The seeds of Lurid were planted early in the high school careers of Nick Mason and Rory Misener. The two met in late 1997, when they were freshmen at Kenmore West High School. At the time, Nick was just beginning to learn drums. Ironically, before they got to know each other, Nick disliked Rory. The two became good friends over the next several months, however. In August, Rory began teaching himself the basics of guitar. He and Nick discussed hopes of forming a band, which would eventually become Lurid. Late that year, Rory got an electric guitar and borrowed a distortion pedal from a friend. Top

Rory learned very quickly and in March 1999, the two began searching for a bassist to complete the lineup for Aptchel (it's a long story). In June, Rory began taking lessons from George Puleo, a member of the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame. That summer, frustrated in the search for a bassist, Rory convinced longtime friend Sean Blair to learn bass. Realizing that they had picked a stupid name, Rory and Nick settled on Lurid, an idea spawned of a late-night dictionary hunt. In September, Rick McClive was brought aboard as a rhythm guitarist. The band, which consisted of Rory on guitar and vocals, Nick on drums, Sean on bass, and Rick on guitar, set their sights on the school talent show in January. They tried out in December and received a standing ovation from the selection comittee and other would-be participants. Top

Lurid entered 2000 by welcoming Mike George to the band, relieving Rory of vocal duties. At the show, the band got a good overall response, following a botched effort by the previous band and, finally, losing to the school jazz band. The following day, Rick left the band to attend Kent State University in Ohio. In the weeks that followed, Mike had a falling-out with the other members and was replaced by Pete Tripi. Rick was temporarily replaced in February by Dan Fraser. In late March, Rick's leave, which was temporary, was made permanent in a meeting between him and Nick. The band also tried out for the Kenmore West Rock Concert. The show was on April 7, 2000, and went well, or so it was thought. The following day would become the darkest in the brief history of Lurid. Sean quit the band, only to return a week later on a temporary basis. The day of Sean's return also saw Pete quit because of musical differences. The coming weeks would see the departure of Dan as well. Sean grew farther from Nick and Rory musically as time progressed, and the band agreed that Sean would leave once a replacement was found. For three weeks in June and July, Rory traveled to Germany. In this time, Nick got in touch with a guitarist and bassist. By the beginning of August, Sean had been replaced by Andy Marzec, and Will Hoffman was brought aboard as rhythm guitarist. All four musicians, for the first time, shared musical interests and direction, however, the band still lacked a permanent vocalist. The revamped Lurid performed at Andy's graduation party on August 19. Rory handled most of the vocal duties, with Andy helping out. Toward the end of November, things began to pick up rapidly as the band started to buckle down and finally recruit a vocalist, Donnie Paradiso. The band played several brief sets in December to support the Buffalo Ensemble Theatre, although Donnie did not participate. Top

Donnie got his first stage time with Lurid at the 2001 Ken-West Talent Show. The performance drew mixed reviews, with many unfair statements against Donnie. Over the next two months, the band retreated to write new material for a small demo. While planning for the demo, the band decided after a long period of deliberation to replace Donnie. Jeff McGurrin immediately filled the vacancy when he joined the band on March 24. In early April, the band recorded a 3-song demo at Starfields Productions in Buffalo. The featured tracks were "Showdown," the band's first original, written when Rick was still in the band, "The World Wants," a cut from the spring 2000 days of ever-chaning lineups, and "MissTequila," a shiny new thrasher. The demo was released at Lurid's first show with Jeff on May 4, 2001. The band played a handful of shows in the following months, all leading up to the band signing with booking agent Josh Daigler of Roll When You Hit The Ground Productions in August. The band played shows steadily through the end of the year, and things are looking up as 2002 begins.Top