If you've been playing along with the home version, you already know what all's been going on. For everyone else, here's an update.
On February 5, 2022, I performed my last ever show with my band MEMPHIS MIKE & THE LEGENDARY TREMBLERS. After 27 years, thousands of shows, a number of recordings, and achieving more than I ever thought possible, it was time to call it a day.
Aside from the rock & roll fun and excitement, there was also a lot of headaches, heartache and drama. Life, in general. Over a quarter century of my life fronting the same band, doing mostly my own songs. Don't get me wrong...it was great! I wouldn't change a second of it, but it wasn't without its downsides.
In 2001 I was treated for cancer.
In 2002 I was declared dead for 7 minutes and spent a week or so in a coma. I got a good album title out of it though...
In 2006 I had a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized.
In 2007 I suffered a massive heart attack, was essentially forced out of my chosen 'day job' career, almost had to file bankruptcy, went through a few years of legal headaches and that's just the obvious stuff.
In 2010 I was treated for a 2nd cancer. A year later I was forced the rest of the way out of my chosen 'day job' career. All the while, I kept rockin', recording, gigging, and touring when possible.
In 2013 I was diagnosed with diabetes.
Things finally settled and I was happily working in a new profession, fronting the Tremblers and working with a number of other bands. My personal life was doing great, and I was pretty much on top of the world.
2020 came and just like everyone else, my world came to a standstill. COVID! The gigs all dried up. I was working from home and even managed to do some remote recording sessions. All things considered; it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
Midway through the year, I terminated my working relationship with one of the acts I was with. Life went on. No one was gigging anyway, so I figured 'this too shall pass'.
2021 came and so did the vaccines. I was really looking forward to gigging again. I had a few things lined up...and then I got sick. My blood pressure went through the roof. I was in/out of the emergency room. In May, I had my first stroke. I had a second one a month later. I had to relearn how to play guitar, had to learn to walk differently and had to work to be able to sing again. I also went temporarily blind in one eye.
After a couple of months, I was confident enough in my playing that I took the band into the studio and we recorded a new single, "Hard To Kill". It felt like things were on an upswing.
A month or so after the single was released, I was asked to sit in with the previously mentioned artist. It was my first show back after the stroke and I have to say, I did pretty darned well! I was ready to get back to gigging.
I spent a few months trying to get the band to rehearse. I especially needed that just to make sure I could get my voice to function properly. The rehearsals just never happened. It seemed like there was little interest in rehearsing and I wasn't even sure if the guys even wanted to gig with me anymore. Understandable really. Would I have another stroke? Maybe on stage? Or worse? Or maybe it was just time to move on.
I let things go for a while. I figured I'd wait until after the first of the year. I recorded and released a solo album and enjoyed my holidays.
2022; a new year. Still no rehearsals. The bass player insisted he was ready to roll....but things just weren't coming together. A show came up for early February. I was excited but little did I know it would be the last one. The drummer was being unusually difficult and then after a week or two informed me he was double booked. So basically, FUCK YOU and YOUR GIG. In this day and age, a double booking just doesn't happen. Every phone has a calendar. I was ready to cancel the gig. I just don't do that and I felt miserable about it. So I had to find a drummer, and most importantly a drummer who knew my stuff. We weren't really going to have time to rehearse. It was all just too much headache by that point. I decided to pull the plug. One last show and make it a good one. I think we managed that.
I've spent the past two months, almost three, fielding calls about other projects. A few 'almosts' but nada. I spent my days working on my guitar playing, as well as my vocals. I was really starting to enjoy it again in ways that I hadn't for years.
But it got me really wanting to play. I messaged my long-suffering bass player Rob and simply asked, "are you as god-damned bored as I am?"
I had a very quick reply from him stating that yes, yes he was. I told him about the stuff I'd been playing at home and asked if he was interested. Again, a resounding affirmative. I asked if he knew of a good drummer he'd want to work with. He got ahold of a former bandmate (Tod) and it looks like yes Virginia, we has a new band!
Let's be honest. I'm just me. I play how I play. As #1 Son once put it, "it am how it do". If you've heard me before, anything I do probably won't be a huge surprise. What I can tell you is that you'll hear a lot of stuff you've never heard me play before. I'm mixing in a lot of styles that I love but didn't think fit the old band An old song from by The Mississippi Sheiks? Sure, why not? A Los Lobos song? Heck yeah! An obscure California rockabilly track from the 50s? But of course! A mashup of Albert King and The Beatles? Who wouldn't??? Throw in some downhome blues, a little bit of Texas swing, some surf, some twang, make it greasy and perfect for folks to grind and shimmy to...that's our goal. I showed a friend the set list (so far). He can't wait to hear this because he loves the songs I chose. I'm admittedly a bit limited by my voice...but again, nothing new there.
If all goes to plan, we should be out and making noise by June or so. It'd be great to see YOU at a show. We won't be selling merch or pushing you to check out our website or InstaTwit-O-Gramify Cloudbook but we will happily have a drink with you. We might even ask for a Hell Yeah...but ultimately, as always, that's up to you.
