Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

We're Still Young

Kut U Up is back to riding in vans with boys.
Kut U Up is back to riding in vans with boys.

Brandon Parkhurst says reading about his substance abuse is what made him finally get clean. “I had lost everything,” says the singer/guitarist of Kut U Up. “I happened to read an article about how Kut U Up had blown it. It really hit me hard. It was the big turning point.”

In that late-2008 article, singer/bassist Chris Cote told how his four-man pop-punk band had blown the opportunity of a lifetime. “We were playing stadium shows with blink-182 and Green Day. There were chicks backstage. It was rock-and-roll fantasyland.” Because of their friendship with blink, Kut U Up was asked to open all 56 dates of the 2002 blink/Green Day U.S. tour. The blink-owned Restless Bird video production company produced a feature video of Kut U Up on that tour, which was shown on MTV and released as a feature DVD called Riding in Vans with Boys.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“We all saw the brass ring,” Cote said in the article. “But we were too fucked up to grab it.”

In retrospect, Parkhurst says, “we” should have been “me.” “I have to take responsibility for us dropping out. They had nothing to do with it. I’m glad to be back in their life.”

Parkhurst says he has been clean for a year and half. And, Kut U Up has started practicing again.

“It’s like we have our friend back,” says Cote of Parkhurst. “He’s our band leader and he’s now present in brain and soul.” Cote says everyone in the band (including drummer Brendan Raasch and guitarist Micah Matteson) have been ready and willing to regroup Kut U Up for years. “But we didn’t want to put any pressure on [Parkhurst].” Cote says people in recovery need to take things in stride. “Music and bands and bars were a big trigger for him.”

Parkhurst says Kut U Up, based in North County, is recording a new CD.

“We were given the opportunity that any young band would kill for,” says Parkhurst of the old Kut U Up. “We got to go out on the road with two of the biggest bands at that time. And they made a movie out of it.... But, we’re still young. We can still write songs. I totally gave up...alcohol and drugs. As soon as that happened, we all felt the spark again.”

Parkhurst now works as a counselor.

“There seems to be a big uprising of kids doing heroin...alcohol and drugs right now. I want to get across the message that it’s a dead-end road.

Kut U Up appears July 21 at the Belly Up

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Classical Classical at The San Diego Symphony Orchestra

A concert I didn't know I needed
Next Article

Tigers In Cairo owes its existence to Craigslist

But it owes its name to a Cure tune and a tattoo
Kut U Up is back to riding in vans with boys.
Kut U Up is back to riding in vans with boys.

Brandon Parkhurst says reading about his substance abuse is what made him finally get clean. “I had lost everything,” says the singer/guitarist of Kut U Up. “I happened to read an article about how Kut U Up had blown it. It really hit me hard. It was the big turning point.”

In that late-2008 article, singer/bassist Chris Cote told how his four-man pop-punk band had blown the opportunity of a lifetime. “We were playing stadium shows with blink-182 and Green Day. There were chicks backstage. It was rock-and-roll fantasyland.” Because of their friendship with blink, Kut U Up was asked to open all 56 dates of the 2002 blink/Green Day U.S. tour. The blink-owned Restless Bird video production company produced a feature video of Kut U Up on that tour, which was shown on MTV and released as a feature DVD called Riding in Vans with Boys.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“We all saw the brass ring,” Cote said in the article. “But we were too fucked up to grab it.”

In retrospect, Parkhurst says, “we” should have been “me.” “I have to take responsibility for us dropping out. They had nothing to do with it. I’m glad to be back in their life.”

Parkhurst says he has been clean for a year and half. And, Kut U Up has started practicing again.

“It’s like we have our friend back,” says Cote of Parkhurst. “He’s our band leader and he’s now present in brain and soul.” Cote says everyone in the band (including drummer Brendan Raasch and guitarist Micah Matteson) have been ready and willing to regroup Kut U Up for years. “But we didn’t want to put any pressure on [Parkhurst].” Cote says people in recovery need to take things in stride. “Music and bands and bars were a big trigger for him.”

Parkhurst says Kut U Up, based in North County, is recording a new CD.

“We were given the opportunity that any young band would kill for,” says Parkhurst of the old Kut U Up. “We got to go out on the road with two of the biggest bands at that time. And they made a movie out of it.... But, we’re still young. We can still write songs. I totally gave up...alcohol and drugs. As soon as that happened, we all felt the spark again.”

Parkhurst now works as a counselor.

“There seems to be a big uprising of kids doing heroin...alcohol and drugs right now. I want to get across the message that it’s a dead-end road.

Kut U Up appears July 21 at the Belly Up

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Escondido planners nix office building switch to apartments

Not enough open space, not enough closets for Hickory Street plans
Next Article

Undocumented workers break for Trump in 2024

Illegals Vote for Felon
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader