If you regularly go to LaGrange, Single Wide or Double Wide, you've seen a member of the quintet Dead Flowers. Earlier in the year, frontman Corey Howe was the opening act for The Revival Tour's stop at Trees, playing alongside Hot Water Music's Chuck Ragan, Alkaline Trio's Dan Andriano, and Against Me!'s Tom Gabel. We caught up with them at their practice space and talked about their experiences as musicians, and heard horror stories about first tattoos.

What was the first instrument you learned to play?
Evan Johnson (bass, backing vocals): I started on violin. I started in elementary school.
Vince Tuley (guitar, backing vocals): It was guitar for me. It was a little Mexican guitar my dad found on the side of the road.
Tony Webb (guitar): I played sixth grade trumpet.
Corey Howe (vocals, guitar): My mom said that when I was a kid I used to play with myself more than anything. But I didn't pick up my first instrument until I was 18. It was guitar. I was a freshman in college.
Ed Chaney (drums): I've always been a drummer. I started when I was nine. It's all I ever wanted to do.
Howe: He plays a mean ukulele at six in the morning.
Johnson: He has a cool story about how he got into drums.

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We praised Menkena when their debut album, With You I'll Travel, came out last year. But the lineup has changed since then, and now features prominent members of The Polyphonic Spree, The Demigs and The Felons. In advance of their free show at The Foundry on Saturday with Fort Worth's The Cush, we asked about their first musical obsessions, when they played together for the first time, and what to expect with the band's next album.

What was the first instrument you learned to play?
David Hickmott (guitar): Cello. I was in third grade. It was electric though.
Mark Pirro (bass): Drums. My dad was a drum teacher. I concocted this plan to get his drum set out of my grandmother's attic. I wanted to play drums in the grade school band and he said he'd give me drum lessons if I was serious about it. I said I was serious, so he brought me home a drum pad. That's all I ever got. I was like, "Damn Dad, can't you just get me the drum set?" But he was like, "No, you have to earn it." It was like Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid. He was making me play traditional and I just wanted to rock out.
Jimmy Menkena (vocals, guitar): When I was growing up, my dad was a bass player so I remember when I was five or six years old, I'd go see him play. I always wanted that sound of that distorted guitar, but at the time, I thought the bass did that. Just because it was big and heavy. So then I plugged my dad's bass in when I was nine and it didn't have the sounds that I thought it would. I said, "Hey Dad, what's that sound?" I can't remember which Beatles record it was. He's like, "Oh, that's a guitar." I was like, "Oh yeah, that's what I want to play." I used to clean my grandfather's store for ten dollars a week. He had a television/VCR repair business, so I worked there every weekend, saved up $300 and bought a Fender Japanese Strat. I didn't even touch an acoustic guitar until the InDK days. I had to sell all my guitar equipment because I was poor and living on the street. I had a beat-up acoustic guitar that one of my friends gave me. That was all I had to write with, so I kept using that and put all these pedals into the acoustic.
Guyton Sanders (drums): I started out on piano. About two years later, the drum genes started kicking in and I've been playing ever since I was eight years old.

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Local quintet Air Review has a pretty busy summer ahead, including a stop on KXT's Summer Cut June 1. Frontman Douglas Hale recently shared some of his musical firsts, including his first cassette, video, and when he heard his band on the radio.

What was the first music-related item you bought? Who was the artist and what was the name of the album?
Salt-n-Pepa's "Let's Talk About Sex" was the first cassette I remember owning. I wasn't allowed to listen to "secular" music, so I had it stashed away in an old shoebox under my bed that I'd pull out when my parents weren't home.

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John Lefler might be better known as a member of Dashboard Confessional, but he has built a pretty impressive catalog as a Dallas-based solo artist. With the recently released six-song EP Shoutfire, Lefler shared with us some of his musical firsts.

What was the first instrument you learned to play?
First instrument that I got was a PVT-60, which I think is an odd-looking, almost ugly guitar. My dad got in a pawn shop in Edmond, Oklahoma, because my older brother decided he was going to play the drums after "Sister Christian" came out. I'm like, in third grade or whenever that came out. So I got the guitar, a Peavey amp, and it sits there. It was always around until gradually you pick it up and make some noise. It went like, basketball, baseball, and then, all of a sudden, none of that existed anymore. It was The Police, U2, even Living Colour. It's like learning a language; if you do it when you're young, you have the time to sit there and practice all day long. I feel bad for adults learning an instrument now. I couldn't do it. It's interesting, my older brother, he was an all-state jazz drummer. Went to Berklee. Just a really great musician, which was inspiring and somewhat impressive for me. So it wasn't until he left for college in 1990 that I decided to be the musician of the house. I kinda took it from there.

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Edie Brickell might not live in Dallas anymore, but she still thinks very fondly of her roots here. Her latest project is The Gaddabouts, a supergroup featuring session musician legends like drummer Steve Gadd and bassist Pino Palladino, and they released the double-disc set Look Out Now! last week. Brickell shared with us her musical firsts and what she's doing now.

What was the first show you remember seeing?
The first show was The Police and XTC at McFarlin Auditorium. I think it was 1982.

Anything stick out about the gig, other than the fact that it was XTC actually playing live?
I know! And I loved them. I had never heard them before. I was crazy about them. I bought all their records. Loved Black Sea. They really became my favorite band there for about a year. I remember sitting on the steps of McFarlin Auditorium and them taking off in the tour bus. Me and my friends were that close to rock stars. They put on a hell of a show. You had the sense that you would never see them in such a small venue ever again.

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Zhora may have only been together for a short while, but they seem to gain more fans with every show they play. Fronted by former Ishi vocalist Taylor Rea, their music is a blend of programmed electronic beats and live instrumentation. Rea and bandmate Taylor Cleveland sat down with us on a pleasant Saturday afternoon and shared their first show experiences. Know this: you can't underestimate the power of boy bands on future music heads.

What's the earliest memory you have of seeing somebody play live?
Taylor Cleveland: Well, my first concert was at the Granada Theater. It was a Bowling for Soup concert. I met them, before they the show, at Snuffer's. I got them to sign a coaster.
Taylor Rea: I've been going to concerts since I can remember. My mom used to promote bands, like teenybopper bands. She was the marketing manager at Arcade, so I would get to hang out at Arcade and when she would bring *NSYNC in 1995 I would get to check them out. That was pretty much my first memory. I knew I wanted to be a part of that. Not *NSYNC, just the music life in general. I got to meet a lot of cool people. I thank my mom for that.

What about the first show you paid to see?
Cleveland: Bowling for Soup.
Rea: Radiohead when they played here in '08. I know that wasn't too long ago, but I remember the feeling of "I am going to this show. I'm going to have the most amazing time. My heart is ready for this. My mind is going to be blown. I'm going to cry at the show." My whole heart was into it, even my money.

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Spoon's parties seem fun. With Harvey, bottom left.

It's been too long since Spoon has played Dallas, but tonight, they return to the Granada for a sold-out show. Keyboardist Eric Harvey lives here and you might have seen him at shows as big as Wilco at Fair Park Music Hall or as small as the final Annex House show.

Harvey recently put out an excellent solo record, Lake Disappointment, and took time out to share his first show experiences as a fan and musician.

What was the first show you remember seeing? Were you with your parents?
The first show I remember seeing was at the Monroe County Zoo in Rochester, New York, where I grew up. There was a country band playing to some people on a hill, and I remember walking down to the front and dancing. We still have some pictures of it. The band was in full '70s Western regalia, using all Peavey gear, and I had a haircut like the kid from Eight is Enough. I was maybe three or four, so I was definitely with my parents.

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Four-piece Jonquil hails from Oxford, England, and while they've played the states before, they've never played Dallas.They land at The Prophet Bar on Monday, April 9, opening for Keep Shelly in Athens, and touring behind their debut LP, Point of Go. Drummer Dominic Hand took some time out to share his first show experiences.

What was the first show you remember seeing? Were you with your parents?
Jools Holland Rhythm & Blues Orchestra with my mum. Even then I remember liking the band more than the piano playing.

What was the first show you paid for? Anything to brag about?
Weezer, touring The Green Album, at Birmingham Academy. Nothing to brag about really. I crowd surfed twice, which I suppose was pretty bold for my first gig, but I did get dropped on the second go and lost a shoe, so I haven't done it since.

So far, what's the worst show you've ever seen?
I fell asleep watching Jet at Reading Festival one year. Pretty impressive that a band that obnoxious can be so soporific.

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If you've been around Deep Ellum for the past six months, you've probably heard about Nicholas Altobelli. This weekend is no different, as he's a part of the first annual Deep Ellum Big Folkin' Festival, along with The O's, Telegraph Canyon and Dovetail.

Altobelli shared his first show experiences with us, and it's not surprising Ryan Adams made a major impact on him.

What was the first show you remember seeing? Were you with your parents?
This is going to surprise a lot of people, but I didn't see many shows when I was younger. The first show I remember going to was Pat Green at the Smirnoff Music Center when I was in high school. Back then I was really into the whole Texas music scene before it turned to shit. My mom and I would go see him every year. Say what you want about Pat Green, he is one hell of a performer and knows how to put on a great show. I learned how to play guitar on Pat Green albums. Did I just lose my indie cred? Oh well, I don't care.

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Sara Radle once fronted the San Antonio power pop trio Lucy Loves Schroeder and started her own Dallas label, Jeez Louise Records. These days, the Los Angeles transplant is on tour, promoting her fourth solo LP, Same Sun Shines, out on Jeez Louise. As a preview of her show at LaGrange on Thursday, Radle shared plenty about her first show experiences, including her time as a member of The Rentals.

What was the first show you remember seeing? Were you with your parents?
I can't say specifically which show it was, but my first show experience probably involved my parents playing. My parents are both musicians, so I grew up going to their shows. After that, I started going to local shows in San Antonio, watching my brother's band play. My first big concert was probably The Monkees at Sea World. After that, my friend in high school dragged me out to White Zombie. He was obsessed with them. I didn't really know much about them, but The Melvins and Babes in Toyland opened for them. And after I saw Babes in Toyland, it was like, "I want to do that!"

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