Around The Block

Patrick James has been there, and done that. He’s ridden the long hours in a bus, traveling across the empty highways of Texas and beyond. Hard core bands, acoustic singer/songwriter setups, straight-ahead rock music – James has played it all. He’s been in and out of the business of music for years, but since the age of 10, he’s never been out of music itself. James has lived in Tyler off-and-on since childhood.

“I got my first guitar when I was 10 years old,” said James. “I used to go to Camp Silver Paddle on Lake Tyler in the late 70s … There was this girl who used to bring her guitar at lunch time and her name was Melissa. And Melissa would sit and play her songs and I was just ... I said, ‘I gotta do that. That’s what I need to do.’ So my parents got me a guitar for Christmas, one of these little cheapo, red things, and I literally played it until my fingers bled. That was cool for a while. My mom had her aspirations of me being some classical guitarist – of course it wasn’t a classical guitar.”

However, being so young James’ interests changed as kids’ passions tend to do. He became more interested in building forts and throwing the football outside. However James was always a fan. And during the garage band boom of the 80s, James took the axe back up again.

“I got an electric guitar when I was 15, and started playing in garage bands,” said James. “The cool thing to do was to play stuff like Judas Priest and Scorpions and Rush, ya know, ACDC and all that kind of business.” That led to the formation of James’ first band: Spastic Fury, which James describes as: “Green Day-ish, melodic, but without a lot of screaming/growling.” The band gigged all the time: “We played every weekend. We met chicks. There were mosh pits.”

Then came college, at the University of Southern Alabama in Mobile, which sort of put Spastic Fury on the back burner, though they did continue playing a bit when everyone could get back together. After his family moved back to Tyler, James came along too, effectively putting an end to the ‘fury.’ But in its place came the humorously titled – and quite successful – Did Lee Squat.

“From 1991 until 1996 we were an alternative showcase, all original,” remembered James. “We did South by Southwest in Austin. we played Trees, the Curtain Club, the Stone Pony and all kinds of places in Dallas. We played some places in Austin and Houston and of course in Tyler. We opened up for Motley Crue at the Oil Palace and even did our own show at the Oil Palace ... That was my 15 minutes of fame to try and make it in the music deal.”

Then, as is all too often the story, the band broke up. James is amicable about the split and intimated he carries he share of the blame for things not working out: “As things go, I don’t want to say I don’t play well with others, but … well ... I don’t play well with others.” Did Lee Squat disbanded, and James just floated around a bit, still playing.

The next project was a band called Sand Dollar, with whom James took up in 1996. “This was more of a ‘let’s make a cd, play some shows and try to do some stuff in Dallas and in Houston’ type of thing. I thought, ‘I’m tired of playing these all-originals to nobody who cares; let’s just come back and play some rock covers and throw in some originals and play Sharky’s and Rick’s. [We had] packed houses. It was like, ‘come on guys, you want to drive two hours and make zero dollars? And nobody will be there?’ No, this is a much better gig.”

But, after a few of the members moved away, Sand Dollar was no more. Again, James took a bit of a break from the music scene. He started his own business, did some work in graphic arts and continued on with a career outside performing was in his own words, “just sick of the ‘band thing.’”

Though, James never got sick of the “music thing.” It wasn’t until he took things in a completely new direction that the urge to take the stage again returned. Throughout all his time in bands, from a young age, through sold-out professional shows, James never sang. “I never even sang backup. There were no good harmonies – no nothing. And as much as I wanted to try, they’d turn my mic off,” James said with a laugh. “I just wasn’t any good.”

With no band and no gig, James sold off most of his electric gear and bought a decent acoustic guitar and, as he said, “headed out to the wood shed.” He just stayed inside, practice playing acoustic and went through songs over and over, teaching himself to sing – through trial and error and sheer will.

Eventually, around the time James felt he was in the right place musically, a good friend opened a bar in downtown Tyler, and started having regular music acts. James saw a perfect opportunity to try out his new sound – and he jumped at it.

“I liked it a lot,” said James with a smile. “I liked the solo thing. I could play what songs I wanted to play [without ] having all these people at my house. I didn’t need a ton of equipment. I mean if someone in the crowd wanted me to play something, I could. [I thought] ‘finally my niche!’”

And it’s here that James began speaking about music with a palpable sense of excitement and emotion about playing. He describes his reasons for doing covers: “I am not a songwriter. I would fill up a room with origami before I came up with what I thought was a good song.” He spoke about how he chooses what to play, “If it’s a good song, then it’s just a good song, period. If it’s new or if someone comes up and requests a song because because that’s what she and her husband danced to at their wedding 20 years ago, I want to be able to play it.” He even expanded on East Texas’ audiences: “In East Texas you have such a diverse demographic it doesn’t really matter … I want to play something for everybody.”

Regardless of the topic, it’s obvious that James is in his element these days; the music is the icing and the cake. He spoke quickly, animatedly: “I have a day job. I own my own business, I’m a freelance graphic artist. The music thing is because I love to do it, I love to play. I like these small, intimate venues because then I can interact with the people, get to talk to them a little bit or they can talk to me. Another thing I really like to do is busking, which is a european term for street performance. I go to Canton when the weather’s nice ... (some friends have a clothing boutique and set up a booth at First Monday Trade Days). It always amazes me there might be kids who have never seen a guitar or someone sing before, and they’re completely mesmerized. People come up on their little scooters and hang out for a while. I just play for tips and get a little sunshine ... But I have some goals for myself here in Tyler to do quite a bit more of the busking ... In the music business you get paid to hall equipment, you don’t get paid to play. So those smaller, acoustic gigs are nice where you can take your ‘big’ gear in there. But busking is even better because you find a big crowd of people [and just play]. I even have a little schtick that I’m gonna unleash on Tyler in a little while ... So, you see it happen and you’ll go, I know that guy.”

After the years of gigs in venues big and small and now the acoustic venues and even playing between the stalls in Canton, James is in a good place. He’s not interested in pounding the pavement, passing out CDs, playing showcase after showcase and hustling for a deal. He even still enjoys his day job – partially because it helps him to enjoy his music that much more.

“But if I had to stop what I’m doing in the day and just make money off of playing, I couldn’t do it.” James said. “Or it would be really tough. I’d have to really hustle and there’s a lot of competition out there. I’ve been doing this acoustically for a good five or six years. I mean I try to fly under the radar, and I probably do a really poor job of promoting myself,” he said with a laugh... “I don’t want more than I can handle, because that usually means whatever I do isn’t as good as I’d like it to be. I always want to put on a good show and to feel good about being there ... I have no idea where this is going to take me, I see myself continuing to play music as long as I can: until my fingers don’t work anymore. I started getting arthritis in this finger in the morning, which is really kind of a bummer because on this hand this is the main finger, the index finger, but we all worry about our retirement. Instead, if I’m still working at 65 or 70, just doing little shows or giving lessons, that’s fine with me. I can welcome people at Walmart during the day.”

When James said this, there weren’t many traces of humor on his face that had been there constantly since we started talking. To be sure, James has fun, but it’s very rare to be able to keep your passion alive and profitable for a decade – and James takes that very seriously, at least some of the time.

“There are a lot of avenues within the music business ... I have been around the block a few times,” James said. “I’ve recorded in some pretty nice studios, I’ve played on some pretty big stages, I’ve met some nice people and I shook some hands. If I can give back to the community or give back to younger musicians, then great ... So, if I can meet up with a young person that I have an opportunity to maybe mentor (whatever they do with the information is really their deal) but, if I can make their life or their musical experience any better maybe that karma will transfer to them and pay it forward … Hopefully, some big things will happen for me, musically, in that kind of vein. I’m hoping to do some events, and for me this was never about the dollar bills. I have a day job and this was something that I like to do. It actually started with my buddy feeding me some beers or a hamburger, and then I’d play and I try and impress his customers. But now, if I can make a few dollars and buy some new guitar strings, or maybe get gas, or just have little extra money in my pocket then that’s a bonus to me.”

For more info on James’ music and upcoming dates, check out PatrickJamesBand.com or keep an eye on the calendar at BSCENEMAG.com.