I was only able to hit this guy up for a few quick questions, the interview itself was an idea that popped into my head spur of the moment. Good thing I had my tape recorder, huh?

Just so we can qualify you as a professional, could you tell us some of the PRO artists you have worked with?

Cripes, who haven't I worked with? Let's see, I've mixed Dick Dale, Edwin McCain, Powerman 5000, The Misfits, The Damned, Lloyd Banks and Aaron Carter are just the first couple that come to mind. In some respect or other I've worked with many other pro artists, either doing monitors or production work. Some of those include Parliament, Living Colour, The Black Crowes, Camper Van Beethoven, Le Tigre, Dixie Dregs, Shadows Fall, Jurassic 5, The Roots, Hootie and the Blowfish, and Blues Traveler.

You work in a club that caters to many styles of music professional and indie?

Yeah. That can be a blessing and a curse. Sometimes, these acts come in with a good attitude and sometimes they act like dicks. Usually I'm filling several roles on nights like that. I'm the sound guy, and controlling monitors from out front as well, so I have to worry about how it sounds onstage AND out front. I'm the stage manager, so I have to make sure everyone's equipment gets on and offstage quickly and safely. I'm also production manager, which means I have to set up set times for all the bands and make sure the show runs smoothly. It's a lot of responsibility, and I constantly have half a dozen people, including management, up my ass about any number of issues.

Could you offer up some real advice for some of our local or unsigned acts?

Get out of the music business as quickly as possible!   No, I'm just kidding…First off, practice, practice, practice! After practice, go home and practice some more. I'm serious. Playing music is fun, but being in a band and being good enough to play in front of people without pissing them off is work. Sorry to burst your bubble, kids, but just ‘because your mom/girlfriend/ friends from high school… whatever… like you, it doesn't mean you're any good. I can't even begin to tell you how many young musicians I've heard that has lots of talent and potential, but were just too lazy to put the work into getting better. Potential doesn't mean shit unless you exploit it. Also, it's not enough to just be good at whatever instrument you play, you need to learn to write songs that people want to listen to. There are very few musicians that are good enough that people will actually pay money to see just them. Even then, most solo artists at least play with a backing band and write decent songs. Listen to songs by John Lennon, Jeff Buckley, hell, even Frank Sinatra wrote some amazing stuff. Whether you like their music or not, the fact is, those guys wrote music that was honest, and people would listen because they could relate. If your songs suck, no one cares that you can play a 10 minute drum solo. My one other BIG piece of advice for local and unsigned bands is to promote your band like it's the apocalypse. Make sure people know your show is coming. Make flyers, make postcards, make phone calls. If you have a gig, get the word out any way you can, or any way you can afford. Send e-mails, shave the name of your band onto a yak and parade it around town. Whatever it takes.

Do you run into a lot of bands who believe they are famous?  What turns you off most about this attitude?

Yeah, I've dealt with plenty of people like this. You know something? Most of the people I've dealt with who ARE famous don't act like it. Generally, they're pretty humble normal people. Every time I've worked with Living Colour, they've been very gracious and friendly. I worked with Edwin McCain a couple of times, and he was one of the nicest down-to-earth guys you could ever hope to run into. The guy even tipped me! On the other hand, I've worked with plenty of people, famous or not, who acted like their shit didn't stink. Even local bands! Look, I'm not about to kiss anyone's ass… period. There's such a thing as diplomacy, though. If you're in a band that's just sold out my room, I'll probably be more inclined to acquiesce to your requests, even if they're less than reasonable. You're keeping me in business, after all. If your band is doing any less than that, you had better be one hell of a charming character if you expect me to roll out the red carpet. Leave the “diva” crap to Mariah Carey and Celine Dion, they're professionals. Just like any other business, keep in mind at all times that the people you step on the way up are the same ones who will be laughing at you on the way down. Five or ten or twenty years down the road, you may or may not be remembered, but HOW you're remembered is completely up to you.

Do you get paid enough to deal with some of the bullshit you put up with?

At this point, not really. I get paid decently, but not as much as I think I deserve. Then again, some nights I get paid more than what I really deserve for the amount of work I did that day. I guess it all evens out in the end. The potential for making really good money is there though. It's not an easy industry to break into, and even more difficult to be successful. I still like to think of it as training for when a better situation comes along. I'm sure there are some great chefs that started out as dishwashers…

I hear a sound guy can make or break a band when they play, how true is this? Could you provide an example?

That's true, up to a point. If a really good band sounds crappy one night, it's probably not going to destroy their career. If a great band sounds crappy consistently, I'm sure it'll affect ticket sales at their live performances. Conversely, if a bunch of talent less hacks sound good onstage because the sound guy is on point, it's going to positively affect the response of the audience. I won't name names, but we had a national act at my place once, and the sound guy they brought with them was this cocky little hack. The guy really didn't know what he was doing. When I saw some of the things he was doing, I tried to jump in and give him a hand, making suggestions and guiding him through my system, but he didn't want to hear it. Finally, I just backed off and left him alone. During the show, I went and sat in the bar. I didn't even want to be seen anywhere near my own sound booth! That's how awful it sounded! I had people coming up to me for weeks afterwards asking me why that particular show sounded so bad. I told them they had brought their own engineer, and I had nothing to do with it. Granted, the gear I use in my room isn't exactly top-of-the-line, but it works well, and I've heard some amazing shows in that room. Some that I mixed and some that a touring engineer mixed. You can make almost any rig work well, if you know what you're doing. I'll be the first to admit I'm not the standard bearer for all sound guys, but I like to think that I have a pretty good ear. I'm still learning, and will be for as long as I do this. I work with guys that have been doing this for twenty or thirty years that are just amazing. I guess the main thing is, just like everyone else at their job, we have our off-days too. In general though, the band and the sound guy have a sort of symbiotic relationship. We feed off each other. Without the band, the sound guy has nothing to do, and without the sound guy, the band can't be heard properly, and no one goes to see them, and then we're ALL out of work!