Back in high school, I got introduced to punk rock on my daily bus ride to school. This older kid would be banging his head, thrashing around in his seat (not in a threatening way, but in a joyful, energetic way) and singing crazy lyrics at the top of his lungs, not realizing or caring that the rest of the bus could not hear what he heard in his headphones. It sometimes looked like a seizure.

One day, I finally approached him and asked him what he was listening to, and he named a bunch of bands that I did not recognize, like Naked Raygun, Circle Jerks, and Black Flag. Then, he popped out the cassette he was listening to and gave it to me. I still have it.

That moment compelled me to seek out the music and people that I wanted to be around from that point forward. I found out that a big part of the culture in the late 80s revolved around record stores. There were a few that catered to the music I had just discovered, and I would frequently take a recommendation or just buy a record that looked interesting in those stores.

One of the records I ended up buying on a whim was a compilation from Touch & Go Records called God’s Favorite Dog. Great album, but the two tracks that stood way out to me were by a band called Scratch Acid. I played those two over and over and marveled at the wizardry – simultaneously technically adept and brutally blunt. I had never heard lyrics delivered like that, and the drums… oh my.

When I got my hands on more Scratch Acid music, it didn’t relent. In fact, the band came and went without a single average song, let alone a dud. All of the songs have a unique structure and imprint, but there is no mistaking any of them for anything but a Scratch Acid song. At the core, Rey Washam didn’t just hold the chaos together, he harnessed it and rode it harder and harder.

Technically, Rey is a machine. Speed, endurance, accuracy – he has them in spades, but those things don’t matter if there’s no feel for what the songs are trying to evoke. Rey 100% gets it. The list of bands he’s played with is no accident – his style lends itself to a certain aesthetic (Scratch Acid, Ministry, the Big Boys, Helios Creed, and the Didjits, for example). But again, he adjusts, so while you could recognize his strong, regimented playing from a mile away, he just blends in.

Rey influenced how I listen to and play music. I had some practical training in the school band, but in my mind, discovering Scratch Acid  and Rey provided master classes – just trying to figure out how in the world he could move his hands from one position to another so quickly, without ever compromising a hit.

Anyhow, don’t take it from me – the proof is in the YouTube (not my video):

And here they are in 2006, as if no time had passed at all:

p.s. – my favorite part of writing this post was discovering that the photo of Rey Washam on Wikipedia was shot and uploaded by another HUGE influence on me – Greg Dunlap. Not only that, but he posted it with Creative Commons licensing. Thank you for sharing, Greg. I really hope you are writing a book about your life.