My name is James Dylan McCarty and I was born in Detroit Michigan in 1973. My father is the Legendary Motor City Guitarist "Jimmy McCarty" who is known for his work with artists such as: “Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, The Buddy Miles Express, Cactus, The Rockets, Bob Seger, and the late Great Jimi Hendrix. He was recently awarded with a Grammy for best instrumental song "69 Freedom Special" which he co-wrote 30 years ago while in the band The Buddy Miles Express. The song was recently re-recorded by Les Paul & Friends. Funny enough, we had no idea that they had won a Grammy for the song or even recorded it for that matter LOL. This was long over due and I couldn't be happier for him.
Because of my father's career I was exposed to the road and the music scene at a young age. We toured the country with bands like: Kiss, ZZ Top, Reo Speedwagon, The Cars, Heart, Aerosmith, and The Who just to name a few. I have been very fortunate to have met some great musicians over the years and have even had the pleasure of answering some of their phone calls. I'll never forget the day Eddie Van Halen called looking for my dad, I nearly had a heart attack. The two of them met when Eddie was 15 at a Cactus show. He would later record a song called "Hot For Teacher" that was inspired from a Cactus song called "Parchment Farm" (You should check it out!) It has always been my dream to follow in my fathers footsteps. For me to be on the road at such a young age with all these bands, it just seemed like the normal thing to want to do. However, it didn't really hit me until the day I experienced for the first time what a crowd of 30,000 plus people looked and felt like from the stage, and let me tell you that was it! I was hooked from that moment on and knew that I wanted to be involved in music. Most people don't know but my father was a drummer before he ever picked up a guitar and so was his dad (R.I.P.grandpa). From the time I was little I have always been able to play the drums and guitar. I would always watch Johnny Bee from back stage and my dad showed me some basics for both, but I am self taught for the most part. I learned how to read music in 7th grade when I joined the school band. In 8th grade I was first chair snare in our class and won a medal for a solo piece I did at my first and last school competition. It was my last because I wasn't crazy about the outfits we had to wear and unfortunately I did not pursue music in high school (this is one of those would of, could of, should of moments). Fortunately for me I met and have been studying with Randy Jordan over the last year, and boy he has helped me to open up some new doors. (Thanks Randy!)
My parents separated when I was young and my mom and I moved to Florida. I was never able to have a drum set of my own growing up, but I did manage to play every now and then when there was a set around. It wasn't until I was 15 when I moved back to Detroit with my dad that I got my very own set of drums and started a band with some buddies from school. At 19 I joined and toured with the Detroit based band Goober & The Peas, who at the time were making some noise. We did shows in Canada and all over the states including the South by Southwest music convention in Austin where we watched our music video "Hot Women and Cold Beer" air on MTV for the first time. I was with the band for about a year. They broke up some time after that and the singer Dan "Goober" went on to become an actor and played Johny Cash's guitar player in the motion picture Walk The Line. It was a great experience for me and yes you can youtube the video its hilarious LOL. Once I was back home I tried to get my own band going but it never seemed to come together. I was gigging four to five nights a week for years with different groups including my dads current band Mystery Train. At one point I was doing some shows with Detroit's own guitar great Booby East (Kid Rock, The Reefer Men) when we were offered a last minute gig to open up for Robin Trower at Saint Andrews Hall. The place was sold out, the gig went great, and we were offered a second gig (which we accepted) to open up for the Allman Brothers Band at the DTE Music Theater a.k.a. Pine Knob (that's what it was called back in the day when my dad played there with the Rockets). It was a very cool and somewhat emotional experience for me to play that show. I watched my dad play to sold out crowds on that stage as a kid and had always dreamed of one day playing it myself. I've never said no to a gig and have had the opportunity to play some of the biggest venues, in front of thousands of people with some of the finest musicians Detroit has to offer. It was through one of those musicians "Brett Lucas" that I was introduced to my now wife "Jessica" back in 1997. We got married in 2000 and when we found out she was pregnant I knew I would need to make some major changes in my life. That was pretty much when the music ride came to a blazing halt. My wife and I have been happily married for 9 years now and have 3 beautiful children named Pehton (8), Pierce (6), and the newest addition Lennon (3 months) a.k.a. Baby Red. Starting a family was the best thing that could of ever happened to me and I cherish all of them.
I started writing again in 2007 and decided to pull out the kit. I loved music to much to not play and realized that I had played with everyone else over the years and recorded tracks for them, but never once with a band of my own. I knew I needed to change that and as fate would have it, that's exactly what happend when I was reacquainted with an old friend of mine Robbie Fraser a.k.a. L.R.F. (who blew me away with his guitar playing). We knew we needed to find a singer so I had one of my good friends Jerry Aguayo a.k.a. Motown Rocker post an ad on The Rockets MySpace site that we were forming a new all original band and looking for a singer. That's when we were told about Eric Deluca from another good friend ours Eric a.k.a. Big E who responded to our MySpace ad. We sent him 5 songs with no vocal tracks and when Eric showed up for the audition he had written lyrics for all of them. We knew and felt that there was an immediate chemistry from the first time we played together. We started rehearsing and decided on the name StellarDrive compliments of L.R.F. We added Doug Brooks recently on Bass Guitar to complete the lineup. We are currently in the studio recording the final songs for our debut CD "Where We Are" which will be released May 2nd. If your still reading this lol...the songs you're listening to are some of the tracks that will be on the cd. I am also in another original project called Smokin'Moses with my good friends Elliot Moses (Universal Temple of Divine Power) and Detroit's own legendary Basist Gary Rasmussen (The Up, Sonics Rendezvous Band). They are all on my page (Check'em Out!). If you like old school Rock-n-Roll then you'll love Smokin'Moses. It feels really good to be playing again and with this page you can see when and where all my upcoming shows will be. I am grateful for all the support I have from my friends and family and I thank you all of for believing in me. I want to give a shout out to my boys who have travelled with me over the years and helped out with the equipment (JayBird, Zilla, and my right hand man 12 String). I especially want to give thanks to my beautiful wife Jessica. None of this would be possible if she didn't believe. Thank you Jess and remember "Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery, and Today is a Gift ;)
