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In The Beginning...  (By: Alex)

The best way to describe how StateLine began, is to start with Joe playing guitar.  He learned a little from his brother, but pretty much just taught himself on an acoustic that he owned.  He would play a lot while we just sat around hanging out, so it slowly got us more interested in playing music.  Bret had also been playing guitar since he was young and owned a few guitars.  Matt, owning a guitar, had picked it up by himself as well.  Music has always been a very large part of my life, but I hadn't really ever learned to play an instrument.  As Joe and Bret played more and more, we would go to local music stores and check stuff out.  At one time Joe had just mentioned playing bass to me, just as an idea for me to get playing something.  So I always kept that in mind.  When the 2002 Variety Show tryouts came up, Joe and Bret tried out with a Dave Matthew's song (The Space Between), but didn't make it.  Then came the event that really sparked everyone's interest: the Pop Disaster tour, with headliners Blink 182 and Green Day, and featuring Saves The Day.  Joe, Bret, Matt, Greg Foster, and Matt Wetherell all went.  Although Green Day and Blink 182 were my two favorite bands at the time, I did not go, for reasons I don't want to get into.  Sometime after the concert, the guys (excluding me) were hanging out at Matt Wetherell's house, whose little brother happened to own a drum set.  The concert had pumped up their appetites for music, and Matt (our Matt) sat down and started messing around.  Now you have to understand, Thornberg has an amazing amount of musical talent that he gets from his family, so picking up the drum sticks and playing wasn't much of a challenge.  Bret owned a red, electric guitar, which, as I'm told, was in his car at the time.  When he heard Matt play drums he brought the guitar in the house, and just played some stuff.  That's when they knew they wanted to start a band.  So Joe, Bret, and Matt all chipped in and bought a simple Ludwig drum set, and they started playing in garages and basements, just for fun.  Well, eventually they came to me and asked if I was serious about playing bass.  I really had nothing going in my life at the time, so I had no reason not to.  We had all been fairly good friends, but the band really pulled us together.  Something most people might not know is that we were all in Mr. DeWeerd's 4th grade class at Oriole Park Elementary school, and we also all graduated from Wyoming Park High School in 2004.  Well, this story is long enough, so one thing lead to another, and Bam....StaTeLiNe.