most of the time though because they don't really see this whole band thing as real. I always got the impression that my parents were humoring me, and just going along with Nikki and Damon and Nathan's parents as we set this tour up, not expecting it to actually happen. I know they want me to do the whole college then 9 to 5 job thing after high school. College is definitely on my horizon, it is for all four of us, but the desk job thing isn't for me at all.
Eight grade was a real turning point for me as far as becoming myself was concerned. It was my first chance to see the band Everclear, who I had begun listening to in fifth grade and loved to death, and I still do despite the fact that the band kind of went downhill. They played a radio show in Philadelphia with Good Charlotte, The Wallflowers, Fuel and Live. I went for Everclear, but Good Charlotte ended up winning me over. At that point in my life, I needed something to hold on to, and GC's self-titled album provided it. After the show, I got autographs from Benji and Joel. Joel said nothing, but then Benji I got a chance to talk to for a few seconds, and I told him, me being this little awed 14-year-old and all, how impressed I was by their show, how touching their music seemed to me at first listen. He thanked me, signed my show program, said that they really appreciated that and they were glad to get through to fans, smiled and told me to have a good night.
And, okay, laugh at me all you want but at that point in time it was pretty much mandatory if you were a young female Good Charlotte fan to have a massive crush on one of the twins and Benji just won be over. Yeah. Totally. I was completely in love with the guy, pretty much through the release of /The Young and the Hopeless/, I was infatuated.
At that point though, I started to lose interest. No, that's not the right way to put it. I thought the band started disconnecting with fans from their self-titled era. For the lack of a better way to put it, they went mainstream and their shows began being polluted with 12-year-olds wanting to get back stage and go down on the band. No one seemed to care about the music anymore, and the band just went after these new fans and left us old ones out in the dark. People on the Internet felt the same way. People on the Internet were dumping the band, getting rid of their copies of CDs, moving on to different bands and distancing themselves from ever having been a GC fan. Good Charlotte stopped being Good Charlotte for me. And frankly, I thought - and still do feel - that they pretty much suck.
Once things got going sophomore year with Durden, the quality of my own happiness skyrocketed. I finally was cool with myself and knew people who were honestly 100% cool with me because they were the same type of person. I got my license in April of that year, which made everything so much easier. I would pick Nikki up at 3:00 when her school let out and we'd drive to Damon's house. He and Nate would be waiting for us, we'd chill out for maybe half an hour, get a drink or something, and then go and work on the wonders of Durden in his basement. Damon's family is awesome. He's the youngest of four with two older sisters (first and second children) and an older brother (third child) and he and his brother were both big into music. His brother, Alex, is mainly big on bass, but he picked up drums somewhere along the way, so there was already a kit in Damon's basement that Nikki would use for practice. There were plenty of amps there to use, so it worked out perfectly. Plus, Damon's basement is just huge, where we would practice was tucked away in a nice nook with the three best couches you'll ever find and a big screen TV, so we'd crash there a lot.
Damon and I were both raised on the whole piano lessons deal, our mother's ideas. After a while with the band, I guess this was winter of our junior year-ish, we were all getting bored with our standard bass-drums-two guitars sound. A few weeks before, we had all seen this band Houston Calls play in New Jersey, and they had a keyboard player, and Damon and I were both really getting into that sound. We hauled out his family's old goofy keyboard, the kind that's got all the pre-recorded songs so you can look like you're playing but you're really not, and since Damon was the better guitar player I started to play the keyboard on some songs, guitar on others. Think for sound, The Reunion Show, Houston Calls and a bit of Something Corporate thrown in a blender with Alkaline Trio and Green Day, and an added dash each of Motion City Soundtrack and Hot Hot Heat and spit back out again. Durden, folks.
Before I get too much further I feel like I need to introduce you to someone else incredibly important to my life. This is Grey. Grey is the best smelling guy I have ever met and the only guy I've ever had a total loser crush on and then was asked out by and well... from there we've been together since. He is a freshman in college and has always been a year ahead of me in school. We started between my freshman and sophomore years and have been together since.
Grey and I went to school together, but we never really go to know each other. We would recognize each other if we were out in public because our school is so small, and as I mentioned I had an absolutely huuuuuge crush on him. Finally, we bumped into each other at a place where it made sense to start talking, a 311 show during the summer after my freshman year. I was there on my own because Nikki really does not like 311, and anyway, I've been to so many shows alone that I don't mind so much. Grey and I saw each other there, and lucky me, he was alone too, so the rest of the night we hung out together.
I guess Grey liked me more than I thought, since we kept hanging out. We hooked up a bunch of times after the show and through the summer, but I was starting to get pretty frustrated with him just hooking up. I like commitment to anything, I'm good at it and it works for me. And then right around Independence Day he actually made it official, so it will be three years this summer. Grey goes to Temple University right now with an undeclared major and I doubt he knows what he'll end up studying. Grey runs track and he's got this floppy straw-brown hair and green eyes, but not intense. In my senior year, it's at least nice to know that whatever happens, college, grades, (God bless me, worried about grades) this tour, I've got that boyfriend problem solved. No matter what else goes on, I can say that I've got the boyfriend department covered.
Okay, no more trying to rip of Chuck Palahinuk for me. God, I'm terrible at it.
But at least I do have that sofa problem covered!
Or not.
Sign up to rate and review this story