Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
Prior to making the Results Not Typical album and knowing I was going to have to be on the road a ton, I purchased a 2016 Mercedes Sprinter van. I’ve been in that position where the van has broken down on the way to a gig, and I wanted to eliminate that from happening again as much as I could. It now has just over 90K miles on it and it’s my home away from home. No notable breakdowns. I purchased a maintenance plan when I got it so all I’ve had to do is tires and breaks.
I did break down once on my way to Los Angeles on the 101. I had an old diesel Chevy van that we were using to tour. This was back around 1996. We were in the fast lane on our way south out of Ventura and we hit the big hill going out of Camarillo into Calabasas. It would only go about 70 MPH when I stood on it. Well, we got caught in the fast lane and cars were passing us like we were standing still. By the time I saw an opening to get over, the speedometer was going down as fast as the temperature gauge was going up. I told the guys to hang on as we swerved to the shoulder, and I turned the heater up full blast. That last move probably spared us an explosion and we sat on the shoulder till she cooled down enough to open up the radiator. As it turns out, I wasn’t the only one who had that problem as there were gallon jugs of water all up and down the side of the freeway.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
I tend to not eat much when on tour. I like to snack on beef jerky while driving and tend to do as much healthy food as I can. I don’t have a fridge in the van so trying to keep food from the gig the night before fresh is tough. Keeping ice cold is tough too. Trying to figure that one out for the next round of tours. I do everything I can to stay away from fast food while on the road. Sometimes I’ll just hit a supermarket up and get some rolls, salami, avocado and cheese. That can last a while…..
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
Believe it or not, I don’t tend to break strings. I use acrylic fingernails (on my thumb and three fingers on my right picking hand) so I don’t really have that problem. I do like to change strings often and like the sound of new strings over old dead ones. Since I play mostly acoustic as of late, and I have three main acoustics, it can get a little pricy, maybe I should look into a string endorsement…….
Where do you rehearse?
When I decided to jump back into this madness of the music industry, I knew that I would need a place to rehearse. We bought our house in Seattle at the bottom of the market and the place was in pretty bad shape. I tore down the garage (which in the next brisk wind probably would have fallen down) and build a soundproof rehearsal space. Being a general contractor has its advantages. Now I have a 24 hour lock out on a soundproof room with a piano, drum kit, basses and guitars. It also has the small recording capability that I use for pre-production but the space is not meant as a recording studio.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
Oh god! That’s going way back. All I can remember is that it was about a girl I was madly in love with who didn’t know that I existed. Story of my life. After that, it was a couple of three-minute pop songs I wrote for the first band I was in. One of the songs was called “Iron”, because the chord progression was F to E. I thought I was pretty clever back then…..
Describe your first gig.
My roommate convinced me to come down and play at this tavern we all hung out at. I didn’t even know it was their 10-year anniversary party and when I walked in with a guitar over my shoulder and everyone cheered, there was no turning back. I got on stage way before I should have, and my roommate was playing songs we hadn’t rehearsed together. I floundered around making a fool of myself and I’m sure everyone wondered what the hell I was doing. We finally started doing the songs we had rehearsed, and we crushed it. I remember we did ‘Tears in Heaven’ by Clapton and a few Beatles songs. It was a rough start, but once we hit our stride, I was hooked on the applause.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been a general contractor ever since I dropped out of college in the early 1990’s. working on houses and being my own boss gives me the flexibility to go on the road whenever I want. Also, since the industry changed into what it is now, it allows me to have a decent revenue stream to finance the making of albums and promotion. That’s another story all together. I still work on houses and while the pandemic was keeping us all home, I’ve been trying to make enough so that when I go out on the road again, I have a cushion to help keep everyone fed and housed while I’m gone.
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
Over the last 5-10 years is a tough question to answer. I took a little time off when I moved back to Seattle from California. I had to deal with some family issues that kept me out of the game, so to speak, so I wasn’t exactly active in touring and generating income from music. I did keep track and once I was back in, it has started to creep up from being nonexistent to a slow trickle.
My hope is that now I have three albums out since my return, and another in the making, I can start to generate more income as I move forward. In 5 years, I’d like to hope I have hung up my tool belt and am just playing shows and making records.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
There are two things I would do differently if I could go back and start over. First, I would never have band names. I would just use my name, as much as I hate it, and have a backing band around me. I’ve learned that product recognition is a real thing, and it applies to music as well as soda. Second, I would have learned to hire and trust a producer from the start. What a difference that makes. Oh well, at least I’ve learned those lessons and I can proceed into the future. I’m sure I’ll learn more lessons along the way. After all, that’s what it’s about, right?