After Tribe dissolved, I hooked up with HeadBelt. HeadBelt was initially a side project made up of the 3 core members of a Raleigh-based band called Down Cycle. They were writing music that was, what they considered, too heavy for Down Cycle and were looking to do something a little more with the music than just jam on it.
Initially, this seemed like the ideal band. They seemed receptive to the idea of collaborating and working together democratically. Also, the other guitarist played a 7-string; I had also wanted to play in a band with another 7-string player.
Shortly after I joined, we found a singer and started playing out. We played a few shows, but things moved pretty slow. Shows were few, the recording that we talked about (lots of talking was done) never got completely finished and the website was never done. Songwriting was also a very slow process. Of the 10 songs we were playing, 9 of them we pretty much done when I joined so only 1 new song was written in about 6 months.
Sadly my initial hopes of an ideal band were dashed. Lots of decisions were made by the 'committee'; I felt as though I was only asked an opinion just so I didn't feel left out. Also, my input on collaboration of music was pretty much non-existent. Every idea I presented went no where.
In Nov05, the 'committee' decided I wasn't 'fit' to be in HeadBelt any longer. No warning, no prior discussion; just a 'democratic' decision to ask me to leave.
In retrospect, I'm actually thankful for being asked to leave. My friends never really dug the vibe of the personalities and thought it sounded like a Tool rip-off. Also, the lack of openness to my ideas was starting to take its toll on my happiness