I’m a musician.

I’m almost 31 years old now and I’ve only been able to confidently say that for the past year or so and with each passing day, my belief in myself grows.  It’s ok to call myself that because it’s what I do best and with the largest part of my heart.

I probably started plucking my dads guitar when I was really young, 8 or 9 even.  I remember my dad used to play a lot of beatles songs and sing them too.  He was actually pretty dam good, although you’d never hear him tout that.  I toyed with it again when I turned about 16 years old and started playing a little more.  It started catching on.  When I turned about 20 I was writing my first songs.  It’s not that I was a slow learner, I just didn’t commit to anything, even the things I loved like guitar.

I did play in some cool ass basement bands with my best friends Mike Assad and Matt Curtis from back home in Thunder Bay.  I’m not sure we were trying to get to the point of playing shows, but I can tell you the exact moment when I really decided that I wanted to be on stage playing.

I was at a bar called The InnTowner and there was a battle of the bands going on.  They were covering Counting Blue Cars by Dishwalla.  They were seriously nailing it….it sounded so good and I thought they were just the fucking coolest thing ever.  They inspired me, it was then.

But I had quit college again for the second time in two years, not much was going good for me.  I had lost my job at the A&W cause I had sex with my boss then decided not to date her cause I was a young guy in college.  She was so pissed that quitting was really the only choice I felt I had.  So the money was gone, school was out and I was broke.  So were all my friends that I was living with, all 4 of them.  5 if you count Joe.

I moved back to Alberta to be with my parents and shifted around within the province for the next 3 years.  More school drop outs, more girls and broken hearts, and more drifting.  I didn’t know what I wanted to do.  I ended up deciding to bicycle across the North and South American continents but I only made it to Florida and my partner and I couldn’t see eye to eye anymore.  We had to split and the journey ended over a year pre-mature. 

It was then that I sat there in Florida asking myself what it is that I really wanted to do with my life.  What direction do I really want to take.  I asked my heart and it answered.  Go back to your friends, your best friends.  Go back and play in a band again.  So I moved back to Thunder Bay when I was 25 years old to play music.

I was doing alright for money because I still was doing decently with my Internet Business.  So I really did have time to do the things I wanted to do.  I kept journaling strong, a habit I picked up from the daily entries I made while biking across the US.   If you read my journals from my two years in Thunder Bay, I was pretty happy, although I was never satisfied with the level my music was at.

I got into a band called Divided because my buddy Mike was the drummer.  He pretty much was the reason I stuck cause at first I don’t think Nicky Lewandowski liked me for the band that much.  But things worked out and we did really well for ourselves.  I achieved so many of my goals with that band, my first live show in which I was so excited at the open jam I yelled at the sound guy for cutting us off.  I played the biggest bar in Thunder Bay called Roxy’s as the only opener for Default.  What a great show that was….the energy was fantastic.  And I spent time recording demo music in both home studio’s as well as a semi-professional studio with Luke Gladue.  All in all it was a great time.

But Divided came to an end when frustrations from my freedom wanting to move elsewhere to further the band came up against the reality of the 3 other guys inability or unwillingness to just pick up and leave without first being big.  Something I’d run into again and again.  I was always more of the ‘take the risk’ then worry type.

I was supposed to move to Vancouver with my girlfriend, but she decided to not be with me anymore because she ended up cheating on me and couldn’t deal with the guilt or thought it wouldn’t be fair to me.  Either way, she’s was right.  So I no longer wanted to move to Vancouver as that was the spot where she broke the news to me and I didn’t want that sour taste in my mouth for that city.

So back to Edmonton in March of 2006, back to college buddies and regular bars that I once knew…only this time, with music on the mind.  I pretty much wasted the first half of the year and my bank account at the Stonehouse pub.  I was however making acquaintences with some musicians who I’d eventually form a band with first called Not In Stone, then changed to Rigveda as it evolved through players and songs.  Rigveda did alright and at least got me known in the cities music scene.  I wrote a few more songs and recorded them, some weren’t that bad.

Then in September of 2007 I joined Hollywood Assassyn which I am still currently in.  This band has by far had the most potential of all the bands I have been in.  We are recording a full album at a real studio with a real producer and I’m hoping for the best of things to come.

I’m also writing a lot of accoustic music that I plan on releasing as solo stuff.  I did try to introduce it to Hollywood but it never took.  That’s ok, I like having two projects anyways.

So now I’m sitting here writing all this stuff and remembering that I started off so long ago playing music.  I never would however call myself a musician.  There were always people around me who looked the part better, or talked the game better and sometimes they just were better.  But I never once really looked at myself that way.  I always felt like I was just faking it because I loved it so much and I wanted to be a part of it.

But I don’t know, something slowly changes and then you wake up a realize that you really are that person you used to look at and want to be.  I can play drums, guitar, bass, sing, write, perform.  I’ve played in at least 10 different bands or versions of bands and I’ve probably played live on stage 50 times at least, some of which were pretty big openers.  I’ve recorded and written over 20 songs….not many, but I’m a slow writer and it’s getting easier every time I sit down to do it.

I am a musician.  Not because I’m faking it anymore…it’s because every choice I make in life has at least something to do with music and it’s the direction I took 6 years ago when I turned 25 and I still haven’t changed course.  I’ve travelled down that path for that long and I don’t want to quit.  I’m a musician and music will always be a part of my life because it’s in me.  It’s what god gave me.  And I love it.

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The last 10 weeks of my life have been so awesome. I have been playing with a new band who I feel really suits a style of music I love to play. 80’s/90’s rock Seattle style. Think ‘Alice In Chains’ meets ‘Metallica’ and ‘STP’. It’s good music.

The circumstances under which I met this band were completely ridiculous and off chance. People were involved in the formation of this band as far back as Rigveda’s 3rd show where a friend introduced me to another friend who like our style and introduced me to the idea of an Alice In Chains style project.

Months went by with the idea never really dying but no true focus went into it…it was all into my own band Rigveda.

So things didn’t quite work out with that guy, and the other guy who was supposed to be the other singer happened to be at a show I was also at about month later. I had the opportunity to talk to him at The Band Ranch which I played a solo accoustic set at, but I couldn’t work up the nerve. For some reason I thought he might be a dick or something. I dunno.

I remember when I first moved to Edmonton, I actually saw that guys band online and listened to them and read all about them. A friend of mine Riley, at the Stonehouse Pub told me about them. I remember thinking it would be rad if I could play with a band like that, but they were touring and on an indie label and stuff. Way out of my league. Maybe that’s why I thought he’d have an attitude…cause he’d been to pretty cool places in music in my mind.

Well at the show, I just said whatever and I ended up shootin the shit with him and his buddy who he was there with. I introduced myself as the other player that was supposed to be in the Alice In Chains type project, and told him how bad I wanted to play and that it was frustrating not to be playin.

He asked what I did and I told him sing and play pretty tight rythm, but not great leads. He said that’s what they were looking for and invited me to try out. He introduced me to his friend he was there with who also happened to be the bass player for the new project which was less than 1 year old.

That guy was Jay Chamulke and his friend Sylvain Maltais. The name of the band was Hollywood Assassyn. They sent me on my way with a website address where I could hear some of their toons and decide if I wanted to move forward. Within one week we had our first jam. Pretty dam fast.

I met the drummer Troy that practice who had been playing with Jay for 5 years or something, so they were pretty tight when I got there and the music style was also real good…right up my alley. Right on, perfect. Learn your shit, don’t mess it up.

After my 2nd jam, they told me we had a show booked in two weeks and 1 more booked 2 more weeks after that for the full set. Presssure? Ya, I was a little worried, but loved the tunes so it’s a lot easier to learn em when you dig em.

The first show was the Bodog Battle of the Bands which is a Canada/USA/Europe wide battle with something like 5,000 bands entering. The eventual winner gets a $1,000,000 recording contract. So for our first show ever, we played a quick 4 songs set to see if we could make it to the next level.

54 bands in Edmonton entered to qualify for the live show through online voting and we finished #6 in Canada which also placed us #1 in Edmonton and Alberta. 30 bands were eliminated and the top 24 bands played the live show that night at Jet Night Club in Edmonton.

We freaking won that. After only 4 jams with the band, we came in 1st place and qualified for the city finals. wow…talk about awesome.

So I mean there was some pretty good stuff going on for us, but we hadn’t played live yet together, so I honestly didn’t put to much into the show. All I wanted to do was have a good show so the guys would want to keep me in the band…I liked it man! We’d finish where we finish and whatever right? But after realizing we won, I was in a new head space.

I know this band can do even better…it’s only our first show man. Shit…there might really be something here.

We played three more live shows with the next 6 weeks, 2 good shows and 1 kinda not so good show. I even introduced a new song that took to the band. We also managed to sneak into PowerSound Studios and record 2 the two tracks ‘Heed’ and ‘Pretty Shade of Blue’ with Phil Anderson who was also on my list of ‘people I want to work with in Edmonton.’

Those two tracks were the first two that I was on recording, but actually the 5th and 6th songs already recorded at PowerSound with Phil Anderson. The bands barely 10 months old and already have 6 songs recorded at one of Edmonton’s premier studios with one of Edmontons more respected producers. That’s more the speed I have been looking for all my life.

Everything tho for myself was all leading up to preparation for the Edmonton City finals. I wanted so badly to improve our performance and really truly impress the judges.

Finally it was time to play the Edmonton city finals for the Bodog Battle, a big show for me personally, the Edmonton finals. My goal was to leave Thunder Bay to come make an impact in the Edmonton music scene. That’s not really an easy thing to do unless your super fucking committed, or a retardedly great player. I’m the first one. So for me this show could play a pivitol role in me achieving one of my first major goals in music.

We were at home practicing our set 3 times over while the first bands were already playing their live sets. nice boys…nice.

The crowd responded quite well to our set and each time our name was called over the PA it was followed by tons of cheers. I finally brought out backing vocals for all 4 songs in the set. I had to learn the songs first on guitar so that I could play them by memory, then the words, then the harmonies, then get comfortable doing it all together. It’s kinda tuff but I knew by city finals that if we made it, I’d be ready. I remember telling that to Syl. It will come. I felt like we played and sounded pretty good.

Well…we won that round too! 1st place baby. I just found out today that after all the judging and voting we came out in the number 1 spot a-g-a-i-n. I’m blown away.

It’s not that I don’t think we are good, or that we don’t deserve it. It’s just to actually see us there at #1 among all those other bands in Edmonton, of which some are super good, is such a fucked up feeling of accomplishment. It’s pretty cool.

And not only did we finish #1 in online voting, #1 at the first live round, and #1 at the city finals, we were the only band to make that happen in Canada so far. A clean sweep…that’s cool. I’m stupified…I love it.

So we are headed down to Calgary, AB to play the Back Alley Night club on Jan 27th of 2008. I’ve watched some great bands play there and always had my mind on playing that bar. It’s THE bar that I wanted to play in Calgary, and now my first live show in Calgary, will be there. Unreal.

If we make it past that round, we are off to Toronto to play against the top bands in Canada. Whoa…one step at a time is what I have to tell myself now all the time. I’ve already gone father than I thought I would go at the start of this all. Now all that’s left to do is hang on and see how much farther this is actually going to take me. I’m in baby…

Yet Troy and Jay remain totally calm and collected about it all while I’m the rookie who’s finding it hard to contain my excitement. I feel Syl’s excitement too. I’m learning a lot from these guys and the success I’ve experienced in only 2 and a half months in the band far has been completely what I’ve always wanted. A whirlwind.

I love being the rookie, there so much more to learn as that person.

Hollywood Assassyn is the band I’m in, and I love it.

http://www.hollywoodassassyn.net

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Awesome!

  I’m glad you came to read this….as I said in the email, I truly feel your going to love what’s here.

  Have you ever thought that maybe one of the easiest ways to start turning a profit online is to purchase an already successful and established business.  It seems logical doesn’t it?

  I mean why not take a business that is in the Affiliate/Internet Marketing niche that you are already in, knowing that it’s already being sold elsewhere with high conversions, and just buy the whole dang business outright.  Why not?!?! 

  I mean, you’d have your own already-tested-to-be-profitable business in your hands.  Best of all, all that hard work of researching the right market, creating the product from scratch, building the website, adding the back-end content, finding/hiring/firing the sales copy writers, and graphic designers, would all be done already.

  Makes sense doesn’t it?

  Ah…your right…it could be very expensive however to front the costs for an already successful business.  I mean no one sells their profit machines cheaply do they?  And let’s face it, even though you are probably going to make your investment back pretty dam fast, you really don’t have the kind of money to fork over to purchase an entirely successful business, do you?  I understand that one for sure.

  But what if you could get that business?  What if the price is actually way less expensive than you think and the business you are going to own is actually even-better than you imagine or than I am describing? 

  Well….guess what?

 Terry Tellford is selling off his business and if you act fast enough, you can purchase it from him, and it’s not going to be as expensive as you think.  Check it out below.

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