Cycles and Patterns: Pixel Fetish Ten Years Later

And then one day you find
ten years have got behind you.

I give all credit to John Latvis for putting this “Something//Something // Great White Tourist” reunion show together. I of course was immediately down for the idea, but I was happy leaving the logistics to someone else. Not because I didn’t want it to happen — or didn’t think it could happen or was worth happening — but mostly because I didn’t feel worthy of it.

My lesson learned is not to project my lack onto others.

The irony is that every local band I have ever seen has left some impression on me. (Why shouldn’t the reverse at least be sometimes true?) And especially the ones I saw more often, and extra-especially the ones who became my friends…

Ten years is an interesting length of time. It’s just long enough that “memory lane” feels a little too long to see the starting point of. But it’s still short enough that it somehow feels like yesterday. Well, maybe not yesterday, but it feels ‘not that long ago.’

And when folks started filling the Sweeney Post promptly at 4pm on September 5th, 2026, it immediately gave “high school reunion” vibes. In the best way possible. So if I may, I’d like to take a quick stroll down memory lane, so much as memory allows, and recount what brought us back to the Sweeney Post 12 years later.

Wednesday (Again), and the Beginning of Something//Something

Something//Something, in its first full band iteration, began practicing in my garage, long before we knew about “The Space.” Sort of crazy to think how absurdly loud it must’ve been for the whole neighborhood, multiple nights a week, for weeks and weeks on end. The “garage” is really a 100 year old barn with strapping, siding, and zero insulation, but modern mechanical garage doors on it.

No one ever complained about the noise. Judy especially loved it. If you know, you know.

Wrapping practice one night, I remember pausing for a moment in my doorway as Kevin was leaving.

“Don’t forget — tomorrow,” I remarked, closing the door behind me and climbing my excessively steep and narrow apartment stairs. We must’ve had some obligation the next day that required this reminder.

Hmm, I thought. “Don’t forget tomorrow is sort of a cool line.” And thus, Wednesday was born. I immediately got to work demoing it out upstairs.

Now this is where memory lane is a bit too long and windy to see clearly, but it was somewhere around this time that I must’ve also discovered Great White Tourist. In this era — 2014ish — I would scour the web for open mic opportunities. I recall Jake McKelvie & The Countertops being a name I encountered frequently, being so memorable. Through my sleuthing, I eventually landed on the O’Brien’s show calendar.

Tokyo Quickdraw and Great White Tourist.

I’m sure there was a 3rd. But, as is the way, I clicked both those band names open into new tabs, delightfully discovering they were both from New Hampshire. I got to business listening to whatever they had on the web. Bear in mind, at this point in time, I had nothing to show for myself, as far as released music. And neither did the Something//Something — we were just a “glorified crew.”

You Grump…Ok, let’s see what this is all about.

Gee wiz, was I pleasantly surprised! I had never heard anything like this. Remember, this is coming from a guy who effectively listened to nothing but The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, and Pink Floyd for years until my brother recommended Days by Real Estate to me.

Needless to say, You Grump was a far cry from anything I had ever heard before. It made me feel things. I ate it up.

Now, I don’t think this happened the same night as the Wednesday thing — even though it feels like it — but immediately upon hearing You Grump I decided I had to write something like that. So, enter “Sagamore.”

I don’t think I quite nailed it. But, close enough? John and Kevin were stoked on it. There was definitely a night after John’s shift at Grace Limousine that we quickly polished and amended my demo, pulling it all together quickly for Kevin to lay some drums on.

And sort of just like that, we were up and running.

Winter Pattern was largely conceived of by the time John and I even met Kevin and Dan. And that little album, while ambitious for a “first album,” was really just completed as a matter of principle. Wednesday and Sagamore were the beginnings of the real Something//Something.

What about Pixel Fetish?

#deflategate seems to be the 3rd track conceived of in what would eventually become Pixel Fetish.

I remember specifically listening to some voice memo John had sent me while merging onto Exit 6 on 293 in Manchester. Yeah, the Amoskeag bridge one. The death trap of a merge.

That was another one that came together really quickly. I supplied some bass, Kevin supplied some drums, and we pulled lyrical ideas from one of Bill Belichick’s press conferences during the #deflategate fiasco.

It was also around this time that Kevin and John began living in the Goffstown house by St. Anselm. This would eventually become the site of many house shows, the Badfellows “Heaven” music video, the recording space for Winter Pattern, and the demo site for Pixel Fetish. Something//Something really matured — and immatured — at this house.

The Manchester Music Scene was really starting to crank out material at this time (mid 2015). Everyone was on fire. And I always felt like such a newbie. All the bands and musicians and fans were becoming a giant web of friends and acquaintances, but, perhaps for having been the “new kid” in high school, I still felt this admiration and respect for everyone making music around me that I didn’t feel that special. I really wanted to create something that was worthy of the fandom and singalong quality — the cultish following, even — that the other local bands seemed to garner. It was such a cool time to be a musician and a fan. It felt like our own little counter-culture in-scene. Any band’s show on any given night was bound to be a who’s-who of local Manchester Music Scene musicians.

We’d convert the living room to a house show setting, and the next day revert it right back to our practice space. I recall Crooked Lines coming together one night, a definite Blink-182 influenced track. John had the lyrics penned, and maybe a chunk of the music written already. I know we tightened it all up together. And on we went in this fashion, following our highest excitement.

The story of Pilgrims might have to be saved for later (see appendix).

Before we knew it, though, we were encroaching on the 10-song territory, and it was time to think about putting it all down.

The Crawl Space

Again, in the wake of our peers, we sought the engineering help of Alex Bourne at the Crawl Space in Dover, New Hampshire. Pleasure Gap had just recorded Scatter there, and Badfellows did Personal Beehive there as well. I’m sure there were others – sorry, I don’t remember!

We demo’d most of the album in Goffstown, but I think we all wanted an upgraded recording experience.

Pixel Fetish was the front-runner for the band name. John campaigned heavily for it. I’m not sure why Something//Something even stuck. Pixel Fetish is obviously the better band name.

But nevertheless…

An early S//S gig did take place at the Sweeney Post in Manchester. I have no idea when, but I know we covered Asthenia at that show. We were three-piece, so it must’ve been during the school year (when Dan would’ve been away.)

In an effort to avoid this turning into some history of the band — because that’s not what this is about — suffice to say this: having the opportunity to perform with S//S 10 years later (we disbanded in early 2020) sort of proves that I did become part of the very scene I so admired and wanted to contribute to.

Back at the Sweeney Post

I still, in no way, feel worthy of having performed this show. I’m glad John took the initiative. For me, it was an opportunity to see some of my favorite bands and performers ever (yes, for me, the Manchester Musicians are right up there with my classic rock idols), and to reunite with all folks who crammed into the DIY spots and basements way back when.

I was anxious for this one. I really wanted to deliver on the hype that had accumulated since the show announced. I’m grateful for the experience of S//S, and I think it existed in just the right frame of time. It couldn’t have existed at any other time.

Let me just take this opportunity to give a huge THANK YOU to everyone who showed up (and to anyone reading this), because you made it real. You validated my younger self. The new kid who eagerly wanted to create something valuable for the Manchester Music Scene. Thank you.

I think the Sweeney Post changed a lot more than any of the people who filled the room. I mean, people changed, sure, but it’s like how I felt at my high school reunion — there’s not a huge difference between seeing these people at 28 vs. at 18 vs at 8 years old. At least for me. It’s actually like the line in the Something//Something song All For Nothing, “looking back it’s hard to act like 23 ain’t 13.” If I had woken up in the Sweeney post on September 5th, 2026, and someone told me it was 2016 I honestly may not have known the difference.

I think that speaks volumes to the friendships and bonds formed between everyone.

But maybe the biggest difference is the joy I felt performing the songs. Rather than performing from the perspective of “I want to be part of this,” I feel like I was coming more from the perspective of, “I helped create this.” Not that I think anyone’s contribution can be quantified. I’m sure it means more or less to each individual.

But seeing some folks sing along is like the biggest payoff, for me, personally. Like, that’s really cool. That’s like ultimate proof that some music I had a part in creating means something to someone else. Some of my Manchester peers are quite familiar with that experience — I was one of those backup vocalists for them. Many times over.

Put it this way…we all have at least 1 song that really changed you. Hopefully you have many! But we all have 1. And its like an old friend. It’s always right there for you whenever you need it. And like, it never changes. You can revisit it in the exact same way. Your relationship to it changes, but the song is the same. I guess what I’m saying is a song outlives the version of you who created it, but it can continue to find people who were at the spot you were at when you wrote it, forever.

And then one day you find, ten years have got behind you.

I still hardly feel worthy of writing any of this, but I like memory lane.

How the Songs on Pixel Fetish Came Together

Here is everything I remember about the creation of the songs on Pixel Fetish

#deflategate

Covered above. John had that opening riff, bass gave it structure, and Kevin wrote a kick ass drum part.

Chicago

This was me trying to be Great White Tourist and Glocca Morra. The chord shapes were all new for me, and it resulted in a really interesting song structure. The whole “you were in Chicago, right?” bit comes from another one of those little accidental spoken lyrics. I remember being at the Goffstown house and talking to Kevin about the Celtics. They had just played the Bulls. I said, “they were in Chicago, right?” Boom.

Countdown

As Something//Something united as friends and a band, we developed countless memes. This song itself is sort of 1 of many meme-rock tunes. I think I had the bass riff in 7/4 and we wanted to see what we could do with it. If you count along at the ending, it actually counts down from an 8-beat measure, to a 7-beat measure, 6-beats, 5-beats, etc. Not sure if that’s noticeable or not. But we always enjoyed the little inside joke while performing it.

Crooked Lines

One gig we famously wrote a setlist that looked something like this: Crooked Lines / Crooked Lines / Crooked Lines / Crooked Lines / Crooked Lines / Crooked Lines / Crooked Lines…I think we all really liked playing this song. But, I do remember writing the second verse and I think the chorus, in response to John’s first verse lyrics. It’s a fun examination of a simple F-shape chord progression. This one was definitely still really fun to play.

Pilgrims

Ok, sorry John and Kevin but I’m blowing up your spot. This is a fun one. I had a key to the house John and Kevin lived in, and while it was rare that I showed up unannounced, on this day, I did. It must’ve been fall or springtime. I was unloading gear back at our practice room after a show. I had this 4×10 Fender bass cab and it had casters – that will be important in a moment.

So I show up one day and let myself in. Now if you can try to imagine this layout for a moment – you have a long hallway leading into a dining room, with french doors on the left opening into the main living room. This is where we practiced, and this is where John had his computer setup for gaming. Essentially, You can’t see anyone coming in until they are basically already in the living room.

So I lug the bass cab over to the threshold of the kitchen, drop it down with a thud and begin rolling it calmly down the hallway. It’s four wheels gently squeaking and rumbling the floor beneath, reverberating through the house. Unbeknownst to me, the inhabitants had decided to eat some acid on this fine day, and were well beyond the ‘coming up’ phase of it.

So I reach the French doors — after what must’ve felt like a short eternity to John and Kevin — and casually turn the corner and look up to see them both standing before me, wide-eyed and bewildered, looking like they were anticipating an imminent interdimensional visitation. But nope, just me :]

The look of relief afterwards was absolutely joyous, and we shared a good laugh.

They proceeded to show me this new song idea they had started in conjunction with their lysergic intake.

BA — BA — BA — BA — BAAAAAAAAAA

One chord, struck 4 times and let to ring out and arpeggiate on the 5th time. Ok, not exactly a mind-bending creation, but I understood the value they found in it.

We got straight to work! A little bass goes a long way! As was our growing interest at the time, we played gently with timing and meter, and created a simple but important little instrumental interlude that sits right in the middle of Pixel Fetish.

Wednesday

Covered above. This was the first song anyone ever “requested” at gigs. Whether or not it was a legitimate request or a gentle trolling, I do not know. But either way, thank you Social John! I always associate him with this song.

Wednesday also became our choice for our Sound it Out session. It’s got a vibe! The aux percussion texture in the second verse was played on my keyboard in the demo by just running my fingernails across the keys. I meant to bring it for the recording studio, but we settled for a small desktop fan struck with, I think, a drum stick, instead.

Sagamore

Taking the name for the street I lived on at the time, Sagamore, covered above, was an early tune that we all created together.

…Soup?

I remember John striking this harmonic on his guitar, it might have been something he subconsciously did after getting in tune or something like that, but whatever the case, on one occasion, it just landed perfectly with something I was also accidentally playing on bass.

“Wait wait do that again!” It came together probably instantly. I don’t remember anything specific about it beyond that initial inception.

It takes its name from Kevin Campbell who had the nickname Soup. I think he walked into our room at The Space one time and we just kind of looked at each other like…Soup? what’s up dude what are you doing here?

1010!

Another meme-rock instrumental. There was some mobile game called 1010! that this song takes its name from. Listen closely for the 10/4 meter.

Kissy Face

Kevin made some silly kissy face one time while we were creating the opening bass riff, and that’s about it. It’s fun to play, but I wish I wrote a better chorus. It’s weak. But, the ending is pretty cool. The aggressive bridge and sudden stop before returning to the outro is inspired by seeing Rebuilder one time at Shaskeen. I remember thinking how insanely tight they were and how many little stops and starts they had in their songs.

Bonus Pictures

Here are a bunch of pictures from the show, because they deserve preservation. Credit to Cole Crusciel on the shots (@crusciel_av)