RJM posed this question to me on another thread in reply to a post I had made about the passing of a member of the band I was in, way back when. So, thought I'd take a walk down memory lane and share how that all came to be.
It was late '72 and I was invited to a cousin's birthday party. I really didn't want to go as I barely knew her, despite there only being a week between us age wise. We just traveled in different circles, me being from the wrong side of the tracks as it were. Parental pressure won out though and I ended up going. So I show up and just as expected, I'm like a fish out of water. Didn't know anyone there.
Among the quest, were 2 Puerto Rican brothers. The younger of the two was playing the piano and the older accompanied him on bass. They were quite good actually and being a music lover, that became my focus for the evening. At one point my cousin tried to join them on guitar, but didn't play very well herself and ended up handing her guitar over to me. "Here, you play don't you?"
Well, the rest is history. That night ended up being the first of many regular jam sessions. By the following year we had found ourselves a drummer and formed a band. Our band name came from a bottle of Rye whiskey we were passing around one night. "Man, this S**t's 100 Proof! Hey, that ain't a bad name for the group!"
Before long, we had landed a regular weekend gig at a local club which paid us in cash! Unfortunately, that little fact would end up biting us in our collective behinds a few years later when we got nailed for tax evasion! More on that in a moment.
Anyway, things were going pretty good. Started writing some of our own music, cut a demo album and even got some airplay on a few local radio stations. That's when things started going awry. You see, we had no legal representation nor even an agent at the time. Basically, we didn't know what the hell we were doing! So, when a record company offered $150 for one of our tunes, we grabbed it. Hell, we were still kids really and that seemed like a lot of dough.
Imagine our surprise when we hear the melody from that song being played on the radio a few months later, by a popular band! "Hey, I wrote that!" Imagine our further surprise when the same tune hits #1!!! That's when we got ourselves a lawyer and tried to sue. Got absolutely nowhere with the lawsuit though, as yours truly had signed over all rights to any future revenue for the paltry sum of $150! The damn lawyer we retained costs us a hell of a lot more than that!
Now in fighting our lawsuit, the record company countersued, prevented us from publicly releasing the album we had cut which included the song in question, claiming copyright infringement. Oh, and it gets even better. Our efforts also attracted the attention of the IRS who in turn sued for back taxes. We honestly had no idea we were even supposed to pay taxes on our earnings. To us we weren't working, we were just having fun, playing a gig. Well, the judge saw it differently and after the audit, we were barely left with car fare.
We continued on for a year or so after, but it just wasn't the same anymore. The fire was just gone. We each went our separate ways, pursuing other interests.
Well, no sense crying over spilled milk as it were, but I do find myself looking back often these days, wondering what if.....
