In the Headlines...
Rock Stars in Disguise
By Jennifer Fong
The
lights dim and thousands of excited fans cheer. A dark figure, carrying
a guitar, steps out from the wings and takes the stage. Seconds later,
the opening strums of a familiar hit can be heard and the crowd goes
wild. It’s all just a typical night for a rock star. But even for the
most successful musicians, nightly
gigs and adoring fans didn’t always
come so easily. Everyone from John Mayer to Dave Matthews had to pay
their dues, working odd jobs before they finally got to sign on that
ever-coveted dotted line.
Grammy award winner John Mayer honed his guitar skills while working as an attendant at a Mobil gas station in his hometown of Fairfield, Connecticut. Mayer would bring an amp to work on nights he’d work late and perform for his co-workers, who could already tell the recent high school graduate was going places. Mayer worked at Mobil for a little over a year, earning $7 an hour – not much compared to the $431,098 average box office gross Mayer earned per city on tour this year, according to data released by Pollstar in November. But still, it was enough. “I bought my first real guitar from working here,” said Mayer in an interview for ABC’s Primetime Live last year.
Like
Mayer, singer-songwriter Jason Mraz was also lucky enough to be able to
perfect his sound while earning a few bucks at a job he had running a
tobacco shop in Virginia. He calls his stint
at the shop one of his favourite nine-to-five’s because there were
hardly any customers, so he could bring his guitar to work and “just jam
to some Nina Simone all day,” he said in an October, 2002 interview on
Escondito, Calif.’s 92.1 FM. “That was the best job. All you had to do
was sit around and listen to music.” Before that, Mraz had also held
down a variety of other job titles – he’s worked at Barnes and Noble,
was a janitor at an elementary school, and even did some time at a fast
food joint and a post office in his hometown of Mechanicsville, Va.
Speaking of odd jobs, there’s no occupation more unique than being a
dog-walker, which is what piano and song-writing sensation Gavin DeGraw
paid the bills as before he landed a recording deal with J Records in
2002. Before
he got discovered, DeGraw juggled several jobs while playing nightly
gigs in New York City clubs. Besides walking dogs, DeGraw also worked as
a bellhop, a bartender, and a waiter, just to name a few. DeGraw’s glad
that he can now leave those jobs
behind him, he said in a November
interview with Australian publication, The Age. “I'm
happy to not be working a regular job. I was a cable guy, a dog walker,
I worked lumber, I waited tables – I worked so many things. I'm just
enjoying playing music and avoiding the real world for a change."
But as far as bartenders go, DeGraw is in good company. Another bartender-turned-rock star is Dave Matthews, who worked at music bar Miller’s in Charlottesville, Va. for six years. Matthews said in the July 2004 issue of InStyle magazine that he started working at Miller’s for “a few hundred dollars every couple of weeks” when he was 19. Don’t think Matthews was one of those ultra-smooth guys behind the bar who mixed drinks Coyote Ugly-style, though. “I never spun bottles around and flipped glasses. That wasn't my cup of tea. I was lazy. I was a good bar-tender for people who wanted real drinks – a beer, whiskey. But if you asked me for a sex on the beach, I probably would have walked away,” he said. And the best part about his job, besides the free drinks? Matthews credits Miller’s for being the place where he met drummer Carter Beauford, saxophonist LeRoi Moore, bassist Stefan Lessard, and keyboard player Peter Griesar – together, the five musicians have amassed a huge and loyal following worldwide as, of course, the Dave Matthews Band.
While they may seem larger than life now, Matthews, Mayer, DeGraw, and Mraz all had humble beginnings. Still, they found music wherever they went, and they made sure their talents thrived no matter what their environment. So watch out. Maybe that guy pumping your gas is the next big thing or maybe the man behind the bar is a future music legend – just don’t ask him for a pina colada.