It’s time again for another installment of My First Time, the series where I ask some of my favorite bands to share stories about their musical “firsts.” Everything from the first song they ever wrote to the response they got when they first played their songs for their family. It’s all here. Because after all, the best way to see where a person is going is by understanding where they’ve been.

MP3: Intelligence – Moody Tower

Today’s edition of My First Time is undoubtedly one of my favorites ever. The Intelligence released one of my favorite albums of 2009 (Fake Surfers), so it’s great to know they’ve got some good early stories to share as well. Lars talks about pretending to hate a Cindy Lauper concert, wetting the bed to E.L.O and trying to take enough drugs to enjoy a cover band.

My First Time …with Lars Finberg of the Intelligence

First record you bought?
I got a gift certificate to world records for my birthday in 6th grade. I bought a Madonna tape ‘Like a Virgin’ and the Pointer Sisters (the one with ‘Jump’ on it ). I got in trouble for listening to ‘Neutron Dance’ over and over doing my homework

First record that changed your life
I wish I still had this Munsters LP I’d listen to every night as a kid, since that’s kinda what we sound like now. When I was a bout 7 I randomly took a tape out of my dads cassette briefcase to listen to one night and ended up listening to E.L.O.’s Time album every night for a year.

First concert you attended
My parents took us to see Cindy Lauper at the fairgrounds, I pretended to hate it and sat on a different bench from them.

First concert that blew you away
In high school I liked this band that played around town called Lilly Cigar they were these older dudes that had motorcycles and played Led Zeppelin covers and made out with all the high school hippy girls we tried to hang around.

It took an unhealthy about of acid to make them good. I ended up hospitalized trying to enjoy an extended “Dazed and Confused.”

First time playing live
I played bass with some friends in high school at a talent show, they wouldn’t let us be called the junkies so we were called ‘Jesus’. I liked Sonic Youth and the Misfits, the drummer loved Janes Addiction and the guitarist liked Phish. We were terrible and sounded like most of the popular bands of today.

First tour (horror stories, unexpectedly great shows, etc)
I played drums in the A Frames and had never played drums so I brought a fan in case I got too hot but I was too embarrassed to take it out of the van. We played a show in SF in drag and I locked the keys in the van changing so we had to break in with a coat hanger at 2 am in the tenderloin after they kicked us off the stage after one song since no one was there.

First instrument you learned and/or first piece of equipment you loved
I got a red Stratocaster copy made by the guitar shop down the street for my 15th birthday, I got grounded from my skateboard so I played the intro to Metallica’s ‘One’ for 3 months

First time getting press and/or being interviewed
I remember getting a review in Razorcake that said ‘ this song sounds like that awful song on the Repo Man soundtrack that just says ‘pablo picasso was never called an asshole’ over and over but worse’.

First song you wrote and/or recorded
It didn’t have a name but I played with some guys thinking we’d be an instrumental rock band before I had the stones to sing and we had this 2 part song we’d play all day, then this creepy guy who lived upstairs would come down and do this Axl Rose swivel dance, hang from a pipe and moan into the vacant microphone and creep us all out so I started singing just to keep him away.

First awesome thing that happened solely because you were in a band
Tinnitus and 2 drink tickets

First horrible thing that happened solely because you were in a band
Had to play with the spits

First reactions from your family when you played them your music
Man my fantastic grandmother (rest in peace) would make me play here these boom box recorded practice tapes of stuff that was so terrible even I was cringing as they played and she would tap her little hand on her knee to the ‘beat’

I miss her.

First musical obsession (band, song, singer, genre or otherwise)
I’d have to give that up to wetting the bed to E.L.O.