About Joshua (In His Own Words):
I began playing music at a very young age. My very first instrument was a bass guitar, which was a Christmas present from my Mom. I was 12 years old, but I remember the excitement like it was yesterday. I didn’t know for sure that a bass guitar was under the Christmas tree that year, but the awkward size of the box she had it wrapped in was a dead give away.
With three weeks to go before Christmas morning, the anticipation was shear agony. There it was, staring me in the face, day after day, begging me to open it. I couldn’t take it anymore – that box, in all of its awkward glory, was calling my name, and it needed to be opened.
But what if it wasn’t the guitar I had been asking Santa for? What if it was a hockey stick? A lamp? A train set? A giant box of underwear? “That would suck” I remember thinking. Just too many questions, and there was only one way to find out. I had already made the decision, and I, was on a mission.
As soon as I heard the car start, and my Mom drive away for work that day, I ran into the living room, and tore it open. My adrenaline pumping, and heart racing, I pulled the top off of the box and peeked inside. There it was, a vanilla white, 4 string Kay bass guitar. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I pulled it out of the box and played it for at least an hour, maybe more. (I didn’t know what I was doing, but I pretended I did). I put on my own rock show, right there in my own living room. Jumping off of the furniture like a rock star, and pretending I was shredding a mean guitar solo for a packed house. Boy, am I glad nobody was around to see that.
After coming back to reality, I realized I had a small dilemma on my hands. I needed to make it look like it never happened. I did my best to wrap it back up, and placed it back under the Christmas tree. It was painfully obvious, beings how I hadn’t taken much time to *carefully* unwrap my new found joy, the box looked, well.. like it had been wrapped by a 12 year old.
This went down on at least 3 separate occasions before Christmas morning. Looking back I’m certain she knew, she probably knew all along. She never did say anything about it, until Christmas morning.
That morning I made sure to put on a good show, after all – I had made it this far, it was go big, or go home. As I frantically tried to tear through my expert level wrapping job, she said to me with a smile I’ll never forget, “There is an awful lot of tape on that one, wouldn’t you say?”
I later took my first lesson from my Mom’s brother, my Uncle Steven. From then on I continued to learn on my own. Being the very visual and hands on learner that I am, it was only a matter of time before I was drawn to percussion.
As the years went by I jumped around from bass, to guitar, and eventually drums. Art, Music, Poetry, you name it – creativity runs deep within my family. However I am proud to say that I am the only drummer.
Becca
The song “Becca” is very near and dear to my heart. My Mother, Rebecca passed away February 8th, 2012 very suddenly, and totally unexpected. She was a single parent, and I was an only child. Needless to say, we were very close. My world changed, in an instant.
She loved to write – thoughts, poems, prayers. To make a long story short, after she passed, I found bittersweet joy in digging through mounds of her writing. That was when this was found:
Thanks for stopping by, and for letting us, (me) pour our hearts out. You’ve made it all the way to the bottom! Please send us your comments and questions via the Contact form, or on our Facebook page.
p.s. You can also check out other music I’ve written or covered on my Soundcloud page.
