Limited Edition Tee Shirts!!

by Joe Leary

Hey there.
It has been quite awhile since I last posted on this blog. I have been extremely busy finishing a CD which is going to be released, hopefully in the next 3 or 4 weeks. My band is called The Joe Leary Band and it is going to contain 9 or 10 original songs, written by me. The band has been working real hard on finishing and mixing and hopefully it will make its mark! There's a little something for everybody we think but its just cool putting it down and getting the songs sounding as good as they can! I will hopefully be able to start whacking away at this blog again and sharing some snippets of the songs that will be on the CD. The title is going to be "Everything's For Sale" and I hope people dig it. We sure had a blast making it!

I designed a t-shirt recently and it got its beginning in a quote by a producer I was talking to, basically about rock n roll music and how it is evolving and getting so technical that it in a lot of ways has lost its way. I am from the school that sometimes mistakes or having the song speed up at certain points kind of adds to the beauty of rock n roll. But one thing he said to me regarding this conversation really hit home so I figured I'd make a limited edition t-shirt to kind of immortalize his insight! So if you go to the link below, the company is taking pre-orders right now! They will only be available for 3 weeks and then they'll be gone forever. They come in men's, ladies and a hooded sweatshirt. So... please check out the link below and get yours now!! In the meantime, I hope you keep visiting this blog because it will be back online in the near future! Rock on everyone!

Limited Edition Rock n Roll T-Shirts!!

Writer's Block 2 and Sound quality too!!

you know I was a bit nondescript after reading the last post about writer's block. I know from experience it can feel like you will never be able to write a song again. It is truly a troubling feeling. In my last post I kind of brushed past what to do, and I am sorry for that. Detachment has always been a great way to deal I guess.
Anyway, if you really are having trouble, I always go back to what inspires me first. Whether that is a feeling, the water, the mountains, the woods, whatever it may be for anyone of you. I always find it calming and inspirational when I am alone, usually walking. I don't know what it is maybe it is the rhythm? But I am always inspired by water. There is a bridge in Boston I have walked over probably 500 times, I would say I get an inspiration 50% of the time I walk over that bridge. Looking at the water, looking at the way it flows out into the ocean, I don't know, it is so speculative I guess.
The other thing though is alternate tunings. You know drone tunings or things that make you hear melodies differently can be very inspiring. I love the tuning, DADGBD tuning, it has this primal drone feeling. Also using a capo can change a melody or thought process also.
I always write the melody first and then come up with the lyrics, but that is just me. There are so many ways to approach a song. Dropped D, Open E, Etc.. I have been using a capo recently to get the pitch I like, it has ben working great. But inspiration is really the key, if you open your heart, the music will come through.
As far as sound quality goes, I think I have had my say about that. But there is one more thing I will say about the download a song, MP3 generation. When I write music, I tend to think of it as a body of work. There is a beginning and an end. So song selection and placement on an album, I still call it an album, sorry, is key for me. I tend to spend a whole lot of time on the placement of songs and the proper order to represent the body of work. I guess kind of loosely like a novel. Where there is a beginning, a middle, and an end. Well how do you have that completeness if you download one song? That kind of pisses me off. To me, a body of songs is a snapshot in someones life at a particular moment, just because one might be catchier than the other ones doesn't matter. It is the whole that matters. I don't think people understand that anymore, and that is sad. I think there is something to be said for taking the whole piece and then breaking it down, but hey, I am a dreamer, always have been. What do you think? I think it is important, but I really feel it is getting lost in the download THE SINGLE!! world of today. That's too bad, some of my favorite songs are the, "deep cuts" of albums past. I hope there is a future for that. I don't know what it is, but I hope there still is!! Joe

Tips About Dealing With Writers Block!!!

you know(i am being eecummings) look him up a genius. Anyway, what do you do when you have writers block!! It happens to everyone even the most prolific writer's. Well here it is from my point of view. You either put the guitar or instrument down or you write seven million songs ? Well the 7 million song thing is cool because there is safety in numbers but does it really work?

I don't think so...........

You see at least when i am writing songs it is not forced, I have in the past met people that can do that, very rare

you see music is out in the universe waiting to be captured, and you are the conduit, the vehicle, in which it becomes a reality. Now you can push it to your topic or you can push it to your sound but that song could have been written a thousand ways and I am being kind. It is a gift, something no one else can experience except you!! It is your baby, it is your thing. How cool is that.............

You see I truly believe it is a living thing that moves humankind in a direction for a purpose. So keep on playing, keep on writing!! people who say it has all been done before are ignorant!! It hasn't there is so much more to do! 

So what does this have to do with writer's block!! A lot

Use open tunings!

Jam with people you don't normally jam with

put the instrument down and really think about it etc........... there is plenty of great music out there that hasn't been written!!! Joe

Is Digital Really Better Than Analog????

Hi everyone,

I think I am on to something, that really is at the epicenter of music for me, SOUND QUALITY!!
Now most people would agree that digital music brought music to the masses in such a way that could probably never been realized without the format! I do. But and this is a big but, do you really want to sacrifice all the sound quality? Well at least most of it, what does the statistics say, you lose about 93% of the warmth and feeling of the actual performance by publishing your songs digitally!! Really 93%? Are you serious?
All I know, and I don't know much is this. Someone a long time ago told me one thing about recording music, and it has stuck with me till this day. He said, "All you need is a great microphone, perfectly placed, don't even worry about the board, in fact, disconnect the board, and run the source right into the tape machine"!! Wow, that sounds like Pro-Tools doesn't it?
Well no it doesn't. But I challenge you! Buy Chuck Berry's Great 28 on vinyl, and then on CD. Play them back to back and see which one you like better! I did this myself about 2 months ago and was amazed at all the warmth and feeling the vinyl had to offer! Maybe I am nuts but my band recorded an album about two years ago, which we are still trying to finish. It will come out eventually. But we recorded that on 1" tape, not even 2" tape and we transferred it over to Pro Tools and it pretty much sucked the life out of the performances! I have to tell you what an eye-opener!!
I keep going back to that guy in the control room in 1981 telling me how to record. I was a young shithead, who didn't like people telling him what to do. I tell you if I listened to him, things would have been a lot different!! Anyway, I can play you a rough mix of the 1" tape now and replay you a done mix on Pro Tools and I guarantee you, 98% would pick the tape rough mix!! Anyway, don't even get me started on being able to change the pitch and all of that crap!! The bottom line is can you play live? Can you deliver the goods? The problem is because of the digital age the tools have changed, the bar has been moved! I used to like when a record would speed up and slow down! I hate 116 beats per minute!! Is that rock n roll? NO, please say NO!! Rock n Roll is feeling, it is a primitive feeling, it is an organic thing! I hope you think so too.... Rock On!!! Joe

Pure Sound For The MP3 Generation!!

Hey Hey MY MY,

I hope everyone enjoyed this video. You maybe have heard that Neil Young can be difficult, detached, self absorbed and kind of flighty(if that's a word). I think that could be said for most super talented artistic individuals, wouldn't you say?
The important message here is he has come up with a fantastic idea to address the sound degeneration you experience when listening to MP3 files and other computer generated sound, that more than a generation has grown extremely accustomed to. Pure sound is something that has disappeared along with the turntable I am afraid. I mean MP3's and the like are fantastic for the convenience and accessibility but they also have been proven to degenerate the original recording by up to 95%. That means the generation that loves their MP3 libraries is hearing about 5% of what the artist actually recorded!! That is Pure Crap if you ask me.
Anyway, Neil has come up with a project called PureTone that he has been working on for quite some time now and it is simply to solve the problem of sound quality for MP3s and other digital audio formats. He is on the cusp of introducing Master Sound Quality through a digital format!! It is a brilliant idea and I can only hope he is successful. There really is a whole generation maybe even 2 that think songs sound like what you hear on your IPod!! I can remember s a teenager coming home with a new album, whether it was Neil, Springsteen, Pink Floyd whatever, and impatiently ripping the plastic wrap and throwing that vinyl album on my stereo system and BAM!!, what sound was there it was almost 3-D, it had warmth and depth and power, because you got to hear the actual music as it was so painstakingly mixed for maximum effect! Well that's what Neil is striving for and it is very admirable!
The MP3 Generation has no idea what they are missing, but they will, when they understand the pure sound quality that is jumping out of their speakers or headphones. I believe the future is Pure sound or should I say Pure Tone and I can only hope that it gets here sooner rather than later! I am sick and tired of hearing tinny, thin sounding versions of songs that I grew up to and even the newer bands I find fantastic like Mumford & Sons, Avett Bros., My Morning Jacket, Beach House, The Shins and on and on... They deserve to get their music heard the way the recorded it. So bring on Pure Sound with Puretone and turn on the MP3 generation!! Real Music Will Set You Free. I hope it is SOON.
Rock On everybody!! and remember "Rock N Roll Will Never Die"!   Joe

Music Will Set You Free...

So here we were in the middle of a pretty hot original music scene and we had No clue. Like I said based on what we saw and who we were playing with, it kind of wasn't even close! But you know music, you have to look a certain way and you have to have a message whether it was clear or not!!That played against us because we were so naive, we thought that having great songs was the number one thing, but we didn't have a clue. Musically everynight we played these Boston clubs, not one band was even close to ur tightness, rehearsal level or musicianship. The cold hard truth was it really didn't freakin matter! I was from the inner city and our first review was a guy who was talking out of his ass saying these suburban kids? Are you freakin kidding me, everyone I met in that scene, half of them weren't even from Boston and the other half had mommy and daddy renting them an apartment in Boston proper. You know Newbury street, Boylston Street, ya di da di da da. It was crap, they were the real silver spoon fucking bullshit artists and we were the real deal. Shame on Boston radio and all the so called underground shit that was going on at the time!! Good job, you were promoting upper middle class kids from the metropolitan NY area and beyond!1 There wasn't many homegrown Boston bands and we were one of them and they failed to see that!! Ok I didn't shave my head like the guy in La Peste who was from where New Jersey? Then go back to the freakin Pony Room in asbury Park and do your thing. As time went on I realized half or more of these Schmoes were college students from God knows where! Well go back there and make your mark! It pissed me off!! This was our city but you know, the kids that came to the clubs were college students and this wasn't there city they were just trying to get f'd up. It was really frustrating but a big eye opener too. to compete, we would have to change!! But I was pissed because, we wanted to keep it real, without compromising. It was pretty tough, to do. And this was on the live club level, I was thinking, shit, what happens when you get popular? Do you have to give away everything? That really wasn't worth it to me or anyone else in the band! But we wanted to play our music and be heard! Shit I thought this was art not business? But everything is business my friends! Everything either monetize or vaporize was our saying! Tough to learn, tougher to accept.

Music Will Set You Free

In 1981-82 the Boston music scene was fertile, I mean there were a lot of bands on the brink of being signed by major labels and it was buzzing. I mean the Rat on a Friday night would be packed to the gills with kids that were really into these local bands and it was like lightning was going to strike at anytime.
We were lost, but we had good songs, were always well rehearsed but we started getting this label, like we were from the suburbs or something. which wasn't cool with the "inner circle of bands at the time", but Ken Shelton from BCN loved us, and even some of the more Boston famous people liked our stuff. It was really frustrating, but we kept on plugging. But sometimes we would just shake our heads. Phil was our lead guitar player and he was obsessed with being better than the other band! I mean that's all he would talk about, but I mean, besides the guy I currently play with, who is a Boston legend in my eyes, he was so freakin talented he didn't even know it.
I'll never forget his father would be up stairs listening to us rehearse, and we'd be down there raising hell and drinking beer, whatever. But on the nights we really hit it, and they became more frequent, he would always saunter down in his unassuming way and say, "You guys really sound good tonight". It was a light at the end of the tunnel for us. We just had zero business sense. But we kept on playing all those clubs, The Rat, Cantones, The Underground, blah, blah ,blah.... We thought it would only ne a matter of time. Time has a funny way of bending the karma though, but we weren't there yet...............We loved what we were doing and we were brothers!!! To the end or hopefully beyond, it is like being in an exclusive club and you only know the secret password. Weird, but that's how it was with us anyway... more to come. Joe

Music The Key of Life

I it is 1981 in boston, and we were doing alright, compared to most bands. we got regular gigs at the usual spots and paid our dues as they say. We played this club pretty regularly called Cantones! It was a   complete dive ,small room but something about it, I just loved! Same thing though, three bands every night, two sets each, you'd be lucky to come out of there with $100 bucks. Most times we didn't we drank it all or our road crew would, which consisted of my 16 or 17 year old brother and a friend of his. By the time we were loading back up, they were so drunk they couldn't carry an amplifier out to the cars. Who cared, it was the way things were.
But I really feel that a lot of people don't know how competitive the music business is, even at that primal level. All we wanted to do every night, was BLOW the other bands off the stage!! That was our goal, and that's al we would talk about before, during, and after a gig!! It was really competitive. But one night, at Cantone's, Dotty, who everyone knew that played the place came in and she was basically a drunken old lady, who I think lived upstairs. I am not sure but anyway, after the show she was smoking her cigarettes and slurring her words and we were polite, but I think about a week later, we heard she had died. It was a shock she was a true music loverman. She loved watching these young guys come in and try to strut their stuff, but she was a staple and Boston lost something. after that, I really don't think we ever played there again. Matter of fact, I think they shut down.
Anyway, even on other levels you see bands that are up and coming and they get the right tour. I'll never forget seeing AC/DC open for Aerosmith at the Garden in probably 1978, and I turned to my friend after the show and said, Wow, AC/DC blew them off the stage!! It was true Aerosmith was drugged out and lost at the time and whoever booked that band to open for them was a complete genius, because, they were the real deal!There were a few other cases like that over the years but that one stands out, Aerosmith was still drawing but not really producing nightly and that band was freakin hungry you could see it.
I heard they only lasted another two weeks on that tour and Aerosmith dropped them, I could see why! Anyway, music is the one thing that seems to connect so many people, it could be the most powerful art form on the planet, and I am glad to say, it is what still moves me immeasurably to this day. There is something about a great song that just makes you a completely free person. It makes you forget all your troubles or it makes you think about them and connect with the artist. Whatever........ it is so powerful and always will be. Most people I know here a song and you can remember where you are or what you were doing when you first heard it. What is more powerful than that? I can't think of one thing right now, that's why I am still doing it. Happy 4th everyone!!! Thanks for reading, please keep following! Joe

Music is Everything!!

I will say and this will be a short post. My point is you have to make a decision pretty early on if you want to be a copycat for you're career to make money or you don't. It is not a revelation it is just the truth!! I have a good friend who is in a wedding band!! They make a boatload of money, but when the 85 year old aunt who is sitting up front by the band starts complaining how loud they are, HEY reality sets in!! Then they walk out the door with $850 in their pockets!! Good for them, I just never got that, I am sorry.
The only think i can point out is, hey, I was a big fan of all the great rock n roll bands of the 50s, 60s, 70s 80s, blah, blah, blah you get it. But I was never a fan of someone trying to note for note duplicate what had already been written!!
I will say there is one exception to that rule which I witnessed on camera, and am still amazed at it!! You have to see the Chuck Berry documentary with Keith Richards playing the guitar for him. or should I say backing him up!! I think it is called, Hail,Hail Rock n Roll. anyway, there have been a lot of really great documentaries but this one is riveting because of one scene, and really, the only scene I will remember. It is when the band, who is an all star cast is rehearsing, "Oh Carol", and Chuck is playing the intro, and Keith just stops him and points out it is played this way. And then Chuck Berry, tells Keith no its not and they go back and forth for maybe 2 minutes, but it is the most riveting and real thing I have ever seen in a rock documentary!!! It just meant that much to Keith that he tried to correct the author and Chuck being Chuck would have none of it!! By the way Keith was right, but it didn't matter, the guy that probably made Keith pick up a guitar still had the ego, maybe not the chops and I think it is one of the most real things ever caught on camera today. Kudos to them both!! ROCK ON!!!

Music Will set You Free

You kind of have 2 options as a musician, especially a working musician!! which signifies to me, that this is your primary source of income and ,yes you are a real musician. But this is where it always got a little hairy for me.
Ok. So you want to play music full time as your occupation. This doesn't apply to the people who are schooled in it and actually studied and can become teacher's and mentor's, my f'ing hat's off to them, but to me that is so boring it would equate like me working for the gas company. Do not misinterpret this!! I am saying cheers to them, but I am talking about the other bunch who want to play music for a living and be successful, and either take the money or make a difference.
So, now that I have been doing this since I was 15 and now I am 53, you should really take my advice since, I really haven't earned a dime, but have a head full of special life changing memories and to me, I'm just getting started!! Isn't that weird? But it is so true.
So the 2 ways are as we said when we were 15-16, you follow your dreams to the bitter end, and either you do it or you don't. Then there are the guys that are really talented, but they end up playing farmed out gigs at country clubs, corporate events and stuff, playing, Margaritaville and Brown Eyed Girl!!
Well, because I had the luxury of having the brains to actually make some money in the business world I really never went to the cover side. You see I couldn't. I figured, hey those guys wrote that song and shit good luck to their hit, why do I want to replicate that? I didn't and never have. But there was a small window where I tried it and it was horrible!! You have these OCD, musicians who tell you, NO, Dude you missed the A7 chord going into the chorus???? Really???? Like I give a Rat's ass about an A7 chord, you see it is all about feel, and even now, when we do play a cover, in earnest, it don't sound like the original song, it sounds like our version of the original song. So that's all for now, music will set you free, and it always has for me. Oh look I rhymed and didn't realize, but I guess I did because I pointed it out. anyway, I think you really have to feel it, and follow your heart. The other stuff is really something you need to figure out. I think that original songwriting is a gift from OUTERSPACE, and a hit is just meant to be!! I have written some of my best material in literally 10 minutes flat. I am still trying to write this one song I have been humming for 18 years!!! Go figure....... Anyway, it is still fun and my life long passion so I am not going anywhere until I am on the other side of the grass. Peace to All!! Jo

So we carried on, had the songs, definitely had the live act down, the only problem was........ We had no management and we had no money!! We rehearsed five nights a week for 4-5 hours, we were linked to one another like we were family or savants. We rarely made mistakes and we were always kind of organically growing!
I mean we were just like a machine, and when we performed, it was almost like we could read each other's minds. When something was going good we would extend it, if something wasn't really clicking we'd end it in form of course.
We weren't punks, hell I don't know what you'd label us, and maybe that was the problem. you see we had the material, we had the technical ability, but I guess we didn't have that one key thing! A label! We weren't punk, we weren't hard rock, we weren't pop, we were all of the above, but man it was great music! Our bass player to this day will tell you that if we released the songs we were playing in 1982, 3 or 4 of them would be relevant hits!! I agree, there is no timeline for a great song! They last forever!!!That is the beauty of music and that is the motive and mountain you climb. We were definitely in the mix, we just didn't have the business side under control at all. I was booking the band and writing 80% of the stuff. I just had my head down like a steamroller. I wish I knew then what I know now. But you can't look back, and I am still writing and recording music with people who I still to this day wonder why they are playing with me. But you know what, it is a life long passion, and either you have it or you don't. We have it still and time will tell. Thanks, Joe

Hey check out the amazon offer on the side of the page!! I worked out a great deal with them, because somehow they like this blog!! Who knew? Anyway, great music is timeless...............

Music will set you free!!

So here I am 53. Never made a freakin dime in the music industry, but know I probably could have if someone just believed in me. You see artistic types tend to give up after they aren't taken seriously. Well it wasn't that way for me. We had great songs, we were tighter than a frog's pussy live and we were on a mission.
The only thing is, we weren't in the inner circle of Boston musicians, and I had no idea how to play that game. I mean, yeah we were the house band at the Rat in Kenmore Square for 2 months on Thursday night's in 1982!! Everyone loved us from the bouncer's to the waitresses to the roided out door guy, who was nuts!!! There was a sound guy named Granny that had been there forever, but the trick was, you had to get the levels right at sound check and make sure he had your name on the fader's because by the time your second set and the bottle of Dewar's set in, you would sound like the worst garageband ever. And that was on us man not him, shit he dealt with a bunch of shitheads on a daily basis!
I understood, believe me, I had seen all the pre-maddonnas and I knew he was a good guy. So before our second set, I'd sit there and make sure all the fader's he'd marked so attentively during our sound check were good. You know what, they always were. He was a hell of a nice guy.
In our minds if you weren't good live, you didn't matter so that was important, and we used to kill it! I mean it was was crazy, how well rehearsed we were. But, and there is always a but, we were young and wide eyed, but very inexperienced.
I remember one night we were absolutely killing it, and the club owner was there. We were the third band, headliner's I guess, but our second set wasn't supposed to start until 1 am. Well the second band did an extremely short set, for whatever reason and we had a great crowd!! I am thinking ok we are going to crush this place!! Well, it was like 12:30 and I said to Granny, we'll go on now, so we don't lose the crowd, after all it was a Thursday!! He says to me, oh no, you guys can't go on until 1:15, because you could play until 2 am back then. I was livid!!! I said we'll lose the crowd, even offered to play a double set, we'll just repeat the first set, because we only had maybe 23 songs. Half the people in there weren't there for the first set anyway, so what do we have to lose? I'll never forget Granny's face when he walked up to me and said, no the owner doesn't want you to go on until 1:15. My heart sunk, we had 200 people in a club ready to rock but by the time we went on after 45 minutes of waiting, we had maybe 20 people, and the club owner and Granny.
Well it was probably the best set we had ever played and no one saw it because of the owner of The Rat!! But he sat there with his girlfriend laughing and smiling!! I wanted to paste my Telecaster across his forehead, but hey, he was the boss. It was a shame, I still have a cassette tape of that performance recorded in the audience by my brother, who covered a cassette recorder with my jean jacket!!! It still to this day is riveting!! Too bad no one heard it. Life as a musician, with no juice is really tough. But we were far from through...........

So here we are in Hyde Park, over the Pixie Cinema a one trick pony!! But it didn't matter we were rock musicians and we played original music and we were calling everyday to get booked at The Rat, or Cantones, or Bunratty's. I am from Boston so that's the clubs. The first guy I bump into is this guy named Hoffman, can't remember his first name but he was booking gigs at this place called the Underground over in Allston. I'll never forget it, it was in the basement of this quasi college dormitory! Probably a BU or Northeastern dorm, who knows?  I gave him this shitty 4 track tape of 3 songs and he books us!! We were thrilled, holy shit, we've made it we were finally playing out!! So he books us on a Wednesday night in November, great right? Well there is like 3 bands playing that night and we were slotted for the middle slot, 2 sets each in rotation. I was on top of the world!! Well the HEADLINER, uh hum uh hum, that night was supposed to be some hot up and coming band from Boston. Well during the load in, and all this monotony, the drummer or bassist, ah who gives a shit, gets pissed because, somebody doesn't do something and they start screaming they are not playing to the club personnel and they leave!!! So now we have 2 bands for the night and the crowd finds out the LA-TI-Da's have bagged out!!! Great right? So half of them leave, but for some reason a fair amount stayed. I went up to the other band, who seemed like a good enough bunch of guys and said, hey we'll have to play 3 sets a piece to get the evening full. Well the lead singer comes over and informs me, NO F ing way he's doing 2 sets and that's it!! So I say no problem then you only get 30% of the door we'll cover the rest!! He gets all up in arms, doesn't know what to do, but that is what went down. Anyway, since they were only going to do 2 sets I said well do them in a row and get the fuck out of here!! And that was our first gig. We did 4 sets god knows how, but we did and got $98 at the end of the night!! Wow, we were rock stars, but after that all the guys in the band said, hey you have to book the gigs and negotiate the terms, we want no part of this!!! I was like, are you shitting me? I write 90% of the songs and I have to do all the work? The answer was yeah, you do. Well alright alright I'll show these fucker's!!! And off we went into the late 70's Boston original rock scene. But you know what it was exhilarating!!!!

Hey so we were killing it playing on Abbey Lane for Christsakes!!! We had to be the next Beatles. Oh well we practiced in that gordforsaken cellar for 2 years straight. So clueless talking about playing out!!! That was the goal to "play out". What hte hell did that mean a high school dance playing covers, well shit, I wasn't very interested in that!!! A copycat band, great so I always thaought that meant you could play some chords and now you were a fucking manmade copy machine to sell records or justify the greatness of bands that had hits!! It was ludicrous!!! They were already hits and yeah I understand that 15 year old teenagers want to dance to Colour My World so they have the first chance to experience a boner, and really connect with some girl. But I had no use for it at all ! If I did a cover song I promised myself from that day forward it would not be a accurate cover song, what is the purpose of that? They already wrote it, it was a hit big fucking deal!!! If it can be done differently fine otherwise NO DEAL!!! write your own fucking songs, be your own person, get some balls. So the band like the first one broke up on Abbey Lane, but it was far from over, and far from being what it became. We rented a space in Hyde Park, it was the scene there, there was probably 16 other bands trying to do exactly, what I wanted to do!!! I loved it it was exhilarating, it was creative, it was art.I didn't care, it felt like home to me. We got this crazy drummer and this new lead guitar player who I had played one gig with way back when. We rented the space and we were on our way!!! It was treasured ground and a creative breakthrough. It was also organic, a lot of the bands although competing, became good friends. What an atmosphere. It was real.

My first real band wasn't even a band it was three guys who loved music, sometimes four if we could ever get the talented lazy guy to come down and play bass for us. Well the first really wierd thing was that we rehearsed at our drummer's house and he lived on a street, now hold it for a second but this is no shit, called Abbey Lane in Quincy, Mass. Hell go by that street today and that sign is up there so high on the lightpost it would take a acrobat to steal it!! But this was 1975 and we stole it a bunch!! Holy crap, it was mayhem. I faked my way into the band by telling some guy I worked with at Sears that I smashed my Strat!!! Who knew he loved the who right? well anyway we thought we were really going to make it, the only problem was we didn't have ant songs and we didn't really have anywhere to play. Perfect I guess for a bunch of wide eyed 15-16 year old kids. But oh no, that wasn't going to do for me. I had my sights set on much bigger things, but what were they? Who knew, but hey at least we were rehearsing and getting better in a basement. Little did we know there were tens of thousands of people doing the same thing, but it didn't matter we were doing our thing. Our thing was cool, well at least we thought it was. Oh to be young and carefree, how does Brian Wilson do it? MAAAAAAN....

I have always loved music. Even when I was five or six and saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, I loved it. I liked it all Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra? Are you kidding me? Barbara Streisand's voice still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up! I grew in the 60's but I was jus a kid, sure I loved music, but my world was all about The Midnight Special and Don Kirschner's In Concert series! I will never forget seeing Grand Funk Railroad on that show, I was amazed and in awe. I saw Linda Ronstadt, voice of an angel, with I think most members of the Eagles backing her up, I was amazed.
My love of music started in the weirdest way. I was in a catholic grammar school, and we went and saw Godspell at the Wilbur theatre in Boston. I was in the seventh grade! I was blown away. From then on I wanted to play guitar and sing. So I begged my mom and dad to buy me a guitar and I would sign up to be in the folk masses, to play on the Saturday night folk mass on Saturday night at our parish! I also begged for lessons, so I could really understand how to play. All I wanted to do was play music, I was 11. So I got good enough to play in the weekly folk masses pretty quickly. We had some nun, I forget her name, teaching us these NEW catholic folk mass tunes, I felt I was part of a revolution. Hey I didn't know about John Lennon yet.
I remember I used to save my money and go to the cut out bin at Osco's Pharmacy and buy these cassettes. I bought them because the cover looked cool, or I heard some older guys taking about bands. So I bought a little shit cassette player and started buying these tapes. The first one I bought was a band called T-Rex, because the cover was so cool and I only had $1.99. I went home and fell in love with that stuff. I mean Jeepster and Bang-A-Gong were on that cassette, pure stuff. Then I bought an cassette from Led Zeppelin II, I thought that was even cooler. i mean don't get me wrong, I still loved The Monkees and The Partridge Family but this was another level. I mean all I wanted to be from when I was 11, was to be in a rock n roll band! I found my calling. Except where I lived that was a very unusual calling. i didn't care. my mother signed me up for guitar lessons every Saturday with this gut, who was probably 18 at the time. All he wanted to teach me was classical music, you know not three chords and the truth, it was actually scales on nylon strings!
I wanted to learn how to play, Are you Ready by Grand Funk and he was teaching me classical guitar, which was hard and legitimate, but far from my dream. So I stuck with it for a few years, learned my scales, learned chord inversions, blah, blah, blah. But when I heard the White Album for the first time or Hendrix, I knew that was it for me. I had a guitar from Lechmere's, called a Crucianello, the strings were 2 inches off the neck, impossible to play! I knew I had to get an electric guitar and an amp. But how do I do that? Well by then I was 14, so I had a pretty successful paper route and I was hell bent on getting an electric guitar. I remember, I had figured out the chords to I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane. My mother asked me to play it for my grandmother over the phone! Then I realized what performance meant, I refused and ran up to my room, as my mother explained, no he's really good. Something I would have to get over I guess to reach my dream. But, wow, was I good in my room all alone, how do you translate that? It wasn't going to be easy, I wasn't a natural performer, I didn't even know I could do it. All I knew is I loved it.