For Those About to Rock...

AC/DC salutes me, for I am one of those about to rock.  ;)  I started relatively late in life, though. My father listened mostly to American country and some Brazilian music when I was growing up, and I neither had nor wanted any real musical equipment (or recordings) of my own, until I discovered the Beatles, with the help of my sixth- and seventh-grade teachers. Suddenly, I was ravenous. Starting with 'Revolver' and '20 Greatest Hits,' I soon ended up owning every official original Beatles album ever produced (and even a handful of bootlegs).

I loved the band and all of its music, whether it was the light pop of "She Loves You," the experimentation of "I Am The Walrus" and "Revolution No. 9," or the straight-ahead rock of "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey" and "Revolution." I became interested in rock music in general, and while I started listening to the radio, switching back and forth between oldies, 'classic' rock, and top-40 stations, I was hungry to learn more about where today's music had come from. Over the next few years, I schooled myself in rock and roll, buying albums from different sub-genres such as progressive/art rock (King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Yes), psychedelic/acid rock (the Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead), early heavy metal (Black Sabbath, Deep Purple), glam/glitter rock (David Bowie, T-Rex), and punk rock (the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Ramones). I quickly became a huge fan of Led Zeppelin, the Who, and the Rolling Stones, too, as well as some newer music (mostly new wave).

So, today, my music collection (close to 500 vinyl LP records and over 400 compact discs) includes all of the above, plus some speed/thrash metal, hardcore and 'new school' punk, jazz, blues, industrial, rap, bubble gum, classical, world beat, and lots of my fellow singer/songwriters. Current faves include Regina Spektor, Nine Inch Nails, Aimee Mann, Seal, Tori Amos, and... many more. I've been fortunate enough to have seen the Who, the Stones, Pink Floyd, the Pistols, and the Ramones in concert (though none of them with their original lineups). I've also seen (in no particular order) Roger Waters, Nine Inch Nails, Shannon and Natalie, Sting, the Police, the Violent Femmes, Aimee Mann, KISS, Run-DMC, Eric Idle, Tatiana Moroz, Jane's Addiction, Evelyn Forever, Steve Winwood, elizabeth!, the Smashing Pumpkins, David Byrne, Laura Cheadle, the Cure, LL Cool J, Metallica, Tori Amos, Margarita Shamrakov, Richie Havens, Kelly Clarkson, Living Colour, Big Blue Accident, Rush, Goli, the Rock Bottom Remainders (featuring Stephen King and Dave Barry!), Regina Spektor, Motörhead, Becca Hasselbrook, Timbuk-3, KT Tunstall, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Plastiscines, Limp Bizkit, Ashley Mounts, Paul Simon, the Rollins Band, thenewno2, Fall Out Boy, Kiyomi, Bruce Springsteen, Static-X, Ace Frehley, Busta Rhymes, the Indigo Girls, Eric Clapton, the Fiendz, Linkin Park, Rockstar Sissy, Taking Back Sunday, Chuck Prophet, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Ice-T and Body Count, Iron Maiden, Keith Urban, Sydney Price, Grafitti Man, Dan LaVoie, Marilyn Manson, Akon, Gary Numan, Mucky Pup, Def Leppard, Mudvayne, Ronnie James Dio, Lena, Foo Fighters, Dayglow, Alicia Keys, Blonde Redhead, Ozzy Osbourne, Serious Pilgrim, X, Little Joy, the Juliet Dagger, Gravity Kills, Les Paul (the man and the guitar), Kathleen Edwards, John Mayer, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Yerba Buena, Rob Zombie, Pete Townshend, Sleater-Kinney, Jeff Beck, Ludacris, New Skin, Dr. Israel, Mike Scott, the Deftones, Alanis Morissette, the 69 Eyes, Debbie Harry, Snag, the B-52's, Lissie, Jerry Harrison, Soulfly, Martin Rivas, Melissa Etheridge, Crowded House, Juliana Hatfield, the Smithereens, Program the Dead, the New Cars, Kanye West, the Tom Tom Club, Duncan Sheik, the Go-Go's, Stabbing Westward, Shonen Knife, Nickelback, Peter Gabriel, the Damnwells, They Might Be Giants, the Black Keys, the Comrades, Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band (at the time, that included Paul Carrack, Colin Hay, John Waite, Sheila E., and Mark Rivera), Verona Grove, the Robert Cray Band, Lenny Kravitz, Blondie, Favors for Favors, Bon Jovi, Queensrÿche, Condemned, Inky Glass, and several other well-known and unknown original and cover bands, and I haven't stopped going to shows yet. Not a bad mix, eh? Music (recorded and live) has long been a very important part of my life, and I'm glad of that.

I think the fact that I got into the heavier stuff later in life has helped me appreciate true musicianship more. When my peers were bangin' their heads to the Crüe or Metallica, I was still awed by "Who's Next" and the waltzes of Johann Strauss. I didn't start listening to metal or punk records as a rebellious teen, but as a curious young adult music fan. I'm probably one of the few people my age who didn't listen to "Master of Puppets" when it came out but will blast the hell out of it now, and I like Metallica's newer stuff, too (well, "St. Anger" not so much...). I'm older, and there's a lot of mellow stuff in my collection nowadays, but that doesn't mean I can't still thrash to some Snag or pogo to the Ramones or pump my fist to NIN.

I try to rotate my current listening from time to time. It's too easy to get hooked on the same albums or bands and not listen to anything else, even when you've got an extensive iTunes library. I'm listening to more music from the lesser-known and independent bands/artists I've come across over the years, some of whom I've had the good fortune to meet and get to know, online and/or off. Some of my favorite known and unknown artists are on this Links page, as well as being friends on my 'band' MySpace page.

My eclectic tastes in listening to music have, undoubtedly, affected my own creativity as well. I've consciously and unconsciously revealed influences in my recordings already. The very first Not An Exit recording of "Dead," back in 1992 when I could barely play the guitar at all, featured an attempt at a Chuck Berry/Billy Zoom-style lick, which has been carried through to almost every subsequent recording of the track; in my opinion, I nailed it just right for "Dead (again)." The handful of covers I've done are obviously tributes (after a fashion) to the original artists, and "Not Fade Away" manages to acknowledge Bo Diddley, George Thorogood, U2, and the Who (and even Andersen Silva!), in addition to Buddy Holly. My own "Source of Pain" borrows a bit from the Beatles' "And I Love Her." The title (though little else) of "Blond on Blonde" was inspired by Bob Dylan. "J-ded" is, lyrically, a response to Billy Joel's "Angry Young Man," just as "That's Just What I Am" is a tongue-in-cheek answer to Aimee Mann's "That's Just What You Are." And I think I remain influenced by Nine Inch Nails, Pink Floyd, Talking Heads, and others... Thanks for the music, guys!