Tim Day
Age: 24
April 13th 1983. It begins
Fast forward fifteen years, and you come to the first time I picked up a bass. It was in Woodridge IL, at my brother’s apartment. His roommate Shawn, who taught me how to play, had been playing for a while and I was willing to at least try it. My first encounter at attempting to play was interesting to say the least. I wanted to play it upside down, because it was more comfortable and I wanted to use a pick. Big mistake. I got my butt kicked that night. So I had to learn to play the traditional way. Shawn, in addition to teaching me, gave me my first bass. Which I then passed down to someone else. That first year was exciting. Starting with nothing and learning as much as possible. All through high school I played with tons of various musicians, but nothing ever really clicked.
It was frustrating, I felt like I wasn’t progressing as a player because none of the musicians I played with were working out. For me, if I’m not being challenged to get better by my mates then there’s no reason to play.
After high school I started jamming with J, it was the beginning of April 2001. I was auditioning for a spot in J’s band 3Crease. My audition consisted of two sessions, neither of which went anywhere. They stayed with their old bass player, however J and I continued jamming in our free time. Eventually 3Crease quit playing together, and J and I tried moving our project forward. We had a lot of shitty music, and some pretty hilarious names. Soundwave was an awesome name. Simply Ravishing I also liked. My favorite however, was and still is Deep Dickin. I love that name. But, as we examined them all, they seemed to lack substance, at least for us. The next name we came up with was Absolutely Perfect. Man, what a name!!! This name had weight to it. Something you have to work at to live up to. It was, in fact, perfect.
So now, we have a drummer and a bass player, and an awesome name. But, still no band. A lot of guitarists came through J’s basement as we tried to find someone that would work well with our style. One of the first people that rolled through was a gentleman named Guy Tiberio. He was awesome, but for whatever reason nothing happened. If I may name drop for a moment, some of the better guitarists that rolled through were Mike Cope, Ben Frola, Mike Postlewaite, and Jason Yunker. Time dragged on, and eventually Yunker joined. We got together with Andy Halder and we recorded a four song demo. We figured we could use that to shop for a singer. This was around February 2002. Shortly there after, Yunker informed us that he would be moving to Utah to do mission work for three years. So, this put us in an awkward state. During this time, there were rumors that Randy Assell had gotten a hold of our demo, and was interested in singing for us.
Before Yunker joined, Adam Newcomer came over and we all discussed getting something together. Again, time marches on. Yunker only lasted two months in Utah, but we weren’t sure if he was still down to play. Well, he was, and in the summer of 2003 he returned and we three started playing again. Two months later in August Randy officially joined and recorded vocal tracks over our four song demo. December 6th (my sister’s birthday) 2003 was our first show, and a little tidbit; it was Chasing You’s last show. We released our first studio album in 2005.
Years passed, we played many shows. Then, in January 2007 Yunker sat us all down and explained that he didn’t want to be in the band anymore, he wanted to go to school and get his life in order and make sure he was getting on the right track. School was still a year away, and he agreed to stay until we could fill the position. Honestly, it was just as much of a relief as it was upsetting. No reason to get in to the BS at this point, all that will be remembered, is that Yunker is an amazing musician, and easily the funniest person to be around ever.
So, we had a show set for St. Patties Day. It was a benefit show for our friend Brandon Novak, and it was really important and dear to all of us. That show went off perfectly, and that was it. Yunker decided not to jam with us anymore after that, and the rest of us all went on hiatus. J jammed with 3Crease again for a while, and I auditioned for a few other bands. More time goes by, and finally, on a whim, Guy Tiberio decides he’d like to take a crack at playing the guitar with Absolutely Perfect. He learned a couple of our songs, and we jammed. Something profound happened that evening. The four of us came together and everything clicked so well. Guy breathed new life in to our material, and the new songs we’ve been writing are unbelievable. I would never take anything away from Jason Yunker, but Guy is definitely the shot in the arm we needed. Finally, we have four people come together with a common love for music, and a similar state of mind, all on the same page. What’s next?
We are Absolutely Perfect, and you aint seen nothing yet!!!
