On this day in 1993, my band Soophie Nun Squad played our very first show— and for the sheer joy of it, I fictionalized the moment in a scene from my forthcoming book, Diana, on an “all-new band” bill with Jody and Diana’s bands Old Spice and Diamond Mine, each playing their first shows as well. Our ages ranged between 12 and 16, and yes, our drummer (now of the metal band Pallbearer) was still in elementary school.
In Diana, the show takes place in the kitchen of a punk house modeled after our legendary Rice Street house there in Little Rock (which is where Soophie recorded our demo tape a year later). But in reality, our first show took place in the back yard of the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion! The new governor’s daughter went to shows, and asked to have one— so we played alongside Nuisance, Thumbnail, Five O, Drain, Otherwise (later morphing in to William Martyr 17), Jet Jangua, Fuse of Ire, Absorption, and Lime Pit over the course of a mere 4 hours. The police were called multiple times over noise complaints, and so our first show made the front page of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette the next morning: “Noisy Punks ‘Nuisance’ at Mansion.”
Diana will debut at SPX this September, and will be released everywhere on October 6th from Abrams ComicArts. For more info and preordering options, check here!
