It started out when I was 2 years old and discovered my Dad’s mix tapes. I would rock out to the Supersuckers on my rocking horse. Then when I was 11 I started playing the trumpet. After a year my parents became impressed by my love of music and bought me an electric guitar. I started taking lessons right away. 6 years later, I’m still playing my heart out.

I got the bug from my dad. He used to take us out for a drive and he always had the radio on or a tape playing on the car stereo.

I grew up in a house where the stereo/radio was almost always on. I liked older music, even when I was a kid, because my parents would play tapes like Stevie Wonder, The Stylistics, The Carpenters, Toto, Chris Rea.. y’know, old school. I was never into the pop stuff or ‘top 40’ much.
I was exposed to a lot of rock (and its many variations) in high school, where I also picked up the guitar after my freshman year.

For me it was around 1983-4, I was 5-6 YO and I used to listen to my sisters music, mostly the finn brothers split enz (which I no longer listen to but appreciate the talent). I had a ukulele at 3-4 but I never took to it. When I was about 12 I got my first slayer record, south of heaven, and that set in stone my love for heavy and powerful guitar riffs. The record itself was a present from my sister to my brother but he didn’t like it so he handed it down to me. I basically listened only to slayer till I was 13 then I got the bleach record by Nirvana and I started listening to other pacific NW bands and the pixies, the cure, RHCP, babes in toyland and sonic youth mostly. From the time I heard bleach I’ve been THE biggest nirvana fan ever since. When I was 13 I was gonna buy a drum kit cause I liked the beats the RHCP had going and thought I was destined to be a drummer. I never had the money to buy a kit, nor did my parents so 2-3 years later I got the guitar instead, mostly influenced by slayer riffs to do so. I got my first guitar at 15-16, it was an electric strat ripoff, I had an Ibanez soundtank distortion and peavey 10 watt amp, the guitar didn’t sound right so I ripped the bridge single coil out and hacked the pickguard up with a knife and installed a DiMarzio super distortion humbucker. I still have this humbucker… its in my Jaguar. The first song I learned was one I wrote myself (I’ve long forgotten what it was), I have never been big on playing other peoples music so writing songs just came natural to me. I didn’t have a tuner for a while in the beginning so I used to use alternative tunings a lot until I bought one. At 15 my love-lust of Fender Mustangs and Jaguars started to become an obsession and till this day they are still my favorite guitars.
My biggest musical influences (that which you can actually hear coming thru in my music) would be nirvana’s bleach and incesticide albums, slayers south of heaven, the melvins houdini and various pixies tunes and sonic youths daydream nation. Although my tunes sound original you can definitely tell where my musical influences are from.
My intense love for the big muff only truly happened about 5 years ago. Although I always liked Mudhoney’s sound and I knew a lot of it was a big muff it took me a long time to actually buy one for myself. Partly due to EHX not being in existence in the 90’s when I wanted one and a lack of old big muffs in my towns second hand stores.

I love music, but most of the bands I listen to were around in/since the 80’s and 90’s, I rarely buy new bands music, although an exception comes along every 5-10 years or so.

All in all, I’m very fussy with music, I’m not a perfectionist, not by a long shot, but I’m very strict about the bands I listen to, they really have to have something special to get my attention among all the crudy bands that exist.

Definitely lots of good music from Ohio- DEVO, Pere Ubu, and the Breeders to name a few.

I sort of think the music culture of Ohio is a reaction to the state itself.

:rawk: :poke:

Julian,

That was a very cool way to put Ohio’s music culture in to perspective, Neil Young’ writing Ohio after the Kent State shootings and there is some very good music from Ohio, my son had the great fortune to meet Devo (the whole band) as his friend’s dad is doing a documentary on the band and they now have a label behind them with $$ so that helps, he was awestruck for sure and shook hands with every band member, it was a benefit concert for our President (when he was running for office at the time) at The Akron Civic Theater a gorgeous renovated theater (like a opera house!) The Black Keys played, The Pretenders
(C.Hynde has a veggie restraunt in Akron, Ohio and keeps a apartment in Highland Square (but is in the U.K.most of the time) our son went back stage for the meet and greet after the show ,lucky young man!
I have seen Pere Ubu (in various forms) many times (I did not realize The Breeders were from Ohio. cool, I was born in Ohio and have lived in Ohio except for about 4 years in Virginia. They are a cool band Kim Deely and others, My wife and I saw Devo at Lollapalooza (when it was a multi city festival) along with Korn, Snoop Dog and Tool, plus a second stage between acts and a third stage back near the woods at Blossom Music Center, Snoop is one wild dude smokin the ganja all through the show and the band
and yelling obcene words at the Police (local Akron Police and Summit County Deputy Sheriff’s (all armed) I do not know how they kept their calm when some one is yelling F the Police over and over.
Devo opened with their awesome film about De-evolution it is so cool and so far out and on a jumbo tron screen and great sound system it was a great start to a great reunion gig (most of the band grew up close to the place they were playing at (full circle I guess) I think my wife and I may have been of a handful of sober folks but it sure was a blast, my wife’s sister worjked there and got us tickets to that show and many more (often in to the pavillion rather than out on the lawn where you can get soaked if it rains!

Live Music is he best!

Peace
ambienttales

:clap: 😆 :rawk: :thumb:

Way back, in the ’50s, when I was still crawling about the garden on hot summer days, my elder sister would carry my Dads portable wind-up gramophone outside and play Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington records. As soon as I could stumble and walk I’d bop about to the music…as was captured on 8mm black & white “home cinema” reels by my Dad. The Duke’s recording of “Caravan” was apparently one of my favourite numbers.