I’ve been in a number of serious rock bands. (Maybe that’s been my problem all along....being too serious, but that’s a discussion for another time, perhaps.) For now, a discussion of why none of my bands ever made it big. You see, none had all the flags. Check out my last entry “recipe for a rock band”. I’ve had good bands that never promoted, bad bands that only promoted and reasonable bands that never quite did enough.

Joe Clay is an example of the third category.

I met Ivan Rubenstein-Gillis at Bucks Rock Camp where we were both guitar teachers in 1991. Ivan writes amazing songs. The kind where you ask “who wrote that?” and it turns out it was him. That’s not to say he lacks his own style. He’s got tweaks all his own. Ivan and I formed Joe Clay (the name Clay was already taken) and we made some nice recordings and played some successful shows in the mid 1990’s. The folks we recruited to play loved us and our music like it was their own. We all invited our friends and we’d pack little clubs like Sine on St. Marks Place.

At the time, however, all Ivan had was an old out of tune nylon string guitar and that annoyed me. Basically our styles were at odds and that annoyed me. He really is a folkie and I’m more of a rocker and that kind of annoyed me. His nylon string and my telecaster never quite jelled in the band format. We were better on the porch in the summer time. He was in his early twenties at the time and hadn’t grown to be the brilliant man he is now. His songs hit and missed. Joe Clay alternately sounded like The Band and The Partridge Family. I just couldn’t take it. I had learned my people skills from people with bad people skills (more on them later) and I did not always stay positive.

The group had two female singers, Rachel and Cathy. They had issues with microphones. The band played too loud (especially me) and they did not project. The Bassist, Roberto, had deep mysterious issues that no one ever really knew. All I remember is that these issues made him very late a lot. Dave the drummer was the most mercenary of us. He was the only one of us who actually made a living playing music. However, to his credit, he showed up and did not complain about the lack of money. He had no issues except with me at the end. He made it clear, without ever really saying it, that there would be no further collaborations between us. Ultimately, I think he found my complaining a problem when he had done none.

The girls and Ivan all had issues with confrontation which ultimately made it impossible for them to work with me. I remember the turning point was me saying, “listen, stick your !@#$’n fingers in your !@#$’n ears!” during a recording session as we we’re practicing a four part harmony. They didn’t appreciate my “advice”.

Ultimately, I take the blame for this one myself as well. I just did not have the patience to stick with it until it sounded good. I never quit the band but I did not want to work with the girls anymore. Morale just dropped and that was the end of that. If we’d stayed together all this time we’d be incredible now but that would never have happened, even if I had been Gandhi.

Astronaut


- posted by danvt @ 12:05 PM