TheCondition

They are grown up, more mature and ready to weasel their way into the hearts of Chico music lovers. After a two-and-a-half year break, TheCondition has glued itself back together and what they’ve learned in that time has made the bond stronger than ever.
You may recognize the six string stroking Jai Luna from the Chico band Oddman. I met with Luna and his old school buddies, a.k.a. bandmates, in his cramped apartment hidden behind a bright orange door. They may have been a little tired, considering they wrapped up a full-length recording at five o’clock that morning.
Back in the day, TheCondition played show after show, often more than one a night, and eventually got burnt out. But singer J.C. Haydon, drummer Beau Murray, bassist Ryan Laine, and Luna are getting a second chance and hoping to fill a gap in Chico’s music scene. “We all developed a lot in our own music styles,” Haydon explains, “It’s from a better place since we’ve all matured as people. Being in a band is a different thing now than it was two-and-a-half years ago. Back in the day it wasn’t as much being into the project as it was having a good time. I think through the other projects we all worked with we found out what we wanted, and what we didn’t.”
Some may think that making the leap from a well-known and locally supported band to a budding foursome would be difficult, but squeezing back into the ol’ scene has been easy as pie. “I’ve met so many people through that project (Oddman) that it kinda jump started this whole band really quick. Everything is going really fast. Our debut show [is] at the Brick Works — that usually takes a really long time — so it’s panned out quite well.”
TheCondition can’t wait to hop up on stage and dazzle the crowd with their heavy, Deftones resembling tunes. “It’s not angst music like the black shit on the radio,” said Haydon. Murray’s parents even like it, but can they convince Mikey? “It’s got a lot of heavy aspects,” said Luna. “ But it deals with more issues and positive things. There’s no bitching and whining like Fred Durst.” That statement alone has increased my respect for TheCondition.
At the very mention of performing, the entire band lit up and chattered on about the thrill of entertaining. “We love everything about it,” Laine said, “We really like the energy transfer. Like, being so into it that the audience is caught up in the contagious nature of our performance. It’s exhausting, it’s great being so fatigued.”
“I used to surf a lot, and I got my energy from that, but I don’t really have much time anymore. Music is my surfing now. Its like where the juice is for me,” Haydon added.
All the guys began playing music in junior high school. Luna and Murray were both 13 when they started their first band, One Eyed Chode — isn’t that precious.
A band without stories is like a cat with no legs; totally useless, not to mention bizarre. Here is one of my favorite tales of TheCondition, narrated by Mr. J.C. Haydon. “One night we were coming off two shows where we had been pretty aggressive, playing pretty hard and drinking heavily afterwards. We show up at this show we were asked to play in Orland and it’s like, a relay race for substance free living! We get out of this fucking station wagon, all smoking cigarettes, barely able to stand up straight, all pale faced and dark eyed and they’re like ‘You guys have to put out your cigarettes.’ We had to go behind the bleachers to smoke cause we were stuck there all day.”
“But it was awesome,” added Laine.
TheCondition does have one unique factor that many would assume to be a handicap. Their lead vocalist lives in Santa Cruz while the rest of the band lives above a Chico bar. “It works out good ‘cause the three of us practice everyday. We record the stuff that we’re doing and then we give him tapes,” said Luna. “I can develop different melodies and then really meditate on what the song is providing emotionally so that I can make sure that no words are wasted,” Haydon explained.
The time they spend together becomes extremely precious and allows the guys to come up with song ideas as a group. “We sit around and argue till we get something we like,” said Luna. “Sometimes it’s totally spontaneous, and other times somebody will bring in some music and we’ll all just contribute to it. We’ve written one of our songs based off a dream that Beau had, or just something that he was singing in the shower, and he sung it to us, and it went from there,” adds Laine.
Sounds like famous rock stars in the making. At least that’s what TheCondition hopes to be when they grow up.
“My goal is to live on a bus,” said Luna. Better get one with a shower if you want to be blessed with more inspiring lyrics.
“We want to go everywhere and write better and better music,” said Laine.
“I want to be rich white trash,” laughs Murray.

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