Years ago while on tour I fell in love with the Pacific Northwest. Seattle Washington is one of my favorite places in the entire world. The views are from the I-5 bridge are some of the most amazing views I have ever seen. The people are great, the food is fantastic and rain is absolutely brilliant. I really moved there just looking for something different. I had these visions at one point of being stuck in Flint or Detroit, working a job and playing in some band. I think it just wasn’t for me. I have said this before that If I had never picked up a set of drum sticks when I was 14 years old I would probably be in Flint at 40 years old working at a fast food place or something equally as outlandish. I mean maybe not because I like to hustle and try to make something out of the nothing but I think that part of successful hustling is having a positive attitude and when I was living in Flint and Detroit I don’t think I had the right attitude or outlook to successfully hustle the most. I remember when I was talking to my Dad about moving out west and I said that I was a little hesitant because I didn’t want to be so far away from him and he told me to just go. He said I got stuck in this town years ago. He was talking about Flint. He said he wished that he had moved out of the city years ago but he got stuck there. He got married and had kids and we were in school and he just settled down there and he kind of always regretted it so it said If I had an opportunity to leave I should take it.
So I moved the Washington in 2001 and lived there on and off for about 10 years. It’s crazy to me how far away Seattle is from everything. I mean look at a map and just look at Seattle and then look at everywhere else. It’s so far away. I think it was really good for me to move so far away. I think anyone in their 20’s should move away or travel and just get out and see stuff. I honestly think it was the best thing that I could have ever done. I remember on the way out the biggest skies and some of the coolest landscapes that I had ever seen. It’s interesting because I had traveled that same path in van a good amount of times while on tour but I this was different. I had all my stuff in the back and I was on my way to something different. I had no idea really what was ahead for me but I was taking a leap and it felt pretty amazing. I moved to out there in April and if you have been the Pacific Northwest in the spring you probably get it but the Puget Sound is so beautiful in the spring. Big bright blue skies and you can see for miles. Mount Rainier boldly standing tall and snow capped all summer long, it’s just brilliant.
Anyway so I moved out there and kind of fell into the same scene that I was in in Detroit. Hanging with a bunch of hardcore kids that were in bands and ate at vegan restaurants. This wasn’t a bad thing it was what I knew so of course I just gravitated to it. I felt like things were much lighter there. This was my first real experience just inserting myself into another scene. I mean I guess I kind of did it when I moved from Flint to Detroit but there was some overlap so it was similar but this was like a full on self immersion. I had a few friends that lived out there but I didn’t really see them...
