I think that having childhood friends who become established and renowned musicians is often time the best thing that can happen to someone who wanted to become a musician but didn't end up doing that for a living. You see just how hard being in a touring band is, if your act becomes extremely popular you see how taxing that is on someone psyche, the issues they have living a regular life, the issues they have building and maintaining relationships with people. And your biggest love becomes your job, and your obligation. You must play the biggest hits. You must try to stay relevant between releases. You must try to convince critics and fans that your music keeps being good. Every job becomes a job after a while, and there are plenty of ways to have a job that allows you to have a great life, while enjoy music as a passion instead of a constant obligation, all while avoiding the myriads of cons of becoming a touring musician.
Yeah man! I agree 100% on the pros and cons. I chose a life of teaching guitar rather than performing and as a result get to sleep in my own bed every night. Don't get me wrong, I think being a rock star would have been awesome but at a price. Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts. It's a part of being a performer that many people don't think about until it's on their doorstep.
@@joehansonguitar I honestly don't think humans are built for a life like that, being so constantly overscrutinised and always flying around, always away from home, often times living a life of excesses. It's not like "regular" people can't experience the same issues (especially in the era of social media), but the level and exposure experienced when you are in a massively successful act of any sort is just so extreme, and spread over so much time. Obviously, to each its own, I know I'm not built for it but for some people it might work. But I do really think you eventually get used to everything. I know that the first time I played with my band in a venue where I saw all my favourite bands play when I was younger, it felt absolutely magical. The second time? Not so much. I think that experiencing the joy of playing live music a bunch of times in your life can be extremely rewarding, and the implications of not doing it for the rest of your life can be equally satisfying. But as you said, a lot of people do not consider this when planning for a life in music, or any other performing art.
When I first started listening to LB and my mom found out , she told me that she went to school with Wes and would sit behind him in class braiding his hair even went to a few band practices. I honestly didn’t believe her until she showed me the year book . It’s so crazy to think she went to school with yall .
although i got halfway through the video. I couldn't help but notice you also went to the school with Marty Friedman!!!! How could you skip over that!!! Lol
I miss the old days in Jax, The Milk Bar shows, Einstein's in Jax Beach, etc. I knew John since 6th grade. I remember him being a bad ass on drums and playing guitar even by the 7th grade when we would hang out at his house off Lone Star and his dad always working on cars. He has earned every bit of where his career has taken him. It certainly didn't happen overnight. I didn't know Wes much and knew Fred a little mostly to him being good friends with my brother. They were all so humble back then. Even Fred. Very quiet and soft spoken and polite. I moved away and lost touch, but growing up in Jax was a blast. I sure don't miss the trouble we all got into though lol.
Man, did we ever meet?? Did you ever come to any of our shows? It's funny mentioned getting into trouble...there was one night we were at John's house and his parents were out to dinner. John had the brilliant idea to take one of the cars his dad was working on out to Einstein's at the beach. I was the only one with a drivers license so I drove. We got out there and had a great time. At one point as were standing outside smoking, I saw John's parents looking for us. All I can say is everyone but John rode in John's mom's car and John rode back with his dad. If you remember what a hard ass his dad was, I'm sure that was not a fun ride home for him lol. Thanks for watching the video and commenting! I realize later that I left a bunch of other cool stories out of the video as well as some great pictures I found!
@@QBprincess there may be a part 2 in the future. I met Sam but never really got to know him as I had my own musical direction I was going in as LB was honing their sound.
@@joehansonguitar I wanna say Christ the king, but feel like that’s wrong. Cool vid though!!! I worked at gyro wrap right down from Sam working at the chick fil a!
This is so fucking cool. i love always finding new underground information… but can i ask when the first few pictures of you, wes, and john where shot? i really can’t tell. Wes must’ve been like my age!! 17 16 maybe..?
One of my music professors said we are small muscle athletes. Some of these examples are just practice warmups, or at least should stay in the practice room. Another jazz professor would get on my case when I played too many notes (sax). Neil Young plays to boring and squeaky. I heard him cover a Jimmy Hendrix solo, really showed how bad Neil is.
