Quentin Duarte
From The Secret History of the Cedar Valley
aka "Kid Duarte", "Kid Co-op"
Bands
- The Acoustic Hiatus
- Cul-de-Sac of Fear
- Drednex
- The Mops - Cedar Falls
- The Electric Mops - Cedar Falls
- Kittyvision
- Baggi Spandex - Cedar Rapids
- Bombpop - Cedar Rapids
it was always about thrashing...be it skateboards, guitars, or cars etc. i had some skate bros that i was heavy w/ in hi school. We used to shave our heads and dork around a lot in C.R. We used to go to shows (all ages in I.C. and Death Moines) My faves back then were Soviet Dissonance and Stiff Legged Sheep I went to the Rage Studio in Death Moines in about '82 and saw Ugly Americans. Thats where I met C. Kenline.
At UNI orientation I ran into C. Kenline. We started hangin' out and listening to music. I used to room at Bender when I first started UNI. I had to move to Bartlett to room w/a hi school bud in the music program (Jim Miller) When I was at Bender one time I blew the speakers out of my roomates stereo playin' JFA and the DKS really loud out the window whilst yelling insults out the window to some wrestling "campers" who were in training.
C. and I used to take haven across the street at G. Honnold's apt. We listened to a lot of music and walkin' of the collie...G. turned me on to the Beveragemen, and introduced me to P. Stanard. We formed TAH, attempting to spread jah luv...adding Kent Hendersen on keys we became Cul-de-Sac-of Fear. We played some gigs w/ C. on conga...
G. and P. got Kelly Plummer to drum (w/aid of liquid jesus-i.e. beer.) C. dropped out to pursue TAR etc and K. graduated...henceforth we became Drednex. (We established this name and spelling before there existed a group named REDNEX...)
Drednex was our own euph. for white boy rastas attempting raggae and ska stylings. We did a demo at studio one on UNI campus (as TAH or Cul-de-Sac.) We covered Beveragemen tunes "Modern Age" and "Media." I had a hell of a time trying to duplicate the frenzied thrashmatic Jeff Friar...my hat goes off to him and all the Beveragemen tunes that he wrote w/G.
In the fall of '85 (?) we recorde the Co-op tape. We layed down the basic tracks in two straight days, (I believe w/out over dubs.) My faves are "No Bless Oblige," and "Alienation."
I guess the next year we recorded No Class Project at Jeff Isacs studio in W.Lu. My faves are "Cheat" and "Masochist."
The most important thing about Drednex is we were just a rock and roll band...
Shortly after the completion of Co-op tape P. left for S.F. I had been working w/ Ed Ware in an acoustic dou side project calle The Mops. When I first got to C.F. I was the only skater dude that I knew of. Somone from the art dept told me there was a dude name E. Ware who skated I found out that he lived in the big old house closest to the corner on (23rd?)
I used to stop by and ring the door bell but E. lived on the third floor...I would always spaz out and leave before he had the chance to come downstairs. One day I waited long enough...and E. came down the stairs to the door with a cig hangin' out of his mouth and he looked really pissed like "are you the dork that's been ringin' the bell all these times!?" So after that we used to hang out and skate and talk music and E. was like working on Triple F 20 tapes by himself, and I was going cool...but lets just hang and go skate. E. had this ghetto blaster w/ a built in keyboard thing and drum machine and he would stay up all night trying to make tapes again I was always like, "Cool...lets go skate." But I figured we could get E. to join Drednex.
to be continued...E. and I got together some stuff and did a couple gigs as the "Electric Mops" W/ Dave Diebler on drums and some G. Honnold on bass. I remember the Drednex played this party at a farm that year and I was jumping around and fell face first off of the stage, dragging my amp w/me...I did a summersault and somehow saved myself and the SG from certain peril. I remember going back the next day to retrieve the knobs on the guitar that had been knocked off in the mayhem. I really actually liked E.'s tune "Skateboader" that he recorded solo. (I always was in awe of his ability and diligence when it came to his solo projects, I never told him this directly, as I hoped he could use the Drednex as a vehicle for expression and I think him being in the group inspired him to create music on the side and work on the projects that were closer to his own musical tastes and sensibilities.)
My own sensibilities as a guitarists were minimalist based. I did not use any effects between the SG and my amp save for the occasional reverb that was on the amp. I just played loud and hard, trying to keep things together while alternating rythmic parts w/lead parts...I always felt the emotional social political lyrical statement (the message of the music) was more important than being tight ass Mofo's (conservatism is trite and redundant in Rock and Roll-if you ask me-when I went to UNI when Bozo came to town I went and flipped him and his motorcade off...hail the cheifs!)
"Satanic Shock Rock" was a tune that I penned that stems out of the feelings that I was feeling in the mid 80's...seems bands were morphing from punk to metal as a fashion statement,(or just selling out?) "Strange Reaction" and "Neurotic Boy" express the same themes of alienation in a bombastic way.
Q. Duarte
at duarteqw@yahoo.com
