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Welcome
My
musical background
| MYSELF |
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| fists full of metal |
| JUSTIN |
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| partying '89 |
I am
Benjamin DeLury Riggs. I was born in Havre, Montana on the fourth of November in nineteen hundred and
seventy. I lived most of my life in Montana, except for a short stint in the Tri-cities, Washington, when
I was a young pup. I was still on the porch, so to speak. I've loved music ever since I can remember(literally!),
and often became the outcast in the small town societies I came from.
I've
formed and joined bands ever since highschool. I got my first guitar from my parents, for Christmas, my freshman year.
My parents thought I would play it for a while and lose interest. Well, I got frustrated a lot, but I never lost interest.
I never did learn how to read music. I taught myself and played by ear. Justin (my best friend in HS) had
a guitar as well. Anytime one of us learned something new, we would show one another. Eventually, we started
writing our own songs. Inspired by Kiss, Motley Crue, and our new found friends, Metallica. Thats when I
started to sing.
I left my little
hometown of Malta, and moved to Billings, when I was 19. I found some other musicians that had the same goals
and interests as I did, and put together a little garage band called Morbid. We eventually disbanded because I
entered Morbid into a battle of the bands, and my drummer backed out. It just so happened that there was another
band in the contest that needed a singer. They asked me, and I obliged. I learned a whole set
of lyrics in two weeks, pulled off the show, and became the lead vocalist of Forced Religion. We ended up getting
4th place out of about 15 bands. I was in that band for two or three years, until (stale) Dale decided he wanted
to take on a new singer that just got a large settlement from an accident he was in. (hmmmmmm?) Shortly after, they recorded
a Demo CD and didn't credit me for any of the stuff that I helped write. I wasn't even in the thank you list.
I was a little bit miffed, but life goes on. As I found out.......
I
pretty much stayed out of the band scene for a while, after that. I just practiced guitar, did a lot of karaoke, and
honed my party skills. I moved a couple of times, got engaged, broke up, did a couple of sobriety stints, moved a little
more, and wound up in a place called Loveland, Colorado. I started putting ads in the paper, looking to form another
band. A drummer had heard about me through a karaoke circle I was in, and looked me up. I tried out,
and I ended up the vocalist for United By Chaos. We were together a couple of years and got really tight. We decided we were ready to record.
We went to Gunnison,CO and recorded in a little rinky dink studio below a music store. Our demo was called dv8.
A couple of months after that I was voted out of the band because my addictions were becoming an overwhelmingly self-destructive
force. The band continued with a new lead singer, and ended up completely disbanded after a year or so. Regardless
of the way the band ended up, I still love the guys from UBC, and wish nothing more than the best for everyone that was involved.
Two of the U.B.C. members (Jeff Olson & Jeff Perea) are in a band called DEADLESS. I strongly recommend checking them out. They are all great friends of
mine.
I had no more ties holding me in Colorado, so I decided to move
to Vancouver, Washington to live with my sister. I was there about two years. During which
time, I started getting looked at for an ongoing pain in my back and leg. I applied for disability in 2003.
I came back to Loveland, Colorado on July 6th, 2004 for vacation
and ended up staying. I am still here today.
5/23/06 is the day a started to live clean. I have been working on
myself since then. I have since become eligable for SSI and Medicare. I had back surgery for siatica and
things are a lot less painful...all around.
10/06/06 I am writing and recording songs for a project I am calling SUFFERCATE.
I am very proud of what I have done so far, in a humble sort of way. I will be looking for people to fill in the band,
so if you want hear the stuff I have written, got to the SUFFERCATE myspace page and give it a listen. If you like it and think you might want to come on board, get ahold of
me. Take care, and thank you for showing interest.
HORNS UP!
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