No, I did not record a cover of the Rolling Stones song “Under My Thumb.”  Swap in a “the” for the “my” and you have the title of my newest song, “Under the Thumb.”  You’ll notice the two compositions have no resemblance beyond a couple words in the title.

Please take a gander at the Music page to listen to the new tune.  And while you’re listening, you can catch up on some of my monthly blog posts that you haven’t read in a while.  Or re-read all the ones that you loved, which has probably been most of them.

If for some stupid reason the audio on the Music page isn’t working, kindly let me know and then head over to my Facebook or MySpace page, both of which also have the song.

Enjoy.

To follow your dreams, you’ll probably have to make sacrifices. It’s generally inevitable. Ideally, you’ll recognize when you’re making sacrifices, and you’ll choose to make smart ones. I’d imagine, for example, that sacrificing some free time to work overtime hours to pay off a student loan is probably a reasonable decision one might make, whereas sacrificing spending time with your family so that you can become a Wall Street millionaire may prove unfulfilling in the long run.  (Although maybe not.  I’m not a millionaire, so I can only speculate.)

I’ve certainly made some sacrifices in my life. I chose to forego the typical college experience, for example (you’ll have to trust me when I say that attending a small school consisting mostly of male students and entirely of musicians wasn’t the normal college situation). I’ve also been forfeiting financial stability, large chunks of time and freedom that are devoted to being in a band, and potentially the ability to maintain certain relationships due to touring, music commitments, etc.

But if you’re making sacrifices in the name of pursuing the life you love, they shouldn’t really feel like sacrifices. You can recognize the trade-offs being made, but it should also be easily recognized that you’ve made these choices because they result in the least amount of sacrifice in your life in the long run. While a sacrifice can cause a temporary strain on your life, it should be noted that they represent something that, if you had chosen to keep it, would mean the loss of some essential part of your current path.

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When I used to read stories of the glory years of rock ‘n’ roll, I couldn’t help but lament the lack of a “scene” there seems to be these days. When Eric Clapton would come tour America, he’d hang out with Hendrix in New York City, where they’d roam around with their guitars strapped to their backs and pop into smokey clubs just to jam with whoever happened to be around. Back in England, the bars he frequented were populated by the likes of Pete Townshend and Mick Jagger well before any of them were household names. When Motley Crue played at the Whiskey A Go Go in the early ’80s, the Sunset Strip was a community party. The whole LA music scene seemed like a big leather pants-wearing, blow-snorting family.

This isn’t to say I wish that Shaimus shows were knee-deep in cocaine. I don’t. (I don’t want leather pants, either.) But the fact is, I have long felt that there has been a lack of fellowship among bands lately. The days of bands that stuck it out together in their town, offering support and companionship as they all worked toward that common goal of musical euphoria have seemingly begun dying out as technology has slowly moved the majority of band members’ time from the streets and into cyberspace. It’s not that there is no fellowship at all, but there is a lot less of it–we’ve noticed this as we try to build relationships with like-minded, talented bands that will stick this brutal industry out with us.

As I mentioned, part of this lack of conviviality is due to the Internet. Whoring yourself out on the web is a prerequisite for any band’s success these days (ourselves included), and while it can be great to reach so many more fans that you never could before, it can be so easy to get lost in the mix. It’s not hard to drown in a sea of faceless bands with MySpace pages.

But as I sat around complaining about something I couldn’t change, I soon realized something: this vast, uncontrollable deluge of musicians doing whatever they feel like–this complete and utter worldwide anarchy that has been unfolding before our very eyes–is the very essence of rock ‘n’ roll in modern times.

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