The Chunksofmeat Story

St. Louis, MO 2003 looking for shows as a local metal band and getting a gig on a weekend was not real promising especially new bands trying to get exposure. In most clubs if you didn't have an established fan base, you probably wouldn't get the gig on a weekend night. An old bar in Overland, MO was recognized by a band named Dose to create a metal show with other local metal bands. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd show were a hit with owner "Robin" who wanted to see more of these shows at his bar. As Dewey, Lee and Rikki moved on to the next level and engaged into booking the shows at Just Bills on a regular basis, many metal bands and fans began to call it home. The team decided to use the name that was classic to Lee's Ebay name and the name used for he and his son's kid fun band "Chunksofmeat". A Chunksofmeat logo, t-shirts and website had already been in play. The conversion into Chunksofmeat immediately grasp many metal fans as to a new home and a great sound was always offered to the bands. Rolling into 2004, Chunksofmeat was truely developing a new kinda metal scene as new bands continued to pour into the family. The Chunksofmeat website became for local musicians as to knowing what's happening in the scene with the latest pictures from every show. Chunksofmeat needed something more to bring to the table. Chunksofmeat decided to create a battle between bands but not to be traditional calling it the "Battle of the Bad Ass Bands". This event proved to be a big success with 16 bands over 4 weekends leading to the final Battle to bands Baine, Cleevage, Ununbiun, and Cast the Stone. Cast the Stone took the win on that Battling night which was also the celebration of the one year anniversary for Chunksofmeat/Just Bills. A plaque also has the name of the winner in the Battle and will host the winners of futures Battles. Chunksofmeat developed sponsorship for these events from Sik World.com and Retro Active tattoos. Moving into the summer of 2004, Chunksofmeat joined up in the annual Baine Fest event in Jerseyville, Ill. This event became memorable to the fact that after heavy advertisement the event was moved 3 times do to law enforcement attempting to shut down the event. The Baine Fest landed outside at Harris Tavern and hosted bands Rex 84, 06 Gauge, Seven Stitches, Cleevage, Dose, Tryptophane, and Baine. Chunksofmeat continued to draw new bands and new fans. Leading into the fall of 2004, Chunksofmeat maintained consist shows every weekend at Just Bills with open arms to many old and new bands. By fall Chunksofmeat fired up the 2nd Series of the Battle of the Bad Ass Bands". Again with 16 bands participating, bands Desecr8, 06 Gauge, Cleevage and Prig on December 4th had the biggest crowd to date at Just Bills at near capacity. This final Battle was the most intense show Chunksofmeat fans had seen yet on a local level. As these 4 bands battled to get their name on the Chunksofmeat/Just Bills plaque of recognition, Prig and Cleevage were unforgetably flawless with a roaring crowd behind each. With judges having a tight decision, Prig took the win by just points. Those battles left us in awe remembering how the bands evolved from the basements and cabins to become very professional at more than just a local level band. This in turn finally gave us real purpose for this compilation everyone so much awaited for. Realizing this, only future bands in the final Chunksofmeat Battles, would have a shot to be on the Chunksofmeat compilation. The year ended in one last spectacular show at Just Bills on New Years Eve. The band Prig awarded Chunksofmeat the ultimately large Chunksofmeat banner that will hang high at every future show. Chunksofmeat hosted 68 shows in 2004. And this is how it began! This cd will be the first on the new Independent Record label for St. Louis Metal bands called "Chunksofmeat Records".