All Your Sisters Frontman Can’t Unsee His Worst EMT Calls

Work sucks / we know. We prefer / your show. That's why we ask hard-working bands to recount their worst job experience ever in Trials of Job. Today, we remember bringing out the dead with Jordan Morrison, a former EMT. He's the frontman of transfixing post-punk / noise duo All Your Sisters, whose Uncomfortable Skin is turning heads on The Flenser.

Where was this nightmare job? What kind of business was it?
Working as a medic on an ambulance in Las Vegas and in Reno.

How did you get the job?
Went to school, took the right classes and tested well. I applied and made it through. They needed young bodies.

How old were you when you started and how long did you last?
Nineteen years old. I lasted five years or so.

What were your primary responsibilities?
Started out as mainly a driver. Later on I spent more time in the back working with people. I thought I was responsible for their lives and "saving" them. Mostly, I was just an expensive chauffeur prolonging inevitable death.

What made it so shitty?
Literally cleaning up shit, blood, vomit, piss and other bodily fluids that didn't belong to me. I thought I kept things pretty tidy and tried to prepare myself for the worst. However, you can't totally prepare yourself for everything.

Describe your worst moment at the job.
One that comes to mind is when I responded to a call for a burn in the later hours in a city park. Apparently, there was a homeless guy chilling next to his cart full of belongings that was set on fire. Witnesses said a couple of young pricks approached him, doused him with fuel and lit him up. He was so badly burned from head to toe that his fleece jacket was almost completely melted off. Most of his hair had been burned away and there was this certain horrifying smell. I'll never forget it.

Somehow he was still breathing and alive. We rushed him to the hospital, but I'm pretty sure he died a week or two later. I don't think they ever caught the people responsible. It was fucked.

What were your co-workers and supervisors like?
The supervisors were all pretty wacky, but really solid medics. Some had military backgrounds, lifted trucks, hunted regularly and chewed a lot of tobacco. Some were just older, divorced and cranky as fuck. The supervisors and co-workers were all pretty interesting to some degree. I didn't see eye to eye with many of them, but I respected them.

Were you playing music at the time? Did your co-workers ever discover your music?
I played in a pretty shitty band. None of my co-workers liked it either. I think a few of them still follow me on social media and have made a mention of the newer stuff. I started AYS after I left this job.

How do you think your skills in the workplace have translated to your music?
I used to visualize 911 calls in my head to stay prepared. I reviewed protocols and thought of different treatment plans all the time. I think I visualize some parts of AYS' live show before we go on stage. Nothing ever works out exactly like you see in your head, but maybe it helps.

Did you get fired or did you quit?
I got fired after an off-duty DUI incident. Luckily, they rehired me a few weeks later and moved me into medical billing. I had plenty of time to sit and think about new music and moving onward. I quit the medical billing job after two years.