How 9/11 Killed My Band

Bzzzz...bzzzz...bzzzz.

My cell phone vibrated on the nightstand next to me in our crappy Portland motel room. We had played a show in town the night before.

Who the hell is calling me, anyways? Don't they know I'm touring and probably won't answer at 7:30 am?

I missed the call. Shortly after, the voicemail came in. It was from our friend Jason back in Santa Barbara. All he said was "Turn on the TV!"

In my sleepy haze I reached for the remote, turned on the TV, and my life was completely changed. At first I thought it was some apocalyptic movie. Nope, it was the first tower of the World Trade Center falling on 9/11.

Only a couple of nights before we were watching the video for our single Beat The World on MTV2 and had heard it on the radio, as well. A couple of weeks before that, we finished up the East Coast leg of the Ozzfest tour. Everything was going as planned. Until that fateful day.

That day was surreal; as I am sure it was for most Americans. We were scheduled to play a show in Seattle that evening, but it ended up being postponed until the following night. Seattle was a complete ghost town. We could only find one restaurant open other than fast food joints as most places decided to close up shop for the day.

Since our promotion was already in full-swing and the album was scheduled for an October 2nd release date, our label, DreamWorks, and publishing company, EMI, decided to press on. In retrospect, we should have questioned that decision, especially given the unprecedented nature of what had occurred and the effect it had on the psyche of the country. It is hard to get your new upstart band noticed when people’s eyes are glued to CNN all day to see what is going on at Ground Zero.

We pressed on though. Our CD (remember those?) release party was on October 2, 2001, in our hometown of Santa Barbara. It was a great party with a lot of friends and fans who had supported us from the beginning.

We hit the road again and this time we had a show scheduled in New York City. We stayed at a hotel around the corner from the Ed Sullivan theater where Letterman is taped and the show was only a few blocks away at The World in Times Square. While I was not a fan of the WWE theme of the venue, the location was amazing. You could walk out the front doors, look up to your right, and the Jumbotron was so close you could throw a rock and hit it.

It was early October and 9/11 was only about a month old in everyone’s memory. The fans at the show were thirsty for something positive. Something to take their minds off the tragedy which occurred so close to home. Everyone in the band commented there was a different vibe that night and the show went down as one of the most memorable at which I ever played. We provided more than entertainment that night; we provided an escape from reality, if only for a few moments.

Ultimately, that is what our job is as musicians. To entertain. To help fans escape for a night. To provide a soundtrack for a long drive. To amplify the special moments in life. To help get you through the work day. To give people the courage to stand up for what they believe in.

My band and I toured on and off for a little over a year after the show in NYC. We had a ton of fun, signed a few autographs, enjoyed some mild success, and finished with a bunch of stories I will be telling for the rest of my life. In the end, I decided to move on to another group due to some creative differences and also because it was becoming apparent that DreamWorks was going to drop us from the label.

While my career as a professional musician was short, I still had a big impact on many of our fans' lives. To this day, I still get the occasional message from a fan on Facebook, Twitter, and the like. I had the experience of a lifetime, something that most people never get to be a part of. And for that, I am grateful.