We Write Our Own %&*!

We wrote our own chord progressions, our own drum fills, our own bass lines, guitar solos, lyrics and harmonies. We created our own marketing materials, filmed our own videos, booked our own tours, built out tour buses and designed our own album covers. We learned from our mistakes—usually, and picked one another up when we were down, distracted, and disillusioned. We dreamed big— real big—all the time. We were a band. A real band, not a fabricated boy band, I’m talking childhood friends who were given the gift of circumstance to go to school with a future bandmate or work a part-time job with a person they would share a hotel room with on the road. Sometimes, I imagine having a band is what being in a carnival must have felt like around the year 1900. Full of misfit-geniuses that somehow made it all work, truly their own beasts of burden. What some people forget while watching from the crowd is that for the hundreds of semi-pro bands that play small venues and do one week to one month long tours each year, these bands show up on time, start on time, get gas in the tank, feed themselves, and provide some of the best live entertainment this country has to offer. For the dreamers that choose this lifestyle over consistent income, consistent hours, and consistent everything, there is a wealth of knowledge and experience. Some call it being road-wise, I’ll just call it truly living. What is this life if not experience, and for the musicians that gain these experiences that money can’t buy, they are rich. They are in on a secret that can only be learned by those persistent and daring enough to pursue it. Savoring the experience of chilling in a green room your idols sat in, or hearing a crowd in another town sing your lyrics back to you. This is the experience we’re chasing—yeah we all wanted to be stars, and sure you sign a few autographs, but on stage, nailing a musical transition and watching the crowd come alive with your musical family—whew. It’s the performance. I realized that’s why the carnies stayed in the act, and why all live performers will stick it out through thin times. To have the palpable power over a crowd in the stroke of chord or a snare hit is quite a feeling and worth waiting for that next time. Stacked next to the greats, my performance history seems unimpressive, but the memories are gold and the bonds with those guys are timeless. I’m not against the rise of DJ’s and single producer tracks, but I’m always intrigued by the new blood that knows there are still songs that can only be built when we all write our own !%$&.