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THE HISTORY OF DECOY |
ORIGIN Decoy started in the rural town of Draper in the “burbs” of Salt Lake City, Utah. If you want to get technical, Decoy has been around since the cold winter morning of January 30th, 1981. But if you don’t, then Decoy has been around since 1997. When asked what started it all, Donovan said, “There have been some bands that I have really liked in the past. At one time, I loved Smashing Pumpkins. Other times, people would often mistake me for the singer of Midnight Oil. I had just shaved my head because ‘everybody else was doing it’, and I had gotten the impression down quite well. Although I have really liked some bands while growing up, none of them have had quite an impact on me as Weezer has. In fact, Weezer is the main reason that made me want to learn the guitar and start writing my own music in the first place. During my Senior year in High School, I saw Def Leppard on Behind the Music on VH1. I went out to buy the CD with Pour Some Sugar On Me on it because that’s the main song that I liked so much that I had heard on the show. I bought 3 of their other CDs before actually buying the CD that I was looking for (Hysteria). They quickly gained favor in my eyes and my passion for both bands fueled my already burning desire to write music. I consider both of them my favorite because both styles of music are so different from each other. Another band/singer that is one of my favorites is Ayumi Hamasaki (of Japan). When I had become really set on going to Japan in late 2002, I got my hands on some of her music and loved it. I didn’t know who in the heck it was, but I loved it.” Donovan had to suffer through so many trials and tribulations to get to the point where he is at today. In fact, the only band member that has remained concrete throughout the existence of Decoy has been Nate Evans. Donovan said, “One guy even went as far as wanting to get me to change a bass riff because he couldn’t quite get it right. He was dismissed from the band that very second in my mind, and physically within a few days. The story of Donovan’s High School years alone should have its own webpage, but for the sake of your eyeballs, it has been condensed and only the most vital events will be portrayed. We will begin the true, real life story with him in his Junior year at Alta High School. Many people had told him that he should run for S.B.O. (Student Body Office). He was reluctant at first, but then he finally gave in. During the course of elections, he fabricated dozens of signs and 8.5x11 sized stickers with killer, kick butt logos, sayings and pictures on them. None of this wussy stuff, but rockin’ stuff with characters such as: Daddy Warbucks, Mike Tyson, the Spice Girls (most of the Spice Girl posters shared space with Iron Mike as he enthusiastically stood in his boxing stance, biting off their ears), and Ace Ventura. He even dressed up like Ace Ventura on many occasions, which totally rocked. I can say this, for I was there. When the candidates were getting their pictures taken to post on the wall (on a paper that had the reasons why a specific candidate thought that YOU should vote for them), he masqueraded as Ace then too. He printed up 1,000 business cards that he used for advertising (to vote for him) and handed them out to fellow (and not-so-fellow) students if they wanted them or not. Also, (with the much appreciated help of his beloved mother) he sewed 9 full sized sheets together and spray painted “WRITE IN DONOVAN PERRY FOR VICE PRES,” on them as they sat laying on the driveway. (He did this after the primary elections had already come and gone. It was during the week of the skit assembly.) The spray paint even stayed on the cement for many years to come after that. Along with 2 unnamed accomplices, Donovan hung the enormous sign out onto the school wall from the roof one night. The janitors took it down and put it away after school was over that day, but with his keen intellect, Donovan found the sign in the secret rooms of Alta High and it is now in his possession as we speak. Regardless, he was not voted into the next round. “I was angered that I didn’t advance past the primaries. All I ever wanted to do was to do my skit. I didn’t even care about the elections. In fact, I’m glad that I was “disqualified” (we’ll get to that in a second).” The day of the skit assembly came and Donovan dressed up in his Ace Ventura garb and had combined with Phat to leave the microphone out there for him. So, as one of his friends’ skits got over, they walked off and he walked on. He started to give a speech, Ace Ventura style. As he was in the middle of his speech, 2 S.B.O.s came out and unplugged the microphone. He was then escorted to the side of the basketball court (for that is where the assemblies were held). Mrs. Sandstrom (the principal) scolded him as he looked off into the distance at people that were talking to him or signaling to him as they walked by. “That was my first run in with Mrs. Sandstrom. I actually didn’t even know that she was the principal until later on that month,” Donovan laughed. He ended up with the majority of the votes and not getting elected. He was also lied to about how many votes he actually did receive by a prominent authority figure. This same figure told him that he had been disqualified (as it was clear that his lies would evolve no further, but would prove to betray him) because of the stunt that he had pulled at the skit assembly. Now if you think that that is unjust, I would have to agree with you on that one. Later that same year, more unforgivable atrocities befell Donovan. He had heard of a talent show assembly that was going to be held during school, so he made a recording of Something Good (track 10) with Nate and turned it in. Decoy was not allowed to play in this talent assembly. Donovan was outraged. The night before the assembly, he took on the role of “The Milkman” and filled up water balloons with milk and whipped cream (notice the use of milk products only). Along with his partner in crime (Denton Pace), those two balloons were launched while a band was playing and both nearly hit a student who was “skanking” on the floor below. This stunt landed a suspension for the duo. Donovan’s Senior year brought forth fewer events, but with larger consequences. At the beginning of the year, he was given a ticket for driving over the sidewalk/curb and wreckless driving. He was late for school and was sick of waiting in line to get into the parking lot. So, he drove right up over the sidewalk/curb and over the small grass hill. He was only able to do this because of the power of the Iron Maiden (his 1981 Ford Fairmont Wagon with a 351 Windsor). Later in the year, the talent assembly was approaching fast and Donovan and some others were going to play Freak on a Leash by Korn for the talent show. Just for fun, you know? They were not allowed. Donovan added, “Somebody told me that the S.B.O. President said that some reasons why they didn’t let us play in the talent assembly were that 1) He had heard that I had a song called “Purple Haters”. Well, I do not have a song called “Purple Haters,” and even if I did, why would that matter? We weren’t going to play it anyway. (That’s something that will be addressed in my CD: The judgment of people’s words, especially without firsthand accounts from the actual person.) 2) He was looking for bands that were playing original songs. If he would have let me known of this “original song” requirement, then we would have played one of my original songs. But noooo, I guess that I just don’t need to know of such vital details. Now, I don’t hold anything against this person for I did not get the details firsthand from him, but it comes from an extremely, frickin’ good source and it makes the story that much more interesting.” “The day before the talent assembly had come and I was leaving school for the day. As I was walking out to my car, (The Iron Maiden) I was stopped by Mr. Jolley. We had a chat. He basically just wanted to make sure that there were no hard feelings and that nothing would happen in the assembly the next day. He also said that he wouldn’t want anything to happen that might jeopardize my chances of being able to graduate from Alta. I told him that there were hard feelings, but none towards him. We were at peace with one another. In respect to not doing anything the next day, I informed him that I couldn’t promise him anything, but I would see what I could do. In all actuality, I told the truth and what actually did happen was to a lesser degree than what I had devised. I had planned to divvy out PLENTY of MILK balloons and make signs, and bring a nice sized Boom Box. The theory behind this is that as I would play Lick It Up by Kiss, the PLENTY of MILK balloons would then fly from all sides of the court milking up the whole gym. But alas, people just don’t like to help out in the revenge business that much anymore, so there weren’t any milk balloons and there wasn’t a radio playing Lick It Up. Now that I think about it, the way that it happened was as cool if not cooler. Let me take you back to that day…….. Imagine a 5A High School basketball court/auditorium with all four sides distributed evenly with about 2500 students. Many of these students knew what part they were going to play in the upcoming event, but none (not even me) knew exactly how precise and perfectly timed it was going to turn out. Earlier in the day, me and Denton (my partner in crime) brought more than 100 water balloons to school and divvied them out amongst our fellow students. The theory in this was that we couldn’t get in trouble for the balloons since we weren’t the ones filling them up. Our fellow students were instructed to fill them up. And fill them up they did! They made me proud.” “When it was time to go to the assembly, I walked into the gym with my two signs rolled into one. I moseyed my way up to my usual spot at the top of the bleachers on the south side against the wall. That’s where all of the football players sat. I played football, so I sat up there too, but at the very top with my back against the brick wall. The assembly went on and finally, during the 2nd to last act, I decided that we had better put up the first poster. Denton and I took it out and put it up on the wall with the box tape that I had brought. It was a huge poster that anybody in the assembly could see just perfectly. It was on white butcher paper (so about 3-4 feet tall) and it was at least 10 feet long. There was quite a bit of reaction from the crowd (that was already doing the wave). Even the 2 girls who were playing the piano and clarinet (or whatever) turned around while they were playing, to see what was going on. I guess that they got a surprise as well. The sign read as follows: MESSAGE TO ANYONE LOOKING AT THIS: Unbeknownst to Donovan at the time, plans were already in the making to punish him. Later, in a meeting with him and his Mom, Mrs. Sandstrom wanted to know what in the heck he was thinking when he made this sign. “This was directed to everybody in the assembly.” Mrs. Sandstrom scolded, “And the sexual connotation of ‘I rock your mom’s world, She calls me Doctor Feelgood’ was nothing more than a sexual innuendo to all.’” (She obviously had never heard of Motley Crue before.) The thing that pissed her off more than anything about the sign was the illegal sponsorship that was used. The A.W.A. (Alta Women’s Association) and Mrs. Sandstrom (herself) did not consent to putting their names on the poster. “And those poor girls that you took the attention away from…. How do you think that they felt?” Personally, I feel that they probably “dug” it. Regardless of all that was going on in the minds of our precious authority figures, nothing happened, and they didn’t immediately say or do anything about it. “Mr. Jolley told me later that he thought, ‘OK, if this is all that he does, than I’m fine with that. We’ll just let it go and he’ll have his revenge.’ Little did he know, that I wasn’t even close to being finished.” The last act came on and started playing their song. It was a band called Disconcert and they were playing a heavier tune. “It was awesome. I stood up and just started to head-bang with my long, beautiful, strawberry golden hair for about a minute and a half or so,” Donovan exclaimed. Towards the middle of the song, Donovan and Denton both looked at each other and Donovan inquired, ”Should we do it?” Needless to say, Denton agreed and they unrolled the second sign and stood and held it up as they rocked out to the music. This second sign had musical notes around it (indicating lyrics from a song by Not-A-Surf ) and said: I’M A BALLROOM QUEER, Now, this sign wasn’t aimed towards anyone on the ballroom team, or ballroom dancers in general, but was taken completely the wrong way by too many people. About 10 to 15 seconds later, they saw Mr. Jolley storming over with a fiery rage in his eyes that I have never before seen in my entire life. They hurriedly put the sign down and sat there extremely calm, looking anywhere except at him. “I finally looked at him, and his dark red, angry face was yelling my name. He was yelling so loud that you could actually hear my name over the music and the roar of the crowd. He was pointing at me as he walked over towards my general direction.” Donovan commented. Just as Mr. Jolley passed some of Donovan’s friends who were on the floor, they jumped out and started moshing. Mr. Jolley saw the 30-or-so of his classmates and pivoting faster than ever, threw his hands up, grabbed his hair, and screamed, “Ooohh Nooooo!” He became even more pissed off. As the out-of-control (but actually very much in control) atmosphere lurked over the entire gym, he came towards Donovan, again yelling his name and pointing at him as he lessened the distance. “I looked at him and pointed to myself and innocently said, “Who, me?” I heard him say, “Yeah, you!” over the deafening combination of the music and the roar of the crowd. I started to make my way down to the floor as he had ordered. As I was about half of the way down the bleachers, I saw out of the corner of my eye: the first water balloon to be thrown. After that, anywhere from 30 to 50 water balloons were thrown from ALL SIDES of the auditorium. Balloons were crashing and flying everywhere! It was indeed quite the deliciously, chaotic sight. Now, there are some barbaric rumors that need to be put to rest. Rumors could be heard around the school saying that the water balloons were filled with acid, pee, rotten milk, etc. That is the biggest feces of a story that I have ever heard in my life. Frankly, I’m disappointed in the integrity of some of my classmates. They were filled up with water, and that’s it. The weird, though slightly appealing (depending on your tastes) smell was from the 2 stink bombs that Denton had brought. That’s it. Nothing else. Some students even went to the office complaining about rashes that they had gotten from the ‘acid, pee, rotten milk, or other such substances’. You have got to be fricking kidding me! Because they had heard that weird stuff was in the balloons, they made up their own stories. I’ll tell you what…. They could very well be in danger of hell-fire damnation because of their “illustrious imaginations.” "I got down to him and he yelled, 'What in the heck were you thinking? I thought that we had an agreement!' I said, ‘I didn’t promise you anything, but I said that I would see what I could do.’” He was obviously bent to the max at that time. The band was told to stop playing, but they would not, as the anarchic atmosphere only fueled their desire to rock out. Another VP finally just physically pulled the plug on the music and then joined Donovan and Mr. Jolley along with Principal Sandstrom who had made her way over as well. Words were exchanged as balloons were still being thrown. (as can be proved from a video tape that we have) In fact, you can see a little white thing come from the very top of the bleachers and slowly make it’s way down. Just as Mr. Jolley turned his head back towards Donovan, that “ever-growing” water balloon came within a foot of hitting him square in the head. To this day, he is probably unaware of how close he came to being knocked out by a viciously airborne white water balloon. He then told Donovan to come back to the office with him, but he didn’t want to go anywhere. “I mean………that was the single greatest school history moment of all time. I quickly came up with an excuse to stay, and asked him if he wanted me to get the huge banner that I had taped up at the top. He said yes, and my heart was filled with extreme joy.” Donovan emphasized. Donovan started to walk up, and as he approached the half way mark up the bleachers, the ENTIRE GYM began to chant his name. I’m not exactly sure of the source that gave birth to such a power, but it has been known to have originated by his football team comrades from where he was sitting throughout the entire assembly. He got the banner and descended to the floor and his Vice Principal escorted him to her office. After a short time of waiting (to allow the halls to clear out), she insisted on escorting him from the premises, for she did not want him mingling and partying with students on his way out. (as she found out would happen as they were making their way to her office.) So, she escorted him to the Iron Maiden (his car) and he left school only to come back later with his mother at a meeting with all higher Alta authority figures. He was kicked out of Alta and went to Jordan High School for his remaining 8 weeks and graduated there. (you’re not supposed to be able to graduate from a High School unless you have been going there for at least 1 semester, but they made an exception in his case.) TOURING / FIRST CD A year later, Donovan went on tour to promote and play Decoy in Brazil for 2 years. At almost the exact same time, Nate went to the Ukraine to promote Decoy for the same amount of time. About a year after Donovan returned from Brazil, he went on tour in Japan for a month. “The Japanese people loved Decoy,” he said. “I can’t wait to go back.” Decoy's first album (Laney) was released on April 9th, 2004, and was an instant hit in the US. Shortly thereafter, it was also released in Japan and Brazil. Decoy then went on tour in Japan for a month in May, 2004, and in Asia from August 2004 to May 2005. Currently, Decoy is on tour in Japan. For pics or video go to the respective pages. |