Thread: The long road back..........

I am Shane, I started playing guitar as a kid in the 70's and once upon a time I was a thriving guitarist, toured the world, did some great session work and got paid to play guitar my life was good until I screwed it all up.

Somewhere along the way in the 90's I got into the "wrong" crowd and ended up seriously addicted to cocaine and alcohol, which of course affected not only my playing but wrecked my entire life. I lost everything, my band, my family, all the money because I let drugs and booze consume me and I lost sight of what was important.

So in the years since the 90's I became sober and have remarried, had 2 more kids and really grown as a person, but something was missing....... I reinvented myself, worked on a new sound and image.

I really needed to play guitar and share my music with others again, so I started writing again, auditioned for a few bands, and kept looking until I found a band that worked really hard on some great songs and now we are ready to release the album.

But the most important thing I have learned is that nothing is worth being numb for, I enjoy waking up and being able to remember what happened the day or week before. I also realize that I will work hard to get back to where I was 10-15 years ago and this time not blow it.

I will be posting thoughts of what it was like to realize that the world was crashing down around me and what it took to get it back together.

On to the present.......... no drugs, no drama.

Awhile back I met a new friend named Gos, who is a talented songwriter and great singer. So we emailed back and forth for a month or so, I got copies of his songs and listened to them.

What I heard was amazing, it pushed my playing in directions I would never take it.
The music was both intriguing intellectually and challenging to play, I absolutely loved it.

This is the same feeling I had years ago when I was first getting into bands and starting to have some success as a musician.

Sounds like you've been through a lot Shane.

If you record, and want to share your music you can post something in the Listening Lounge.

Imagine waking up on the kitchen floor, with puke in your hair and your face stuck to the cold tile....

This was my way of greeting the first day of withdrawal, after I woke up I just laid there on the floor in pain, I hadn't had any vodka or cocaine in 24 hours, I was hurting bad. After a couple of days I got off the floor, took a shower and ate something, I still wanted to get high really bad but had decided if I continued using I was going to die. I went through the apartment got all the drugs and booze and flushed it all down the drain in the kitchen sink.

I felt sick, I had just thrown away probably $1000 worth of coke and hundreds of dollars in alcohol.

I stayed in the apartment for 3 months, watching movies and reading books only venturing out to buy some groceries and pay bills. I had sold all my gear but one guitar and a small tube amp. I didn't even pick up my guitar at all during that time.

I spent Christmas and New Years by myself.

One day I just felt ok, and decided it was time to go get a job.
I got hired at a car dealership to do light maintenance and getting the cars prepped to be sold.

It took me months to get over being sick, I am 6 ft tall and 210 lbs now, but at this time I was down to 123 lbs and looked bad.

1999 I was wasted, not cool.

We released When In Rome on June 6th, iTunes picked it up yesterday, other retailers are going to carry it soon as well. So far we've had sales from the following countries.

Check it out at iTunes, look for Nero's Opening Act.

The United States
Canada
The United Kingdom
Australia
The Netherlands
Norway
Italy
Panama
Spain
Germany
Brazil
Slovenia
Sweden
Honduras
Mexico
The Philippines
Denmark
Israel
South Africa
Japan
New Zealand
Chile
Belgium

I think I know you from another forum....