Here's my trip back to the good ole dayz.

My very first paid gig was with my band. We had a four piece cover band back when I was 17 and my father got us a gig at a wedding in town. I remember me and my mom went to the music store to find some keys for me to play. I had my heart set on a good digital piano or a top of the line arranger. But we weren't a wealthy family so the guy at the music store sold us an old Roland D-20 synth and P-330 piano module - and told me that was all the piano I needed. It cost her $300, and I promised to pay her back when our band made it big and got famous. We got $400 for the gig, and quickly got booked for another gig the following weekend. This was the wedding for a famous TV personality that my brother had arranged. None of us had a driving license, so my sister and mother drove us across the country to make the gig. One week after that our guitarist took off with all our money and the band was history. This was back in 1996.

My first solo gig was a 40th birthday party, I was hired to play dance music. I played that also with my D-20/P-330 combo using the D-20 as a drum machine and keyboard controller. I had my dads Carlsbro 2x12 PA system and an EV110 mic that my brother got me for christmas. Man I miss that mic... I've never come across a mic that sounds that good since. That gig paid $500 this was in 1999.

The D-20 was a trusty companion for many years, I sold it five years ago, but the guy complained that some keys had broken, so I was forced to pay for the repair, ended up costing me more than what that guy paid for it.. I really regret selling it - it was both a good memory and fun to play. I still have the P-330 though, still sounds like the glory days

The D-20 was not a user friendly piece of gear, I marked the numbers of the beats I used on post-it notes and stuck those to it. Because I could never memorize it.

I still use that Carlsbro PA, it still sounds great, much better than a lot of modern systems. But my Behringer B212A's see a lot more play because they are lighter and takes up less space - but they sound like s***.

With some few additions of newer music, my repertoir has not changed much. I still play a lot of 60s, 70s and 80s songs. CCR, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Elvis, and such are very popular cross the generations over here.

Audiences are still the same drunken maniacs. I think that will never change. The drinks change though.. Apparently Jęgermeister and Cola is popular now... yuck!

The size of the crowd has always been a big variable. Anything from 2 - 8000. Most of the places I play nowadays have approx 200 - 400 people, but some days are slow. Parties like weddings and birthdays have about 40 - 80 people. Those gigs usually end early.

The pay is much better now, I get about $1000 - $1500 per night. And since I'm alone I don't have to share When I do play in my new four piece band we get about $2000 - $2500. So it is actually better to be alone, but much more fun to play with people.

One thing that has changed is me, I am not nervous about performing. I still have nerve and anticipation, but I'm not nervous about messing up. I used to be very nervous about making mistakes. Now I make them all the time, but I use it to my advantage.

I could write all day about different gigs and stories, but I'll stop here before it gets way too long.

Cheers,

DocZ