The Chrome Hearts. Kris Gloer, Arlan Gibson, Shawn McCrystal, Mikey "Mo" Mulholland. Photo by Arlan Gibson. (March 28th, 1998)
What started as The Arlan & Jelly Band, turned into Toolshed, and then finally became known as The Chrome Hearts, spawned out of the Arlan & Jelly duo. The band existed between January 4th, 1998, the date of our first rehearsal, through September 18th, 1999, the date of the last gig billed as The Chrome Hearts. It was originally a four-piece band consisting of two guitars and vocals (Arlan & Kris), bass (Shawn McCrystal) and drums (Mickey "Mo" Mullholland). However, other musicians such as Kevin Thomas or Dan Seifert on keyboards and Tommy Dodd on pedal steel, among others, played with us either live or in the studio.
Kris and I had always wanted to develop a full band. We dabbled with it even back in 1989. So in late 1997 we planned on starting a new band project. On January 4th, 1998, we began rehearsing the new band. On January 15th, 1998, we played our first gig at The Chameleon Club, Atlanta, GA. On February 19th, 1998, we began recording live. On September 22nd, 1998, we went into Exocet Studios (Chamblee, GA) and began recording a three-song demo. We recorded two of Kris' songs (Sunshine Dancer, Finding My Way) and one of my songs (Brand New Start). On November 2nd, 1998, we again went into Exocet Studios (Chamblee, GA) and began a two-song demo. We recorded one of Kris' songs (Southbound Train) and one of my songs (Wishful Drinkin'). On February 11th, 1999 , we played our last gig with Shawn McCrystal. The loss of Shawn McCrystal on bass really marked end of The Chrome Hearts. However, on September 17th and 18th, 1999, we played our last two gigs billed as The Chrome Hearts at The Lakeview Grille (Allatoona Lake, Cartersville, GA) with Jonathan Zimmerman on bass. Although Johnny Z is an extremely talented bassist, the dynamic that he brought to the band changed the chemistry of the original four core players. In addition, the gravity of the events in our lives at the time overtook our ability to continue the band project.
*It's worth noting that the person I remember as the most fanatical Chrome Hearts friend and fan, Chris Brady, was also the one who gave us the name Toolshed. As I recall, he was hollaring "Toolshed" from the audience at the first gig. The name stuck until October 1998 when we began calling the band The Chrome Hearts.
