My first "Band"

Growing up in the South with a God-fearing mom who served as both parents in my household, church was part of daily life. I became a christian at an early age (8) and have struggled with my walk off and on but God has rescued me from myself on more than one occasion. This led me to my first band which I wanted to focus on christian rock. I began writing songs in highschool, christian to folk to rock. I was very nervous about attempting to start a band because my own ability was still in the beginning phase and I didn't want to embarass myself too much. But many have said the best way to learn is to learn with others, or just try to keep up. So I put out an ad online I think. My ad was answered very quickly by a guitarist named Brett Lay. It was kinda funny cause Brett and I had went to highschool together and he was one of those quiet weird guys who had weird friends and just did weird things in highschool. For example, I recall one of many days when he had painted a face and teeth on his hand in English class and suddenly his hand was alive like a pet dog attached to his arm with sounds and all. He would simply caress the animal (his hand) and snarl if classmates came too close. Since highschool, Brett had found Jesus and was anxious to make music. Brett's commitment to God was evident and personally, he has made me a better christian just by how he leads his own life. Granted, Brett is still out there. I, myself, am a bit over the edge, but Brett is still ahead of me. The chemistry b/w us was immediate. He had several songs written as far as progressions and the music, and I had the words. Now we needed a drummer. And Ricky came calling. On a sidenote, starting a band with someone out of state with no driver's license can be less than a pain in the arse. But I was committed to doing the band thing so I gladly picked up Ricky in SC and drove him to our practice spot in Mt Holly, NC. It was then that I realized that someone would have to sing. Now I can carry a tune, but others can do it so much better. I have had good and bad reviews on my own voice to this day. I'm no singer. I think if I write just the right tune I can pull it off average, but I have always felt that my own voice has taken away from any song I have written. But it was always out of convenience, that I sang. But not yet. I recruited a guy from church a good 10+ years older than us. His voice was amazing, but almost too pretty for what we we're doing (I'll get to that). But just like that, I had a band. Now if we could make music was the question.

Me + bassist + drummer = A Loud Something

Low and behold, FarmerJ's girlfriend's cousin, Ricky, was a drummer. He was 15, but he could play drums. Obviously, I was intrigued. Now Ricky lived in a trailer in SC, so my first experience with an ensemble of sorts was very enclosed, loud, and awesome! Jason still struggled with bass immensely but simply from lack of practice. He has always had natural musical ability, he just hasn't grasped it by the reins yet. Ricky grew up with his dad's music and the classics such as ACDC and Led Zeppelin. Needless to say, even at 15, he was far ahead of us musically. We mainly struggled to play covers from the Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, and Weezer. One thing I realized is that when the distortion is blasting and you're in a 10 x 12' room playing it, it almost sounds good, and all the crunch even serves to hide you're lack of any skill whatsoever. So to us, we we're pretty darn good. It never amounted to anything more than just rockin the trailer or trying to impress Ricky's sister and her friends who wouldn't realize how bad we were. But for my first little group experience, I had the itch and I wanted more.

Grant, aka the Slim Picker

It was about the time I had started to figure out bass that I met one of my best friends, Grant. In highschool, I was auto mechanically inept. I thought it a good idea to sign up for auto tech in my final year of highschool. Much to my surprise, at least with my school, auto tech was like art class or home ec. The class was comprised 95% with the bottom feeders of high school. Not that I was judging, but most of those guys were suspended on a weekly basis and on their 2nd to 3rd term of the 10th grade. And I know for a fact, that several of those fellas are currently serving jail terms. Needless to say, it didn't help my auto intelligence, but it was a nice break from the real classes. And I can thank that class for me and Grant getting together. Albeit, Grant was in 10th grade and I was a senior, but we just sorta clicked (not in a gay sense, but not that there's anything wrong with that). Grant had been playing guitar for at least longer than me so we instantly had a common interest. I think he was the first musician I ever played something remotely resembling a song with. The first time he brought his out of brand cardboard guitar to my grandmas and I had my bass. I couldn't afford an amp yet so I played through this karoake machine I had gotten for Christmas years before. It was very distorted but served its purpose.
Anyways, Grant and I struck up our friendship then and would share in the musical journey for years to come, from the music to the drug-induced stupors, and from alcohol to just good ole pickin. I wanted to introduce him early as he will be mentioned more than occasionally.

Trading in Sax for Bass, ok Guitar

In all my dorkness of highschool band, we always had parties after the football games. There was this band made up of at least one member of the marching band who played the parties here and there. All covers of pop songs of the time, rock. Bush, lots of Weezer (who are the ninja), and stuff. They weren't real good but man it looked fun. I had just begun dabbling with guitar very late in life, 11th grade methinks. I couldn't play but decided I wanted to play in a band. So my best friend FarmerJ and I came up with an idea, I would learn bass and he would learn guitar. I already had screwed around with bass slightly so we began. Now just like anything, practice is key. I played constantly much to the annoyance of my sister, and soon as I halfway had a pop song down, I would force her to watch me struggle to play it over and over. I know she hated it, but I do have her to thank for broadening my so called musical influences. Born in NC, I was all country til roughly 10th grade when my sister was really into rock, specifically the Smashing Pumpkins. And once I heard Siamese Dream, I was hooked. And Say it ain't so a la Weezer really got me hooked on the alternative rock scene and I left the country behind. And luckily for me, the bass lines in the current rock such as with Bush and Weezer was very simplistic so I thought I was hot potatoes really quick. Unfortunately, FarmerJ was struggling with guitar and thought bass was easier to pick up and we should trade. While I do agree that the very beginner level of bass is easier to achieve, I practiced my arse off and he wasn't as committed. But I picked up the guitar and began to attempt to play. Man, bar chords suck and my fingers never hurt so bad in all my life.

In the Beginning (High School Band) Part 1

Like many dorks, I got my musical start in Jr. High band which led to high school band and marching band. I played the tenor saxamophone, and was on the drumline in high school. I basically chose the sax cause it looked really cool at the time (I was a kid), and no, there was no deep hidden Kenny G infatuations at the moment. I was a quick learner but like many others, turns out I wasn't as good as I thought. Ok, I wasn't bad, but there were many who were much better. It's kinda weird though, cause for some reason when you are out and about (like at your uncle's house, church or with friends) where no one else around plays sax or any instrument for that matter, all of the sudden you are a master of the art. My mom's is a God-fearing woman at church back then 3 nights a week. So needless to say, about the same time I was in high school band, I played with the church band since I was there a large majority of the week. Luckily, the other two horn players (who I eventually dated, and was corrupted Warning: Good girls you meet at church doesn't mean they are good girls once they leave church to my youthful surprise ) were younger and much worse than me, which made myself look that much better. It's like a trick musicians play on themselves sometime. You get in this trend of playing with a group of people, who turn out to be not really great musicians. All of the sudden you think you're pretty good, then eventually you go play with some real musicians, and discover you suck. I've fallen into this category several times. But maybe that's just me, I love music and enjoy playing with anyone who wants to play, whether they've been playing a week or 10 years, kazoo or the washboard. There is always something you can take away from it and there is always going to be someone out there bigger and better than you.

Let's Get Started

So you can find me down here in Gaston County, NC. I went to school up at Appalachian in Boone, NC, and managed to stay up there for nearly 8 years and will always love Boone and everything about it. Unfortunately, I ran out of money or just couldn't find a good enough income there to support my family so headed back close to my hometown of Mount Holly and now bought a home in Dallas, NC (bout 20 miles south of Charlotte). I work in dirt most days with a geotechnical engineering company in Charlotte. My passion is music and have played some form of it my entire life but really didn't begin performing and songwriting until college. Boone is an inspiring place and at least one person, myself, considers me to be a pretty good songwriter. I can play well enough, and sometimes hold a tune if I have to sing. I thought I would be a little creative and kinda voice my musical journey, mishaps and trials, through here. Most of my jabber will focus on my musical journey so far and as it continues with my contributions, failures, and really bad jokes and/or anecdotes. If nothing else, it will be a way of documenting my adventures for me since I spend a lot of time writing and/or drinking. Ok, mainly writing. These first few posts I'll try and catch you up on my journey so far with my experiences with bands and those who have inspired me and my songs. Some are really great stories while others, well, you'll see. I'll be back.