I was painting houses as a journeyman, after almost 8 years, and playing in no less than four bands. Sasha and I were living in a cute little duplex in Fairfax that I had painted and talked the owner into letting me live in; it was our first place living together. She was going to College of Marin and in the process of applying to Berkeley. It was super cozy. Her "aunt" Cathy lived right around the corner and had just given birth to her first of two sons, Sasha's godson. We were pretty much enjoying everything, until I dropped the bomb and fucked it all up: I decided I needed to take the plunge and move from bedroom recording to "real" engineering and wanted to go to the new vocational school that had just opened up in Emeryville, the Ex'Pression School for New Media (it was not an accredited college at this point, it was just ramping up for its first year of business). My plan was simple: move out of my rad little place with my awesome girlfriend and back into my mom's house, in the den, so I could quit my job and go to this school that cost a ton of money- which I had none of. This was as we were working on Sasha's essay to try to get her into Cal (she got in, of course….) and pretty much came as a shock to her and my mom both. But, being the rad supportive women they are, Mom said it was cool and Sash said she would move there with me. What the hell was she thinking??
So, we did it. Got my brother and his wife out of their weird townhouse and into our duplex (that ended up insane for them, but that is their story and not mine), moved into my mom's with my girlfriend and my cat and all my crap, and went and applied for the school. They were still painting some of the walls when I went and took the "entrance exam". I had no idea how I was going to pay for it. My parents were thrilled that I was "going back to school". All seemed good…… until I started thinking about all the bands I was playing with. LPN was playing a ton of gigs, even touring for small bursts; it was clearly about to get kinda big…. J2X was always playing down by UCSB in Isla Vista…. all four bands had semi-regular rehearsals….
I emailed the head of admissions or something like that at the school, and basically asked this:
"Hey, so if I have a gig in LA on a Friday night and have to take off that morning to make it, what is the make-up policy for that day for me?"
His response was ridiculous:
"You would fail the course. You need to make the choice between being an engineer and being a musician in a band. That is all."
What the fuck??! The whole reason I wanted to do this thing was BECAUSE I am a musician and in a band…. multiple bands.
I couldn't believe it. I was SO bummed. I moved my future wife and my goddamn cat out of our sweet house! I moved into my MOM's house!! I was 26 years old!! SHIT..
This was stupid. How could they expect me to make a choice like that?? At that point, the school was a 14 month course, after which you would have "placement assistance" to get you……. an internship at a studio.
No degree. No job. No bands.
No thanks.
I bailed.
My buddy David Simon-Baker, guitar player for Jimmy 2 Times, had been working at a studio in San Rafael for a bit by this time. He saw how torn up I was by choosing to continue to rock with him but not go pursuing this thing.... and he suggested that I make some time to become a presence at said studio, to kind of help me satisfy my desire to be in a real-world recording situation- without having to give up my band…..his band.
His words were pretty much "make yourself known around there and a familiar face, show people you are motivated and want to be there and can be trusted, and you will probably end up assisting on sessions and stuff. I think it will be a natural progression for you from that into engineering your own things...."
I thought he was smart for bringing it up, and decided to give it a shot.
This is how I came to meet the Cuban Cowboy, Ari Rios….. and began my "engineering career", at Laughing Tiger Studios.