HYPOKRITICAL

1990
"WHY DO PEOPLE WANNA' BEAT ME UP?!" - This is from the Chameleon King album, 'Logical Disorder' that we recorded ourselves. I was the drummer for Chameleon King and this song in particular "shows off" my drumming at the time. The song (lyrics written by Matthew Crane) is basically about Matt being in a bar and some guy wanting to beat the shit out of him. I like this song and would love to do an updated version of it. This song also features Rob Bartelson on bass, Matt Crane on vocals and Rich Brown on guitars.
Chameleon King (previously known as Lunar Eclipse) was the first band I had ever seriously been in. My first musical experiences were learning drums in the high school band and then teaching myself a little on the bass. My main musical inspirations at that time were Poison, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi and Metallica.
Rich (who was a couple years older than me and had already graduated) called me on the phone one night. It was out of the blue and I hardly knew the guy at all. He basically asked me if I played bass guitar. I kind of lied and said that i did. I knew very little about the bass but wanted to join a band. I went over to his house and Rich and then drummer, Ken Camarata were there. We all hung out and bounced musical ideas off of each other and that was the beginning of my musical life.
I learned about alot of new music from Rich. He introduced me to bands like Fishbone, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix and Mr. Bungle.
Soon after I was in the band, Rich thought I was a better drummer than bass player and I took over the skins. Ken stayed in the band as the bass player and we later hooked up with Matt Crane. He became our singer. We went through many bass players after that - Jon Heeter, Rob Bartelson and then Scott Wedel. The band of the revolving bass players was our inside joke.

L to R: Justin Berger, Rich Brown, Rob Bartelson, Matt Crane (1991)

1991
"TOO COOL" - This song is from the Chameleon King album, 'The Trials and Tribulations of a Royal Reptile'. It was recorded at Avast! Studios in Seattle, WA and engineered and co-produced by Stuart Hallerman.
Too Cool is one of my favorite songs from this era. It's about people who are trendy and go out and buy everything that's cool and then think they are just the shit. I actually made a video for this song but it never got played because I incorporated scenes from Terminator 2 - so they wouldn't play it on our local TV station because of copyright infringement. This was one of our heavier songs and I loved playing it and also love the whole vibe of the song. This song features Matt Crane on vocals, Rich Brown on guitars, Scott Wedel on bass and myself on drums.
We used to practice behind a video store in our hometown of Ellensburg, WA with the band, The Divining Rods. I was only 15 when I joined the band. By the age of 16 I was playing in bars, drinking beer out of pitchers and basically growing up very fast. Everyone in the band was about 4 or 5 years older than me. I felt comfortable around them and they were my best friends as well as my bandmates.
We had many fun times in Chameleon King until the other guys moved to Seattle in 1992 to pursue music in a major city. I opted to stay behind and finish High School.
It sucked, but there weren't really any hard feelings. I went and visited Rich and Matt a few times and actually ended up playing bass at a show one time. Scott (the current bass player at the time) didn't show up for a show so Rich showed me the parts on guitar about 2 hours before the show. I went to the show and pulled it off. It was great! I moved to Seattle shortly after graduating in 1993, but by then Chameleon King was no more.

Listen to music from the Chameleon King album The Trials and Tribulations of a Royal Reptile

L to R: Rob Bartelson, Matt Crane, HypoKriticaL, Rich Brown (1991)

HypoKriticaL (1991)

1993
"Mi Casa Su Casa" (My Home Is Your Home) - This song was recorded in Seattle, WA with Rich and I on his Fostex 4-Track. I wrote the lyrics and did half the vocals, played bass guitar and did most of the drum programming with Rich's help. Rich played all the guitars and did the other half of the vocals.
The song is essentially from the perspective of animals in a zoo and what they might be thinking day to day. All the animal sounds at the beginning were created by Rich and I.
This song was done when I still lived in Ellensburg and Rich was in Seattle. It was during one of my many visits.
After moving to Seattle and jamming with Matt, Casey Troy and Don Hartman, Rich and I formed a band with a friend of his, Tim. The music was very King Crimson-esque and I learned alot from playing the songs. It didn't last long. Rich and I ended up having a falling out of sorts and went on to finish creating the band with a new drummer and bass player. I went off on a journey of personal exploration - which is just bullshit for I was a fucked up 20 something year old who didn't know who the fuck I was or what I wanted to do with my life. Rich and I eventually repaired our friendship and are still great friends to this day.

HypoKriticaL (1994)

1995
"Those At Home" - One of my better songs from this era. In '95 I lived in Seattle, WA in a 3 bedroom apartment with 4 people. I spent most of the time that I wasn't working in my bedroom recording music. I had borrowed Rich's 4-track and this period was the real birth of HypoKriticaL - the music, but not the name.
At this time I was listening to bands like Rage Against The Machine, 311, Rollins Band, Cypress Hill, House of Pain, Reverand Horton Heat, Primus and the Beastie Boys.
I ended up recording over 20 songs in this period of time using nothing but a cheap Fender-copy guitar, a bass with only 3 strings (I couldn't afford to buy the G string) a Korg drum machine - also on loan from Rich - and a cheap mic from Fred Meyer. This was the fist time I had attempted to really do vocals (other than backup vocals) and it was definitely a learning experience. I did a lot of experimentation musically during this time. The songs ranged in style from jazzy funk to punk rock to rock-a-billy to rap. This is where I learned alot about recording and mastering. I also learned alot about songwriting.
Some of the people I recorded with at that time were Joe Lutes, Gareth Stein, Jason Cordeau and Casey Troy. During this time I also smoked alot of weed and experimented with LSD. This time in my life was very introspective and I learned alot in just that year. After moving out of that apartment I stopped recording music for awhile but tried to release the music I had recorded on an album I called 'A Pretty Lie...The Ugly Truth'.

1998
"Red Hairs" - In 1998, living in Seattle, WA, I purchased my own 4-track from an old high school friend of mine. I lived in a house by myself. Setting up a mic in the living room I recorded my drums and then recorded vocals and the only other instrument I had at the time - an old acoustic guitar - in the bathroom.
I recorded probably 5 songs during this time period, one of them being 'Red Hairs'. Soon after this I hooked up with the band N-Gauge as the lead singer.

HypoKriticaL LIVE with N-Gauge at Planet Hotrod (1999)

1999
"Drop Kick" - I recorded this song in 1999 by myself using my 4-track, a turntable and a cheap mic. You can recognize most of the samples - it was more for fun than anything. This was what I was doing on my own even though I was in N-Gauge.
"Attitude" - This song was recorded for our album 'Empty Your Pockets'. It's basically a song about police in the vein of N.W.A.'s Fuck The Police. 1999 was the year I recorded this album with N-Gauge. It was 1998 that I joined them. After doing enough vocal work on my own I decided I wanted to join a band as a lead singer. Being inspired by Henry Rollins, Zach De La Rocha and Les Claypool, I wanted to express my own opinions and lyrics. I put an ad in the Stranger (a local, alternative Seattle paper) and got a call from Shannon Sharp (lead guitarist of N-Gauge). All 4 of the other band members were in the airforce so our first practice together (and every one thereafter) took place on McChord AFB near Tacoma, WA. The first time we played together the guys in N-Gauge started playing some songs and I just dove right in and started rapping my lyrics (very similar to Zach De La Rocha/Henry Rollins styles). We all clicked and went from there. The band was together for a little over a year and played many live shows (many of them at Planet Hotrod in Fife, WA) and also recorded a full length album entitled, 'Empty Your Pockets'.
The album was recorded in 3 days at Mirror Sound studios in Shoreline, WA. We promoted ourselves on the internet and actually got some interest from Immortal Records, but nothing ever came of it. In the end, N-Gauge members parted ways. The band continued on with a new singer and new drummer, eventually changing their name to Suffergauge until finally calling it quits in 2002.
The band featured Shannon Sharp on lead 7-string guitar, Jeff Naour on rhythm 7-string guitar, Cory Shiflett on drums and Alex Fields on bass. Shannon and I were the main songwriters and I was the vocalist. To this day N-Gauge was the best band I have been in. Shannon inspired and taught me alot while we were friends and he was the person that got me into KoRn and 7-string guitars.
After leaving N-Gauge I did a little bit of messing around on the computer with music, but nothing really major until 2001. It was also in the year 2000 that I created the pseudonymn, HypoKriticaL - a name that my wife, Alison helped me come up with. It started out as a simple screen name on the computer and ended becoming my alternate persona.

HypoKriticaL singing with N-Gauge (1999)

N-GAUGE: L to R Justin Berger, Cory Shiflett, Shannon Sharp, Jeff Naour and Alex Fields in front (1998)
Listen to more N-Gauge music featuring HypoKriticaL

2001
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2003
It's now 13 years later and I'm still making music. I'm sure I'll be making music until the day that I die. I have a new album out of my own material entitled, 'A Day Late & A Dollar Short'. I'm constantly writing new songs and working towards my goal of signing to a major label and releasing my music professionally and spend my life making music. Thanks for your interest and I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane.
I want to give a special acknowledgement to Rich Brown who has been a best friend, a teacher, a bandmate and the reason I am where I am now!

Be sure you check out Rich's website: MAGIC TAILS where he has used his artistic talents to create children's books that reflect not only his own gentle soul, but gives children a look into spirituality, mythology and their own hidden powers of imagination! Now...let's ROCK!