I've been thinking about a lot of stuff lately, so I decided to embrace this MySpace thing and start blogging a bit. Here you'll find...well...whatever I damn well feel like talking about!

Anyway, I've been busier than ever lately, so that's had me thinking about the stuff I love to do most, you know, when I'm not so goddamn busy. And at the top of that list is music.

I still get such joy and satisfaction from putting everything aside -- all the daily garbage, the hectic schedules, the business, EVERYTHING -- and just playing music. Actually, it's not just playing music, it's being in a band. A good band. Maybe the best band I've been in. We're firing on all cylinders, the front-end is in alignment, the chrome is polished and the tires are new. We're a big-balled '69 Charger with fuzzy dice on the mirror, loud pipes and an even louder stereo.

I look forward to Ironweed practices all week, and even if I'm exhausted or busy or whatever, I'm always happier when we're done than I was when we started.

Of course, like most musicians, I've been in good bands, decent bands and bad bands. I've been in bands that pay well and bands that don't make a dime. Bands that have dissolved on good terms and others that have exploded in fireballs of big egos and wounded pride. And with all that said, the best of them have been worth the effort.

But what makes a good band? A lot of things, I think. Good chemistry, good people and good musicianship, to be sure. But ultimately, it's the music. And more than that, it's the band's mindful commitment to serving the music rather than the other way around. In other words, finding the true spirit of the SONG -- whatever it is -- is the only noble goal, and it's the only one worth pursuing. In my experience, this is a rare and valuable thing. I've been in only one or two bands that have done this with any degree of consistency, and Ironweed is most definitely one of them.

It seems to me that far too often bands play things just because they can. Or because they want to be cool. Or different. They endlessly change arrangements and tweak parts just for the sake of doing it. But to what end? Too often, things like pace or tension or release -- things that pertain to a SONG as opposed to a PART -- are forgotten. And in the end, the result is a bunch of parts mashed together and called a "song" as opposed to a real song, a work of art. It's the kind of stuff that gives you musical whiplash for no particular reason. Think Mudvayne as opposed to Tool.

That's what I mean when I say that songs -- and bands -- are so much greater than the sum of their parts. Ironweed gets together once a week, and yet we still manage to write some of the most amazing music I have had the privilege to play. The stuff is dense and complex yet clear and elegant. It's challenging yet accessible. We're all good players -- in fact, this may be the first band in which I can say with some degree of certainty that I'm the worst player of the bunch! -- and yet we've all got good heads on our shoulders and good minds for music. We're weird enough to be interesting yet responsible enough to be stable.

Don't get me wrong -- I'd venture to say our live shows feature some of the most inspired and fearsome playing and singing you're ever going to see -- but there's so much more beyond what each of us contributes to the song, and I think we all get that. Ironweed is indeed greater than the sum of its parts, and I'm glad to be a part of it.

Anyway, some food for thought. Be sure to check out the band and have fun making your own music!