Where to start?
I am a Rock N' Roll nobody.
I did play steadily in various bands throughout the 90's until walking away in 1999. Why? having to deal with others, boredom and playing shitty music. I found minor success in those bands, culminating in the release of Bullet Proof Poems-A Tribute to the Dogs D'Amour in 1999 through Desert Inn Records in Europe.
For the longest time I thought that was enough of a legacy in music...well I was wrong.
After I gave up music, I floundered for a bit with no direction for my creativity. Then one fateful night I decided to give fiction writing a go. I ended up with 2 novels, a few comic books and a magazine published from 2010 to 2012. I ended up with another minor hit on my hands, one of my books topped off at 55 on Amazon.com.
Then I lost all desire to write. There was this irritating itch on the back of my neck, it was something I hadn't felt in over a decade.
Music. Goddamn it. It was then, that my life was coming full circle again.
Picked up a new guitar since I had sold mine years ago (except for my Les Paul Bass) and just sat and played.
And played and I played so much that I ended up with 3 more and an acoustic, this is when I realized that I was all in...again.
So after a few months I ended up in a band again, even though it didn't last more than a few months it did provide me with a few things...
Playing out again, we did squeeze 2 gigs in the short time we were together. The second was, yes, I am all in again. Holy fuck I am doing it and it felt good.
I am a lifer.
The point of this post is simple, even when you think you are finished with something, chances are you will never be free. Especially if it is a life long passion that you put so much into it to see it all fall to shit (what led to walking away 1999).
The biggest regret I have is one that I really wish I could go back and change. I was asked by someone I have always respected because he "made it" in music, to play bass in his band. But the sour taste in my mouth from my last band I said no. This was 2005 or 2006, so that is how bad it was when I walked away. A half decade later and I still wanted nothing to do with it, even if it was one of my heroes.
Well that will never happen again, if someone I truly respect would ask me now if I'd join their band, my response would be "do you want my left one or right one?"
It was never about being famous or being known, I've always want to just play good music and maybe make a few bucks here and there.
But the one thing I know is I have unfinished business that this time I will not walk away from.
Nope.
This is just the beginning.
I'm just another rock n' roll lifer and I'm ok with that.
Hopefully I'm going to make this a semi-regular thing. Tell boring stories of the road and dive bars. Rant about random shit and possibly get some material recorded and posted.
We shall see...
Jay
