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...............