Posted recently to the Book of Faces:
To my friends and fans:
Just wanted to address the recent goings-on, before any more opportunity for speculation begins to take root. I’ve been touring Pennsylvania, the east coast, and half of the country for the better part of 17 years now. I have seen a lot and have played with many, many talented individuals, and for that, I am eternally grateful and the memories made across all the miles will always be treasured. I’ve recently come to the conclusion that I just need to take a break for a while. Playing guitar is one of the few things I take pride in. It is one of the very few things in life that I feel confident in saying “I think I do this well”. I still love to play and I love to perform, but I’m mentally and spiritually exhausted from it. Gary, Glenn, Dan, Mike, Rick, and Ray are like brothers to me. It pains me to feel like I’m letting them down like this, but at the same time, continuing to try to push forward when my heart isn’t 1000% in it would be a disservice to all of them, to all of our fans, and to myself.
My loving and always supportive wife has been to every single one of my shows since the beginning. She tried valiantly to get me to reconsider my decision and warned me that I might really regret making this choice. Possibly, at some point down the road, I might, but I know that this is something that I need to be able to miss doing, in order to be able to start appreciating it properly again. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and such. I need to recharge the batteries and allow time for the fire to start to grow again. And it will, some day. Just not today. To boot, I will now have even more time to aid my stepson in surpassing me at the guitar. He’s very well on his way already, at 14 years old. Keep an eye out for him.
So to all of you, thank you, for your support and for your friendship. Please continue to support Override and Brokin Cyrcle, as they’re projects I’ll still continue to be proud of. This isn’t goodbye. It’s “see you around”.
So yeah. Time to take a break. It was a tough call, but I know it's the right choice. No more driving over icy mountain roads at 3 AM, half asleep. No more paying half the money I made back to the club for dinner and drinks, because we had to leave so early there was no time to make dinner before going. No more having friends over to swim in the summer, then saying "Nice to see ya, but it's 3:00, so I have to start getting ready to leave!" No more making my wife engage in 12 hours worth of band hassle, to sit in a bar and listen to the same 45-ish songs once again. No more grimacing when someone calls to ask if I'm available for a gig and having my first thought be "Great, another weekend I don't get to myself", as opposed to "Great, another opportunity to jam!" No more people outside my immediate family relying on me being available for them. No more worrying about who might get upset about what and who they might end up alienating over it. No more wanting to drink heavily, but knowing I can't, because I have to drive home still. No more.
I'm not quitting forever, for good. I just need time for us to have free weekends together. Time for her to get to spend more weekends with her 14 year old who's growing up fast. Time to do random things that we might not have had time for before. When you spend so much time out and in bars, the weekends you DO get off, all you want to do is stay in and go nowhere. Now we'll be able to go places and do things, and who knows, maybe once in a while, we'll actually go see someone else's band (I'm constantly getting invites from other bands to come see them). It has been a hectic year. This Saturday will be my last full show (still doing an opener in January), and it will be my 22nd gig this year. My 11th since August 30th. And while that may not sound like a lot, it is. Especially when it wrecks almost your entire Saturday, then you're tired and lazy all day Sunday. Friday shows are even more trying, as you have to hurry up and get your shit together after leaving work.
It is a glamorous thing to be in a band and be able to take the stage and entertain people, even if it's just a random crowd of drunken rednecks. When we're playing, everything is right. It's just all the time OFF stage that I'm tired of. There are so many things that go into being in a band that most people can't even begin to realize. It takes a toll after a while and a LOT of my musician friends have encouraged me, saying "I've been there - sometimes, you just have to walk away for a while - I did!"
So at some point, I will get back into it again. Doing what? I don't know. It will depend on who I can recruit. My first thoughts are either some sort of retro 80's party band, a la Rubix Kube (
www.rubixkube.com) or a 3-piece blues band. The 80's thing will certainly have wider appeal, but the 3-piece blues thing will be easier to sing and will require less effort. We'll see what happens.
So at any rate, that's the goings-on lately.
Topic: A Momentous Decision (Read 1296 times)
