Still crazy (about this band) after all these years

Most bands have a lot of turnover. Even at the highest levels you can have some musical chairs (Van Halen to Van Hagar back to Van Halen anyone?), but at the bar-scene level, it's a given.

It's not awkward at all!

People's lives get busy. People get bored. Someone has a baby. Someone moves away. Band members fight. It's rare that a band holds a steady lineup of musicians for longer than a year or so - and sometimes even that's an accomplishment.

That's why I'm all the more grateful for the stability of The Staylyns. It occurred to me the other day that we have actually been together with the same three people since March 2010. That's longer than some marriages!

The first few years, when we were still a band (not just a frontman) named Johnny Austin, there was some shape-shifting. First, in 2008, it was Johnny on guitar and his longtime friend and occasional bandmate Scott (aka TS Mothership) on drums - a duo. Then Johnny added a lead guitar with the handsome and talented David (aka Davey H).

Rock n Roller Guys

Shortly after adding David, he put me to work on bass, but Scott didn't want to do the kind of regular gigging that we were starting to do, so Johnny went on the hunt for a drummer. He found Joe in 2009 and wooed him mercilessly until Joe's other band folded and he started drumming for us. So we had a nice solid 4-piece. For about a year.

Ah, so young and beautiful.

That's when David decided to graduate from college and go be a jet-setting, world-traveling, successful professional using some sort of computer science degree that was well over my head so I don't remember what it was. But I know he lives well in Boston now and is probably really glad he didn't bank on Johnny Austin getting a huge record deal. Because we didn't do that.

Instead, we decided to just be a three-piece with our current lineup, and the rest is history. We changed names in 2011 to reflect that it's a band, not a frontman with a backing band since we all sing leads. And we've put out three albums that we're really proud of. And I still love it.

Joe plays with other bands, and Johnny and I have done our share of duo gigs, particularly when we used to give the electric bike tours, but for me there is nothing more fun than playing with the full band - this band. These guys.

So serious

After all these years, we know each other's personalities like family. We know all the little stops, rhythms, flourishes, jokes, etc. of our songs and our show so well that it's like a well-oiled machine - it just flows. And when we don't play for a while - even just a couple of weeks - it's like coming home when I get to play with them again.

I love these guys. I love this band. And I know people's lives get busy, people get bored, and people move away, but for me, I hope we've got many more years of playing together.