Ryan RitchieLong Beach's On Blast can now add television to its increasing resume as the group – singer Joshua Brown and multi-instrumentalists Travis Raab, Tone Blair and Andy Kiddoo – had its song “Wanna Lose Control” used in a 20-second clip on HBO's How To Make It In America last week. Rightfully so, Brown, Blair and Kiddoo celebrated by going to Blair's girlfriend BreAnne Toepper's Long Beach apartment because sometimes being an up-and-coming musician means not affording cable.
Like typical dudes in bands, the trio was fashionably late to their own get-together. The problem, of course, was booze. The threesome stood in the alcohol section at Ralphs and debated their drinks of choice for what felt like forever, but was closer to five minutes. Blair wanted Cuervo. Brown didn't like Cuervo. And Kiddoo didn't care. Finally, a case of Coors Light and a bottle of Zachory Boone bourbon were purchased and the party officially began.
There were no red carpet or paparazzi waiting for On Blast at Toepper's pad, but Jack Russell/Chihuahua mix Cooper greeted Blair, Kiddoo and Brown at the door with the sorts of sloppy kisses that make you forget all about your drunken shenanigans being a top story on TMZ. Toepper and band friend Paul Soldate were discussing the disappointing final moments of X-Men Origins: Wolverine as Kiddoo and Blair combed the cabinets for shot glasses, and within two minutes of On Blast entering the apartment, four fingers of whiskey had vanished from the bottle.
Blair sat next to Toepper on the couch and Kiddoo manned a chair near the screen while Brown smoked a pre-show cigarette outside. As he entered the room, the singer sat on the floor with his back to the couch. Blair offered to scoot over on the couch, but Brown jokingly said, “You need to be comfortable for your debut, but I need to be really comfortable for mine.”
The living room was filled with mid-volume, light conversation until Soldate, commenting on a suicide scene on the television, said, “Somebody should do something crazy to kill themselves – like trying to fingerbang a shark.” This suggestion included a visual of Soldate showing how to accomplish said act and received a massive uproar of laughter from the band, which became the final jovial moment before the program aired.
The credits rolled at 10:05 p.m. and a caravan of naked strippers carrying hundred dollar bills and bottles of tequila could have walked into the apartment and On Blast wouldn't have batted an eye. The semi-circle around the TV set – which now included two other females – remained deadly silent for the first 15 minutes of the program and just when the party-goers couldn't have focused any more intently on the screen, the electro-synth hook of “Wanna Lose Control” kicked in as Brown's vocal cut through the silence in the room.
The tune played as Martha Plimpton and Lake Bell drank in a bar. If you were listening for it – and On Blast certainly was – “Wanna Lose Control” was noticeably present throughout the scene, but this stupid little thing called dialogue kinda sorta walked all over the song.
None of the eight people in attendance will ever remember the scene that came after the one featuring On Blast because the story's shift to another plot line became a reason to collectively exhale. And to take another shot.
Kiddoo poured drinks and thanked everyone in attendance for sharing a special moment with him. How To Make It In America continued playing in the background, but the focus of the room became the brief moment when On Blast's music was heard by potentially millions of people nationwide. Topics such as “They should have played the song longer,”
“They should have shut up” and “That was the girl from The Goonies” continued until the band huddled around the screen hoping to see its name in the credits. Once the program ended and there was no mention of On Blast, the members could have been bummed, but they weren't.
“They used Nas, Damian Marley, Broken Bells and us,” Kiddoo said.
The same episode aired immediately after the initial showing. No one changed the channel, but no one really watched either.
The after party had begun.
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