So around age 17, I got a little older and a little better at music. I think at that age, music was very good to me. I had a deep understanding of music, but I had not yet matured so I was somewhat creatively limited. I was asked by Mike Reilly in the spring of '97 to join up with his budding ska band and play the sax. This was the birth of Free Toy Inside.

FTI was a lot of fun for me. There were so many personnel changes, it was hard to tell who was in the band from one month to the next. It started with Mike Reilly (drums), Evan Klinefelter (guitar), Alex Kargher (guitar), Ross Reilly (bass), Dave Holden (trombone), Pablo Rojas (tenor sax?), and myself (alto sax). It wasn't long (about a whole week) before we kicked Kargher out for little reason other than we really didn't need 2 guitaists in a ska band.

Dave Holden left because he simply wasn't feeling it. It wasn't working with his schedule and he just wasn't into it from the start. So that's when we recruited KD Birmingham and Ben Shaw to play trombone for us. They worked out great for a good long while. With these two and myself comprising the horn section, I had a lot of room to do some great arrangements. They both brought their individual personalities and spirit to the band.

Around the same time, we had to boot Pablo out as well. Pablo was a funny guy, man. He had the biggest ego of anyone (ever), yet he sucked out loud. That isn't to say he couldn't get better, but he really was fairly a beginner. He needed at least a couple of years more experience. He also tried to be our group's vocalist, but let's not even go there.

So we had written a few tunes, played a lot of covers. We were pretty pleased with ourselves. We still needed a singer, but we were putting something together. It just simply came about that Mike and Evan sang most of the songs. I had my share of songs I sang, but I was by no means "The Singer". We had quite a few people try to sing for us. There was Me'Ira Nocella, who only got the chance because I was madly in love with her and it was probably common knowledge. Truth be told, this was her first time singing anything. She was inexperienced to say the least. She sounded like a dude. :S

Then there was Rachel Peterson, who tried out for us. I think she was a friend of Mike's. I remember not liking her from school. I don't think our mutual dislike factored into it at all. I was willing to put that shit aside for the sake of the band. I don't really recall the reason, but she didn't work out either. She stayed for about a week. We really weren't looking for a female singer, but I think if we had found one that could sing and had her own signature that she could add to our little tribe, we would have taken her. Rachel was more of a Celine Dion and less of a Gwen Stefani.

A few months had gone by and we wer doing pretty well; even without a designated singer. We had a nice collection of ska/punk covers that we did and even had a bunch of songs of our own. We had four that were ready for demo tapes so we started making them. Then, the betrayal! We had one of our own leave us.

OK, so here's the poop. Ross, our bassist who helped write great basslines for us, had an older brother Doug. Doug was the drummer for the other ska band in King of Prussia, Space Ate Mafia. Space Ate Mafia (also referred to as Space 8) started their group about a year before we did, had better music, more experienced personnel, and had already been established by the summer of 1997 (the climax of the Third-Wave Ska movement). Basically, we hated them. They were better than us. They were the enemy.

So one day, Ross gathers us all up at Marching Band rehearsal (Have I mentioned that I, as well as just about everyone else in this band and Space 8 was a band geek?, Hell, I was the Drum Major; aka the Head) band geek.) and says that he has an announcement. At that very moment, Doug calls Ross and Ross, before he can even say a word to us, snaps 90 degrees, says, "Yes, my brother?" and pulls himself away from us (bear in mind that he gathered us to tell us something seemingly important). There's something to be said about undying feilty to one's older brother. The other six of us were standing there like, "Uhhhhh......what was that?" Eventually he told us that he was leaving us to play trumpet for Space 8. Ehh, whatever. Cool. We were mad for a little, but we got over it.

We recruited a skittish little freshman to play bass for us. His name was Brian Davis aka Dil. Dil was a great boon for our little group. He learned our existing stuff quickly and his talent was only improving. He fit right into our merry little band of miscrients. His personality was a little weird, but so were we. :)

With our group finalized, we had written a few more tunes and learned a great deal more covers. We had even recorded a few in a real studio and put out a demo CD, with the help of brother Glen Ferracone at the Music Centre in Exton, PA. We had been playing about a year at various parties, coffee houses, talent shows, and clubs around the area. We even developed a little following. FTI is grateful for the devotion of people like Jeff Rae and Justin Grey.

We had what was called the "Power Trio". The Power Trio was an indulgence that consisted of Mike, Evan, Dil and myself (yes, I know that's four people) playing little cover songs like Jimi Hendrix's Little Wing, Stevie Ray Vaughan's Riviera Paradise and some off the wall originals that didn't fall into the category of ska like our favorite, Beefneck. For variety, it was always three of the four mentioned above playing instruments which were not our native instruments. For example if Mike wasn't playing the drums, Evan would be. If Evan was not playing guitar, then Dil or I would play. If Dil wasn't playing bass, I would be.

After about a year, KD had decided to leave the group, also to pursue interests with Space Ate Mafia. At that point we had decided to play a little longer together, but eventually disbanded Free Toy Inside at the end of 1998.

Do I have regets? Maybe a few. One of the things I heard from other members was that it was more like work than fun. Maybe it was. I never got that sense. I always thought it was fun. I wish that we had started a year earlier, like Space Ate Mafia. By the time we had honed our craft into anything, the popularity of ska, especially in the Pennsylvania area had passed. We were always thought of as kind of an afterthought. Those who truly liked us were devoted.

Looking back now, I have to laugh. To tell the truth, we kind of really did suck. I think because I had not matured musically yet, and I was doing a significant part of the writing, We simply didn't have the chops to write more compelling music like Space 8 did. They genuinely had a lot more talent in their arsenal than we did. I found myself always trying to construct a song from a formula, rather than trying to write a song from emotions and feelings. I hadn't yet discovered how to do that.

It's all good. I made some lifelong friends in Free Toy Inside and gained valuable stage and writing experience. Free Toy Inside was the first legitimate band that I was a part of. I'm glad it was this and not Lyf Sux or Stump. I wouldn't trade that for anything.