Thee Squids

Quick - what's the best rock and roll band to ever come out of Williamsburg, Virginia?
Depends on who you ask, of course.  Bruce Hornsby might say otherwise, but my vote goes to Thee Squids.
I think Thee Squids started in 1992 or so.  You might notice a trend here - I like to play fast and loose with the facts when it comes to these band bios.  There may have been a guy named Kyle in the band at some point, and Thomas might have played the organ on a track or two; but the key members to Thee Squids were always Brian Campas on bass and vocals, Neale Shaeffer on guitar and vocals, and Dave Garrett on drums.  I heard a boombox recording of them from around this time, and didn't think it was very good.  Besides, they were all in other bands: Brian was in the band Bear, Neale was in the band Placebo, and Dave was in the band Bad Guy Reaction.  Thee Squids seemed to go by the wayside.
Fast forward to 1997 (1998?  See the "fast and loose" passage above).  I heard that Thee Squids had gotten back together and were playing at the Henry Street Gallery, so I figured what the hey.  I was not expecting to be completely blown away.  I knew something was different when I saw their equipment.  In the old days, it always seemed like the aesthetic was to use whatever kind of gear was the cheapest or the easiest to get your hands on.  This time around, Neale had a brand new Gibson SG and some new-looking half-stack.  I forget exactly what Brian and Dave had gotten, but their stuff looked more pro also.  More importantly, you could tell immediately that they had all been PRACTICING.  Both as a group, in other groups, and independently.  They even recorded a full length album:

Thee Squids album on youtube
So what is the moral of this story?
It's this.  No matter what you do - whether it's playing an instrument, or shooting free-throws, or balancing debits against credits, or baking, or trolling internet blogs, or painting bowls of fruit - you have to practice.  Maybe I've said this before and I'm sure I'll say it again.  Unless you're Mark Morton playing guitar or a spider weaving a web, you need to practice whatever it is you think you're good at until your arm falls off.