"WE DON'T STOP PLAYING BECAUSE WE GET OLD, WE GET OLD BECAUSE WE STOP PLAYING!"

Well now that I got the drums all done, I've been itching to play again! My last official "band" broke-up in 1994, (See links-A.O.D.) and I've jammed here and there with friends, and played in some short-lived cover band, and with the recent fall-out with the 'Sabbath'-tribute band, left me close to just going back into the "retired" mode of music in general!

It bummed me out to say the least. One of my best friends, Tim Contreras, used to front this Black Sabbath tribute band called 'Masters of Reality' for a few years, until the band broke up. I got word that they were gonna make a comeback without their drummer (due to his lack of interest, job, money), so I get the chance to do the slot, only (at the time) I didn't have any gear. So in June of last year, I started the "MATT'S DRUM KIT RESURRECTION PROJECT 2005".

Started off with buying my old Gibraltar rack I sold to Tim back from him (After Fred ignorantly thrashed the rack! Over-tightened nuts if not stripped, chips, bent pipes!)

It took some time to fix them, but to this day, I still think of Fred as a moron!!! He didn't even have his own gear! He used Tim's Pearl kit (Tim is also a drummer) for the rehearsals and shows, and even Tim told me how some things didn't get respected on his kit and he's STILL looking for replacement parts (as well as I for him!!)

Anyway, I bought some old drums, and had them re-covered (by me!), bought extra parts for the rack, new heads, cleaned the hardware, and built up an exciting kit!!!

I was lucky enough to 'break them in' when I had them set up in Tim's studio!
Man! They sounded great. All the time, money, and sweat paid off!!

Until...

Big Mike had a chat with Tim regarding the 'band'. Tim told me before that Mike had some issues with drugs (heroin) and Mike totally shocked both of us when he stated that he was bringing Fred back into the fold, and that he was going to have a new singer for M.O.R. I was floored, but had some venom in my system that I wanted to kick the fat shit outta him!! (Needless to say, I was pissed!!) I spent all that time and money on this, and for WHAT?!

Tim packed his PA equipment up and I packed my gear up and headed to the local Azteca's for some good Mexican grub and discussion about the whole situation.

Honestly, I was sort of relieved. Drug addicts are lame, and I didn't want to be around a heroin addict. Hell, I knew some addicts that died, and my fiancé was once married to one until he took his own life. Drugs and addicts are LAME!!!!!

Anyway, I'm still holding onto the kit, and adding things here and there. I did some adjusting the other night to re-do the 'spike mat' (drum rug with marks showing the placement of the rack/pedals/snare/etc), and took some photos. Soon as I get them onto my PC, I'll post them up.

I miss playing/jamming. I do have some leads, but nothing solid yet. I've noticed the new "scene" looks weird to me. The music is heavy, but what's with the messy hair, tight pants, and 1980's -era t-shirts? Seriously, WHAT THE FUCK?!

I'll always be down with hardcore Thrash and REAL Punk!! That's where I wanna be!! I love playing-GREAT STRESS RELIEVER!! One of my favorite bands (as a young lad) was The Police, and Stewart Copeland was this amazing drummer and big influence on me! Listening to any of the songs the band put out, he had beats that stood out! Stewart once said "My favorite thing about 'Message In A Bottle', apart from all the money we made off it, was hearing cover bands trying to play my drum parts. I'd overdubbed about six different parts, and to watch some band in a Holiday Inn struggling to play all those overdubs still gives me great joy!!"

TRUE GENIUS!!