Fan Mail

I always wanted to be a musician because it's better than working and you don't have to get out of bed until 10:00am. Somehow it doesn't seem to work out like that. It's true that being on tour can be a lot of fun, but to tour, you have to tour and that means travelling. We sometimes get up and are on the road at 6:00am, no breakfast apart from a few limp Doritos which happen to be in the vehicle from the day before. After 30 min. travelling one of us shouts, “Stop, I want release.” (Release is pronounced “releeeese”,) it means the person doing the exclaiming wants a break to visit the restroom (as our American friends put it so politely). So we stop at the next gas station, where they seem keen to serve us with petrol but tell us if we want the loo we need to ask for the key. So we ask for the key and wonder why they want to lock up the wash rooms, are they afraid that one of us will clean them? We buy some more Doritos, have a cup of coffee and get going again. 

When we played in Chicago we got to bed that night at 12:15am, we got up at 3:00am, that's 2:45 min. sleep. We arrived at the next venue in Indianapolis for 7:30am for a rehearsal. The stage manager at the venue was strict about timing. We had four performances plus the rehearsal that day. We sneaked off at 2:30pm for an hour's sleep back at the hotel, and then went back to the venue. It's not always that arduous but it can be, we don't mind and it's good to be busy but we sometimes get a bit jaded around the edges, although we try hard not to. 

Yesterday I received a letter saying they saw one of our concerts on our recent December tour, they enjoyed the gig a lot but when they spoke to me after the show they thought I'd “lost my sparkle”, they wondered if everything was “OK”, was I "going through troubled times?" The answer is no, I'm not going through troubled times, I'm happy and enjoy the life I have to live. I thank God for the gift of each day, and my gift to him is the way I live that day. 

We try our best to put on a good concert. We try to be cheerful not only with the audience but with each other in the band, when we're stuck with each other's company travelling for hours, it's important to be good humoured. We try to be lively and positive when people talk to us after the shows, even though we may be weary. 

We are sleepy by the time we get to bed at night. Some nights I try to say my prayers, but my mind wants to dream, and I end up praying: “Lord, you know that guy?  The guy on TV?  He needs help to focus; he eats too much, oh God help Homer Simpson Lord!” Then I realize what I've been saying. 

Another thing they said in the letter was they thought I might have been disappointed that not too many people came to see the concert. It's nice to have a large audience; on New Year's Eve we played to 2250 people and it certainly helps with the atmosphere of the gig. But the truth is I enjoy making music whether I'm on my own in my living room or playing to a crowd. Sometimes the children from the neighbourhood see me unloading my guitar; they run over and ask me to sing some songs, which I do. We have a little concert in the street. They always shout for an encore too, they are a great audience. The boy across the street came with his family to see us play at a local gig. It started about 10:00pm, they sat at the front, I was worried it might be a bit loud for him, but he fell asleep after four songs. When I saw him a few days ago I said, “Hey if you ever have any trouble sleeping at night, let me know and I'll bring my band round to your bedroom and we'll plug in and blast out some songs and you'll soon be asleep”.

I'd better end this article now, I'm starting to ramble… maybe I'm tired.