Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
We tour in tour buses now, but I still own a 40 foot Holiday Rambler that I toured in for at least 10 years. The engine blew up in it one time near Cape Girardeau, MO. It had a 2208 Caterpillar engine in it. So I had to have a new one (re-man’ed) installed. That was almost the end of my touring musical career (lol) but people helped out and we were able to keep going.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
Salad bars! Salad bars! Salad bars! Also, mixing in the occasional regular meal at a favorite haunt too (think The Red Iguana in SLC). I actually get in much better shape being on tour than I do sitting around the house stuffing my face with goodies.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
I used to break a ton of strings. I played for years on my old Silvertone guitars with the action so high that I had to bend the strings like crazy to get what I wanted out of them. I also used to generally beat the shit out of my guitars when playing, but I backed off a little bit now, and only break a string or 2 every tour, which would put me at about a half dozen or less strings breaking every year. All that said, my guitar tech usually changes out my strings every couple of shows so that helps cut down on how many strings actually break. Especially since I didn’t used to change a string until it broke.
Where do you rehearse?
Never had a rehearsal space before. We always rehearsed at sound checks on tour. But I have a new rehearsal space now which is a crazy two-story octagon, glass and exposed beam wooden building. That’s open from the first floor up to the second floor. It actually sounds really good in it as there are hardly any opposing walls facing each other to create too much slap-back echo stuff. Eventually I’ll turn this rehearsal space into a studio.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
That’s a great question that I have never thought about and honestly I can’t remember what the song was or what it was about lyrically. I need to do some research to see if I can figure that out at some point (Lol).
Describe your first gig.
It was an absolute shit show! It was at a place called the Match Cover Lounge that used to be here in my hometown of Jacksonville, Florida. We were a really bad cover band doing really bad versions of classic southern rock and (at the time) top 40. There are probably, to this day, people trying to get the psychiatric help they need in order to forget the trauma of hearing me try to sing “Your Love” by The Outfield back then.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
I worked at a lumberyard called Paschal and Shaw. I drove a truck and a forklift and pulled lumber orders. I loved that job. It was probably the best job I ever had up to that point. In fact, I would not have been able to do what I do now if they haven’t helped me along the way.
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?
It’s definitely changed a lot. But I guess you would expect it too because as you get older you get better and more efficient at getting things done with less energy. Plus once you have a lot of albums out, you have a little bit more flow in that river of nickels.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
That sitting around, waiting for an email or a phone call doesn’t make it come any quicker. Also that it doesn’t always have to be a struggle. I definitely put myself under unnecessary stress, and beat myself up physically more than I needed to.