Well, mostly true, but..........
| Original Slug, Al Paulson,
sets the record straight.
Well, mostly true, but.......... |
|
| Actually, the job Dag, Gregg, and I
had didn't usually require us to be in at work until 7pm, not 4pm, which allowed us even
more time to rehearse and do other things pursuant to our musical development like
"get food" at Perry's and play hockey. And, we were usually off work by 11pm,
which was prime time for cultured young lads to explore the color of local events like
"Quarter Beer Nite" at Muldoon's Saloon on Rush St.. Thank God we grew out of
that. We never took the name "The Slugs" seriously, we thought of it as kind of a joke. Someone would ask us the name of our band and we'd say "The Slugs, yuk, yuk". It always got a reaction. And, it fit. Let's be serious- none of us had ever been offered a scholarship, a fast track job, a certificate of achievement, and rarely a compliment. So, we felt a kinship with that seemingly insignificant little mollusk that didn't even have the ingenuity to create a protective shell like it's gastropod cousin the snail. The epiphany, for me, came when I was reading somewhere about an age-old, tried and true remedy for slug infestation of a garden- You leave a bowl filled with beer in the garden overnight. During the dewy, dark hours, the local slug population will climb into the bowl and drink themselves to death. The analogy should be obvious. I believe the name became official following Mike's audition. Dag had placed an ad at Guitar Center and Mike responded. He drove over in his off-white 70's Nova and set up in my basement. He was nervous. We were nervous. Mike said he knew "Substitute", the main Slug song at that time, so I launched into the 3 chord intro. Mike followed with this amazing, rumbling, splashing, thundering Keith Moon fill. There was a pregnant pause as the Juhlin bros. and I, who had been jamming in the basement for 7 months and were getting pretty bored with the whole "let's start a band" thing (this being the umpteenth "let's start a band" episode of our lives), reeled. We glanced at each other. Finally, after all these months of playing "Substitute", "Substitute" really sounded like "Substitute". In a moment of great strength, we continued with the song and rounded out the afternoon with a few more hours of "The Who". We helped Mike load his car and agreed to play again at his place. As Mike was about to close his car door and drive off, Dag said to him "Hey, we're the Slugs". The slugs were now "The Slugs".
|
Slugs History Part I | Slugs History Part II
