Mike Thomas from “Copper Road”
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1. Hello Mike and welcome to Kick Acts. Tell us a little about yourself.We are a group of guys from all over Western Kentucky. When the band 69 South broke up 3 of us got together and put Copper Road together. Our goal was to be the best we could be and as professional as we could. We don’t “expect” to get famous and all that, but we do remain hopeful, and if we don’t “make it”, we want it to be so it isn’t our fault! We are putting the final touches on a new CD that we recorded last month, waiting for the final mix and mastering, it should be ready for release within the next month. (we hope!) We did release 100 copies of a pre-release which sold out almost immediately. We have had a lot of encouraging feedback and we’re very excited about the whole project.
2. You’re currently in a band called “Copper Road”. Tell us who’s in the band, how you got the name “Copper Road” and how we can find you online and any shows that we can catch you at.
We were trying to figure out a name for the band, and in this day of the internet, finding an original name is a VERY difficult thing to do! My criteria were that I didn’t care what the name of the band was as long as nobody else was using it. Somebody, I think Dave, came up with Copper Road and it met the criteria. As for the band members, John Thompson – singer/acoustic guitar, Jeff Jones – singer acoustic guitar, Mike Thomas – electric/lead guitars, Samuel Humphrey – keyboards, David Bowles -bass, and Cody Kirby – drums. You can find us at www.myspace.com/copperroadband.
We were trying to figure out a name for the band, and in this day of the internet, finding an original name is a VERY difficult thing to do! My criteria were that I didn’t care what the name of the band was as long as nobody else was using it. Somebody, I think Dave, came up with Copper Road and it met the criteria. As for the band members, John Thompson – singer/acoustic guitar, Jeff Jones – singer acoustic guitar, Mike Thomas – electric/lead guitars, Samuel Humphrey – keyboards, David Bowles -bass, and Cody Kirby – drums. You can find us at www.myspace.com/copperroadband.
3. You guys have some unique players in the band. Some with families with back grounds at the Grand ole Opry and praise and worship music. Tell us about that.
Our drummer Cody Kirby is the son of Malcom Kirby. Malcom is a top notch steel guitarist who enjoyed moderate success playing with Johnny Russell where they had multiple appearances on The Grand Ole Opry. Samuel Humphrey has been playing keyboards for over 30 years. Samuel’s background is in gospel and praise and worship music. Although he was not a band member, he played and traveled with The Happy Goodman Family off and on for several years. He played and traveled with the WWJD Praise & Worship Team and has played for various churches over the years. It wasn’t until a few years ago when Samuel joined 69 South that he started playing secular music, as he calls it.
Our drummer Cody Kirby is the son of Malcom Kirby. Malcom is a top notch steel guitarist who enjoyed moderate success playing with Johnny Russell where they had multiple appearances on The Grand Ole Opry. Samuel Humphrey has been playing keyboards for over 30 years. Samuel’s background is in gospel and praise and worship music. Although he was not a band member, he played and traveled with The Happy Goodman Family off and on for several years. He played and traveled with the WWJD Praise & Worship Team and has played for various churches over the years. It wasn’t until a few years ago when Samuel joined 69 South that he started playing secular music, as he calls it.
4. You guys put on a great show and just don’t stand there and stare at your feet when you are performing. You give it all every night. Does it ever get hard to do after four or five sets?
It can get grueling. I have seen Cody’s hands completely covered in blisters and John has gotten into it so much that he sliced his hand on his guitar strings slinging blood all over the place. The thing is though, we love what we do! We are very aware of what we must look like on stage as well. We want to be a band that WE would enjoy watching, so yeah, we interact and move as much as we can. Sometimes it’s hard to come up with stuff to talk to the crowd about, I mean, there’s only so many times you can say, “How y’all doing! Everybody having a good time! Somebody scream!”
It can get grueling. I have seen Cody’s hands completely covered in blisters and John has gotten into it so much that he sliced his hand on his guitar strings slinging blood all over the place. The thing is though, we love what we do! We are very aware of what we must look like on stage as well. We want to be a band that WE would enjoy watching, so yeah, we interact and move as much as we can. Sometimes it’s hard to come up with stuff to talk to the crowd about, I mean, there’s only so many times you can say, “How y’all doing! Everybody having a good time! Somebody scream!”
5. Do you have a greatest gig story you’d like to share?
We opened for The Kentucky Headhunters last month at Little River Days in Hopkinsville KY and that was a lot of fun. It was kind of cool when Richard Young asked us “How come y’all aren’t signed?” HOOK A BROTHER UP! LOL!
We opened for The Kentucky Headhunters last month at Little River Days in Hopkinsville KY and that was a lot of fun. It was kind of cool when Richard Young asked us “How come y’all aren’t signed?” HOOK A BROTHER UP! LOL!
6. How about the worst gig?
I’m not sure about any “worst gig” moments with this particular band, but obviously some gigs are better than others. Having a provided crappy sound man can really affect things in a negative way. The audience doesn’t know it’s not us causing things to sound so bad! Low crowd attendance can affect our morale as well, but we try not to let that show. There was this one time a band member had surgery a few
days before a show and was on loratabs. He thought he would be okay having a couple shots of whiskey…that did not work well for him. lol!
I’m not sure about any “worst gig” moments with this particular band, but obviously some gigs are better than others. Having a provided crappy sound man can really affect things in a negative way. The audience doesn’t know it’s not us causing things to sound so bad! Low crowd attendance can affect our morale as well, but we try not to let that show. There was this one time a band member had surgery a few
days before a show and was on loratabs. He thought he would be okay having a couple shots of whiskey…that did not work well for him. lol!
7. Do you have any other hobbies other than playing guitar in the band?
Some people play golf, go boating, and play softball and various other things for their weekend hobbies. Me? I simply love playing music, so I get the same rush being on stage that a golfer gets when it’s a beautiful day on a nice course.
Some people play golf, go boating, and play softball and various other things for their weekend hobbies. Me? I simply love playing music, so I get the same rush being on stage that a golfer gets when it’s a beautiful day on a nice course.
8. Who are your musical heroes, and influences & why?
I think it was 1972 or 1973, I had already been learning the guitar from my dad for three years prior and the song Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple hit the airwaves. I was totally blown away by that famous intro and knew right then and there what kind of music I was going to play. Although I am not a huge Richie Blackmore fan, he is directly responsible for guiding my playing in the direction it has taken. As a young teenage player I was deeply influenced by Ted Nugent, Gary Ritchrath of REO Speedwagon, Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Alex Lifeson of Rush, and Judas Priest. I sometimes play bits and pieces of Gary’s Guitar Solo whenever I do a solo, a tribute of sorts. Ironically, I now play in a country fried band! lol! If you listen to our music, you WILL hear those influences, country or not!
9. Do you have any advice for someone just getting started in playing? Any pitfalls they should avoid?
Play as often as you can with as many people you can. Do NOT get big headed! Playing is like fighting, no matter how big and bad you are, SOMEBODY out there can whip your ass! When starting a band, make sure the other members are guys or gals you like hanging out with regardless of their talent and abilities. You can learn from anybody. I’ve been playing for nearly 40 years and I can learn stuff from beginners.
Maybe I’ve been playing a song wrong for years but somebody taught them the right way. Music is NOT a competition! Be civil and respectful of other bands and musicians. Music is a fluid environment, so yeah, you might be in a kick ass band NOW…but things change. If you are an asshole to other musician, nobody will want to take you on when the time comes. If your cool with other bands they can also help
you get gigs and help you out in a pinch.
Play as often as you can with as many people you can. Do NOT get big headed! Playing is like fighting, no matter how big and bad you are, SOMEBODY out there can whip your ass! When starting a band, make sure the other members are guys or gals you like hanging out with regardless of their talent and abilities. You can learn from anybody. I’ve been playing for nearly 40 years and I can learn stuff from beginners.
Maybe I’ve been playing a song wrong for years but somebody taught them the right way. Music is NOT a competition! Be civil and respectful of other bands and musicians. Music is a fluid environment, so yeah, you might be in a kick ass band NOW…but things change. If you are an asshole to other musician, nobody will want to take you on when the time comes. If your cool with other bands they can also help
you get gigs and help you out in a pinch.
10. # 10 is called “Shout it Loud”. It’s were you get to talk about whatever you want to talk about. So go ahead Mike, and “SHOUT IT OUT
LOUD”!
LOUD”!
I just want to thank everyone past and present who have supported Copper Road and helped make us the band we are. Without friends and fans we might as well just be a garage band. Check our music out at www.myspace.com/copperroadband. Thanks Chuck for the opportunity to contribute to your magazine!
Categories: Ten Questions Tags:
Life – Philosophy 101
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A professor stood before his Philosophy 101 class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a jar of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open spaces between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full.
They agreed it was.
The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar and of course the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full.
The students responded with a unanimous yes.
The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and proceeded to pour the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the grains of sand.
The students laughed.
“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things — your family, your partner, your health, your children, your friends, your favorite passions – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.”
“The pebbles are the other things that matter, like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else — the small stuff.
If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out dancing. Play another 18.
There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented.
The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of beers.”
Categories: Humor Tags:
Star Pupil
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This band is Star Pupil, They’re going to be at Bullock’s this Saturday at 10:30pm. Come see them, you will like them.
Categories: General Tags:
Categories: General Tags:
Monster load to slow traffic Wednesday morning
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By: Yahoo.com
Movement of a 500,000-pound, oversize load from a factory at Mount Vernon in Posey County to Edwardsport in Knox County is expected to slow traffic on some area roadways Wednesday. Indiana State Police are waring of possible traffic backups and delays.
Officers will escort the load, which will be traveling at between 10 and 12 miles per hour, from Mount Vernon starting at 7:30 a.m.
The load will be moved over the following roads: Old Hwy 69 in Mt. Vernon to SR 69N, SR 62E (Main St.) north to Industrial North to SR 69N/SR 66E/SR 165N to Church St. East on SR 168 to US 41N to Elkhorn Rdoad east to SR 44N/US 41 to Hart St., then east on Bierhaus Rd. to SR 61 to SR 241N to US 50/150 west to Robinson Road North to Evans Rd north, to SR 550 to SR 67 north.
State Police recommend motorists to use alternate routes to avoid any delays.
Categories: General Tags:
A Very Costly Kiss: Senior Denied Diploma
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by Mike Krumboltz
For teens, there is no greater joy than graduating high school. Shaking off the shackles of education and claiming that hard-fought diploma is truly an epic day. Unfortunately, for several students at Bonny Eagle High School in Maine, their natural exuberance has led to some surprisingly serious problems.
The rest at http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/92681?fp=1
Categories: General Tags:
Killer YouTube Find. Power Metal Katy Perry :)
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[youtube]vil-s82_LM0[/youtube]
Categories: General Tags:
Ten Questions (or so) with Larry Deffendoll of Calling Corners
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On July 10th Calling Corners will be opening for Drowning Pool at Woody’s. Tickets are only $18!!!
Check out the Calling Corners myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/callingcorners
1. Can you tell us a little about yourself – both personally and in terms of your various bands? Well, I’ve been playing drums since ’93, interested in music since I was a baby. I’ve played venues doing original music all around the midwest and as far south as Houston, Texas. Did my first coverband gig in 2002 as the singer of monkeygland in Aaron Harrelson’s absence. I did that for about 6-7 months and then went back to doing original music and playing drums. From there I played with a couple of original acts that never made it out of the basement. <insert second divorce here> In 2005, I went back to playing covers with Six Hill’s Giant, played the various clubs in the Evansville area, did Ski Day on the Ohio, Evansville Freedom Fest, aaaand built up quite the tolerance for Cuervo and Jagermeister. I did that until January of ’08 and it was time to move on. In April of ’08 I went back to singing and joined Matt Camp and Calling Corners. Since our first show in August of ’08 we’ve traveled the Midwest and have gotten numerous opportunities to share the stage with some really cool national acts (Bobaflex, Pop Evil, 10 Years, Theory of a Deadman).
2. How would you describe your sound? I’m not sure that we really have a definitive “sound” as of yet. Matt had so much material when we started the ball rolling that I think we’re still looking for that sound that defines Calling Corners and still stay in the mainstream. The sound I think we have so far is somewhere in the genre label of Trapt, Red, Alter Bridge, or Breaking Benjamin. Check it out…www.myspace.com/callingcorners
3. Who are your influences – both personally and musically? Personally I would say pretty much anyone with a desire to move forward and succeed. Anyone I can learn from. The go-getters, I’m not a big fan of the person that sits back and waits for things to happen or expects things to be handed to them. I like to make things happen. Musically, I would say Tommy Lee, Scott Phillips, Ivan Moody, Myles Kennedy, Brandon Osborne, Jacoby Shaddix, the list goes on and on.
4. What’s ahead for you? Shows, shows, shows to get our name out there…we just finished recording our first EP with Greg Pearce, we’re getting ready to send that off for mastering and duplication. We have a couple of different management companies looking at us, some radio interest. Just waiting for a finished product. Our next show locally is July 10th at Woody’s with Drowning Pool.
5. Are there musicians you’d like to play with in the future? Right now I would say the musicians I’m currently with, because we’re all on the same page. And alot of times that can be hard to find.
6. Do you think that downloading music is a help or hindrance to musicians? The major labels say that it’s essentially the heart of all the problems they are having in terms of lower sales – would you agree? If we’re talking legal downloads, I don’t agree. I think the resources on the Internet where you can download music and/or videos (Itunes, MySpace, Ilike, Youtube), really gives a band more of an advantage at being heard than they might’ve had ten years ago, because you don’t need some major publishing deal to be heard worldwide anymore. And I believe the major labels will continue to have a negative outlook on it until they find a way to regain control. If we’re talking illegal downloads, yes I agree.
7. In a related question how do you feel about fans recording shows and trading them? It’s kind of a double-edged sword I think…because it could benefit the bands that aren’t big enough to market a DVD, or not at the level to where they could benefit monetarily from a DVD. “hey check out this band”…it’s exposure plain and simple. But when a national band is trying to make money off of a DVD I think it can definitely hurt.
8. If you were a superhero, what music person would be your arch-nemesis and why? Not a big fan of Lars Ulrich, so probably him. (Editors note: Larry is now MY HERO!)
9. If you were to put one together, who would be in your ultimate band? It would be Scott Phillips on drums, Nikki Sixx on bass, Mark Tremonti on guitar, and me out front.
10. What was the last CD you bought? Red – Innocence and Instinct
11. What about the last concert you attended? Crue Fest last summer
12. What has been your biggest Spinal Tap moment? Probably the night Six Hill’s Giant played the Katrina benefit at O’Brian’s. We had already played and Akacia had taken the stage. I had sat down on the floor in front of the stage to taunt the big Samoan and all at once everything went dark and what felt like a wet Q-tip was squishing against the back of my head. Mike Mitchell from Deja Vu was wearing his infamous kilt. He had put the kilt over my head (while still wearing it) covering my face, and was humping the back of my head. Scarred for life.
13. Finally, are there any closing thoughts you’d like to get out there? We call this segment SHOUT IT OUT LOUD. I consider myself very fortunate to have either crossed paths with, played music with, got really drunk with, poked fun at, learned from, or made friends with (or all of the above) some of Evansville’s best. Lee Ramirez, Jim Gaines, Mike Mitchell, Jim Cauley, The Six Hill’s guys, Scott McEllhiney, Ed Sein, Brandon Osborne, all of the guys in Paradigum, Dave Ruckman, John Gauer, Chaz Dicus, the Calling Corners guys, the list goes on and on. I appreciate all of you guys.
Categories: Ten Questions Tags:
Freedom Festival Update… :(
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Yea, it’s a little late but my sources told me recently that in the end the Festival just couldn’t afford Billy Idol or Meatloaf so they are going with “The Bacon Brothers” instead…
So no “Rebel Yell” or “Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad” …
So, does that make you want to slam a beer down, get out of your car and dance? It does me … 😯
http://www.evansvillecvb.org/events-calendar/detail.tpl?ID=1625
Categories: General Tags:
Ten Questions with Chuck Gee
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1. Hey Chuck, welcome to Kick Acts. Tell us a little bit about yourself. I have been around a long time. I started playing guitar at the age of 12. Funny thing is I wanted to be a drummer before that. I had asked for a drum set that was in the Sears catalog. I even cut the picture out and hung it in the kitchen on the wall. My mom told me that if I learned to play songs on the organ she would get me the drum set for Christmas. I learned the songs, entertained her and some friends and Christmas morning to my surprise, my brother and I both had guitars. No drum set was to be found. I guess I spent a year or so learning the chords and soon after that I started playing in bands. My first show was at my Boy Scout troop meeting. We played four songs. We were horrible I guess but it was as good a place to start as any…I am married and have 3 grown kids and two grandkids… Hey, I am only 43 so bite me… I am not old, nor do I look 43… I can hang with the best of them… Growing old is for old folks, not me…
2. You play electric guitar in the band “The Metal Mascarade Ball” and you’re also in the band “Yellow Short Bus” on acoustic guitar. Tell us about them. Who is in each band and the web addresses. The Metal Mascarade Ball band www.myspace.com/themetalmascaradeball was a band that I put together back in 2007. It was based on an idea I had about the 80’s music scene. Those bands back then not only had killer music but they put on a killer show. KISS had pyro and lit stair cases. Dio had fighting dragons that would fire laser beams at each other and the drum riser was a huge pyramid. Iron Maiden had “Eddie”. I was always impressed with that. So with the TMMB I tried to do that on a smaller scale. We had fog machines, a psycho clown that came out of toy box and drink blood from a severed head. Stuff like that. We played around 50+ shows the first year. After that it kind of fell off in 2008… We started going through drummers like water and it appeared that no one in Evansville wanted a rock band and a show. I guess today’s bar patrons grew up during the grunge period when all musicians just stared at their feet and played because that’s all they want for most part. I sent out a bulletin one time to ask how we could improve the band. Someone wrote me to tell me the band was killer but to drop the “show”. No one wanted to see a clown getting electrocuted anymore. So, to answer your question … It’s on “permanent hold” until and if I can find more musicians…
The Yellow Short Bus www.myspace.com/yellowshortbusliveson is an acoustic act that I am involved with. A friend and coworker Derek and I started playing acoustics together and pretty soon we would have a lot of people in my back yard showing up to listen. We added Allen on Bass and vocals too and a couple of other people have “gotten on and off” the bus since then so it’s just us three for now. It’s just something fun and easy to do to keep my sanity while I don’t have a working band. My goal is to get something together and go back out on the road before I am too old to care about it anymore.
3. What type of gear do you use? Over the years I have owned a lot of cool shit but eventually I sold it all off except for one main guitar. I bought a 1979 Ibanez Iceman in a pawnshop back in the early 80’s. I still have it. I have repainted it a few times and I used to wire smoke bombs in the neck pickup (just like Ace Frehley). Some of the shit I sold like a dumbass was an early model Randy Rhoades Jackson model # 00700. One of the first 1000 ran. I also sold a 1969 burgundy near mint Gibson Les Paul custom back in the mid 80’s when the Gibson market tanked. I sold it for $375.00. Who ever owns it today its worth about $10,000.00 … I also sold a 1982 white anniversary Marshall half stack back in the late 80’s. So today, to answer your question I use a Gibson Les Paul and a DSL Marshall combo.
4. You have been in both original and cover bands. What do you like about each type of band? Which do you like better and why? I really like playing my own stuff more than anything but in this area where we live in you can play original music but starve to death and there are very few places that encourage original music. So if you like to make some money you have to play covers. Or build a band that likes to travel to the other larger markets to play your own stuff. It’s hard to find guys around my age that have the balls to do that any more, but if you are out there, contact me and let’s make it happen… And before someone slams me and says they play original music in their cover band sets too. It’s not the same asshole…You’re either a cover band or your not…
5. Do you have any “greatest gig” stories to tell? I thought about this and you know… I have several greatest gig stories… any where from where we were asked to play country music by the club owners and then they fired us for playing country music and but then allowed us to play rock and we tore the place up. We had people dancing on the bar and tables, it was sort of like a big “fuck you” to the club owner by us… to playing festivals and being on the road … but I have to go with this one… From 1999 to 2004 I got to take my son on the road with me when I played. We did several hundred shows during that time and he basically got to grow up on the road with me… He saw the good and the bad and along the way we had a blast. From him being so small he could sleep under the bunk seat in the van… to meeting Rock stars and cool people from all over the United States.. He was a trooper and even though I wished my daughters’ and wife would have went too but they chose not too, I had fun with “buggie”…We still talk about those “Glory days” today.
6. And in the same vain, got any “worst gig ever” stories to share? Worse gig ever … I guess it was the time we (my band ATTAK) finally got to play Kramer’s Lake and we had rented brand new power amps from Bruce at the Dallas Pro Shop. We set up and sound checked during the day. Everything was fine and sounding killer. At show time the intro played and we started playing “The Trooper” and the power amps we rented went up in smoke… We were dead in the water. Our Mains were down. We had to turn around the monitors so the crowd could hear us but we lost our thunder. Horrible night and we had waited and begged for so long to play there and the music gods just turned their back on us…
7. You work for the water department in Henderson County. What do you do there? Do you have any interesting stories to tell? It’s a job. Something good to have in this economy… I didn’t dream about working at a Sewer plant” as a kid. I had grander dreams but it’s a good place to work and I have climbed up the ladder a little bit so I am a Chief Operator and it’s not a bad job politics aside but that’s every where. I have a lot of funny stories but since I still work there I will have to keep them to myself…Sorry… Other than the time when I first started here one night I was walking down a channel and fell in. I tore my back up and frogged a lot of muscles. I took all my clothes off and drove home naked. I wasn’t coming back. However, my wife Denise talked me into coming back. I needed the job and our family needed the money. I had to sleep in a chair sitting up for a few days.
8. Who are your heroes and what inspired you to take up playing? I’ve told this story a few times before on bandnut and places like that…The year was 1978. Our area had been hit by a blizzard a few weeks ago, schools had been closed for weeks, some roads were still impassable but KISS rolled into Robert Stadium and literally changed my life for ever. It was like watching a comic book come to life. Over the top and surreal; I never wanted to do anything else after that. Eat sleep and live Rock and Roll…
9. You are one of the two main people behind KickActs.com. What are your intentions with that and what is it all about? I used to write occasional for News4U about seven years ago. I had a column called, “Those voices in your Head”. It was showcasing our local DJ’s. Mike Sander’s was nice enough to let me interview him first. My second interview was with Deb Turner. News4U asked me to try and contact “Delilah” from “Love Songs” and interview her. I did. Got the interview and got it published. I also had several Rock stars lined up and News4U changed Editors. My column was dropped. It was fun and I liked the challenge. Fast forward to 2008 and I had another idea for News4u. I asked Allen to help me, I submitted it, they liked but wouldn’t pay for it so I took my idea with me, thought up the name “KickActs” and Allen and I hashed this out together so here we are…
10. # 10 is called “Shout it Loud”. It’s were you get to talk about whatever you want to talk about. So go ahead Chuck, and “SHOUT IT OUT LOUD”! Music is a blessing, a curse and a jealous lover too. It’s never satisfied. You can walk away from it and it will call you back over and over. My advice to you is this…If music means the life of you then don’t let anyone or anything hold you back. I gave in and didn’t totally commit to it when I was younger. And don’t waste your time with people that are not on the same page as you. Be polite but don’t waste your time, move on…I was 18 and 43 came fast…but I am never too old to rock and roll, look at the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, KISS, they are still selling out stadiums in their late fifties and sixties.
Bonus Section: In your younger days, you left this area to try and “make it” in the music industry. Tell us where you went and what you learned along the way. If you have any great or bad experiences from that journey, we’d like to know about them. Which time? I guess I might have had some close calls I don’t know…When I was 18 I was recording with our band here locally. The engineer (If that is what you want to call him) was a local business man that had a lot of money and respect. He told us all we would be rock stars within five years if we kept doing what we were doing. We were already writing original music by then. Nothing happened. Around 1987 or so I hooked up with a young singer that was hungry. He would show up with a notebook and we would write songs while I painted houses. We pulled some money together and recorded a 3 song cassette tape. We took some photos, made 300 copies of the cassette and put sleeves in them and sold them all in a week. We even shot a video. My friend was good with self promotion so he talked a limo company out of a limo and driver for a full day and some guys with cameras. I have no idea what happened to the video, I never even got to see it…But it was cool with all the attention we were getting. The songs were on the radio as cheesy as they were. I even found one of the cassettes years later in a pawn shop. We even shopped them around in Cincinnati to a guy up there that was known to help out bands. We stayed up there for days for free on his dime while we did this. He would take us to Annie’s and tell the bartender to give us what ever wanted on the house. We would drink pitchers of beer instead of glasses. But the deal fell though. Fast forward to 1988 I wanted him and I to go to L.A. and see if we could do anything. At that time L.A. really wasn’t booming anymore but Florida was. He went to Florida and I went to L.A. When I arrived in L.A. Guns and Roses was just the local band that had just released “Appetite for Destruction” … I didn’t have any luck in L.A. so I came back and my friend in Florida headed toward L.A. He got lucky. He was in a band that was doing well. Next thing I know is he got a record deal with Warner records and put out a killer album. Due to internal tensions, his band broke up and his producer wanted another album. So my friend called me to go to L.A. again and to play on the demos for his producer. Basically what I found out was some of the songs were already written and the guitar work finished. But I guess what is standard is to have a guitar player look at another guitar’s work and improve it and record it better. So that’s what I did. I redid some guitar parts on some songs. Some of the other songs didn’t have guitar parts so I wrote them while I was there and recorded them. I think I ended up completing 9 songs with him while I was there. It was cool to play all day in the studio. They only ate like one small meal a day so I lost nine pounds while I was there. I also got to hang out with the guys from the weird science TV show (Not the Movie) they were friends of his and they would come up every day and hang with us. One of the guys’ dad made all the Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello beach movies back in the sixties. I thought it was cool because my wife Denise’s middle name is Annette. She was named after Annette Funicello so I told him that. I thought it was awesome hanging with movie stars and they thought it was great hanging with Rock Stars. (not that we were). Anyway, I came home after I was finished and waited. I wasn’t even allowed to bring home the music I did while I was there. Long story short; nothing happened. I never got the phone call. Years later on the internet, my friend put the songs up as downloads for sale. He said in his bio that he did all the guitars. When I listened to it, it was all me. That was my guitar and my playing. I am not bitter. We are still friends. It’s the nature of the beast.
Next up I was asked to join a Christian rock band. They had one album under their belt and were getting ready to record the second one. I’ll try to make this brief. The band was good friends with the band Kansas and the violin player David Ragsdale (He played Violin on The Smashing Pumpkins song “Disarm” too).played on the cd we recorded. We played several hundred shows over the next four years or so. We had fans that would drive from all over to see us. Kansas’s personal photographer was a friend of the band and would shoot photos of us. We released a live cd and headed back in the studio for the third studio album. The guy that was engineering for us used to tour with the band Helix and he also turned down KISS when they were looking for a replacement for Peter Criss the first time back in 1979 but He was into progressive rock not rock. One of his close friends was Kirk Hammet and there was talk about maybe having him play on our cd. He also had lined up the producer that did all of Styx’s albums to mix us down. We got to go to Kerry Livgren’s house and hang with him in his studio. He would tell us road stories about some the bands that opened for them. We even got to see the guitars that he used on some of the famous Kansas songs. He was even considering us for his back up band. Well, half way through our recording session the band imploded on itself. The leader of the band walked away with all the songs and copyrights. We picked up the pieces and came home.
Game over… I did record an album with David Lutz back in the 80’s that got a lot of local airplay too. Its’ good stuff and still holds up.
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