Photo credit: Alysse Gafkjen
Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
Well, nowadays it is a proper tour bus. It is quite a luxury to have that bunk available. As a musician, you never feel you can take a day (night) off from work. If you have food poisoning, you throw up until the show, play the show, then when the show is over you can continue to be sick. Somehow you always make it through. But to be able to retreat to that bunk for 20 min after soundcheck, when you are run down, that’s a luxury. Sorry I got way off topic…
Most interesting were the many many breakdowns while touring in vans. Liberating, some of them were. One I remember, in the middle of nowhere, the van was not gonna budge, we had to rent a small uhaul and a rental car, pile us and the gear in. Missed our load in, missed our sound check. These were the days before we had any crew. We showed up minutes before the set was to begin and the whole audience came out to the uhaul and loaded our gear. It was a free for all, but we made it onstage and setup a minimal rig in record time, and it was an amazing show. The chaos made any thinking, planning, preconceptions and expectations out of the question. We were in the moment, and so connected to the audience. We were really all in it together.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
We don’t eat that cheap, but we do eat healthy. Luckily we are, for the most part, into that. What is hard is when you are the odd man out on a tour, who wants to eat healthy, but the tour only orders fast food, etc. But we never stop for fast food, maybe once or twice a year when we just need sustenance, and these days, what with yelp and such, you can find something to fit most diets, if you put in the effort.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
The shuitar doesn’t break strings, they do get dull though.
Where do you rehearse?
We are so lucky to now rehearse in our studio, tons of space, and we can go between rehearsing and recording seamlessly. It’s filled to the ceiling in places with drums amps, instruments.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
There’s a cassette of me, 4 years old, playing drums and singing a blues that I improvised. I hit record on my dad’s tape recorder (who knows what I recorded over). Â It was a 12/8 kinda groove, and I remember something about “Mom’s in the garden, Dad’s out in the shed, and I’m all aloooooone.” It was true in that moment. They were doing yard work and I made my way down to the drums in the basement, and dealt with it.
Describe your first gig.
Ha! I had a band when I was in 3rd grade. Adam Deitch (4th grade) (might recognize him from Lettuce) on drums, me on keys, and 3 sisters singing. I remember we played “Celebration”. Then I remember my first paying gig when I was 13 years old. I subbed in a metal band at a club in Nyack, NY. The band was called First Blood. Or First Born. I can’t remember. I brought my dad’s kit, and all the toms he owned. I don’t know why they even let me in that club.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
Last was construction. That wasn’t a day job in the sense of supporting me while building a music career, that was me deciding, after 10 years of touring, that I was done playing music for money. I thought I wanted to stay home and have a job that I could count on. Took a few months for me to realize I just had to play music. It was good to let go of music completely so I could come back to it with no doubts.
Favorite day job – a moving company. I loved that shit. Could come and go as I pleased for studio and tour work, and it was very physical and I’d sweat my ass off, especially in the summer in Tennessee, packing a truck that was baking in the sun. Â I came home exhausted and calm. I felt very fulfilled at the end of those days. When work was done, it was just DONE. Music, on the other hand, is harder to leave behind. I loved it.
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?
I can’t believe I survive, let alone actually do pretty well financially just through music. After so many years of hustling and going into debt, it’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that money will keep flowing in. I expect my current path to continue for a while still, but there is no solid ground to rely on, generally, and certainly not in this business. My dad’s a professional drummer, so I’ve seen through my life how this business changes. The kind of work, the revenue streams…who knows in ten years. I’m trying hard to remember to appreciate this time.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
I wish I had paid more attention to the bigger picture of the people I surrounded myself with, and the situations I engaged. Being a studied and practiced musician, I went too long just taking whatever work came up, and working hard to fit into musical situations that were not really my thing, that didn’t inspire me. I did this because I was able to, and I thought it a skilled and thus an admirable thing to do. Somewhere in there I lost sight of following my muse. I’m glad to now be surrounded by people who share my aesthetic and intention, and who are open to me exploring what excites me.