Bec and the Flashback

At the awkward age of 13 I picked up playing guitar. I had already been writing poetry for three years and singing since I could remember. When I was a kid my family had 5 kids and my aunt and uncle only had one kid at the time. Every year when they took a vacation one of us would get to tag along. When it was my turn my favorite thing always no matter where we went was singing songs on the road. Riding for hours passing the time with goofy children tunes I’ve long forgotten about. But with those quirky songs came the lesson I never forgot: harmony. My aunt taught me how to sing a note then she would sing a different note but they sounded good together. For many many years this was the extent of my musical education but I sure as hell took it and ran with it. Singing more than talking, writing poetry more than studying I continued to be a person who looked forward to the journey more than the destination. Sometimes I still feel like I’m riding in the back of that old van with my aunt and uncle and cousin, perfectly content with singing songs and learning how to harmonize with the people around me in my own way, with my own voice. Once I started playing an instrument the game changed, I no long had to just sing my song, I could hear something in my head and feel a beat and then put it all together. Granted my songwriting skills were very elementary, however, I was still writing my own songs and if I knew anything about music so far it was that plenty of people can play but not everyone can write. This always seemed important to me and might have been a big reason why I continued to tumble head first into the idea that my identity was ended up to lie in placed I didn’t picture myself when I was a child. Aside from dating a musician in high school I had little direct outside influence on my musical career other than the church. I was thrilled to be introduced to anything outside the stuff I grew up listening. Groups like Coldplay, Dave Matthews Band, Blue Merle, Queen, Boston and Gypsy Kings were placed in my tiny library of mostly Christian artists and Michelle Branch. Then came Iron and Wine, Death Cab for Cutie, Paolo Nutini, Tracy Chapman, Frank Sinatra, Muse, Mars Volta, Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz, Ben Folds. When I was 17 a friend paid for some home studio time as a graduation gift. I recorded 10 tracks all originals and I must say they aren’t too bad for a first go around all on my own. Fast forward two years and I have my first band playing songs that I’d written all those years ago and then progressing into collaborative songwriting. Now, with a full band behind me I really just get to sit back and write, but it’s not quite that easy, this new situation poses a whole new set of challenges for me as a writer and singer and in the future an instrumentalist. In the fall of 2011 I fell in love with the band Chicago. Their blend of classical, rock, and jazz is perfect to my ears. A rock band with horns, my one wish for a band if I could make one. And here I am, with something like a rock band with a horn. It’s a start. I’m pretty much set on Chicago and their way of presenting music. Their form of writing and their precision in playing, their soul and unity as one living breathing song. But like my new favorite band says, “good things in life take a long time.” My musical education has only just begun and yet I feel I’ve learned so much already. I sit and pick away at my scales and scratch letters into words that might become songs if I can wrap a melody around it and it be something worth making other people listen to. If there is one thing I can carry on its their message I’ve found loud and clear - we can love one another. But how do you say that, how do get people on your side, how do you convince them of a just cause and what is their motivation? I hope to find a way through my passion to communicate the positives in life, the truth(in my eyes or otherwise), and the things I’ve learned about life.