You assume a responsibility when you get paid. Even if you're not getting money for a gig, once you step on stage, you're responsible for giving it all you got. That doesn't come from only me or Mike or Alex, it's what we all believe. Not only that, but you have to balance work with play. You have to. It's what the kids need to learn. We're not sacrificing education for rock star dreams, nor are we sacrificing fun to working hard.
Tell me more about Chris and Mikey.
Getting the kids involved with the blues has been wonderful. It's opened up all sorts of doors. You know, you want the boys to learn and absorb the history and culture of the blues — of all music — and you want them to want to carry on the tradition with a sense of reverence. It doesn't always work out that way, but with Mikey and Chris, it's working.
With the blues, it seems a simple enough art form that ends up taking forever to master, or at least attempting to master. Sort of like the journey being as important as the destination. The discoveries we make are priceless, like that Visa commercial.
And the boys, knowing they're gaining memories and practical experience from it makes it even more exciting for all of us.
My nephew Mikey is 16 and in 11th grade. This is where most kids would either lose interest, fight having to practice, or go off on some head bangin' metal tangent. But Mikey's dedicated and he's really talented. He's playing beyond what you'd expect from a 16-year-old kid.
When you think of his role in the band, it's a big responsibility. He sets the pace for the band. As the bass player, I depend on him to keep it together. The rest of the band, they solo and fly through chords, but Mikey's carrying a lot of weight in keeping us on track. He never gives up and he never ceases to amaze me.
And Chris?
I'm gonna let Chris take this one and I'll chime in later.
Okay, Chris, let's start with meeting B.B. King.
Oh man, that was awesome! We spent, like, 30 minutes on the bus with him after one of his shows. Mikey and I had to wait for these other people to finish with him and they had about 80 things they wanted signed. I just wanted my turn, but then, I sort of realized the longer they took, the more time we got to hang out on B.B. King's bus! And it turned out the people we were waiting on were the owners of the restaurant where we play now.
Article comments
1 - Connie Phillips
Congratulations! This article was an Editor's Pick this week.
2 - John Cotton
Great write up, Thank you,
We consider it a honour to be listed as "One of The Top Ten Blues Bands To Watch"
The only thing I forgot to mention when we were talking on the phone was a big part of our "Shut The Front Door" recording session involved our engineer D'Arcy McGilligan he is on the Berklee College of Music advisary board for recording and has worked with Rick Derringer and George Wallace Jr (Lt Gov of Alabama) and we were both written up in the Berklee newsletter, Here is a link to that newsletter.
Also the "A Guy Out In Hollywood" is Skip Adams of Global Graffiti Music here is the link to his website Global Graffiti Music
John Cotton (The Bluesers)