JimmyR
I had never said I wouldn't play again. I just needed a long break from it, but I never thought it would be this long! I realized that to re-gain the part of myself I'd lost along the road, I needed to play. I decided to find some guys and put a band together.
But things were different in my life. For one, Scottsboro has a limited pool of available talent, although there are some pretty heavy-weight players in the area. Huntsville was the obvious choice, but I was way outta practice at hanging out and making the scene to meet people. It's close enough to Scottsboro, but now close enough that you can run down to the club, have a couple of beers, and come home on a work night.
Fate intervened in that, too. Christie and I had gone to an old friend of hers who what having a 'Dirty Santa' party for Christmas 2000. There I saw a guy I just knew had to be a musician. I struck up a conversation and found out that he was the guitarist in a band called Black Label who had just finished their new CD. A few months later when they played we got an email invite from Craig and we went and caught the show. The band was fantastic and we boogied all night long. I became friends with Craig and he began to make it his mission to find some guys for me to play with.
Since I didn't have any guys at the time, I was doing a solo thing where I programmed the drums, recorded the bass and any backing vocals or rhythm guitar, and played and sang live. It was an educational experience, and quite a bit of fun, but it was nothing like a living, breathing group. I only did a couple of gigs to almost no one, but Craig and his buddy/singer Dave and their wives came out to see me and we had a blast.
I continued to go out and see Black Label whenever I got the chance, and one time they asked me to do my solo-digital thing between their sets. It was a chance to get in front of their crowd and get myself known. That night, Craig and Dave introduced me to drummer Doug Sylvia and we hit it off right away. Doug felt that we would make a good team, so we got together and jammed a bit, trying out bass players and just jamming with guitar and drums.
The bass guy finally showed up in the form and presence of Kevin Bennett, whom Doug knew from the "Likker" industry. We had two problems: to pry him away from the band he was currently in and work around the building of his house! But somehow we managed and now here we are, cranking it out in front of thousands (well, dozens) of screaming (well at least speaking!) fans here in the Huntsville area.
We love doing what we're doing, and are trying to forge our own sound based on blues and some good old hard rock. The pleasure is not only in the playing, but in hanging out with all of our friends, musicians and fans alike. I feel soooo much better now that I have my creative outlet, and after all these years can say I feel like my old self.
Only, I hope, better!
