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Audio story: Inside rehearsals for the Spector 45 reunion concert

On a recent afternoon at Dallas' Underpass Bar near Exposition Park, nine former members and associates of the punk band Spector 45 gather to rehearse. They are putting final touches on a planned reunion concert, but consider the tragic story behind the Deep Ellum group, and it's tempting to call it a revival.

Listen to the audio story:

While the stage is littered with guys who collectively form the history of Spector 45, there are two very important players missing. Nearly five years ago, the band and the larger Dallas music scene were shaken to the core by the suicide deaths of Spector 45's lead singer and songwriter, Frankie Campagna, and its bassist, Adam Carter. They took their own lives within months of each other, leaving behind drummer Anthony Delabano, Campagna's best friend since childhood, to pick up the pieces.

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Delabano will be part of the nine participating in the revival show at Three Links on Saturday.

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These days things have leveled out for the musical brethren of Campagna and Carter - both of whom sadly personified the concept of "Live fast, die young." At 29, Delabano has just welcomed his first child into the world. He's given up the kinds of vices that likely helped contribute to the downward spiral of his bandmates, and he's taken a leadership role in corralling all these former Spector players for a concert that will span the band's near decade in the Dallas scene.

It's a giant task, one that requires color coded dots for different bassists and changeups in the setlist. There's a Google doc involved — very punk, someone jokes during the rehearsal session. Yet they run through their intended performance on Saturday as if they're still a well-oiled, active band.

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After they finish their sweaty, breakneck hourlong rehearsal inside the empty bar, they all sit down at a table to talk about the upcoming show, as well as their memories of Campagna and Carter. Delabano tells me he was reluctant to do this show when it was announced without consultation by a well-meaning friend and fan. But he came around after realizing that many who'd appreciated Frankie Campagna's legacy and loved his songs had never had a chance to see him perform with his beloved band.

"No one's ever going to get to see Frankie and Adam play, unfortunately," says Delabano. "This is us getting their music out there one final time.

"I don't care about playing again, but this whole experience has been awesome."

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In addition to the former band members over the years, Delabano was able to convince Campagna's childhood friend Cody Bigham to travel back and forth from his home in Houston to rehearse for the show. Cody will step into the lead-singer role for most of the songs at Three Links. In rehearsal, he nails both the intensity and the attitude required. But he says it wasn't easy to get there.

"It was really tough playing his songs at first," Bigham says. "Now I think I'm more celebrating it than anything else ... to be able to sing words that came from his heart."

It's obvious these guys take the one-off show seriously, even if their audience at Three Links will likely give them a rousing reception no matter what. Many loved Campagna. He was held to a high personal and creative standard set by his well-known artist father, Frank Campagna Sr., but he also lived harder in his short life than most folks do over decades. His friends want to honor his and Carter's complicated life stories by playing to their best abilities. Former bassist James Abston makes that clear.

"We have to perform, all of us, to the highest standard so that we can show these people that we're not just throwing this thing up there loosey-goosey," says Abston.

Bigham chimes in: "We want to give people the satisfaction of hearing these songs the right way."

There's a seriousness to the intentions, but the mood in the room is celebratory. Still, I'm not sure what I'll get when I ask the guys a question about their memories of playing in Spector 45.

They respond with a raucous round of stories about Campagna, most of which can't be printed or detailed for an all-ages readership. I hear about drunken fights, run-ins with the law, public urination, childhood pranks gone very wrong and more.

But once the stories and laughs subside, it comes back around to Delabano's experience of losing his musical and emotional lifelines. He's getting closer to acceptance of the past, he says, and now he wants to pass on his growing sense of peace to those in the musical community who still actively mourn the pair.

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"There's a lot of people out there still not dealing with it super well, and I want people to be able to look at the music, listen to the music and smile."

Plan your life: .45 (members of Spector 45), with the Assassins, Seis Pistos and Hello Lover, at 9 p.m. Saturday at Three Links, 2704 Elm St., Dallas. $8-$10. ticketfly.com.