My Love Affair with Music

As some of you know I play the bass, as well as dabble in the guitar and sing; if you didn't know that about me, well.....SURPRISE! Seriously though, I'd like to tell you where my love of music came from and the whole journey behind it. I've been thinking about blogging this for a long time; but now is the time that it just had to come out.

I grew up hearing my dad and my sister play guitars and sing songs during get togethers at home, mostly when I was trying to sleep. I remember being a kid and listening to my sister practice her guitar; playing along to the Scorpoion's "the zoo" among others. I also remember seeing her play live with her friends at a fair or something; it was the first time that I can remember that I actually adored my sister and thought she was pretty cool!

When I was about 9 or 10 I would get my parents to buy me compliation albums; "Blast Off" and "Radioactive" are two titles that I can remember. My cousin Kyle and I would air band to the songs on my bed and wet our faces in the sink to make it look like we were sweating! I also remember at the time going for rides to the dump in my dad's half ton and listening to Don Adams, Willy Nelson and Merle Haggard on his 8 track!

During my pre teens I became a fan of Michael Jackson, just like the rest of the world. I bought the Thriller album and even put his poster on my bedroom wall. Then it was in my teens that the infamous "heavy metal phase" kicked in. Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Dokken, Cinderella, Poison, Warrant, KISS, Alice Cooper, Ozzy, Whitesnake, RATT, Autograph, Triumph, Twisted Sister, Queenryche; Skid Row and the immortal King Kobra were all bands I adored and spent a pile of money on; buying their tapes and putting posters on my wall. Yes, I'm a little embarassed to admit it.

Then, between the ages of 18-20; three things happened that cemented my love for music that will last forever. Number one, I became a fan of Metallica. I was a late blooming Metallica fan; I didn't get into them until they made their "... and justice for all" album and my friends drove me crazy playing it in the car on the way to our baseball games. The song "One" really got to me; so I bought the CD and their back catalogue as well. To this day I've purchased all of Metallica's recordings; a couple of home DVD's and seen the band live 4 times.

Number 2: When I was 18 or 19; I taped a "battle of the bands" contest that was on TV. One of the bands was from Winnipeg and they were called "the watchmen." They performed two songs; one of which was called "mister" and I absolutely adored that song. A short time later, my best friend Charlie introduced me to the watchmen's first record "maclaren furnace room." "Mister" was on there; as well as a song he thought was pretty cool called "run and hide." I bought the album and something in me just connected to that band, I really caught on to their music more than any other band I've liked before or since. I got their emotions and inspirations that they were trying to get across in their music, I memorized all of their lyrics; taught myself all of their bass lines; and they are the only band that's written songs that can make me cry when I hear them. As I got into performing music myself (and I'll get to that later) I got to meet Sammy, the watchmen's drummer, and Ken their second bass player whom I idolize, and I got to speak with Joey; their guitar player on the phone. I've never had any contact with Danny, their singer, but that's okay because rumour has it he's a bit of a prick anyway! To this day; I've bought all their albums, and seen them live more times than I can remember. Maclaren Furnace Room and their second record "In the trees" are two of my all time favorie albums.

Number three: At age twenty; I finally got the nerve to call up Dennis Hammerstendt; a local guitar teacher and ask if he could give me lessons. I was always a nervous person and I remember shaking and my voice quivering on the phone when I called him. I asked for bass lessons which some people thought was crazy, they thought I should have asked for guitar lessons instead, but the bass was where I wanted to go; and I had a drummer friend and a guitar player friend, they needed a bass player!

I have to admit, starting out was hard, but Dennis had a way to keep it fun and interesting; he kept teaching me new techniques and after a while, we both noticed I had a bit of a natural feel for bass playing. He liked it when I would come in for a lesson and we'd jam on the jazz chords he taught me last time! What I liked about taking lessons from Dennis was I could bring in a song and he'd learn it by ear on the spot; and teach it to me.

Finally, around the age of 23 or 24; I joined my first band. We were called Bullwhip Griffin and our members were Michael, our singer, and Ammy and Jeff, two of my best friends in the world on guitar and drums. We wrote some songs, recorded a demo, played some live shows in some bars in Winnipeg, and even got a radio interview. Unfortunately it didn't last, but to this day if I ever made a career out of music, I wished it was with that band. We had an energy and an edginess to our music that I absolutely loved; and playing that music for a living would have been my dream job for sure! Ammy and I teamed up with our friend Jaimie and some other people to form "L'Ammy L'Amour and the Gorillas" and played a couple of fund raising socials for Ammy's dentistry class; but that was all.

I eventually sought out some other musicians and joined a band called Sandlefoot. We played rock music but were more classic rock sounding than BG. Same thing, we wrote some songs and recorded a demo and played live, but the band split up when a couple of members couldn't get along anymore.

So when I was about 25 I put my own ad in a local newspaper and even got a few calls. I settled on a group that called itself "Frankie Machine" and they were writing songs for a record. We didn't last too long, but the musicians from the band left to form "Shades of Difference." "Shades" had a good run, we played a lot of shows, recorded and I even met a couple of music industry and radio people. I thought we had a sound that would be popular; and we had a gifted singer/songwriter named Ken and I absolutely loved playing his songs. We wittled down to a three piece band but still were able to keep playing shows; having fun; and meeting new people. In 1999 though, I moved from Winnipeg to Sioux Lookout, Ontario. It was time to grow up and quit trying to "make it" in the music business!

I have to admit; I thought I was done playing music when I moved to Sioux Lookout. SL isn't Winnipeg; and I thought for sure there no bands here. Much to my pleasant surprise, I hooked up with a guy named Pat; who was one of the best singers I'd ever heard; and I joined his band "Badjazz." We had some fun playing covers in the bars here, but I was just relieved I didn't have to quit playing music! When Pat moved, things got really quiet for me musically. I didn't touch my bass for about six months, and I thought for sure that would be it. But, one day I came home from work and there was a message on my answering machine by a girl named Gabby who was a singer and wanted to play at a local music festival that summer, all she needed was a bass player. I was in, and through Gabby, I met Ryan, a local drummer.

Since meeting Ryan that fateful summer about 10 or 11 years ago, we have been collaborating on music projects ever since. Mostly just cover bands for fun, but we also did the sound for a music festival here one summer; my first gig as a soundman!
It was through Ryan that I met Neil and Suzanne. We formed "Edible Rex" about 8 years ago and are still together today; our latest gig was the summer of 2009 where we played our seventh year in a row at the "Fireman's Social;" an annual event during the bluberry festival here in Sioux Lookout. The social is a pretty big event; about 300 to 500 people come out every year and we were their entertainment! Funnest gigs I have ever played for sure. Funny thing; I was so worried about moving here that I wouldn't get to play music, yet here is where I've played the biggest shows of my life!

I should say I kept out all the negative BS and side stories in this writing. If I included them, I'd be writing for a week straight. Music is a very cut throat business full of make believe people who think they are the next great thing. I've met so many people that I couldn't stand because of my music career; so if you know someone who wants to start a band, you can tell them it's not all fun and games.

Today, Edible Rex is still around but dormant; until the phone rings for that next gig. I also play bass for the worship team at our church; so I'm still involved in music a little bit. All through it though, I keep telling myself that day I finally got the nerve to call Dennis was one of the smartest things I ever did in my life!

Thanks for reading. Next post: my love affair with hockey!