Read Online Shut Up and Give Me the Mic by Dee Snider - Free Book Online
Authors: Dee Snider
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appropriate glitter-rock garb. I have to admit I was in awe. This was one of the guys I had seen in all those ads in the papers, which was a big deal to someone trying to get in those papers! This was the Jay Jay French!
Jay Jay seemed already well informed about me and why I was there and told me how the band was building all of its material around his “vocal styling” and weren’t interested in getting a new singer. Disheartened, I thanked Jay for his time. As I turned to leave, Jay Jay, in what, I would eventually learn, was his true businessman, pragmatist style, called after me, “But give me your phone number just in case.” Not seeing a reason, I gave it to him anyway.
I later found out when I finally joined the band that Keith Angel (who was no longer in the band at the time) had told Jay Jay, “This asshole Danny Snider [my name at that time] is out there and wants to sing for the band.” Jay Jay assumed that Keith knew me (he didn’t, but in hindsight he had keen intuition) and wrote me off before he even heard what I had to say. Where are you now, Keith Angelino?
It would be almost half a year before I heard from Jay Jay French again.
THERE CAME A DAY when I realized that I had not been in a band, or sung, for close to six months! This was not a good thing on so many levels, the biggest one being getting out of shape vocally.
The voice box is a muscle, and like any muscle, if you work it regularly, it grows strong, but too hard it can get sore, and you can strain or permanently damage it. But if you don’t work it out at all, it atrophies and grows weak. Not having sung for such a long time (for a singer), I knew I was ill prepared if the opportunity came along to play with a band. I needed to work my voice out.
I’m not exactly sure how I found the band—probably in the classifieds of the local rock paper or hanging on the board at some music store or rehearsal studio—but they not only needed a singer, they needed a bass player as well. Rather than wander into this band of aliens alone, I put in a quick call to my Heathen bass player, Lee Tobia. I told him I was just looking for a band to rehearse with to keep my chops together and asked if he wanted to audition with me. He was in between bands himself and needed to “work out,” too, so we went to the audition together. I don’t remember how good or bad the band was (I know I wasn’t impressed enough to say “Wait a minute, I’ve found my next band!”), but it didn’t matter, I just needed a band to rehearse with so I’d be ready when opportunity came. Years later, I would become a student of Tony Robbins’s (that’s right, the man is amazing), and he would verbalize what I instinctively knew: Luck is preparation meeting opportunity. I needed to be prepared because I knew opportunity was coming. Don’t ask me how.
Lee and I aced the audition (of course) and were accepted into the band. When we asked the band’s name, we were told that they would share that information with us once they were sure we were definitely the right guys. Why? Because the name was so good, theywere fearful we might steal it and use it with another band. Neither Lee or I had ever experienced something like this. It must be one hell of a name.
After several weeks of rehearsing (there were never any gigsor even talk of booking gigs), Lee and I were asked to stay after rehearsal for a band meeting. The guys sat us down and told us they were finally sure we were the right singer and bass player for their band (shows how little they knew) and were ready to share their top-secret name with us. (Drumroll, please.)
“This.”
“This what?” Lee responded.
“This,” they replied.
“This?” I chimed in, confused.
“Yeah. Just This, ” retorted one of the rocket scientists posing as a band member. “Like ‘this rocks’ or ‘this rules’ or ‘this is the best’!”
“What about ‘this sucks’ ?!” I shouted in disbelief.
Needless to say, Lee
Jay Jay seemed already well informed about me and why I was there and told me how the band was building all of its material around his “vocal styling” and weren’t interested in getting a new singer. Disheartened, I thanked Jay for his time. As I turned to leave, Jay Jay, in what, I would eventually learn, was his true businessman, pragmatist style, called after me, “But give me your phone number just in case.” Not seeing a reason, I gave it to him anyway.
I later found out when I finally joined the band that Keith Angel (who was no longer in the band at the time) had told Jay Jay, “This asshole Danny Snider [my name at that time] is out there and wants to sing for the band.” Jay Jay assumed that Keith knew me (he didn’t, but in hindsight he had keen intuition) and wrote me off before he even heard what I had to say. Where are you now, Keith Angelino?
It would be almost half a year before I heard from Jay Jay French again.
THERE CAME A DAY when I realized that I had not been in a band, or sung, for close to six months! This was not a good thing on so many levels, the biggest one being getting out of shape vocally.
The voice box is a muscle, and like any muscle, if you work it regularly, it grows strong, but too hard it can get sore, and you can strain or permanently damage it. But if you don’t work it out at all, it atrophies and grows weak. Not having sung for such a long time (for a singer), I knew I was ill prepared if the opportunity came along to play with a band. I needed to work my voice out.
I’m not exactly sure how I found the band—probably in the classifieds of the local rock paper or hanging on the board at some music store or rehearsal studio—but they not only needed a singer, they needed a bass player as well. Rather than wander into this band of aliens alone, I put in a quick call to my Heathen bass player, Lee Tobia. I told him I was just looking for a band to rehearse with to keep my chops together and asked if he wanted to audition with me. He was in between bands himself and needed to “work out,” too, so we went to the audition together. I don’t remember how good or bad the band was (I know I wasn’t impressed enough to say “Wait a minute, I’ve found my next band!”), but it didn’t matter, I just needed a band to rehearse with so I’d be ready when opportunity came. Years later, I would become a student of Tony Robbins’s (that’s right, the man is amazing), and he would verbalize what I instinctively knew: Luck is preparation meeting opportunity. I needed to be prepared because I knew opportunity was coming. Don’t ask me how.
Lee and I aced the audition (of course) and were accepted into the band. When we asked the band’s name, we were told that they would share that information with us once they were sure we were definitely the right guys. Why? Because the name was so good, theywere fearful we might steal it and use it with another band. Neither Lee or I had ever experienced something like this. It must be one hell of a name.
After several weeks of rehearsing (there were never any gigsor even talk of booking gigs), Lee and I were asked to stay after rehearsal for a band meeting. The guys sat us down and told us they were finally sure we were the right singer and bass player for their band (shows how little they knew) and were ready to share their top-secret name with us. (Drumroll, please.)
“This.”
“This what?” Lee responded.
“This,” they replied.
“This?” I chimed in, confused.
“Yeah. Just This, ” retorted one of the rocket scientists posing as a band member. “Like ‘this rocks’ or ‘this rules’ or ‘this is the best’!”
“What about ‘this sucks’ ?!” I shouted in disbelief.
Needless to say, Lee
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