Part II - BUILDING A NEW RIDE

That was about the mood, some 3 1/2 years ago. Perhaps a tad melodramatic, but then I'd first ask you to live the experience, and then lay judgment. Things had run their course. We got complacent, a tad board, stagnant. Pressures increased daily, personal problems were always existent. Musicians truly are a breed of their own. Only when it's one's time, and the fates dictate it so, it happens, you find the people you can tolerate enough and that share the same vision. And the longevity of that is then left into your hands. Self-discipline is not a musician's, or any artistic person's, forte. And the effects of that run the spectrum of being a nuisance to catastrophic.

Time affects every one of us differently. It changes some for the good, some for the bad. It improves us, authenticates us, matures us, or sends us further down our own personal spirals. At that time, we were two chubby kids and two skinny kids that shared the same idea. Not always seeing eye-to-eye or walking in harmony, but then again, every family argues, no matter how much they smile. The time that has passed has matured me; at least I'd hope it did. I wondered if it had anyone else. Time kept my fire of creation and love for music burning. I'd cringe at eMpTV and at the radio, as I always had. With genuine distaste sometimes, other times, jealousy.

The break from being in a band gives you time to reflect on what was right, what was wrong, and how much of that you can and are willing to change. The desire to make music again is so overwhelming, the creative beast had awakened, and it stomps out to kill in a brand new season. It was time to see what else had changed, beyond my own cave walls. I went out, fired up the Nova, and drove off to see the one person I absolutely could not have a band without, because of principal, talents, and shared vision. I had to go out and see Sparky...

Well who is this guy you may wonder? I had first met Sparky (aka Shawn) in 1995, by tricking him and a bass player he was in a band with. I created a glossy looking, eye-candy flyer. My "band" Chafe, who was no more myself and 3 other guys who played a total of 1 hour in a hot assed attic until we got tossed by the complaining of the neighbors. Cops. Funny how that goes, all those slack jawed crack heads stumbling around the area, but let's get right on that call about those loud ass punk rockers. But I digress.

By the time I arranged for Shawn and Joey (now in FeltSideOut), to come over, Chafe was just me and a stoned-beyond-belief, suicidal, metal guitarist, Cliff. We had no rehearsal space, so we auditioned Shawn and Joey in Cliff's hash and roach encrusted apartment. I could just imagine what they thought of a vocalist without a P.A., a guitarist without an amp, no rehearsal space, and we're here trying to audition them. Well, if anything I was a good salesman, and I had a vision. I mentioned to them if they had ever heard of a band named Clutch? Sparky's peepers lit up, behind a facade of ever cool, and replied he had. I told him, that is my main influence, and had hoped to someday achieve that kind of sound. If I recall, they then played the intro to Big News 1. A band, a friendship and a creative relationship were born that day -- A true testament to the power of music.

To cover all what happened in that band, would mean the point of this experiment would be useless, as it would become redundant to share the history of Chafe, and then go through it all over again with M-22. Click the link if you would be so curious to know the rest of the story.

The journey I pose to you is the forming of a rock band. Made up of individuals that dream of what they may, but live what they have to. Our anchors are firmly planted, but our aspirations never will be. Making and playing original rock and roll falls only behind our families and jobs. We are men that are backbones of families and relationships, and balance that life against the calling of the mistress of music. I encourage you to come back about every 3 weeks for a new installment of the rising of a phoenix named M-22. See where it goes, get your vicarious band experience here, or laugh when we fail, what you bring from it, as with anything you digest in any medium, is ultimately up to you. We ride it as far as it will take us...