So patman's post about leaving the music biz gave me the idea to share my recent experiences. After 8 years of 50+ shows per year, I have now not played a gig in 6 months. For various reasons, I decided to step away. And funny thing - I had been uninspired to write for years, but once I made the decision to get out of cover band-land, I started spewing ideas like crazy! I'm LISTENING to and DISCOVERING more music, I'm GOING to more shows, and I'm WRITING again. It's been good. Kind of a relief from the day job/family/gigs grind. I didn't need that extra $15K a year anyway...
So a guitar player friend and fellow prog fanatic that I've known for 30 years and I are finally doing the prog project we've been talking about for a few years now. We're sharing writing duties. I'm doing bass, synths, and vocals. He's got a Roland setup on his guitar. I found a really cool electric violinist (7 string through a guitar rig), and recruited the drummer from the last original band I was in (Ivory Wire). I'm still trying to find a name everyone likes.
I've realized I have a lot of great resources available too - people who are willing and eager to help out. Really GOOD people - producer, live engineer, photographer, web designer, booking agents... Even though, at the end of the day, this is "for fun", I still intend to make it as top quality as I can. There are some good venues in Chicago for this kind of thing, and I have some possible "ins" as local support for national acts. We have a ton of stuff written. Things are moving VERY slowly due to availability (drummer and violinist), but I plan to record 4 songs ASAP, then get some live shows under our belt before recording another half dozen or so. Very exciting and inspiring stuff!
I've got 1 "sub" gig this summer with a band that does all Zep, Aerosmith, VH, and AC/DC. I may return to that world some day, but for now, I'm enjoying some time off!
