Our Band Could Be Your Life
I think when my time playing in bands is over, I could write a pretty interesting book on the experience. Before this go-round, all the landmarks in the life of bands seemed so foreign to me - Wy would anyone NOT want to tour? How can these wildly successful bands be so wracked with inner turmoil? How can really great bands labor beneath the surface for years and never get discovered? Why do real bands break up?
Now I feel like I can answer most of those questions. The bottom line is that playing in a touring band is alot harder work than I - or most people - ever realized. These last six months have been some of the most stressful of my life, and I've never worked harder at any job before. The payoff can be great after a good show or when you can see the band taking a step forward before your eyes, but those moments are spaced so far apart and can happen so subtly that they're easy to lose sight of during the long stretches in-between.
And just keeping things together might be the hardest work of all. I liken it to starting a business with three other people you may or may not be great friends with, who may or may not be working as hard as you. Then, you've got to live with these people twenty-four hours a day for weeks, if not months, at a time and somehow manage to not kill or alienate one another. Its an unnatural arrangement and everyone has got to be dedicated to maintaining goodwill and optimism or else the whole shithouse can go up in a flames in a day. The touring is a blast - a fucking month of Saturdays with a show every night! - but its nowhere near a vacation and by the end you are definitely ready for some R n'R. By the end of this year, we'll have played 96 shows in 2007 and been on the road for just about one-third of the year. I think we're all really proud of that, but its taken a toll just to make it this far - and we're not even on the fucking radar in the grand scheme of things!
Its all a crapshoot - a lottery almost - and the only chance you have at winning is to keep playing and hoping the law of averages kicks in eventually. But the very process of doing that consumes almost every aspect of your life - where you work, where you live, how much you see your girlfriend, etc. Once you make the decision to go full-time, everything else in your life becomes secondary or gets run over in the process. I have no idea how anyone can maintain a relationship that has an ounce of normality while playing in a full-time band.
I've been meaning to start a log of all the revelations I've had over the last year because I've learned more about life through it so far than in my previous 25 years on this planet - and thats not hyperbole. Even times like now where we're all kind of out-on-our-feet and yet still have plates that will stay full until the New Year, are illuminating - how do you keep going at a task that relies on inspiration when you've got nothing in the tank?
I'm just really thankful that I've been able to experience this for real, because its a rare blessing to actually have a shot at achieving your most audacious dream.
Anyways...
A friend who worked on the upcoming season of the Wire let a few minor details slip (which I have since erased from my memory). The only bit I'll repeat is that Season Five will only be 10 episodes long instead of the usual 13. That sucks. But when I brought up how much I was looking forward to seeing Michael's storyline play out, my friend did a "OH MAN - MICHAEL!" before I had to stab him in the throat with my salad fork to keep him from ruining my life. Apparently thats gonna be awesome....it starts January 6th! Any interest in getting a Wire Support Group together to watch or talk about the season as it's happening??
Now I feel like I can answer most of those questions. The bottom line is that playing in a touring band is alot harder work than I - or most people - ever realized. These last six months have been some of the most stressful of my life, and I've never worked harder at any job before. The payoff can be great after a good show or when you can see the band taking a step forward before your eyes, but those moments are spaced so far apart and can happen so subtly that they're easy to lose sight of during the long stretches in-between.
And just keeping things together might be the hardest work of all. I liken it to starting a business with three other people you may or may not be great friends with, who may or may not be working as hard as you. Then, you've got to live with these people twenty-four hours a day for weeks, if not months, at a time and somehow manage to not kill or alienate one another. Its an unnatural arrangement and everyone has got to be dedicated to maintaining goodwill and optimism or else the whole shithouse can go up in a flames in a day. The touring is a blast - a fucking month of Saturdays with a show every night! - but its nowhere near a vacation and by the end you are definitely ready for some R n'R. By the end of this year, we'll have played 96 shows in 2007 and been on the road for just about one-third of the year. I think we're all really proud of that, but its taken a toll just to make it this far - and we're not even on the fucking radar in the grand scheme of things!
Its all a crapshoot - a lottery almost - and the only chance you have at winning is to keep playing and hoping the law of averages kicks in eventually. But the very process of doing that consumes almost every aspect of your life - where you work, where you live, how much you see your girlfriend, etc. Once you make the decision to go full-time, everything else in your life becomes secondary or gets run over in the process. I have no idea how anyone can maintain a relationship that has an ounce of normality while playing in a full-time band.
I've been meaning to start a log of all the revelations I've had over the last year because I've learned more about life through it so far than in my previous 25 years on this planet - and thats not hyperbole. Even times like now where we're all kind of out-on-our-feet and yet still have plates that will stay full until the New Year, are illuminating - how do you keep going at a task that relies on inspiration when you've got nothing in the tank?
I'm just really thankful that I've been able to experience this for real, because its a rare blessing to actually have a shot at achieving your most audacious dream.
Anyways...
A friend who worked on the upcoming season of the Wire let a few minor details slip (which I have since erased from my memory). The only bit I'll repeat is that Season Five will only be 10 episodes long instead of the usual 13. That sucks. But when I brought up how much I was looking forward to seeing Michael's storyline play out, my friend did a "OH MAN - MICHAEL!" before I had to stab him in the throat with my salad fork to keep him from ruining my life. Apparently thats gonna be awesome....it starts January 6th! Any interest in getting a Wire Support Group together to watch or talk about the season as it's happening??