INTRODUCING the “HUMP DAY 10,” FE’s new blog series

For 11 weeks we brought you “Stories Behind the Songs,” a series of blogs in which we gave you a peak at how each song from our latest release (The Cycle We’re Living In) came to be.  Today marks the beginning of a new series of blogs, “The Hump Day 10,” where every Wednesday you’ll learn 10 random facts about each band member to help get you over the “hump” and through the rest of your week.  These may be inspired by questions we most often get from people we meet on the road, some from crazy stories from life on the road, or some may just be obscure facts that you just may not know.  Whatever the case, we hope it helps you get to know us a little better, and maybe even have a few laughs along the way.

This week in the hot seat: the band itself.  So kick back and learn a little bit of FE trivia…

1. Fundamental Elements refer to their van as “The Compliment.” She’s a 1991 GMC and she’s a beauty.  Say what you will, she’s getting better with age.  And although her windows don’t work, the stereo is terrible, and she sometimes gobbles like a turkey, we’d take her on a trip around the world.  She’s that good.  So comfy, and you’ll never smell anything like the inside of that van!
2. It’s tradition for FE to grab a strawberry milk after a late show. Just a little something that Dustin brought to the group.  Yeah, we’re nerds.  Some people go out for late night shots and casinos, FE rolls with Nesquick.
3. New fans may not be aware we used to be called “Fundamentals.” That lasted right up until the summer of 05 when we were greeted off stage by a couple of cops in street clothes.  Yeah, cool story, huh?  Until they hand you a stack of documents and tell you that you have to stop performing under that name and/or selling anything with that name on it because someone else owns the copyright.  Best thing that ever happened to us.  I mean, have you seen the FE logo?  Genius.
4. The Best Home-Cooked Meal Provided for FE on the Road Award” goes to…. Russell in Maryville, TN. Russell saw us at a show in Knoxville a few years back and offered to host us whenever we come back.  Ever since, he’s always been a great fan and a great host.  The meal?  HUGE grilled steaks, grilled bacon-wrapped scallops and stuffed twice-baked potatoes.  GOOD LORD.
5. We also encounter a lot of heavy drinkers. One of our favorites was a drunken Frat boy who overheard me use the word “slithering” (as in “snake”) while talking to Luke.  Luke jokingly said, “Slytherin?  You mean Salazar Slytherin? (from Harry Potter).”  The guy got so excited and started dropping F-bombs left and right.  “@#$! yeah, Slytherin!” and hi-fives all around.  Really?  Yeah, really.
6. We often get asked about the most random song requests we’ve gotten. That would be a toss-up between “Takin’ Care of Business” and “‘Favorite Disease’ by Nickelback and/or any Candlebox”.  And yes, both request-ers had heard us play a set before requesting those songs, so they were well aware of what kind of music we play.
7. Random story: We played an STL show once right after the whole incident where rockstar “Dimebag Darrell” was killed in an riot in OH.  Our drunk sound man stopped us in the middle of the show, staggered on stage, yelled at the audience all his tributes to Dimebag and offered up a very drunken (albeit, heartfelt) toast.  On the count of 3 we were all supposed to raise our drinks and shout “Darrell!”  No one did, so he got very mad and stormed off stage.  We didn’t see him much that night, even when feedback was screaming through the monitors and making our ears bleed.  Someone had to run outside and interrupt his smoke break.  In the meantime we all just stood there plugging our ears, waiting to finish whatever song that was.  Good times.
8. Where’d the band name come from? “Fundamental Elements” was originally a studio side project between a couple of friends – a collection of songs we wrote as a tribute to the wide variety styles of music that had influenced who we are as artists and musicians.  In other words, it was a project that celebrated the “fundamental elements” that made up our musical diversity.  The project (and eventually the band) took on that name and the rest is history.
9. Until last year, FE always had at least one member living at least 5 hours away. Luke lived in Nashville, TN (as did Simon Gugala and Mark Oates – both former members) for the first couple years, and when Dustin came on board he was living in Des Moines, IA.  Dustin’s family moved to STL last summer, so we finally all live in the STL metro area.  Sort of.
10. Not sure why this rounds out the list, but it’s going to: We constantly get compared to Sublime. Isn’t that just a little bit weird?

OK folks, that’s it for this week’s “Hump Day 10,” tune in next week to hear 10 random facts about Joe!

*Don’t miss the hilarious blog Joe posted earlier today, it’s kinda buried under this one, but it’s awesome!