A Barking Dog

The weekend after Labor Day 1980 was my first paying gig. I was the grunt at a local festival. I think I got twenty five bucks and lunch. For the next couple of years I loaded my mini truck with band gear and whatever PA we had hacked together at the time and did the OC/So Cal punk rock club scene. At that time we all had day jobs. We made records, did gigs and went on weekend or weeklong jaunts on the West Coast and So Cal. About a year and a half later I lost my day gig, a victim of the oil industry crash of the early ’80s. In my exit interview from Fluor the interviewer asked what I planned to do and I said I had every intention of staying in the petrochemical process design industry and finish my mechanical engineering degree. It wasn’t a secret that I was involved in the local music biz. At one time I was put on report for not working manditory overtime due to my commitments doing one of my first records. At the exit interview it was asked if I was still interested in the music biz. I said I was, but that engineering was my main focus. I thought it strange afterward, as I was departing she wished me luck and much success in the music biz. It turns out that during that crash, guys with 10 years experience in the biz couldn’t buy a job. A nearly 20 year old that left engineering school to take the job and who seemed more interesting in the music biz didn’t stand a chance.

I spent the next several months doing local gigs for little or no money, hanging with the high school aged girlfriend, living at home, burning through my unemployment insurance. I was managing a couple of bands and had a small record label, though they really generated little income other than mostly pay for themselves. During that time, the manager of one of the bands I worked with got a gig running a new full service production company, that also had a studio, label and mobile divisions. I did the odd show with them and worked in the shop for free. I started to realize I wasn’t going to get a petrochem gig, and at this point I didn’t want one. I wanted to make my living in the music biz. I enrolled in the music biz/recording arts program at Golden West College. Eventually I had to go back to work and got a gig working graveyard for the local newspaper as the Assistant District Manager for adult paper carriers. We worked six days a week, from 2 AM until mid morning, often until noon. It still allowed me to work gigs. I hated it, though.

One fall morning, after my shift, I got “the call”. One of the the house bands at the production company, the pet band of the owner needed a guy for the tour promoting their major label debut. They thought they would do it with one guy but couldn’t. They had a small PA and lights and were doing club gigs and support gigs for larger hair farmer bands that were popular at the time. They wanted me to fly to Tucson that morning, do the gig that night then drive with two other guys the 24′ Ryder to El Paso. A hundred and fifty bucks a week, seven dollars a day PD. Plus all the beer, pizza and 80’s hair band rock chicks we wanted.

That was pretty much what started it some years ago. Through some breaks, favors and hardwork I was able to get to a point to do this full time and make a living. There were (and occasionally still are) some rough parts but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 9th, 2005 at 10:02 pm and is filed under Barking Dog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.