I was in a really crummy pop-punk band. I think we did a whole bunch of Blink-182 covers and we were on the fringe of losers and jocks. So we invited all the cool kids to come watch us play in our bass player's brother's bedroom. And it was terrible but everyone thought we were so cool.
I have a friend that is a WWII buff and we sat and talked a lot about stuff like the war and the reasons behind it and you now it's all in the uniform. Once you're in it it usually does all the work for you.