My Battle to Rock Stardom….
If I remember correctly it was March 1994. Spring was about to make an appearance and winter was on its way to sleep for a few months. I was playing in my first “dedicated” band that was going to take me on a one way trip to Fame and Fortune. I was going to be standing shoulder to shoulder with the great rockstars I grew up listening to, Bon Jovi, Poison, Skid Row, Warrant, GnR… All of them! I just needed a big break!!! But what was my big break going to be? When was opportunity going to take note of me and my band’s undeniable talent? Walking through the back door of my house when… Ring Ring yelled the phone. I ran over to it and picked it up. “Hello” I answered. “Vic, its Dan have you looked at the local Newspaper yet?” “No” I replied. “The city is holding a massive battle of the bands in front of city hall! They are holding auditions this Saturday. I called the number and our audition time is 2pm!!” Squeaked Dan in excitement… That’s it! This is our big break! This is the opportunity we needed, the opportunity that I needed. (I thought to myself). We just have to pass this audition, kick everyone’s ass on stage in the band battle, 5000 people will be chanting our name, we will collect our prize money, the local Newspaper will cover us in a story, and BOOM! We will have arrived on Hollywood’s doorstep as the Newest Rockstars on the scene…… It all just seemed toooooo easy. Well, long story short we passed the audition; we kicked everyone’s ass on stage and took 1st place in the battle of the bands. It was the biggest crowd we had ever played for; close to 1500. Our prize money was $500 and the local paper called us the following day to do a cover story on the band battle winners, US!!! I had a taste of the rockstar pie, we played for a massive audience and became a local celebrity literally in 15 minutes, that’s how long our set was. Now I realize that this might sound so absolutely small time in the grand scheme of things, but I was amazed. I absolutely loved it. Although that particular moment was not the Golden ticket to Hollywood, it was my marriage to the art of music. Fast Forward two decades, 5 Albums, countless performances, RockFest and a million other musical experiences along the way and it’s still that feeling that I crave when I think about my life and career as a musician. I don’t mean to sell the creative process short. Needless to say, it’s essential. For the listener it’s everything. But to some extent almost anyone can make music. But when it comes to BEING a musician, it’s that muscle memory. It’s knowing the rest stops along that highway by memory because you’ve toured that stretch of the country so many times. It’s the familiar smell of stale beer, cleaning products and perfume that hits you when you enter a bar in the afternoon before the air conditioners have been turned on. It’s the feeling of that hangover as you drive blurry eyed and dry mouthed to the next city on your list of tour dates. It’s hanging out in the laundry mat across the street from the show while you wash your clothes and wait for the headliner to finish their set so you can get paid and split for the hotel. It’s the familiar weight of your guitar case in your hand. It’s the comraderie you feel with your tour mates and the melancholy of knowing that despite promises to the contrary, you’re never going to keep in touch. And it’s a million other little subtle experiences that define what it means to be a musician. At least that’s the way it’s been for me. It’s not the guitar chords, or the number of albums sold, but rather it’s knowing those things first hand that makes me a musician, a veteran. And it’s knowing that you are one of a small percentage of the population to not only have seen, but to have lived backstage that makes this whole crazy thing worth while. But perhaps even more importantly than all of that, it’s YOU, the listener, that makes all of it matter. I look forward to many more sometimes hard, sometimes ugly, always worth while experiences along this musical journey. Here’s to hoping that you are part of that journey. If you’d like to hear the most recent milestone of that journey, click here to listen to my most recent album, ‘Blood & Soul’. Thank you for being a listener and for making it all matter.
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