BAND ON THE RUN:
Independence day arrives

John Zaremba

By JOHN ZAREMBA
The Patriot Ledger

This is the last time I plan to see my name displayed as it is above. But with any luck, it’s far from the last time my name will appear in print. Only it won’t be as a writer for the Ledger, it’ll be me being interviewed or discussed by Spin and Blender and Guitar and Alternative Press and Rolling Stone.

I have followed the lead of my bandmates in Say When. After 3½ years of rehearsals, recording and gigs upon gigs upon gigs, and now a month-long tour that has proven that we can chase this dream of ours at top speed, I have done something I’ve been dreaming about for years.

I quit my day job.

Now we are all full-time musicians. The feeling is scary but good. Mostly good. I just got a new job, and that job is to drive around the country, play my guitar, sing some harmonies, talk to lots of people, and hit on pretty girls.

Quitting the Ledger was liberating, and it finally put me in line with everybody else in the band.

Zack was the first guy to jump overboard the S.S. Day Job. He worked for a company that had something to do with steel, and he set all sorts of sales records. We were never terribly clear on what his job was, and neither was he.

Clearly what he did from 9 to 5 didn’t matter to him. What did matter was managing the band, booking shows and making contacts, and that’s exactly what he ended up doing. He’s broke but one of the happiest people I know.

Mike didn’t have a day job; he just graduated from Berklee College of Music, making him the only person in our band who actually is doing what he intended to do with his degree.

Mark worked for his brother’s excavation company out in Sherborn, and, having been on tour with his old band, decided that playing his drums every night beats the hell out of digging ditches.

Maxwell quit his job selling ads at WBZ right before we left for the tour. He liked his work, and from what we could tell he was good at it. But he is a great singer, and he decided to do with his life what he does best.

They all quit when we left for tour in August, and I, too have submitted my resignation.

And as much as I like my colleagues at the Ledger, I can’t say I miss my old job. Not with the possibilities that are staring me right in the face and begging me to take hold of them.

My parents have taken this surprisingly well. It’s not that they are unsupportive, it’s just that they are practical people: You go to school, you get your degree, you find a job, you stick with that job.

Beyond that, I am the youngest of three, the only one ever to move far from our home base of Chicago. They worry about me a lot, and I figured they would be flat-out against me quitting a safe and well-paying job to dive into a new job that doesn’t pay, has me sleeping on people’s floors and eating on a few dollars a day.

But when I told them I quit (I called them when the band was in North Carolina and had them both get on the phone at the same time), all they did was say they hope it works out for us.

Their blessing is important. I would be doing it even if they told me not to, but it’s nice to have the confidence of the people who brought me here, put me through school and bought me my first two guitars and a few years’ worth of lessons.

My co-workers and friends have been encouraging. They knew my frustration well. Last summer, I spent many weekends going to New York to make a great-sounding rock record with a top producer. Then they would see me come back in to work on Monday looking thoroughly depressed; I had just spent all weekend playing music and talking about the business with people who have been there and lived the dream, and now I was back home in a routine world, one with monthly rent, garbage night, utility bills and selectmen’s meetings.

This spring really put me over the edge. First, in March, we went on a weeklong tour of the East Coast. We came back wanting nothing more than to head back out again, but the time was not right.

Then in May, we played the Bamboozle festival at Giants Stadium. Huge stage, 60,000 people, roadies to help us put our gear on stage, monster lights and sound system - a class act the whole way through. I wandered through the crowd and people wanted me to sign things and take pictures with them.

To them I was a rock star. I was euphoric.

But that was just one day. All the other bands packed up and shoved off to the next tour stop, where there would be more fans, more autographs to sign, more pictures to take.

I went back to work.

But now I don’t have to. At least not this kind of work. Now my work is to do something I have wanted to do since I was 14 - to go play my guitar every night and get people to like the music my band makes.

And the ability to do what you’ve always dreamed of doing is the best feeling there is.

Next stop: Catch them Saturday night at Harpers Ferry in Allston. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door.

To read about Say When's national tour, click here.

Copyright 2007 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Friday, September 21, 2007