Over time I plan to share the things in my life that make me happy or have in the past and things I am super passionate about.
For my first ever entry I will discuss…
MUSIC!
As a current Stand Up comedian I can understand how it might seem odd that I would make my first blog post about music and not comedy.
Well, I will try to do my best to explain that, but I barely know why myself.
The one and biggest reason I keep coming back to music is the fact that Music was my first love in life.
If it wasn’t for music I really don’t know how I would have made it through my pre teen and teenage years of life.
So I have to in a way talk about music first.
The image above and to the right is from the last band I was in. I was a Rock Star in the making (Hahahaha) This is how I knew I was gonna be a comedian.
All My life I wanted and craved this dream to play guitar or drums on a stage in front of adoring fans and that was all I could think about. Nothing else mattered that much to be honest.
At the age of 9 I started playing drums in my church and was taking lessons from a place called Drummers Choice in Brampton Ontario. My teacher was the amazing Jeff Salem. A legend in the area, and others I’m sure.
(As I write this I google Jeff and get lost for an hour reacting to the memories and watching all his new videos and accomplishments)
Then I spent my entire adolescents trying to get bands together and find people as serious as I was or on the same wave length and level at least to accomplish this….. I never did
This became the biggest reason for my turn to comedy eventually, but I will dive into that in another blog specifically for that.
I started playing the guitar when I accidentally signed myself up for a guitar class in grade 9. Near the end of grade 8 we had to choose our courses as we moved up to high school.
It was around this time in my life when I started not caring about school much. Music was everything to me and I just randomly picked some courses and did not realize till the first day of high school that I had picked this class.
It was a beginner course in the freaking guitar. It was amazing
They rented out these classical guitars to us for the semester that we could take home. My passion for music just exploded as soon as I had a guitar in my hands. IT WAS OVER!
I couldn’t get this thing out of my hands. The exam at the end of the year was to perform a cover song in front of the class and other attendees. I wrote my own. I couldn’t stop writing. I had a binder full of poems and lyrics that I would sit around and put to music eventually.
Every free moment was spent to writing
At 18 I left that binder of my life’s writings in some random drug house in Alberta and then moved back to Ontario….Never to see it again. Everything I had written down for 5 straight years. From 13 to 18. The most influential moments of a messed up kids thoughts and life time.
Gone.
It didn’t stop me from continuing to reach for that music dream but it was a swift and sharp kick to the musical ballsack.
I kept trying. Band after Band. Over and over. Same eventual results. People who just didn’t care as much or just gave up.
I still love to play my guitar and drums whenever I can and I will once again get back to creating and writing music for real at some point in my future.
I am a fan of most genres of music and eventually I will share more of these with you all, but for now let me share some stuff that has got me to where I am musically and what I enjoy the most……METAL!
I’m not referring to your radio metal like Five Finger Death Punch or Disturbed.
I’m speaking of the Metal that none of your friends ever let you play at a party and request you play Ed Sheeran again for the millionth time for them to enjoy
But Anyway….
Let me share some of my favorite metal bands with you
THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER
These dudes absolutely RIP! And I can’t express that point enough.
The consistency from this band never ceases to amaze with every album. Even considering all the lineup changes they have been through. Hopefully they can rest on the members they have now and continue for a few albums at least. It’s getting tough trying to keep up with who’s an active member and who’s not. But either way they remain on the top of my list
I’ve only seen them live once. But hoping to raise that number some time soon.
Here’s some examples of a few of my favorite tracks and videos
As I Lay Dying
Man…..I can’t really explain the love I have for this band. From the moment I heard Confined I was Hooked.
This band has had it’s major issues in the past, but they have come back with a vengeance.
An instant love at first listen for me. Seen them live twice now and hopefully Canada let’s them cross the border again soon. Or they play a show on the west coast and I can trek down to catch them
Here’s just a couple tracks I need to share, but would recommend the whole library from them for sure
Now I know I can ramble on for way too long when it comes to music, but I know with the way today’s society is I lost your attention already back on the second paragraph.
So I guess since no one’s reading anymore I can add one more band. Now I know this band does not really fit in amongst the metal I have already shared, but it is a band that I need to share so you can understand where my metal journey began way back in ’94.
This band is the reason I saved my cash as a teenager to buy a 7 string guitar. I just wanted to emulate my hero’s at the time and learn all their songs.
I braided my undercut hair in high school just to be like the guitarist Head from the band. He was my first real idol outside of sports. I was completely obsessed with them throughout my angsty teenage years.
From the moment I heard Jonathan Davis scream “ARE YOU READY” on their debut album I was infatuated with it all….I knew I Was Ready
I have seen them well over 10 times in my life to this point and I will continue to make that number rise. They put on one the greatest live shows I’ve ever seen….. I am a Korn Groupie
And now without further ado…..
So I’m gonna stop there with this way too long blog. But just so we are clear, this has not even scratched the surface of the amount of rambling I can do about music.
There will definitely be a part 2 coming at some point…..But I do need to eventually talk about other things right?
Jay.R.
