History:Ordination Of Aaron
From Fourfa.info
Kalamazoo, Michigan was a great place to grow up, a small college town but loaded with kids coming in and out for college and a huge young teen scene. For the locals in the early 90's the scene really started to flourish. A large skateboarding & music scene started to snowball. Located right in the middle of Chicago and Detroit it was a stopping point for most touring bands of the time, greatly in part due to Joel Wick who booked everyone from Nirvana to Downcast & Rorschach. After seeing all these great bands come through teenagers want to clear out their basements for more shows and space for starting their own bands.
They had constant five member line-up: Daniel Buettner on bass, guitarists Steve Versaw and Bill Sprague, singer Robert Hicks and drummer Cara LaLumia. They were around from 1993 to 1995.
Everyone from Ordination had been in a couple few bands until finally after the demise of about 3 bands around the same time, Ordination of Aaron was born.
Bill Sprague was in a band called Blindspot and it has the singer of In Ourselves (chafe) and this kid Mikel who was in other bands later on - he was a cool dude. They did a Jimi Hendrix cover and were a teenage hardcore band. Then there's Anthem, with Derek Kenney (guitar, later in Jihad), Joey and Ryan. Then Post-anthem band - Bill, Joey and Ryan together with Robert Hicks (singer). They only played one show that had a set ending fighting drunk frat dudes - which was very unusual for Kzoo.
Next is Steve Versaw. He played drums in a straight edge hardcore band called Yield. It had Ryan from Anthem singing. They had a demo. Steve was a good drummer. Later on he was in Spork. Heavy hardcore. Maybe like a more punk Helmet or something. Find their 7" if you can, it's good.
He also played guitar during Spork in a band called Theory that was melodic punk/hc with Dan Buettner. They changed their name to Clour, at the end of their existence and got really good. It was Dan first band when he was 17. They practiced in Dan's parents' basement and only played a handful of shows. One of them was their high school talent show. No recordings. The drummer was just some kid who quit the band and dropped out of music altogether.
Early practices were at Dans parents home in Portage MI, Bills house at the infamous 516 McCourtie st where tons of great bands played but the majority of OoA get togethers were at Bill's mom's resturant called Mi Ranchito on Westnedge ave. They basically had air cond, tacos & nachos & free soft drinks to our hearts content every weekend they practiced.
More and more shows were happening all over the city at basements, cafes, club soda etc. The band Vine was a huge local influence on O of A, one of the best bands of the time & super cool guys... sadly mostly unheard of unless you were from K-zoo. They released a 7", a couple comp songs and a demo cassette only. Vine turned the band onto what Current were doing up in Detroit. Ordination of Aaron started playing a lot of shows with them and Rob Hicks went on tour with them as a roadie. At the same time Jihad were a brutal force to be reckoned with as well, this featured Joel Wick and Derrek Kenny who was in a band called Anthem with Bill before O of A.
They toured the east coast, midwest & south during the hot summer of 94 but mostly kept close to their native Michigan and surrounding states including Canada, also they released s/t 7" on Bloodlink Records (Eli and Lay Down And Die). Fall 1994 Inchworm Records released split Ordination of Aaron and Indian Summer, with slow/low pitch version of Battle of Tippecanoe. Parthenon was given to infamous LP comp All the President’s Men, released in 1994 on Old Glory Records, (together with tracks from Assfactor 4, Maximillian Colby, Julia, Fingerprint, Policy of 3, Hoover, Acme, Shotmaker and Hose Got Cable). Ebullition Records’s The Amnesia LP contains song Counter.
Fred Weaver about Parthenon record session: “I recorded this song in my mother’s attic in the summer of 1994. I was only credited as “Fred from Pennsylvania” [on All the president's men LP] because the band were reading the MaximumRockNRoll publication “Book Your Own Fucking Life” (which served as the internet for DIY bands before, well, the internet) in which there was a small ad for my studio saying “8-track studio specializing in punk, hardcore, etc”. The band happened to be 60 miles away on I-80 when they saw that. So they stopped, called me up, and within an hour we were recording the song you hear here [Parthenon] and another coupla tracks.” the sound of indie
They gotten back from a month long tour and took some time off and then came back together to record the LP. Immersion In A 90 mph World LP was released on Council Records in august, 1995. Also they did an acoustic session, and recorded Crate and You Too Can Be A Motion Picture Star for Acoustic 7" on Inchworm, New Face (from We’ve Lost Beauty - A Compilation For Christopher LP, dedicated for Chris Horne, drummer of William Martyr 17) and acoustic version of Eli, which is appeared later on discography. After the LP, they broke up again for good.
One of K-Zoos finest sprung up during this time as well, Bills little brother Christopher and friends started Constatine Sankathi, a line up of 4-5 total weird misfit kids that hit the nail on the head with some of the best chaotic/melodic sincere & emotional music around! Bill released their first 7" on his label Arcade Kahca and Constatine took off from there. Ordination of Aaron played out last show together with them at the famous Neil House in Columbus, an amazing night of a jam-packed show with everyone singing along and jumping off the fireplace mantle, it went off!
All their discography (only Eli from acoustic session is presented) has been compiled on a discography CD released in 2000 by Bill’s Arcade Kahca entitled "Complete Works". In 2009 it has been repressed in Germany on Adagio830 label, 1000 samples only. The new double LP discography contains all songs, remasterd for vinyl, an extensive booklet with unseen photos, a patch, 2 color vinyl & laser etching.
After O of A disbanded Dan joined forces with members of Vine and Current to start Broken Hearts Are Blue. Bill moved to California and teamed up with old friends Indian Summer to start Daredevil, they embarked on a brutally huge US tour that sadly ended in an explosion of friendships. The shows they played were epic and some of the best music from the time, nothing was recorded in the studio however, live record is available. Rob & Steve are currently in the band The M's. Current whereabouts of Cara are veiled.
Bill Sprague is making his famous SANITY MUFFIN Artist Label and Blog together with Rich Jacobs in Oakland, among other bands they made sleeves his brother Christofer's Tristeza and Naked Lights.
CS Rich about the OOA last show: "It was in Columbus, Ohio at the famous Neal House, and it marks, I think, a new chapter in our band's existence. We were no longer just some band that played within 50 miles of home. The show was Ordination of Aaron's last show and it was with, I think 3 Studies for a crucifixion and this band called Hurst (I finally remembered the name!) that gave way to Sky by Sorella and Burn It Down (yep, Hurst was definitely ex-hardball. They real nice dudes) Anyways, if I recall, we picked up Chris from Loy Norrix High School and met up with Bill and Dan from OOA. They asked what bass i was going to play at the show and I told them it was a cheap paul mccartney violin bass knockoff. Dan offered me his jazz bass and his bass rig (seriously, dan buettner is still one of the best humans I've ever met) and we arranged to use Bill's guitar stuff and cara's drums. Ok, to shorten it, we used OOA's gear. :) Anyways, we got our friend Jessica to drive us down to Columbus and Ian slept in the back of Bill's van. I recall driving down there and listening to the advance of the new cap'n Jazz lp and all laughing (in a good way) at the line we thought said "kitty kitty cat, kitty kitty cat" and their AHA cover. I also remember bringing a mix I made of records I bought that I hadn't had much of a chance to listen to (I remember that Honeywell band One Eyed Richard and the goddamned liars or something like that being in the mix. They sucked)I also recall someone gave me a copy of Reign in Blood on cd. That was cool. Anyhoo, got to Columbus late and Ian and I looked for a store to buy some juice or something.. I think we missed 3 studies which sucks because I liked that band. Then we went on and we did pretty well I recall and Bill joined us on "husniyah" I remember bill bouncing off the walls and jumping off the fireplace mantel and then the mighty OOA played and they were great and I want to say it was probably the best time I ever saw them (and they always killed it so...) Afterwards, we met Scott Beiben and our friend Daniel Mcvey. Scott bought a junk car and drove them to Columbus to see us and OOA. I remember Scott Beiben also singing some song about the cookie monster on his accoustic guitar he carried around that summer. I also recall having to drive Jessica's car all the way home drinking coffee to stay awake while everyone else soundly slumbered and then having to walk from Chris' house to bill's house to get ian. Ian's parents generously picked us up and I went to work... This was another show that was getting me more and more excited on performing but it also was the show that made me realize how much I disliked the day to day life and wanted to play shows all the time. Soon after Daniel booked us a tour and we travelled throughout the midwest and to the east coast. This show in many ways that changed how I perceived my life and how I wanted to live my life. I think that I can safely say this was the case for all of us."
Compiled from:
Constatine Sankathi myspace blog
Dan Buettner personal messages.
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