Welcome to day 2 of a 30-day tribute to the history of Duluth's favorite
sons, Bone Appetit. Use the Calendar at right to view days you missed.

April 2 - The Birth

It's the fall of 1999, and four founding members of Bone Appetit move in together at 1118 East 10th St. Earlier that summer Hot Rod had stolen a drum set from an ex-girlfriend (he claims it was compensation due to him since he painted her family's house) and stashed it into the dank basement of their new college home. It was quickly decided that a band needed to be formed since they now had one of the final ingredients necessary. Double Barrel volunteered to learn and play drums. Richie knew guitar, The Maestro knew enough guitar to play bass, and that just leaves Hot Rod. "Uh... How about you be the singer?"

The earliest material from the band was nothing more than simple choruses like "I Love You Skull" and "Blood Blood Blood Blood..." recorded on a boombox and played back ad nauseam (with an ironic sense of self-satisfaction) to anybody who would listen.

It was obvious to them that since they were now living off-campus, a house-party was absolutely necessary. Halloween 1999 would be the official debut of the band. A name however was still needed, and a festive Halloween Dixie-cup asking "What does a skeleton say before he eats dinner?" gave the group their now infamous moniker. Since it was Halloween costuming was in order, and since the show would be mostly covers, it was decided that dressing like Glam Rock stars would be fitting. Except for Double Barrel, who thought that a pink bunny suit would be much funnier.

The band gathered and primped at the house of some neighbor girls they befriended, while the party guests mulled in the Bone Appetit basement choking down plastic cups of Icehouse Beer. Both Hot Rod and Richie started doing push-ups as well since they were both to be shirtless and wanted to impress any female party goers.

The lights fell in the basement, and for the first time chants of "Bone Appe-tit! Bone Appe-tit! Bone Appe-tit!" started to sound. The band snuck in through the back door and took their positions. With the room still dark and the crowd buzzing with anticipation, the first notes of the "Chariots of Fire" theme came cleanly from Richie's guitar amp. At the second the band was to kick into "Blood", the Christmas lights came back on, and Bone Appetit promptly fucked up the next few notes and struggled to find their rhythm. The crowd still roared their approval after the one-minute original.

That night the crowd was also treated to a variety of covers including "Twist and Shout", "Baby, Don't Treat Me Bad", and "Shook Me All Night Long." Begrudgingly, Hot Rod also gave "Smells like Teen Spirit" a shot but the band was booed into stopping before they reached the first chorus.

The night ended with a 1/2" of beer on the basement floor and ringing in everyone's ears. Bone Appetit had arrived.

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NOTE: A video of this entire evening exists somewhere in a plastic tote where Hot Rod lives. Every attempt possible will be made to recover and digitize this historic footage so you can view it here.