In its short existence, The Fateful Promise has already run into its share of problems. The emo-style punk rock trio has simply refused to quit. Whether it be hunting down a bassist, borrowing random cars for transport or practicing in the bowels of a cafeteria, the band has persevered thus far and is looking forward to a less challenging future.
Front man and guitar player Rob Garekis came to the University of Wisconsin with a dream almost two years ago. While most students were worrying about choosing a major, Rob was searching high and low for band mates, a search that began in Witte Hall.
“Rob lived right across the hall, and he put up a sign up on his door that said looking for, what, ‘Punk drummer wanted,’ or something like that,” drummer Travis Smith said. “And I was probably the furthest thing from a punk drummer at that point, but I decided to talk to him anyway just to see what was up. I don’t know, I listened to [Rob’s] songs, and we started to listen to punk, and I was like ‘What the hell is this?’ I wasn’t really into it.”
However, the style grew on Smith, and the duo’s musical chemistry continued to strengthen despite vast differences in prior musical tastes and different backgrounds. Garekis, a Brookfield native, was already a veteran of the band scene, having played in four groups in high school. Smith, on the other hand, hails from Mayville, a small town in the southwestern part of the state and took a more traditional route into music, with a background in jazz and show choir. For Smith, adjusting to playing in a punk band meant a new level of attention to detail.
“It’s just a matter of learning how to craft my parts and really thinking about what I’m playing and where I’m playing and how I’m playing it and how it affects the texture of the song,” Smith said.
Garekis and Smith dealt with less than ideal conditions starting out, storing equipment in dorm rooms and practicing in Witte’s music room. The duo competed in last year’s All Campus Party-sponsored Battle of the Bands, using an unusual mode of transportation to get to the event site, Engineering Mall.
“We lived in Witte, so we had to put all of our stuff in laundry carts, and we pushed it all the way across campus,” Garekis said.
Though they are still without a car and had to borrow a friend’s to bring their equipment to last month’s Wisconsin Union Battle of the Bands, the band received a boost this year with the addition of bassist Eric Pedersen, a freshman at UW from Sheboygan, late in the first semester. Garekis actually located and contacted Pederson via thefacebook.com. Pedersen, who had previously played in a ska group, also had to adjust to the more aggressive nature of punk rock.
“[Eric] played with his fingers, and we were like, ‘Man, we need that attack’,” said Garekis, who admits he is the whip of the group. “We need that attack with a pick.”
The group has continued to make the best of strange circumstances again this year. Garekis and Smith have left the southeast side of campus for the Lakeshore area, while Pedersen stays in Witte. Instead of practicing in a music room, the pair has “upgraded,” storing its equipment and practicing in the basement of Carson Gulley Commons.
“It’s definitely a labor of love,” Smith said. “Like pushing the laundry carts and all that stuff, if we were less in love with this, we probably wouldn’t be doing it.”
The trio has a pair of shows coming up in Madison, with sets at The Journey (near Camp Randall) May 13 and 24.
