Music Career Talk 17

It might help to read the last few lines of last weeks blog, and with that said: so they packed up their Camaro and moved to (not Beverly)but Toronto Ont. Toronto is a beautiful city roasting hot summers and a winter you wouldn't believe. My singer and I had been signed to RCA in New York for a quick one album deal which lasted as long a bad cold. Being fed up with the New York music scene is what prompted us to leave and now it was time to conquer another music scene as well as another country. At this time in the late 70's Toronto had some cool music (maybe a little dated) with great players and lots of venues. First order of business was to put a band together. We had already found an agent who was the top guy in the city. We had a ton of experience having toured all over the country with rock stars and our recording from RCA, so putting a band together should happen pretty fast, and it did. We got a drummer (from Iran) a French keyboard player from Quebec and a Jewish bass player from New York. We rehearsed a full set of original material, called our agent and said we're ready to go, he replied "when I get something in for you guys I'll call you". WHAT!!!!!! We didn't move all the way to freaking Canada to hear that B.S. We had been living on savings which was dwindling away at an alarming rate. My singers wife found a job in the publishing business so they were safe. My wife and I had only been married a few months so this was a great introduction to my ability to supply a stable environment. We left Toronto on a cold autumn morning wondering what's next? We headed back to the U.S., but not New York, this time Virgina where my sister lived. We stayed there for about 6 months until one freaking great call from my singer who had found us a record deal with a small indie label through London Records distributed by Polydor, I think? So they packed up their bags once again and headed back to Toronto. We used some of the tracks from our RCA album and recorded a bunch of new tracks to make the new record. I flew a number of my musician friends up from New York to play on this record. These were the same people who said we would never get signed. The record was completed in the best studio in Toronto. We were the first band to get a major world wide deal in Canada from the states, kind of a reverse situation. We got a ton of press. "Who was this band from New York who came to Toronto and got signed?" It felt good. I remember the day we drove to get our album cover shot, we were on top of the world. I felt miles apart from the doubters and haters I had dealt with my whole life. We put a touring band together, I still keep in touch with some of those members who are still my good friends and read these blogs, thanks guys. We had our same agent and he put us to work in support of our release. We played all over and got really good. We performed at lots of colleges, clubs and did live radio concerts and interviews as well as playing the C.N.E. which is a very big deal in the Toronto summer concert season. This was great and what I wanted, but only lasted so long. No hit off the record and very weak promotion from the label =
the end of that dream and on to the next. My singer and I parted not on the best of terms, he stayed in Toronto (still there) and we headed to L.A. which turned out to be the best location decision we had ever made, and we're still here.
We arrived in Hollywood on a hot June morning in that same Camaro. Finding music industry work here would prove to be near impossible, but because I didn't know that I found work right away playing guitar and bass sessions. One thing lead to another and I helped promote "Motley Crue's" Too Fast For Love CD in the U.S. and Canada. This would be the spring board to my career in L.A. I know in this business who you know can be more important then what you know. You've got to fake it to make it. Next Sunday I'll finish this autobiographical story and you'll see what makes me tick. Thanks for your time.