In very late 2005, writing for what was to become Optimist began. Under the name "Doe Uh Dear"; Lucas, Gage and I practiced the material in our basement until we felt ready to play our first show. With no real aspirations, Doe Uh Dear was happy just writing heavy and extreme music (pretty poor music, in my opinion) and sparsely playing shows. During this time, Lucas was also the drummer of Iowan favorites, Approaching Nain. Therefore, Doe Uh Dear was considered to be more or less a side project with no real goals but just to make entertaining music and to play any shows we could get.By late 2006, we released (sold burned copies at shows) what we dubbed to be our 2006 Demo. The recording took place in Maxxwell Lange's basement in Knoxville, IA and took one night to complete. On this recording is Lucas on the drums, Gage on vocals as well as Christian Guitirrez (who never ended up playing a show with us) and myself on guitars.Some great shows followed, and during the winter of 2006-2007 we recorded another short release. This one later became known as our Summer Sampler but I think a more appropriate title would be Winter Sampler. Whatever. This recording took place in our very own basement with Lucas on the drums, myself on guitars, and our newest member, Clark, doing vocals. Gage was with the band during this time but due to inconvenience, I played bass on the recordings. This release represented a stronger push for more grindcore aspects and transitions well from our earliest material to later material. A few months before this recording took place, the official name change to Optimist was agreed upon by all of the current members at the time. After a show in Boone, IA, we realized that maybe we could do more with our music and spend more time with writing but that the name Doe Uh Dear would not fit this new approach to writing. Names were tossed around and Optimist was the unanimous outcome.The year of 2007 was full of our greatest accomplishments in Optimist. During this time we self recorded a 3 Song EP (also known as The Hott Demo) and recorded two other tracks that were never officially released. The newest material could be seen as more experimental as many influences were drawn from to create the new sound. By the end of the year, we had played numerous shows throughout Iowa and were ready to take the show on the road but unfortunately, this never worked out. We also played several shows with Approaching Nain's bassist, Kyler Vande Kieft as we searched for a full-timer. We soon found a small indie label in Mannequin Rein Recordings who agreed to release a split cd effort with Malaysian grinders, Devilica. By this time, the lineup was represented by Jordan, Zach, Lucas, and myself. We entered the studio for the first time to record our last release. With a mix-up at the label, the split became limited and all copies were sold in the pre-order phase.In the months that followed, the band was separated as both Lucas and I moved from Iowa. Shortly thereafter, we had to call it quits but the music was good, the shows were a blast, and the memories were great.God Bless,-Michael McMartin
REPRESENT!
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