93 Arrick & Pat.jpg (13216 bytes) 93 Shawn Cris P Chicken.jpg (10031 bytes)
 

In January of '93, we began having jam sessions with Erick at his house.  Besides our guitars, none of us had any real equipment.  Erick used some homemade speaker boxes in conjunction with his home stereo, a small amp, and some distortion pedals.  Patrick used a distortion pedal he borrowed from Erick, hooked up through Erick's speakers, while Shawn used a stereo receiver to amplify his bass.  The jams usually took place on Saturday mornings, and mostly consisted of us listening to Erick play various Metallica songs.  We were impressed with his ability to play these songs with such accuracy.

93 Pat.jpg (5649 bytes) 93 Shawn In Class.jpg (9066 bytes)
 

In March Patrick bought a new Fender M-80, a 160 watt 2x12 combo amp.  In April, Shawn bought a used 90 watt Kustom bass amp.  Our school friend from the art class, Eddie Geist was added to the group as the front man in May.  We then decided that the band would drop the name "Culprits".  After weeks of brainstorming for possible new names, we chose the name Kadath, which was taken from a novel by H.P. Lovecraft, "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath".  We decided to pronounce the band's name "KAY · dath".

 

Culprits Stage.JPG (46384 bytes)

Album Covers.jpg (6258 bytes)                                      

Artwork for an album cover project made by Shawn and Patrick for art class.

 

In the summer we decided to relocate to Shawn's garage so we could try out some drummers.  We tried out a hand full of drummers, but had no luck.  Most of them were unskilled and didn't seem serious about playing in a band. In one case, the drummer seemed interested and we felt that he was a good candidate, but after setting up his drums in Shawn's garage, he never returned.   We ended up hauling his drum kit back to his house.

 
93 Gansta Shawn.jpg (16840 bytes) 93 Pic.jpg (7815 bytes)
 

In the Fall, Erick started to drift away from the band, but continued to practice with us at his convenience.  Eddie left the group.  We felt that his vocal style wasn't right for metal. He was more into the "Seattle Scene", but he was a good friend of ours and the decision to part ways was mutual.  There were no hard feelings.

 

93 Arrick Givin It To Ya.jpg (10007 bytes)

93 Eddie Sunglasses.jpg (13477 bytes)

 

The search for a drummer continued.  Patrick's brother suggested a friend of his, Erik Mortenson.  We went to Erik's house to audition him.  While he wasn't the most skilled drummer we had played with, he had the right attitude and motivation to play metal.  We saw definite potential in him.

 
93 Pat Checkin Mrs Osgood Out.jpg (9376 bytes) 93 Shawn.jpg (11235 bytes)
 

After a two-and-a-half hour audition, we welcomed Erik to the band.  Kadath now had it’s first drummer, but problems remained in the lead guitar department as Erick continued to be unreliable.  Also, we could no longer continue to jam in residential garages and bedrooms.  We needed to find a permanent place where we could set up and be as loud as we needed.  The search for such a place began.

 
Elvis Is Dead.JPG (59807 bytes) 93 Culprits Is Dead.JPG (32342 bytes)

Some more drawings by Shawn.

Copyright 2008 Kadath all rights reserved