Got my first guitar for Christmas when I was six years old and learned my first song by my seventh birthday (15 days later). A few weeks after that I began studying classical guitar in my Mom's Lutheran Church and listening to Country Music on her 8-Track player at home. I had no clue how what I was learning applied to the music I heard until I got turned on to Rock & Roll in 1977. I stopped the classical lessons and applied my ear training to figuring out how to play this incredible music I had so recently discovered.
In 1979 VanHalen's first album came out and I was floored all over again. Every note I heard sounded so powerful and happy - I now knew (in guitar language) what a smile and a laugh sounded like. My new goal was to make my guitar sound as cool as that.
In 1980 I got my first electric guitar, a freebee that someone in the family found left on a plane that no one claimed. The guitar was a purple Gibson Explorer copy and for an amp, I wired the guitar into the needle of my record player & cranked it till it distorted. Eventually the speakers ripped and produced enough distortion for the time being.
By the summer of 1982 I had learned how to read tablature (found it so much more guitar specific than notation alone), had recently gotten the Doug Marks Metal Method for guitar, borrowed my neighbors distortion pedal, and set about learning Eddie VanHalen's Eruption. Had it down by the end of July.
In 1984 I started my first band, Manna. Our first gig was at a junior high dance. We didn't go over too well, but had a blast doin' it. In early 1985 we played at the high school talent show and won. Instead of just doin' one tune, we tied three together and by the third tune the place had gone nuts. The school personal shut the power off on us halfway in the third tune. It was a blast! It would be over a decade before the school allowed another band to play at the talent show.
Later in 1985 I joined Sinistar and did two albums with them. 1988 I joined Defiance. We did a few demos and played at hundreds of parties. Late 1989 - Savage Angel, which evolved into Gypsy (1991 - 1993). 1994 through 1996 I took some time out from giggin' regularly and spent some time recording & growing. There was a short stint in 1995 with a band I started called Live Sex. Tried out some of the stunt guitar antics I'd been workin' on in that band. Got some mixed reviews, made mental notes of what worked & what didn't, went back to the cave and refined my craft.
By the time I started Dubology in 1997, after basically a three year vacation, I was more than rarin' to go. Played all over the area from '97 - 2001, burnt a lot of guitars, broke a lot of strings, and partied like a rock star. Ran into some unfortunate complications in 2002 which kept me down & out for a while, started giggin' again in the spring of 2004 with a couple of Dubology alumni in The Outta' Hand Band, and started writing with some old friends that fall.
Since 2004 I've gigged some here & there and I'm constantly on the look out for like minded, over the top musicians with a taste for the uncalled for. In the summer of 2006 I started writing with some old friends in a project called Nasty Bastard. We've done some shows (even opened up for L.A. Guns) and had some cool times. Currently we're in the studio seein' what kinda sonic masterpiece we can capture.
Most recently (this past July) I've relocated to Southern Vermont. It's a bit of a different world than what I'd gotten use to in my journeys and it's allowed me the opportunity to get a live band together for Natural Selection. For a while, all the recordings on my page will still be me on everything (unless otherwise noted). Not exactly sure what direction I'm headin' in for the CD, but I promise it will be intense.
Rock On!
~Acemann
