I took my first guitar class in my freshman year of high school. I took it with a couple of friends and found something for the first time that came natural to me. I was always terrible at sports so it was exciting. The first song I learned was Tom Dooley and then some other simple songs like that. It was 1978 and my friends and I were listening to stuff like Pink Floyd, Ted Nugent, Led Zeppelin, Kiss, and Black Sabbath. I remember figuring out the riff to Cat Scratch Fever and thought it was the greatest thing I’d ever done. My Mom was excited for me, her brother (my Uncle) Robert Gable had always been a professional Sax player and is best known for his work with Wayne Cochran and the CC Riders. My Dad on the other hand was not as excited about me being a musician but reluctantly agreed to help me get an electric guitar and an amp.
My first electric guitar was a Carvin and I loved it. I always had dreams that it was being stolen or lost or left on the bus. Haha, I used to carry it around everywhere. I practiced all the time and soon learned about effects so I could make it sound “like the recordâ€. I spent an entire summer in my bedroom learning songs off of Black Sabbaths Heaven and Hell album as well as Pat Benetars first album.
I started playing with my friend Jack Aguire who played drums. My friend Steve Przyblowski was a rhythm guitar player who wrote and sang. He joined and we played in Jacks garage every night for way too long. We should have gotten a steady bass player and did shows. I think we were content just drinking beer and playing all night. I don’t think we realized that we were pretty good and could have done pretty well on the local club circuit.
I went on from there to join and mostly practice with some bands and did not realize that I was being taken down by alcoholism. One summer I slammed my middle finger in a door and that took me out of the game for a while. For the next few years I played here and there. To be honest, it is hard for me to remember anything in chronological order. I just know that by the time I was 24 or 25 it was over. Drinking had taken its toll and I was taken to a hospital by a nice Policeman in an ambulance.
After being sober for a year or two, I began to start playing again. I was working at a Tropical Fish store and met a guy by the name of Larry Rainwater. He and his wife Linda along with Dee Madden had a band named Ex Voto. They had a recording studio in their living room and that is where I was introduced to recording. I ended up living there for a while. They were (and still are lol) very cool people. It was a Goth band and I really liked it. I later wound up on one of their CDs called The Light of Day. The song is called Blue Green (version) and can be found on Ex Voto’s myspace page.
Through some friends I was put into contact with a man from England by the name of Ian Read. He was sort of an underground talent and played what he once called Apocalyptic Folk. He hailed from bands like Death in June and Current 93 and had never been to the States to play. I was commissioned to put a band together for him that would do two small tours, under the name of Ian Read and Fire and Ice. From these tours a CD by the name of California Daze and a Video named Live at the Hollywood Moguls were recorded. Ian was and is a man of impeccable character and I admire him very much for honor and his achievements. I later became aware that I had wandered a little too far into the darkness and took steps to put myself on another path. This was not easy.
Later I looked around through the recycler and found a keyboard player by the name of Nigel and suddenly Reflex Blue grew up around us. We did a few shows at different clubs in Orange County (most notably at the Galaxy Theater in Santa Ana). We also recorded a CD named 'Into the Light' after a song I had written about my struggle to escape the darkness I found myself in. I still like those songs, some may say they are too light, but for me that was the point. I had been in darkness for too long and this was part of my return to mainstream life. I have a lot of respect for everyone I've played with and have not regretted anything that I have been involved in.
I found myself working for Blizzard Entertainment where I met and became friends with a talented young man named Brian David Farr. He is a Senior Sound Designer for Blizzard and a one man band who happens to be an awesome Recording Engineer… We have written a few songs together which is what I wanted to showcase on this page when he contacted me and said we should re-record those songs and add a couple more to create an EP of instrumentals. I of course agreed and we are currently in the studio recording. I will put something up on the page when we agree on what to share....I guess the dream of being a Rock Star has long since died, but I do love to play and record. A few friends, my sister Laura, and others have encouraged me to share my music with my friends. That is really what this page is about and I am having fun with it.
Ron
Myspace Layouts at Pimp-My-Profile.com / Black & Blue
