How I Failed Miserably for the 2nd Time
Auditioning to be in a Bend Band as a Newbie only to Crash and Burn
The first time I gathered enough courage to audition for another band was shortly after I was first married with Shannon. The time seemed to be right and the Bend music vibe was red hot during the time with a lot of great bands coming to bend at Les Schwab Amphitheater, like the Flaming Lips, the Pixies and many more. I answered an ad that was looking for a singer, and it was almost the same environment, "so you want to be a singer? Learn these songs and meet us at this place during this time.”
The good thing is I actually listen to the music this time (unlike my first audition), learned my lesson there. Also, thankfully, they were a rock cover band with music I really enjoyed, like classics from The Who and The Black Keys, who were pretty new back then.
Then, like before, I went up to this place, met with these people, then was given an audition. I sang a couple of songs, the drummer was kind of snarling - the bassist was, "good job…" He was a nice guy, he was encouraging. I don't know if it was the first practice session or if it was the second, but it was one of them. The next day, I got a scathing email that says, "you suck, don't you ever think about doing this again." Along those lines, something sounded like, "you are not going to be a musician, so give it up, don't waist our time again."
It was like a go-jump-off-a-bridge-because-you-don't-belong-on-this-planet type of email. Looking back, the email didn't really bother me. I didn't actually want to be in that band anyway. They seemed to have a very angry vibe about them and didn’t seem like they weren't pleasant to be around in general. Also, it didn't seem like the right place for me to be in any way, so in my mind, they kind of let me off the hook.
It was really nice though, the bassist actually emailed shortly after that email and said, "hey man, I'm sorry, what a bunch of jerks," He said that I did just great and to please keep on trying."
Well… I did. Actually, it was a good boost of inspiration from that guy named Bird. I convinced my wife that I wanted to buy a lower-end guitar. I got a Yamaha acoustic, and I tried to teach myself over again how to play. I wasn't a good musician, I wasn't a good player, but I was a damn good marketer. In marketing, I knew you needed good photography or a blog and build a public sense that you are a musician. I went downtown to a friend's shop, Volcano Vineyards, and I used their beautiful sunlit area to fake it, so I looked like I was singing a little bit in there. The shop owners wanted a photo, and I got to use my guitar and microphone, which was plugged into nothing. I got some nice shots and started posting my musing of playing music. Shortly after that, Bird, the bassist from that band who tried to murder my inspiration, contacted me and said, “hey you know what? I quit that band. Those guys and I were not on the same page and I kind of noticed what you were doing with your blog. You want to get together at my garage studio?" He said, "come over to my place so we can see if we can work on getting something going.”
I responded, “holy shit! Hell yeah! This is the actual step into something that I've been looking for in the past 10-20 years!"