In My Humble Headphones

I used to cringe when people woul say, I don’t know how I lived without my iPhone. But now I’ve had a change of heart. I really don’t know how I lived without my iPhone.

Part One: Falling in Love

Ever since I wanna say about 5th grade I have loved this band.  blink-182 epitomizes modern music for me.  Growing up I was never a huge fan of mainstream music, but something about blink just did it for me.  I believe it was on a field trip in 5th grade where I first heard “Dammit” on the “Dude Ranch” LP, and immediately I was in love.  I remember fighting with my mother over letting me buy “Enema of the State” the following year.  Immediately upon seeing the title of the album my mom said no.  I was devastated, however it didn’t stop me from listening to them, I was quite the sneaky kid I guess you could say.  Finally, I guess you could say when I was old enough, my mom let me buy the album along with their next LP “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket,” and again I fell in love.

Part Two: Wanting to Be My Heroes

As a musician, there are many songs from various bands who have inspired me, but if there were one song I wish I could credit myself with writing it would be “Going Away To College,” from the aforementioned album I will affectionately call “Enema.”  Musically and lyrically, the song just seems to fit me, and I will always be jealous of it.  

Part Three: Excitement Followed by Disappointment

When their self-titled last album came out, I remember buying it that day.  At first I was disappointed, thinking immediately that they were done, I guess I really didn’t care for the direction the band was heading.  Since then, my appreciation for that album has soared to great lengths from my initial feelings  During that summer, I had the chance to finally see them live with No Doubt, and I’ve got to say, again I was thoroughly disappointed once again, they play their songs as fast as they could, the didn’t enthuse the crowd as I had expected, and at that moment, I realized this was the end of blink-182.  That following year the band went on “hiatus,” a cutesy term meaning, “we can’t stand each other as a band.”  I also knew, that any solo project coming from the band members would not have the same magic the three had together, I mean let’s face it, “Boxcar Racer” was absolutely delightful, but you cannot tell me that the record wouldn’t have been 10x better had they released it together as a blink album.

Part Four: The Quiet Years

Years went by, and I had heard what came out from the former members.  +44 was good, but once again, with out Tom, the guitars were lacking, and what really held the record together was the drumming of Travis Barker.  Angels and Airwaves was okay, but what really ruined it was the lacking of drumming from Travis Barker.  Really, in my opinion, the best thing to come from any blink member since the “hiatus,” was the “Fix Your Face” mixtape from Travis and DJ AM (RIP).

Part Five: Tragedy and Triumph

Tragedy struck when I heard the news of Travis Barker’s near fatal plane crash, but in the back of my mind, I was hoping this would lead to something, perhaps a reunion.  When rumors began to arise, and then were confirmed, I was ecstatic.  Immediately after the tickets went on sale for their tour, I bought them, and unfortunately all I could afford was lawn.  On the day of the show, I was so excited, I just wanted to see redemption from the last time I saw them.  To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much, but I was excited nonetheless.  Little did I know that I would be even more excited once the opening bands took the stage.  While waiting in line for the show, my friends and I signed up to win a meet and greet, and tickets in the first 10 rows.  Not expecting to win, I went to find a seat in the lawn.  During the first set, my friends and I get calls from the same unknown number, only to find out we had won the meet and greet and the tickets.  Finally I got to meet my heroes, and it turned out to be the best day ever.  Not only did I meet them, but redemption had come, and the show they put on that night overshadowed not only the first blink show I attended, but all others I had seen prior to it.  I have seen Rush, John Mayer, Kiss, Aerosmith, and many others, but the day and the experience I had that day made it the best show I had ever seen, and once again the love I had felt for a band since 1997 resurfaced and never brought a bigger smile to my face.

ACD

Recently, I have been listening to the band Rush a lot.  They overall, take the cake when it comes to my personal musical preferences.  I credit my father for introducing me to them, as I do with most of my musical influences.  As a kid, I really turned to my dad’s musical tastes and made them my own.  I can remember being 6 years old and getting in trouble for singing along with AC/DC’s “Highway To Hell.”  However, back to Rush.  Since about the eighth grade, I have listened to the trio, but it wasn’t really until about 11 grade where I began to listen to them religiously.  I would constantly be finding new (well new to me) recordings by them I hadn’t heard before, and to this day I can honestly say I have not heard a Rush song I wasn’t musically intrigued or inspired by.  The way they write they’re music is unlike any other, odd time signatures, and impressive virtuosity, typical with their progressive rock tendencies, but I have never heard another prog band play and make music like them.  This may sound stupid, but listen to the entire Rush catalog, and it sums up  not only my junior year of high school, but my entire life.  I can’t express fully in words the inspiration theses guys have given me, as a musician, as a producer, or in life.  So as I finish this up, let me first just say thank you to all the people who have been in my life and have had to deal with hearing the same Rush song 47 times over, and thank you to Rush for giving me something to listen to anytime and anywhere.

Today I realized something.  I am that good.  I’m not trying to come off conceited, but I just have a great confidence in myself that my work ethic, drive, and creations are good enough to show anyone I can do what they are looking for.  So bring it on world, throw it at me, and I will catch it, and rock it.