Why did I ever choose to not transfer to UNT after my sophomore year of college? The world may never know, nor will it ever matter. I was so close to doing so after my first two years at Baylor (sic 'em) had not gone quite as planned. My friends were all back in Dallas for the most part at that time and I would visit them and a few pals at UNT pretty frequently. I loved it every time. The house shows, the 3-dollar beer, the small-town vibe, the walkability, the THREE DOLLAR BEER. Denton has always felt like you took the best parts of Austin, Dallas, Ft. Worth and Houston and compressed it to a space that spans 5 city blocks.
After our friends graduated and Jonathan moved a little closer to Dallas, we lost our close association with the little D. Throw in a pandemic and voila, we arrive at our first gig up in Denton as a band in about 2 years. We used to play at JnJ’s Dirty Basement, Killer’s Tacos, the Abby Underground AND its brief stint as Lion and Crown before it became Free Play. One of our favorite memories from year one as a group is still hydroplaning on bald tires to Denton in Alex’s old Volvo to play at an open mic at a place called Game Changers on a Tuesday night. We crammed the 4 of us plus gear onto a stage meant for maybe two people max and just rocked that motherfucker for a four-song set. It is a miracle we made it there and home. Video of this still exists somewhere and is a living testament to the fact that in your first year as a band, you take any gig you can get. Good times.
Andy’s on the square was a significant improvement over Game Changers (no offense). Music on the square is still thriving here in 2022. May it never ever die.