Where my love for music started

I grew up in a very conservative household.  Church twice on Sundays.  Church once on Wednesday.  This was part of my growing up experience.  A big part.  Music was there too, but mainly in the vein of hymns - never 'new age' praise and worship, and most certainly not in a 'secular' way.  I didn't know who Bob Dylan was until I was a very late teenager - I didn't know much beyond what the church reared me to believe. 

That all changed though.  When I was 14, I started craving a different sound.  A different energy than hymns.  Truth be told, I didn't care for hymns at all - even from a young age.  I didn't get much from them.  They were stale and unmovable to me.  I craved substance.  Somehow I got turned on to 'heavier' christian music.  Now, before you laugh, this was the gate that lead me to the promised land.  Please be understanding of the mistakes of my youth... 

My parents hated the fact that I would listen to a 'rock' style of religious music - it's of the devil!  My father had a muffled love for old bands like Boston, James Taylor and Eagles.  However, it never was something our family focused on - it was buried down under the plush and dusty carpet.  My Mother loved only christian music - hymns and the local christian radio station where pastors would be preaching 3-4 times a day.  Early on in their relationship, my Dad and Mom had a mutual love for performers like Larry Norman, Keith Green, Randy Stonehill and even Stryper - but it was something that was not spoken of very often.  

As my teenage years progressed and I started college, I worked in a theatre where I ran lights and built sets.  This was one of my absolute favorite jobs of all-time.  There were two people there whom I worked with who are still friends to this day (In fact, one of them is a Producer here at West Side Sound!).  These guys turned me onto music I had no idea existed - Radiohead's OK Computer, Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline, Damien Rice's 'o' - you name it, they knew of it.  I was opened to a whole new ball game.  My mind was blown!  Every day that I would work, we would throw on something new that I didn't know.  Whether it be a mixed cd of some of our favorites, or the brand new Fall of Troy album, it was all new and refreshing.  

Through those following years at the theatre, I grew to love artists/bands like Ryan Adams, Rocky Votolato, Chris Bathgate, Pedro the Lion and a host of others.  They formed within me this burning desire to learn guitar and write music.  This burned in me the ambition to record music - even though it was terrible in the beginning stages!  This is what put something like a West Side Sound even on the roadmap for me as something to start. 

And yes, even though I don't listen to christian music these days, it did serve as a stepping stone to what I love now - and I guess I'm ok with that. 

-Jacob