When I was 14 I had a band before I had a guitar. When I got one it was a really heavy Celebrity by Ovation that I rented from the Doo Wop shop on Bardstown RD. I rented it from a guy named Tony McElwain and he was in a band called the Velcro Pygmies at the time. They were doing college alternative stuff like REM, The Cure, and The Cult. Stuff that I saw late at night on MTV’s 120 minutes. He told me they were going to be playing Phoenix hill that night and were going to be live on the radio. I listened that night and it was pretty frickin amazing. I still can’t get the sound he got on The cult’s “She sells sanctuary” and I still can’t get the intro to “Killing an arab” by the Cure. It was crazy to me that somebody that I talked to was actually playing on the radio. When I was 19 I couldn’t hold down a job because I really didn’t care about anything except playing the guitar. Tony got me a job there and helped me to develop a work ethic. When I was working there I tried to steal his licks, I watched his disipline when forming a band, and he took me to his shows while he was playing out. I definately wouldn’t be playing country music if it wasn’t for him. The guy just loves music and he’s weird but in like the best way. He was just a regular friend with all the musicians in town: the metal guys, the cool alternative people, country musicians, Jazz players. And I never seen him act differently around any of them. They all respected his ability. Seriously if you get to see him play you’ll know what I mean, he’s really a badass, and he has the greatest tattoo ever… Thanks brother
