 49 Reasons |  At The Huger Street practice space. Early 90's. Photo courtesy of 49 Reasons page. — with Darrin Gray, Cole Charles and Allan Mozingo. |
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 Photo session in the disgusting Huger Street restroom. Photo courtesy of 49 Reasons page. — with Darrin Gray, Cole Charles and Allan Mozingo. |  Jason and Cole at our first of many shows at Rockafellas, probably 1988? Photo courtesy of 49 Reasons page. — with Jason Puckett and Cole Charles. |
 49 Reasons rocking Clemson circa 1980's something! Photo courtesy of David Boyce. — with David Boyce, Cole Charles, Jason Puckett and Darrin Gray. |  Chad belts it out at a show in Florence. Photo courtesy of 49 Reasons page. — with Chad Conn. |
 Same show in Florence, I think it was the beginning of that first tour. 1991? Photo courtesy of 49 Reasons page. — with Cole Charles, Darrin Gray and Allan Mozingo. |  49 Reasons |
 Contiki shreds at Rockafellas. Photo courtesy of 49 Reasons page. — with Darrin Gray and Chad Conn. |  The Moxx lays it down in our Huger Street practisimo space. I love the floating lamp! Photo courtesy of 49 Reasons page. — with Allan Mozingo. |
 49 Reasons - somewhere in America... |  49 Reasons |
 49 Reasons |  49 Reasons |
 Greenstreets battle of the bands... Photo courtesy of 49 Reasons page. — with Cole Charles |  Greenstreets battle of the bands... We was robbed I tell you. hahaha. Photo courtesy of 49 Reasons page. — with Cole Charles, Darrin Gray and Allan Mozingo. |
 49 Reasons |  49 Reasons |
 49 Reasons |  Rockafellas Reunion. — with Allan Mozingo, Cole Charles and Jay Matheson. |
 Cover of the cassette Darrin Gray gave me at a live show where our bands played together. |  Found it!!! Here's the flyer for the show we did with 49 Reasons at "S-n-J's" — with 49 Reasons. |
 LEGEND IN MY OWN BACKYARD cassette (1989) The Flow-Town version of 49 Reasons. Recorded by Ervin Dargan at Mingo Sound. Photo courtesy of 49 Reasons page. |  A CROCK OF WHO STRUCK WILLIE cassette (1991) features a photo of our old friend from the Flow-Town days, Kuy Nuygen, on the cover. Recorded at the old JAM ROOM by Jay Matheson. Photo courtesy of 49 Reasons page. |
 WEINER D 7-inch (1992) * The dog's name really was Weiner D and he lived in Athens, GA. That's a real police car too, sent to put a stop to the show. It made for a great photo, though. Photo courtesy of 49 Reasons page. |  WEINER D 7-inch (1992) Rear cover shot. |
 MIDNITE SNACKS 7-inch (1993) * Boris The Saluki chomped on the corner of this one! I thought that to be very apropos. Photo courtesy of 49 Reasons page. |  MIDNITE SNACKS 7-inch (1993) Rear cover shot. |
Back in 1988 I had my own band called Altered Moods and we played a few live gigs between Columbia and Charleston. Somewhere along the way at one of those shows I met Darrin Gray of 49 Reasons and I remember we had a really nice talk about both our bands and what was going on in the local music scene at that time. At one point he pulled a home made cassette out of his pocket and gave it to me and I probably traded him one of ours in return. As with all things music I kept that cassette and gave it many listens – I particularly liked the first cut “I Don’t Even Want To Know Your Name”. Great band - great group of guys -
OK people Darrin Gray has been kind enough to give us some history on 49 Reasons and although we know there is much more to tell this is a wonderful start to an official Bio – Thank you Darrin…
49 Reasons: From what I Remember…
By Darrin Gray
The Really Old Back Story: The Florence SC Years 1986-'89
49 REASONS was initially called THE TERRIBLE GOLFERS among other things... We had a whole notebook of stupid names like PICKLEWAGON, as in "Your mother drives a picklewagon!"(Bugs Bunny)... Cole has a suitcase full of fliers and things like this that he carts around to this day.
We went through a few dudes initially, but the first real lineup was: Cole Charles-Vocals and Guitar, Dave Boyce-Guitar/Bass, Jason Puckett-Guitar/Bass, David Collins-Guitar and myself, Darrin Gray-Drums
The Terrible Golfers would play house parties and this place called The College Station, that a couple of the guys worked at. We worked up a set of original tunes with some alternative college songs and after a while had a nice following around Flow-Town. We also recorded a series of demos with E. ALLEN JOHNSON, who is widely recognized as the spiritual (and technical) mentor of this growing Florence, SC music scene.
It was around this time that Cole came up with the moniker 49 REASONS. He pasted the name in big vinyl lettering on the back of his Dodge Dart and we were a "real" band! We played this place called the BEACHED WHALE with our new name and packed the joint, making what we thought was a ton of loot. It was then we decided we should do this... A Lot!
I somehow cut out the part that we all met as students at Francis Marion College. Francis Marion was a big part of the 49 Reasons story, for sure.
We kept recording and gigging as much as possible, doing demos with E. ALLEN at MEDIA OKRA STUDIOS and with my buddy, MIKEY MEZ. Then, in 1989, we recorded LEGEND IN MY OWN BACKYARD with EARVIN DARGAN at MINGO SOUND. 49R started playing a few on the road in places like Columbia, Clemson and Myrtle Beach. Columbia looked like a happening place for rock'n'roll. Our friend and fellow Florentine Allan "The Moxx" Mozingo, had recently moved to Cola. and would send us these killer cassette recordings of WUSC college radio broadcasts. Cole and I were sold. The other guys, not so much. Understandably, they had school to finish and lives to lead. Jason, actually moved to Columbia later and would play with us on and off over the years. Cole and I packed that Dodge Dart up and headed to Cola-Town, where we rented a house on Heidt Street, right down the street from the legendary DRINK SMALL. The Moxx signed on for bass. Then, right around the time of Hurricane Hugo, maybe even during the storm, we found our new guitarist, Chad Conn.
49 REASONS (MACH 2): Cole Charles-Vocals/Guitar, Chad Conn-Guitar, Allan Mozingo-Bass, Darrin Gray-Drums