Be Prepared…Lenny Kravitz is Listening

If I didn’t personally know the people in the story I am about to tell, I would think it a complete load of fabricated BS. What is that saying? Truth is stranger than fiction?

Totally.

A few years ago I did a three song demo with a singer who at the time I believe was 18. I’ll call him Bob. Bob was young and raw but had a lot of determination. And some serious pitch issues. But he was taking vocal lessons and when he got it together he wasn’t half bad. So my seasoned guitar player friend and I decided to give it a shot. And we got three decent songs together but…it never went anywhere. Like most music projects.

So a few years later, Bob and his younger brother (I’ll call him Bill) go and see Lenny Kravitz play in San Diego. They get up front and at one point in the show Lenny starts breaking it down and Bill is making like a crazy person and motioning to Lenny that he can play and he should in fact let him. So Lenny finally says, “Dude, can you really play guitar?” Bill screams and flails wildly, “Hell yeeeeaaah!” So security grabs Bill (and fortunately his brother), hands him a guitar and puts him onstage. So he and Lenny start trading licks and it’s all fun and good and a fun part of the show. Of course they get backstage passes and pictures with Lenny and the whole bit.

For most rock fantasies it would end there. But not this one.

The next night the bros go and see Lenny in Irvine. They get to the front. They see Lenny. He sees them. And like a rock and roll déjà vu, it happens all over again.

This time Lenny starts asking them questions backstage. So they tell Lenny about how they write songs together and perform. Lenny says, “OK, let’s hear some”, and hands them a guitar. They run through a few ideas and Lenny says what they hoped to hear, “Sounds pretty good, I think I’d like to produce you guys”.

So Lenny gives them his studio number and tells them to call in a couple months after he gets back from a European tour.

So they wait. And then they call. And call. And call. No answer and no returned call. For months. Oh well.

Then one day Bill is on the phone with his Mom getting yelled at about not picking up his room or something so he hangs up on her. And then the phone rings, he picks it up and yells, “What!!”.

Yep, it wasn’t Mom; it was Lenny.

“Sorry dude! I was talking to my Mom and…well, never mind…”

So Lenny says he wants the two to fly to New York and come to his Manhattan studio and lay down some tracks.

So they go to New York (with Mom of course) and meet up with Lenny in his studio with his engineer.

“Alright boys, let’s lay down some tracks and see what you got.”

So they run through a few tunes and Lenny picks one to record. Kravitz is a multi instrumentalist so he lays down drums and bass and then lets Bill lay down some guitar.

All is sounding good and then it’s time for Bob to lay down some vocals. So what does he do?

He chokes. Big time.

First couple of takes… put it down to nerves. After a while though, you gotta start coming through.

Bu he didn’t. So they were trying different things and suggesting different approaches but none of it was working. So finally Bob says to Lenny, “Dude I know I can do this, listen to this…” and he pulls out his ipod and plays him a track that he recorded with my guitarist friend and me.

Guess what Lenny says?

“Now that’s a good song man! Especially the drumming!”

OK, he didn’t say the part about the drumming. But he did say it sounded great and it was a great tune and his vocals sounded fine. So what up?!

So they tried it again. And again. And again. But it still wasn’t happening. And they started to get the dreaded, “Well we gave it a shot…” vibe from Kravitz and his producer.

And that was it.

Lesson learned? When a once in a lifetime opportunity comes up, no matter what the field –you better be ready.