WE'RE ALL CHASING SOUND

I'm sitting in a coffee shop right now, making lessons, listening to City and Colour's The Hurry and the Harm - honestly, the record I would make if I could make a solo record right now. And something just came over me about music—

We're all just chasing sound.

If you think about it... some people chase sound just to listen. Just to get that "lost" in it feeling. What Bob Marley said about music.. "When it hits you, you feel no pain..."

They put on headphones after a hard day and let it wash over them. They find a song that says what they can't, and it helps them process what they're going through better than any conversation. Music is therapy, escape, and a companion.

Some use it for other things. To trigger good memories, remember good times, or just get fired up for anything.. crank it up and get fired up. 

I chase sound for some of those same reasons. When I first got started, I literally was doing it to help express myself. I was a shy kid and it was amazing to think I could write a song to share everything I was feeling inside. Of course that idea was scary as well, but I was pretty ignorant at that age and I just didn't care. I only saw the good and the possibilities in it.. and so I went ahead with it. I became obsessed with it when I was 15. And I started writing songs straight away–I didn't care if I was any good. I just wanted to pump out songs (however crappy they were! And they were crappy!), start a band with any friends who would say "Yes," and figure out how to land backyard gigs and keg parties.

That's all I wanted. I had no vision of the future. No care about my technique. No care if I, or we, were good enough. I just wanted to write, rehearse, practice and then wind up at a friends backyard party... where there would be girls watching! ... hopefully! 

That was my master plan. 

Writing and playing. 

That's it. 

As much as writing back then was important to me—I haven't released anything new in years.

But that's OK.

I did co-write about 75 songs in my time with Sugar Ray. That's an estimate, if you're counting.

And I still want to put out new stuff.

BUT one thing I have fallen in love with... perhaps as much as trying to write songs when I was 15 and share them with who all would listen... is the desire to help others learn to play bass and get unstuck and feel like a shredder. I love that.

They're chasing sound too... even if they just are picking up bass later in life so they can just have some fun after work, or maybe they're retired, or on weekends with a friends band.. OR HOWEVER they have arrived at playing bass. 

There's something cool about passing on the ability to make sounds... and do it better... to someone else. 

I don't often know where others got their start, but chances are... they were listening to some great music and got inspired. That's what happened to me.

It started in 1975. I was 8 years old, putting Beatles vinyl records on the record player in my parents' house. That was a life-changer for me. I didn't know it then, but I would wind up doing music for my life, and for my living. That spark that I found, sifting through all the music on my parents record collection... that feeling of discovering something that made me light up - that's been the thread running through my entire life... the thing that keeps me going. 

And I'm so grateful for it.

I'm grateful that I get to chase sound the same way Paul McCartney did. The same way David Bowie did. Jeff Buckley. All my favorite artists. They weren't following rules or lessons - they followed their ears, their instinct, what they loved about it.  

I had no idea if I was doing it 'right' all those years ago. (I quit music lessons after only a couple because they were lame and depressing unfortunately) All I knew was that I loved the sound that Van Halen made. The Sex Pistols. Devo. The B-52's. Led Zeppelin. Traffic. AC/DC. The Allman Brothers Band. Crosby, Stills & Nash. David Bowie... and THE BEATLES! 

And now, decades after that 8-year-old kid put on a Beatles record, I suppose I do understand it in one way - that chasing sound is the lesson. That's what I have been doing forever. 

Music is powerful. It's changed my life, and in some ways, I figure it has saved it. And perhaps it has saved yours too. 

Whatever sound you're chasing, keep going. Don't stop. I suppose the pursuit is everything. 

Murphy