DOWN TO THE WIRE(S)

I really wanted to go to NAMM last week.

But the gods had other ideas.

Waiting for my Ibanez badge to come through the email like a kid at Xmas morning…nothing…nothing. Am I going? Was I let go? A few days before the show, I decided to check my spam folder.

HUH?! The badge went there?!

I wrote the gang at Ibanez and explained what happened. Of course, even if I wanted to go, it wouldn’t have been feasible. Racing around to get things squared up is not something I’m good at. I am more methodical (for a musician?!) So hopefully next year I will be able to go.

In the meantime, since there was no rehearsal last Wednesday (bassist Brian Smith had a birthday!) I decided to drive up to drop in on my friend Wendy The Metal Mistress, and just chill there for a few hours. Thankfully she and her boyfriend were cool with me showing up spontaneously. For once, it worked to my advantage. Did an impromptu “interview” live on the air, talked about the nomination of my single “Pieces Of Light”, as well as getting ready to record the ninth album soon. Wendy and I always have a blast on the air, can riff back and forth like Lewis and Martin (am I really dating myself here?) and it’s more of a relaxed chat than a proper Q&A.

This week will be back to rehearsals, smooth out some rough spots yet still keep things a bit edgy. We have two or three more to go and then when our friend/second engineer CJ Scioscia says “Okay, we’re rollin’!”, all the hard work will pay off.

In the words of Ol’ Blue Eyes: “Boys, time to make an album!”