I spend more time talking about bands, ideas, concepts, and my beliefs than I do about my own career. I am not trying to write a book or a blog about me, I am trying to write it about the different approaches independent musicians can take in the industry.  I have referenced examples from my career and discussed some of my concepts, but I have to admit that I laughed the other day when I got an email asking where I am coming from. To be honest, at first I was offended. But as I read on, I saw that this guy was really appreciative of the things I have written and was honestly inquiring about how I came to be where I am now.

So, I am taking a little break from the usual and am going to talk about my past and explain where I am coming from. However, if you are looking for tips, advice, or hints, it's not in this blog - so look at an old one or wait for tomorrows, because this here is about me!

For starters, (and I am pointing this toward one of my favorite readers), yes, Vickie, I am 34. I am not 50, as someone asked if I was the same guy who played drums in a show back in 1985 somewhere down south. That answer would be "no". I was 11 years old in 1985 and had yet to pick up the drums.

I started drumming in 1987, when a woman on my paper route who let me come in and play her drums finally told me that I could have the drum set. I didn't wait for my mother to pick me up.  I mean, that was two hours away and I was just given my first drum set! I lugged each piece down Thistle Lane and across the street to my house, and immediately set them up in the garage.

I developed a love of music while very young. My mom would play records and I would listen to everything from Sesame Street and Disney , to Elvis, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Dave Brubeck, Lovin' Spoonful, and Paul Simon. I was fascinated by album covers and loved the covers of both the real Saturday Night Fever (with John Travolta on the cover) and the Sesame Street version as well. I remember loving the Disney soundtracks. I can still hear "When I See an Elephant Fly" and know it, note for note, from Dumbo to West Side Story.

I also started going to concerts at a very young age. My parents took me to Cheap Trick when I was three. I was exposed to a lot of art outside of music. My mother would bring us to plays, movies, art exhibits, and science museums to show us different things.. The diversity I was given, especially by my mother, gave me most of the core foundational elements through which I approach production.

As I started drums and really got in to music, I was crazy about everything. I loved INXS and had every one of their albums, but I was also just as wild about Hendrix. I was told by some of my teachers in elementary school that I had a different and eclectic taste. I loved Duran Duran, The Oak Ridge Boys, Black Sabbath, Jim Croce, B.B. King, Johnny Cash, Dire Straits, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, Traffic, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Otis Redding, The Pretenders, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis Presley, Tom Petty, Hall and Oates, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Alan Parsons Project, Thomas Dolby, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Parliament Funkadelic, Jackson Browne, XTC, Public Enemy, Miles Davis, U2, James Brown, The Police, The Who, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, R.E.M., Barry Manilow, The Eagles, Genesis, Earth, Wind and Fire, De la Soul, Elton John, Billy Joel, The Sex Pistols, The Smiths, David Bowie, Yes, Aerosmith, Michael Jackson, Lionel Ritchie, Metallica, Beastie Boys, The Cure, Morrisey, The Doors, Black Crowes, Eurhythmics, Doobie Brothers and Frank Zappa.

How's that for an early list of inspirations?????

I loved listening to everything. I might not have always been a fan of certain songs or bands but I always found it fascinating to hear how songs were put together. My first band was called The Prophylactics. To give you an idea of how good we were, I was brought in as the drummer not three months after picking up the drums. These guys were all a good couple years into each of their instruments, and I was the only drummer around. We sucked, but it was fun. Dan Stokes, who was in my grade and the band, introduced me to all sorts of music I had never heard of. It was a blast and yet very short lived.

I played a packed house party with the group in a town called Belchertown, Massachusetts. However, it was a living room- so the seven kids and the band stuffed in a mini offshoot to a dining room is what made it packed. That night, I decided I wanted to be a drummer. I played with a number of people in my school and played with a whole bunch of the local college groups as well. I was snuck in to the bars by older friends and was able to play with tons of musicians, young and old, all through my time in high school.

I watched my stepbrother in law's band and learned a lot from them as I watched other groups starting to blow up while others fizzled and faded away. It was a non-stop education and I loved it. I applied to one college because I didn't want to go anywhere else: I wanted Berklee College of Music and if I didn't get in, I would practice tillI was good enough. There was no back up. This pissed off my family, but that was my plan.

I did get in and stayed for a couple semesters. Casey Scheurell, a drummer that I was a big fan of and a teacher at Berklee at the time, helped me make the decision to drop out and work harder and with a new approach. I took lessons with Gary Chafee, who is an amazing teacher and worked me harder than anyone ever has. When I was studying with him, I was also delivering pizzas three nights a week, playing in four groups, and practicing seven hours a day. It sounds crazy, but in the end, it was worth it.

I am not going to bore people and go deeper into every recording, gig, and tour. As it states in my short bio, I have been a part of 308 albums at this point. I would like to clarify that I was not on every track of every album and none of these were my own albums. I have worked as a session drummer, a ghost drummer, a producer, an assistant producer, and a percussionist. These include major releases, international releases, and completed independent recordings that were pressed. It does not include incomplete sessions or demos. All of these recordings, at one time or another could be purchased or ordered. That, in my mind, is what I qualify as a recording. There is no way to track every recording I've made and it's impossible to even attempt to count.

I got the experience of doing short weekend runs and then tours that lasted a little longer and a little longer. I made money and lost money. Within the same week I would go from relaxing in five star hotels to couch surfing and living out of my car. A lot of the views and opinions I have and  share do not come from all the success stories. The majority comes from the lessons that other's graciously taught me. I was able to avoid their mistakes because I listened and learned. However, I still made my share of mistakes and did things that were not always the brightest.

A couple unknown highlights and inspirations that I will never forget: I got to play double drums with Greg Bissonette one afternoon. I had dinner with Little Feat and got to spend an afternoon with Richie Hayward. I had the chance to record with some of my favorite producers I played a couple songs and did a clinic for some kids with Duff Mckagen, from Guns and Roses, and Mike Mcready, from Pearl Jam. This was a very special highlight for me. I grew up loving those guys and getting to hang and perform with them on a summer morning was a thrill. I got to experience what it felt like to perform in front of a stadium full of people. However the beautiful balance to that was playing not a week later in front of two people and one of them was the bartender. I noticed the beautiful balance to the industry while playing not a week later in front of two people, bartender included. I liked and continue to like the wild and wide spectrum of work I have done and get to do.

When my career went to a higher level, I paid attention to each event and experience that occurred. I too got caught up in things and at one point, needed my amazing friend and fellow musician to quickly come and slap me in the back of the head and ground me. That grounding saved my career and sparked my drive to stay more centered and focused. Some times were awesome, other times sucked. The difference was that I loved what I was doing, and whether it was an amazing tour or a tour that didn't work out, it was all a learning experience.

I am far from perfect. I was replaced in the studio; I lost tours and was fired from bands. For all the hype and great times and resume builders, there was the other side of the coin. It was just as important to experience those losses and bad times. They only ended up reinforcing and creating better times in the future.

To me it seems like many producers and musicians want to paint a perfect career. I would rather be honest and talk about the successes and the failures. To me, it shows the true spectrum of a person while at the same time, displays how someone can learn and grow in the best ways from successes and failures. A lot of my approaches come from the versatility of the groups I played with and the people I encountered.

I know what it feels like to be shoved in the back of a very small van needing to cover seven hours on the road to stretching out in a tour bus playing video games for hours. I remember everything from the techs helping us load and set up equipment to the fights with that singer who would never carry a damn thing.

The approach I try to take with artists from the standpoint of a producer, an advisor, or a consultant, is from a spectrum view of many facets and levels of the industry.. Some musicians only experience a linear level of success. They obtain a single recording contract with a single label and they learn the music industry from one point of view. That doesn't make it wrong, but it makes it very limited. I have mentioned musicians in the last who think, "this is how the industry is and how it works". It is not that they are wrong, but it is how the industry works with that type of music on that type of label with that type of contract.

What I have prided myself on is a view from the many different aspects of the industry I have seen: different genres to different labels, different tours to different agents, different budgets to different successes, different problems to different failures. I, in no way, claim to be an expert on the industry - I am just delivering a wide view of different approaches, views, and opinions based on what I have experienced and collected over the years.

I know I speak harshly at times in the blogs, but it is about pushing people to push themselves. If you have the drive, the problem solving skills, and the capacity to learn and accept that things might not be how you think they are - you have a chance. The opportunities today are greater than ever for musicians to make their mark and achieve success, but not necessarily become millionaires. Still, if you could make a good living and afford a lifestyle that was decent, as well as having the insurance you need and some money to put away for retirement, kids education and whatever else, wouldn't that be great as well?

I believe that a certain standard has to be achieved and I have always pushed to achieve what I set my sights on. People cut corners and then wonder what went wrong and find ways to blame others. People try to forget mistakes. Don't forget them - learn from them. I look back at the failures and mistakes in my career and embrace them and analyze them just as much as the successes. Why did that fail? What went wrong? When did it go wrong? On the other hand, don't just settle for success…Understand it!!!! When did it take the turn and start really going right? Why is this working? How did it work?

When you look at all sides of your career, yourself, and the industry around you, you can use this well-rounded view to create the best game plan to get what you want. This is how I have handled and continue to handle my career. This is how I have learned the things I have learned and developed the theories, ideas, and concepts that I discuss in the blogs. This is also how I continue to grow. Keep learning and never claim to know it all. No one is a master. Every one can learn from someone else. I am still learning this industry. It is ever changing and is not the same industry I started in.

I believe that musicians have a better chance to have self-sufficient sustainable success in the music industry now more than ever.

I believe a musician can control their career and their music, and maintain the rights to their name, their likeness, and the decisions that have to be made.

I believe a musician has to be more than "just about the music" to make it today. Today's definition of a successful musician is someone that is an artist, a creator, a good communicator, a hard worker, and a businessperson.

I believe that the process I have created in the Freedom Solutions Recording Plan is something that should be applied by musicians. With the detail, effort and attention to clarity and simplicity, it is an amazing and wonderful way for the artist, the industry as a whole and the charity that the artist is donating to.

I believe that I have never been happier in my life as I am now. I am working with artists that are creating art, becoming role models for other musicians, and giving a percentage of their earnings to charity. This is something greater that just trying to get some fancy record deal. 

I believe in working with an artist to create and produce the music they hear inside their head but can't always explain or play at first. I believe that as a producer, production points should not be taken and I do not take them any more.

I believe I have had a great career so far with a great deal of wonderful highs and terrible lows. I know that these experiences will only help me write better blogs and be a better producer for the artists that work with me.

So that is "where this guy is coming from," in case you wanted to know.