Rules was actually an incarnation of the remnants of a unit we'd started called "D.N.A."  My friend, Mike, had told me that his buddy Artie knew of some guys in Rehoboth who might be interested in hearing me and in getting me to join the project which they were doing. I went and tried it out, and it was there I met Rick Morin and Tony Neves. For whatever reasons (primarily musical direction, I suppose) Rick and I left that situation, stuck together, and formed "Rules." Rick had one of his life-long friends, Jeff Thompson, come down to try out playing guitar with us and things gelled right from the beginning. Another classmate of theirs - and ironically my cousin's ex-boyfriend, Ray Fisher, completed our sound on bass.

From the start, it was evident that Rules was going to be writing some
"interesting" tunes. It was like a marriage of punk, progressive, pop - and who knows what else ... But one thing was for certain - we had a distinctive sound
from the get-go.

This was an incredibly fertile period for me as far as creativity is concerned. It was probably during this time more than at any other when the majority of what I was writing was being positively complimented upon - just about all of the time. My life was an arena of total f*cking turmoil and dissension at this time. There must be truth in the adage that these are the most creative periods in an artist's life, then. It certainly was a hellish time, yet to the other extreme, it was also the time I have felt the most free and uninhibited in my life. Although the material written then is obviously by the same person who's penned all the rest, it has a distinctive quality to it which seems to express the angst of that time in a different vein.

My marriage had ended. I'd lost my job that same summer. I'd begun doing a re-evaluation of my life (for the first time - I was in my mid-20's) and had come to the conclusion that "friendship" did not hold the same DEEP meaning for many of those whom I had considered my closest friends, as it meant to me. I had other intense family crises going on. Basically, my life was a real mess. Much of the earlier material of this time shows this. The later material is more resultant of after I had just said, "f*ck it ..." and had let go of all of those past things, and had in a very real sense lived a lot more "freestyle" than I had in the past. In the lack of inhibition which EVENTUALLY resulted (and I stress EVENTUALLY), I had some of the best love-making that I have EVER had in my life. Stress is a KILLER, people. It F*CKS UP your life in SO MANY WAYS. You've GOT TO let go ...

When I was younger, I used to often joke about believing deeply that everyone should tie on a good drunk once in a while, "trip out" once in a while - whatever their drug of choice ... because alcohol is a killer drug, too - make no mistake about it. I'd say that I believed it was actually psychologically beneficial to do that.

Perhaps I was never closer to the truth.

Each to their own poison, eh?

Everyone thought that "As Love Unfolds" is a love song - about a breaking up relationship. Really, I just started playing the music one day and the lyrics just poured out - like it was coming out THRU me rather than FROM me - at least not from my CONSCIOUS thought. It was about (or at least it started out as) friendships which meant a lot more to me than it did to them. I don't know - maybe there was an element of my pending divorce in there, too. But it didn't start out as that. It was such a cool setting which I wrote that in. We used to rehearse downstairs in this really cool Gothic building in Rehoboth. Upstairs there was an auditorium with a baby grand piano. I was sitting there and it was one of those days where it's showering off and on and then it's interspersed with sunshine. The room has huge windows all around - and it was just such an inspiring environment.

Personally I wanted to shitcan the song. Although it's true that even for metal bands, it's often the BALLAD that "makes" the band well known, I'd just written so many of them that at first I just considered it one more. I don't know - everyone else tells me differently. From the start everyone liked it - so we developed it
and made it work for us.

Jeff brought an interesting edge to the band. He was really into the "surf and skateboard" thing - and the music that went with that whole scene. Actually, if I remember right, he's won all kinds of competitions in skateboarding - like nationals and stuff. Things like "(I'm) Serious About Havin' Fun,"  "There Ain't No Rules" and "Game Room Flea" originated with him. I think that maybe Jeff started hating me at one point. He accused me outright of "trying to take the fun out of" playing in a band.
Well, I wasn't EVER trying to do any such thing,
but I WAS trying to push us so we'd become widely recognized.

We were beginning to come out with perhaps some of the best material toward the end of our time playing together.

In any case, it ended - all too soon ...
 
 

Al Tavers
Dighton, Massachusetts
April 1999

"My Century  (The Prince of Dilemma Suite - Part 3)"
- clip from a live rehearsal in Rick's basement -

This song, and "Young and Dangerous"
were the last two songs which Rules was in the process of
just starting to work on when the group disbanded

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