when you were 25...

[Pat Azzarello]

Let's see... 16 years ago.

 

On and off, playing full time in Top 40 bands.

Starting to cut my teeth doing session work.

Gear List:

• Emulator II
  
• DX7 / TX7 with lots of carts.
  
• Ensoniq ESQ-1 - with lots of carts
  
• Roland D550 - with lots of cards
  
• Mac (I think it was my 512e) with no hard drive
  
• Opcode Sequencer software and editor librarians
  
• Lot's of 5 1/4" floppy disks
   
  

And I fit it all (plus speaker cabinets) in my Pontiac Sunbird.

This was well after finishing college, and getting rid of my CP70b, OB 8 (which I could crash on demand), Farfisa, Crumar Orchestrator, Arp Oddysey, etc.

[jdonnici]

That was 1995 for me... That year is significant for a couple of reasons:

 

1 - I got married in July of that year, out in California while we both lived in Colorado (we both grew up in CA)... so add lots of travel expense to the normal wedding expenses.

 

2 - I bought NO new gear at all (see #1).

 

I was just playing on my own, doing the mad scientist thing with a Korg M1, a Kawai K1, a Proteus 2, a Yamaha TG-55, and whatever the current version of Cakewalk was back then (no audio, that's for sure)... recording it to a 4-track Tascam cassette box that had an Alesis Microverb (III ?) hanging off it.

 

Thankfully, she's a good woman who understands my hobbies and has graciously allowed me to upgrade significantly since then!

 

-- jeff

[meccajay]

Back then I had just had my car stolen and I took the insurance money and took a chance on music...my 1st since I'd quit playing drums because of the whole 'band' thing.

 

I got a roland S-50 sampler, a used roland keyboard, a 4 track and a midiverb and an alesis drum machine and a couple mics. I saved the rest for trips to NY to get a possible deal. I'd met a few rappers at a music biz seminar who were pretty good, I then went to all the 'open mics' in my area and found all the local singers and keyboard players(that didnt have equipment). Told them all if they helped me record my songs I would record there demo for free. No one seem to mind it was only a four-track cause we had so much fun!

 

Made a lot of music and a lot of friends...

[Jeff Klopmeyer]

I turned 25 in 1993.

 

At the time, I'd just married the girl I'd been dating (then living with) for several years. I was the advertising/communications dude for Alesis, and that was the heyday of ADAT success, so I was a busy boy. I was living in Torrance, CA (only a few miles from where I live now at the beach), and was playing more guitar than keyboards and synths at the time. I may have still had a Juno-106 as my main axe then! I did not have the original QuadraSynth (and besides...it wasn't quite shipping just yet)!

 

I was still playing guitar on a lot of records. I probably had 30-40 paying sessions that year. Mostly rock tracks from a huge list of forgettable folks.

 

Let's see...what else? I got a kitten named Yoko that I rescued from the pound that year...she's still around, but no kitten anymore. It would be another couple of years until I'd meet Dave Bryce at that point. I drove a f-ed up 1986 Toyota pick-up truck, with no brakes and a leaky fuel pump. I probably still had the slightly big hair left over from the '80s. I was listening, for lack of anything better, to prog and jazz and classical (totally negating any new music that was coming out at the time, like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and other Seattle-area peeps).

 

I was less happy then than I am now. This I know.

 

- Jeff

[Mark Zeger]

I was 25 in '87.

 

You remember that "'80s lifestyle" that gets parodied today? That was me (sans the drugs).

 

I was what you'd call a yuppie. Minus the BMW, but I had a new Honda Accord. A career in TV advertising sales was starting to take off. Wore suits with padded shoulders. Owned a townhouse. Had a cell phone (cost $750 in '85). Played a lot of golf.

 

I was probably playing more guitar than keyboards then (a Gibson ES-345, a Veillette Citron, and an Ovation '83 Commemorative, all of which I still have) since I'd played guitar for my university jazz ensemble for 2 years. My keyboards were a Rhodes Stage 88, a Korg ES-50 (a string/brass synth), and an ARP Odyssey.

 

But I really wasn't playing much music until I got married in '89. My wife is extremely supportive, and my kids all share my love of music and study piano (even my wife started lessons after a nearly 30 year hiatus).

[SolipsismX]

jesus, am I the youngest one here?

I just BARELY turned 21 and this is what i've got:

Kurzweil 2500XS

Pod Pro and AX guitar

DDrum4

Digi 001 and a new G4 to boot

 

I plan on getting a nord lead 3 this year along with a nicer mic (I'm using a mic that came with my pd150). Either a rhodes tube mic, or a nice condenser

 

Right now, I'm trying to write stuff in a cross between radiohead, NIN, and I guess more complex music (lots of time signature and key changes) yet still retain a sense of pop that won't be dubbed pretentious by everybody else. Basically, the songs average on 4-6 minutes still and even though it changes a lot in that short time and it's not verse/chorus, there are still pop hooks and rock stupidity.

 

I'm attending school at san jose state university and plan on majoring in film and minoring in music. I'm going to transfer, but I'm not sure where yet.

 

I'm also trying to write a book and get an indie company to fund a movie I'm trying to make.

[Gulliver]

I was 25 in 1988 and .... yeah, what an idiot I was back then!

I thought... I'd be a rock star.

You see, me - who hates mainstream... a rock star...

[RABid]

Hmmm. This was interesting. ... Bump.

[kylethiessen]

I'll be 25 this December. Graduated last year with a Music Business degree from Oklahoma State, which logically led me to working for my dad's life insurance brokerage. Doing that full time, and playing a bit with a few groups here and there. Had my XK-1 for awhile and just ordered an FP-4

 

Kyle

[Botch]

And damn, what a bump!!

 

It was cool to read my own response from six years ago.

 

Update: I'd played live until July of last year, when my cover band broke up, and my interests turned to motorcycles, I haven't played live since. Still dating the gal I was six years ago, although I've realized marriage ain't in the cards. Was cool to see some names from years ago, would love to know what everyone's doing...

[gangsu]

1928. oops, typo. Maybe it's a sign I shouldn't go there.

[Andre Lower]

That was 1991 for me. I was in the thick of my first big trip (14 months of Europe, 11 countries, priceless experiences), having taken a 1 year break from Engineering school with only one year to finish it, which I did in 92. I had stopped giging (just a singer/guitar player back then) in 1988 and only got back to music in 2000, having purchased my very 1st keyboard (Roland XP-30) in 2001.

 

Just like in 1991, I'm still learning and loving every bit of it.

[BluesKeys]

In 1981 I was 25 and I thought I was winding down my career in the music business. I had put out an album 2 years before to rave reviews in Italy I was told and I had the newspaper to prove it. Except I new no one who could read Italian. Anyway I never saw a dime from the record. Our agent/producer was indicted for selling bootleg albums and the band fell apart. So I had started another project with the idea of not playing as much and doing originals mostly. Then I got married and figured I had missed the window of opportunity for a career in music.

 

Fast forward to 4 years ago and I started playing in a Clapton Tribute band which lead to a blues band (at the same time) then a Corporate band, then to the bands I am playing in today. I am once again a full time musician, though in this crowd I use the term loosely since some are gigging twice as much as I am. But this is where I make my living and I love it.

 

My rig then was a Rhodes, Yamaha CP30 and a Yamaha 212 amp, which replaced a Peavey amp with a home made cabinet and 2@15's. I used a flanger, and compressor on the Rhodes and played the Cp30 with the two channels slightly detuned for what I thought was closer to a piano sound.

 

In the words of ITGITC "isn't music great"

[SpaceNorman]

I hit 25 in 1982....had just returned from a stint in Germany working for Uncle Sam ... and was just starting school at Michigan State. Late in the year I got hooked up with the guys and started a "frat party" band that over the course of 4 years turned into a 4-6 night a week full time Top 40 Pop/Rock act that worked all over South/Central/Western Michigan.

 

My rig at the time:

 

Rhodes 73 Stage Piano

Hohner D6 Clavinet

Korg Poly 61 Synth

Hammond C2 Organ w/Leslie

Yamaha 6 channel powered mixer

EV Speaker Cabinet (15", 4" and a Dome Tweeter)

 

 

[Bucktunes]

And damn, what a bump!!

 

Was cool to see some names from years ago, would love to know what everyone's doing...

 

Some of us are still around, but do more lurking and casual reading here than posting. Mostly because I have to actually work for a living here in Quincy. How's life in the land of the greatest snow on Earth?

 

><>

Steve

[Tonysounds]

I was 25 in 1987. I was splitting my time between bass and keyboards. I was playing bass and keyboards and singing in an original band called Social Security, sort of a cross between early Ministry and The Fixx. We were a power trio (they played drums and guitar). My rig for that band was a Juno 106, Korg CX3 and a Korg Poly 800 (covering mostly bass parts), a Roland Space Echo, a TOA powered mixer and an EV SH1502 cabinet with the white horn; keys were held up with an Ultimate Support Aframe stand. I also had a Yamaha CP30 at the time. My bass rig was an Ibanez Roadstar II bass, an Ibanez 8string, into a big Gallien Krueger 400B into a Bullfrog 4x12 cabinet. CRUNCHY!

 

I was also playing bass with a Jimi Hendrix tribute called (you'll love this) CLEO PATRICK. I'll probably write a book just on that chapter of my life....it was crazy. I ended up in the Guinness Book of World Records from one those gigs, and had my picture in Guitar World magazine...my friends had to show it to me!!! I was finishing up my schooling at Columbia College in Chicago, where I majored in Record Production and Sound Reinforcement.

 

One of my best buds at that time had put together a band I was desperately trying to get into as a keyboard player; I had played on some of his demos. But, as he told me, "what would I do with a keyboard player onstage??? It doesn't really look cool, and doesn't fit our image." Sadly, he was absolutely correct. It was a great little band called Material Issue.

 

By the time I was 25, I had already been in a road band for a year making more money than I had in any day job, quit it to go to Columbia college, learn a new instrument (bass), and write songs.

 

You just made me think of a lot of people I haven't thought of in a long time, some of which are gone now.

 

Wonder how KIDDO is doing.

T

[Dave Pierce]

Great call to bump this thread, a fun read.

 

I turned 25 in 1990. Stylistically, it was still very much the 80's. You know the cliched clubs you see in all the 80's movies? Yeah, I was playing all those places in my all-original rock band. My rig was minimalistic -- a DX-21 through a Fender Twin. It went to 11.

 

I had been married for a year or two already, but my wife was the total 80s music lover chick, not the 80s yuppie ball-buster chick.

 

Sadly, I was also heavily into drugs and alcohol. It was actually the beginning of my 11-year hiatus from music -- the band broke up that summer and I decided to get clean and sober.

 

I had a lot of fun in those days, and in the haze of recollection it seems like a good life we had -- carefree playing, drinking and drugging in the whole 80s environment, didn't care about the day job much. But when I think about it more thoughtfully, I remember that I was also deeply unhappy in those days. I have a much better life today. And I play more gigs, too!

 

--Dave

 

[Aidan]

In 1987 I was three years into my desertion of music for the world of journalism and two years into a marriage which ultimately wouldn't work and which would keep me from any aspirations about even casual gigging. I still had my old Kirkman grand piano in the dining room (which I was strongly discouraged from playing) and an horrendous Yamaha DX21 upstairs as a sop.

 

It was only when I met my second wife that I got the encouragement and impetus to actually do something with my musical talent. Which is just one of the many reasons why now is so much better than 21 years ago

[Dave Horne]

At 25 (1975) I was playing jazz piano in a military big band in the same chair Clare Fischer years earlier had occupied. I was incarcerated for 20 years.

 

Prior to that I played four years or so in a trio in and around Philadelphia. It was called the Tommy Maris Trio and consisted of a singer, drummer, and B3.

 

[Joe Muscara]

My birthday is in January so I can cover the calendar year with this.

 

I had met my soon to be wife (wifey? ) the previous October. We had a long distance relationship (me in MI, she in TX) until I moved to Houston that July, which was a bad time to do it! We got married in Chicago in October on the one year anniversary of the day we met. I spent my time once I moved to Houston looking for a job and jamming a bit with a guitar player she knew from marching band.

 

Back then my rig primarily was a Korg SG-1D and an Ensoniq EPS 16+. I've only sold those pieces of gear in the last year or so. I don't know what I was playing then. I wasn't really capable of playing covers (or so I thought) and mostly did originals based on whatever riffs we came up with. Thinking about where I was then compared to today is amazing. It almost makes me think I actually know how to play now!

[stepay]

hey guys,

 

being new in this (stevie wonderful!) forum, i tend to imagine most of you married with kids, with a career and lots of boards at home, or rather, in your own private studios. *drool*

 

i'm 25 now, not married, and just about to get my very 1st board. don't ask why but i'm really curious about...

 

what were you doing at the age of 25? what kind of music were you playing, and how many/which boards did you use at that time?

 

kiddo

 

When I was 25 (1991) I lived on Stanford's campus (my wife was a graduate student there) in the San Francisco Bay Area in graduate student housing. I was working for a publishing company and JUST started playing music for money about a year earlier. A guy at work was a guitarist, and I joined his band. This was a transitional time for me as I was going from only reading sheet music to learning to play by ear. I had a $500 Yamaha YPR-30. I actually still have it. Pretty much a piece of junk by today's standards, and even by the standards of the day. Did the job for me and that band though.

[retrokeys]

At 25 I had just quit playing clubs 6 nights a week after 3 years having made enough money to buy my beloved C3 "Bertha." I started back into college to get a second bachelor's degree and joined an eight piece, one-nighter funk band that helped pay the bills and was more fun than anyone ought to have. Picked up a Clavinet C and went through a couple of Wurlies and became a Tower of Power fan for life.

[Joe P]

I was 25 in '89. Played a DX7s (through a crappy amp) that sat on top of a Hammond M3 that went through a Leslie 44W. Still have it all. Band was two of the three guys I play with today, except we did more originals back then. Me, the guitar player and bass player all lived in the same house, along with my younger brother and another friend. Big house. Great house. We would rehearse Thursday, Friday & Saturday nights (when we didn't play out).

 

Played a lot of cards, a TON of golf, ate a lot of steaks and ate a lot of pizza. Was making a lot of money those days as a new mechanical engineer, low expenses. New car. No girl to screw it up (ha!).

 

Those were the good old days for sure! One of the greatest times of my life. I still have dreams about those times and that house, dreams of youth, and of time remaining, and of a life that seemed never-ending.

 

Regards,

Joe

[Botch]

Wow Steve, you've been lurking for a Looong time! I thought you completely disappeared when you moved to Indiana. Are you at least playing part time? You were much too talented to just quit altogether! Good hearing from you!

 

[kanker.]

I was 25 in 97/98. That's about all I can remember about it.

[kad]

At 25 (1975) I was playing jazz piano in a military big band in the same chair Clare Fischer years earlier had occupied. I was incarcerated for 20 years.

 

I doubt that ANY 25-year-old could fill Clare Fischer's shoes. I don't think it's fair that you had to go to prison for 20 years.

[Bosendorphen]

I was 25 in 1983 doing graduate work in Communication Arts at the University of Maryland (having gotten my B.A. in Film/Video production). Playing every weekend with my band and dating the woman I'd known since elementary school and who would become my first wife in 4 years time.

 

I was on a budget due to schooling and was still playing my old MiniKorg that I'd received Christmas 1976. My gigging piano was a Roland MP-600 which I loved. It had a nice weighted action, 2 mixable piano sounds with one harpsichord/clav sound, and 5 band EQ. Odd compass though, 64 notes but the low note was E so it worked out great. Then there was my Crumar Performer which was my string/brass machine and pseudo organ when put through my Mutron phasor.

 

Fond memories and I still play with most of the same folks to this very day.

[DanS]

1991, I was using a newly acquired Roland D70 (with wedding money no less), Korg DSS-1 sampler, Alesis HR-16 drum machine. All hooked up to an Atari 1040STfm, synced via MTC to a Fostex R8. That Atari had the best midi timing of anything I've ever used. I think it had a meg of ram, and no HD. I think I sold it about 8 years ago for $250, not bad.

Heady days!

[Dave Horne]

At 25 (1975) I was playing jazz piano in a military big band in the same chair Clare Fischer years earlier had occupied. I was incarcerated for 20 years.

 

I doubt that ANY 25-year-old could fill Clare Fischer's shoes. I don't think it's fair that you had to go to prison for 20 years.

 

When Clare was in the band, his shoes were only 21.

[Mr. Nightime]

At 25 it was 1982, and I was traveling with a CP70B, small solid state Hammond, D6 Clavinet, & Rhodes Piano Bass. Spending the entire time on the road, averaging 330 nights a year, and 50,000 miles a year playing country. That was the year my second marriage self-destructed. Couldn't be happier.