How it starts...

Hi, my name is Brendon Houlahan and I’m a ‘Band Slut’.  I’m a Canberra (Australia) based musician who plays in multiple bands and consequently has little to no free time for anything that’s not music, work or sleep related anymore. As it turns out, I’m not alone either.

It starts out as an interest. ‘Wow, look at these guys playing music. Wouldn’t it be fun to do that everyday’. Next it’s ‘Hey, I just bought a guitar everyone. I’ve totally got the E chord down but I’m still struggling with my C Chord’. It then quickly develops into ‘I spent more time practicing music this week than I spent masturbating…weird’.

That’s it. You’re hooked. You’ve just become a shivering music junkie moping around rehearsal studios approaching bands with such phrases as ‘Do you guys need a hand loading out?’ or ‘I can play bass too you know’.

Suddenly, without any warning you’ve become utterly pathetic. Your partner packs your lunch for you everyday, you carry multiple guitar picks in your wallet where the pictures of you’re loved ones should be and you’re now always ‘that guy’ who goes up to the bartender at gigs you play at asking for free drinks because you’re in the band. 

By this stage music has taken all of your money (or what very little you had to start with), consumes every thought that passes through the excuse of a mind you have, leaving you tapping polyrhythms on a shopping trolley in woolworths with a vacent stare down the fresh food isle, attracting glares of disgust from drugies who think you're tripping harder than they are.

Music is such a powerful and wonderful drug.

The irony of me not having any time on my hands whilst I start a new time consuming activity such as blogging about being a time poor musician is hopefully not lost. 

Until next time,

Brendon