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| Cockpit of a Dash 8 Q200 in maintenance hangar. |
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| The author providing scale for the Dash 8 Q200's 13' diameter propellers. |
My co-interviewee and later roommate and simulator partner during the new hire training process, JF, became a good friend (miraculously, considering the two of us lived in the same quarters and worked in the same cockpit for the better part of two months) and we remain close to this day. He, by the way, went on to fly The E-170, B737, and MD-11 in the four short years since we finished training at CommutAir before settling into the B767 in his almost predestined role of fly-by-night Freightdawg. JF and I were based together in Syracuse, NY upon completion of training.
Syracuse was an unusual selection for an airline crew domicile and was a hotly contested (by opposers without any power) decision at the time. Most domiciles are major cities that act as hubs, off of which shoot the spokes of air service. Think of Atlanta, DFW, and Chicago. CommutAir, with a sphere of operation far smaller than those of other airlines correlated directly with the range of the Dash 8 (limited by the fact that no sane passenger would pay to sit in that beautiful flying tractor for much more than an hour), elected to establish a base in the [far cheaper] city of Syracuse than, say, Dulles, VA. The Syracuse base was put in place to support flying out of Washington Dulles Airport. As a result, I found myself in upstate New York after a life in Oklahoma, young, wide-eyed, and accompanied by my partner in crime, JF.
As fresh meat at the airline, JF and I found ourselves sitting reserve with not much to do. For non-airline folks, reservists are usually new to their seat (Captain or First Officer) and "on-call" during a certain period to cover fluctuations in pilot staffing, earning their minimum salary and finding ways to waste time if that call to fly does not come through. The dramatic slowdown after a summer of frenzied study and testing manifesting itself in the consumption of frozen food from a nearby Tops Friendly Market at a reduced frame rate and a constant eye on the clock.
One Friday evening in early fall, to comply with the previously stated reservist requirements of time wasting and clock watching, JF and I opted to glue ourselves to the minute hand until freedom ticked into play before strolling across the industrial wasteland surrounding Syracuse Hancock International Airport. We are both musicians. I had just concluded a seven year session with a local Oklahoma City band and JF fancied the banjo, hailing from Nashville, TN. Our common interests as our divining rod, we decided to try and find some local music to wash away the boredom our new careers had debuted. We had no idea what we were in for.
Half an hour of shuffling lead us to an unnamed dive bar behind Salt City Billiards and Sports Pub, the doors to which were crowded with high school aged kids apparently on a mission to gain admission. What luck! We figured we had found an unfortunate Phish cover band or, if we were really lucky, a Green Day style, pop punk, Friday night angstfest. In reality, we were about to cross over into the Twilight Zone, "a dimension of sound...a land of shadow and substance." We were about to discover Nasty Habit.
I had no idea that glam metal was still a thing. I certainly had no idea that glam or hair metal existed outside of ironic cover bands or talent show performances. What JF and I stumbled into was a strikingly original and powerful glam metal band called Nasty Habit, a young group of insanely convincing Syracuse high school rockers who were truly born three decades too late, complete with padlock necklaces, fingerless leather gloves, and a drummer whose nose ring was linked to his ear by rosary chain. These dudes were better suited for an arena in the 1980s alongside the likes of Poison, Motley Crue, or Warrant than a seedy, no-name shack in upstate New York surrounded by high schoolers and two regional airline pilots with nothing to do. Just have a look at these guys:
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| Nasty Habit from Syracuse, NY. |
Talking the talk is one thing. It is another thing entirely to walk the walk and it was when Nasty Habit started to play that my jaw went from "dropped" to "cartoon." As famously noted in the [very appropriately cited] 1984 movie This is Spinal Tap, these guys went all the way to 11. Being proficient musicians ourselves, JF and I were as stunned by the foursome's technical aptitude on their instruments as we were by their level of genuine intensity and fiery passion for their niche. Not the sort of passion a practiced band emulates when they're in front of a crowd but a no-shit, ride or die sort of passion. Their level of picture perfect, delicately tongue in cheek showmanship culminated in bringing the "fox" star actress of a recent music video on stage during that particular song. Needless to say, the crowd went wild. All 75 of them.
Nasty Habit tore up the ground beneath our feet and relaid piping hot asphalt while simultaneously laying waste to everything I thought I knew about gauging people and bands. The fact that they had such raw energy and such commanding stage presence before a fairly meager audience only makes me wonder what these guys could have done before 80,000 screaming fans in Madison Square Garden in 1986 with a pyrotechnics director on staff.
Sadly, we will never know. As I was digging up facts for this blog post, my research lead me to the realization that Nasty Habit has disbanded. The good news is that some of the members have formed a new group called Major Crush and they appear to be active.
I was fortunate enough to catch Nasty Habit live a second time in the same location a couple of months later and since then have gone on to share their unabashedly permed power metal with many friends. CommutAir's Syracuse domicile was shut down in November of 2012 after existing officially for only four short months. The company opened the Dulles base it should have designated in lieu of Syracuse and continued operations, basing me in Dulles and later Newark to continue my professional piloting career. Syracuse remained a notable star in my mental map over the next year as my turboprop flying came to an end and I left the company to fly those flip-of-the-switch jets. Nasty Habit remains a personally notable band to this day.
/// For a glimpse into the band's technical skill and ability to "fit the pocket" they had stitched for themselves, look no further: Nasty Habit - Hip Shakin' Fox. This video puts a smile on my face every time I see it. I cannot help but wonder where these kids found a red Ferrari they could pretend to wrench on while gawking at the tune's foxy subject. Some questions are better left unanswered. ///
* UPDATE *
It appears that Major Crush, the revamped, post-teen version of Nasty Habit is actively up and running back in Upstate. The band's sound is "heavy, it's intense, it rips, but it also has strong elements of pop music that represent [the band's] transition." With 25% of the band sporting new haircuts and 100% of the drummers being different from the Nasty Habit lineup, Major Crush is dialed up to 11/10. See for yourself: Major Crush - You Ain't A Saint
**SECOND UPDATE**
I emailed Major Crush to share this story. Not only did they promptly respond but they mailed me a fan package chock-full of Nasty Habit and Major Crush gear, including my new favorite t-shirt. I never would have thought that this saga from 2012 would rise from the past like glitter from a snare drum in a glam-rock music video but it has taken a very active turn for the better in 2017. Major thanks to Major Crush.
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| Major thanks to Major Crush. |
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| Major Crush has access to rooftops. |
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