Moral Decay: A Lost Relic From My Youth
Over the past few years I've often found myself trying to remember the name of an amazing metal band who I used to see live in Kelowna, BC. I often found myself thinking of them, but could never quite remember their name. I guess I can blame the excess of my wasted youth for that. Their name constantly found its way to the the tip of my tongue, almost coming into sight, but always seeming to slip away.
This mystery band had an impact on my teenage years. I could tell there was something special about them, their raw talent was palpable. Original, passionate metal filled with intricacy and emotion. Executed with precision, their music was unimaginably professional for the band's young age. If I can recall, their lead singer and guitar player, who was the obvious star of the group, was still in high school.
This past weekend I went to visit my parents, and while reminiscing about 'the old days', I suddenly remembered that I had boxes and boxes of old cassette tapes sitting in their basement which were packed away many years ago when I left home. So I headed downstairs and there they were, covered in dust and long forgotten about, pushed into a corner on a wooden storage rack, sitting beside boxes of old photographs, and other relics replaced by new technologies.
I rifled through the boxes rediscovering long lost gem after the next, sometimes laughing to myself at some of the cheese I used to listen to. And then, there it was, an original demo cassette of:
Moral Decay
'To Build An End'
I finally knew who they were. Awesome. But, now what? Unfortunately I don't have a cassette player any more, so I can't listen to the d**n thing, which only enhances my intrigue for the music on the tape.
Could this band be as good as I remember? Did any of their members move on to bigger and better and things? Could this cassette be a collectors item?
Hmm, maybe someone online will have mp3's posted from Moral Decay. I quickly tapped the name of the band into my iPhone so I wouldn't re-forget their name and so I could do a thorough internet search when I got back home.
So fast forward a few days later and here I am, tapping away at Google trying to locate some information on this mystery band from my youth that I loved...and what do I find? A very sad article from the Globe and Mail newspaper on the group's frontman, Dave Wenger, who was killed in a hit and run accident in Montreal in 2006, at the age of 33.
This amazing musician who I've been trying to rediscover for years, is gone.
Dave Wenger went on to form three other bands after Moral Decay: M Blanket, Ache Hour Credo, and Daddy's Hands; all of whom apparently greatly influenced modern indie acts such as Frog Eyes and Wolf Parade.
So thanks to the Internet Machine, I'm now able to discover the music from this amazing artist I've somehow missed over the past two decades. But my original dilemma remains, I still haven't been able to find any MP3's from Moral Decay? Anyone? If you have anything, please send me an email!
I have a hunch I'll be forced to go and dig up the cassette from my parent's basement once again and somehow transfer it to MP3 format so the rest of the metal community can discover this lost talent.
Moral Decay and Dave Wenger: Gone, but not forgotten...
-- Brian Thompson
The above blog has been posted on my site at the following link:
www.thornybleeder.com/index_files/moral_decay_a_lost_relic_from_my_youth.html