Fargo/Moorhead

Fargo-Moorhead was one of the first markets outside the Twin Cities to embrace the Gear Daddies, and some of our most memorable shows occurred there. 

For those unfamiliar with Midwest geography, Fargo is located on the North Dakota side of the Red River and is home to North Dakota State University (NDSU). Moorhead is located on the Minnesota side of the border and is home to both Moorhead State University (now Minnesota State University) and Concordia College. 

It was often possible to trace the reason for a market opening up for us. It was usually airplay on a local radio station or great press from a local critic or press outlet. In Fargo-Moorhead, we owe the ATO fraternity at NDSU for kicking the door open. I'll cite this as proof that influencers were a thing long before the advent of the internet.

I'm not 100% sure exactly what happened, but I believe one of the ATO members from the Twin Cities brought an early Gear Daddies demo cassette with them to school. It got some play on the ATO stereo and caught on with the other members. Before long, they hired us to play a party in the basement of the ATO house. We weren't all that well-known in the Twin Cities then, so we were confused about why a fraternity in Fargo would want to book us. Plus, in our experience, members of fraternities were rich kids who wore Polo shirts with collars turned up, not exactly our wheelhouse demographic. We were unwashed, working class, out-staters who wore ripped jeans and flannel shirts. It didn't make sense, but any show back then was exciting—especially an out-of-town show.

When we arrived at the ATO house, we quickly realized that these guys were not what we had expected. We didn't see any khaki pants or boat shoes; if they were rich kids, they sure didn't act like it. We also quickly realized that these guys could match us beer-for-beer, and that was something we weren't used to outside of our Austin, MN clan.

Those ATO parties (we ended up doing at least one more) were booze-fueled frenzies that didn't fizzle out until sunrise. The Gear Daddies and the ATO House were a match made in heaven. The ATO boys gave us a foothold in the area, and our following grew.

After our start at the ATO House, we played many shows at NDSU, Moorhead State, and Concordia Colleges. College shows paid the bills back then: students ran the entertainment committees and it wasn't their money, so if they liked your band, they paid. What did they care? We owe those three schools an enormous debt of gratitude.

Fargo was the first out-of-town market where we rented motel rooms. Actually, it was a single motel room for the first three or four visits. 

The Morningside was a classic old dive motel. Threadbare polyester floral-print curtains that wouldn't close all the way, no matter how hard you tried. Filthy, green shag carpeting. A dirt-ringed bathtub shower that wouldn't drain. The industrial strength, lilac-scented air cleaner they fumigated the rooms with came nowhere near covering the reek of stale cigarette smoke. And believe me, they reeked twice as much of stale cigarette (and other) smoke after we checked out. 

Six of us would sprawl about one room with two double beds. Most of us wrapped ourselves in blankets pulled from the van and slept directly on the filthy shag carpeting. It was gross, we were gross, but we didn't seem to realize either at the time. The collective hangovers we woke with at the Morningside were staggering.

Fargo/Moorhead will always hold a special place in my heart. So many great memories of the early days are centered there. It always was, and continues to be, good to me. 

And we sure do owe those ATO boys. God bless their pickled livers.

I'll dedicate a future entry to Kirby's in Moorhead. It was one of our favorite venues.