Mista John has been a part of bands including Bottom 12 and can currently be caught with The Virginia City Revival
Here is his Kiss or Kill Story
"Just to add my two cents:
I began going to Kiss or Kill as an escape from my sometimes hectic word. This was when it was being held back at the Garage.
I would go there, grab a beer and hide in the corner. I didn't know anyone, and none of my friends knew about the club...yet.
One night, Band Sugar Bang was playing, and having far more fun than I though a band playing the Garage on a Tuesday night should be having. It was like LA didn't exist for them, they were simply having a good time.
That was refreshing for me, especially as that time frame held a lot of work and life pressure for me.
And then, as I sat in the corner, a guy came over with a flyer for one of his band's next gigs.
I looked at the flyer and thought the band name was cool...The King Cheetah...
Years later, seeking more refuge from a crazy world, I began checking out Kiss or Kill when it was at Zen Sushi. Something was different. The club had grown, and the good time attitude had definately spread to the crowd. I grabbed my $3 PBR and had a seat. All the bands were having fun, and the crowd was like a family. I actually began enjoying being there, but also had my "LA Shell" set to "on." It was like being an outsider, watching a bunch of friends have a party...and then it happened. A smile here, a hello there...hmmm...people were friendly...
I'm not a guy who upholds the LA attitude of an "impress me" scowl, and folded arms, but I knew that there was really something different about the club. It reminded me of how the Club Lingerie used to be when my old band, Bottom 12, used to play there with the likes of Dead White & Blue, Weezer, Tool, RATM, and many others. That was a special time...and now there was something new.
Kork then moved to the ECHO, I had moved too, and live a few blocks away. I began telling my bandmates and roomates Jonah and Veronica) that they too, should check out the club. What was better than getting completely obliterated on a Tuesday night? Even my co-workers responded favorably to my telling them that I was partying on Tuesday nights like it was a Friday night...
It was while Kork was at the Echo, that many of the attendees began recognizing my being there each week. Unbelievably to me, people began saying "hello" and "hi, my name is....what's your's?"
I was amazed.and the music was good...really good.
This was something new, and it felt right. So right, that I hoped on a bus and headed out to Las Vegas with a bunch of people I had just met. Kork was having a road trip to LV, for KORK at the Double Down...I was drunk before we hit the Interstate 15 incline...I was having my second wind of the night by Barstow...I had several episodes of nearly passing out, but the reviving throughout the night...
The rest is history. I've found the people I met at the club to be among the best people I know in this town..and I was born here. The attitude of the bands and club goers restored my faith in the LA scene...
My thanks to Siria, Johnny 99, Cooper, Matt, Rob Z, Andre, Amanda . Tobin and Sam (Safari Sam's) and everyone who I've met through the club...all the people....all the bands...too numerous to mention!
I'll miss my midweek refuge from the world's insanity, I look strangely forward to playing our last Kork gig on Nov 28...understanding that even great things must come to an end..."
John
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