rock stars who went back work.

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One thing I always wonder -- how do those mid-level indie bands survive? They're big enough that they tour frequently, hence they probably don't have a full-time job. But they also can't be making much from music.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 16:56 (twenty-one years ago)

on my first day at work at sonicnet (RIP), i was somewhat surprised to see the bass player from too much joy sitting behind an executive desk. not that i ever imagined that being in too much joy would set you up financially for life. last i checked, he was still an online music exec somewhere.

dave allen from gang of four and shriekback is in the digital/computer/music/whatever biz in some capacity.

john s. hall from king missile is an entertainment lawyer.

as for M4rk 1bold of Pavement -- hell, he was working as the mersh guy for other bands even when pavement was at the height of their success. i'm not sure he ever went back to work inasmuch as i'm not sure he ever didn't work.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 16:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I wonder about that, too, Hurting.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 17:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I remember reading an recent article about Yo La Tengo in which they said that it was only a couple years ago that they were able to make a living off music alone.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

on my first day at work at sonicnet (RIP), i was somewhat surprised to see the bass player from too much joy sitting behind an executive desk
Sandy? I remember when he started at the desk job, he was working at that building on 6th ave between 51st and 52nd where there are some offices, maybe for Atlantic, I think he had had a kid a little bit before.

You worked at sonicnet, fcc? Was that what used to be Addicted to Noise?

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 17:06 (twenty-one years ago)

A friend of mine who lives in Philly used to see one of the Dead Milkmen working in a coffee shop or a pizza place there. This was a few years back. Might’ve been the guy who died.

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 17:11 (twenty-one years ago)

ken: sandy, yes indeed. sonicnet was on bleecker street at the time, though. atlantic does, or at least did, have offices on 6th near 51st, in the same building rolling stone was in, but if sandy ever worked there, that's not where i knew him from.

sonicnet and addicted to noise were two separate companies that merged in the late '90s and continued using both identities; i started not long after the merger and essentially worked for both.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 17:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I was surprised so see Miki from Lush working in the TV listings dept of IPC. Along with Rob Sekula of 14 Iced Bears, indie fans.

― laticsmon (laticsmon), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 17:17 (twenty-one years ago)

sonicnet was on bleecker street at the time

must ... fact-check ... self. for the historical record: sonicnet was on broadway. damn close to bleecker, though.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 17:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Peter Hein, frontman of famous 80s german bad Fehlfarben, and one of the best punk singers and songwriters, decided that he'd rather work for a photocopier company than being a star. it was a voluntary choice, he was not forced to do this. IIRC, fehlfarben had just been signed.

― xenografia, Tuesday, 1 February 2005 17:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Michael Gerard of Killdozer is a tax lawyer
Derrick Bostrom of The Meat Puppets is a web designer

― tipustiger, Tuesday, 1 February 2005 17:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Topper Headon (Clash) is apparently a taxi driver

in the late 1980s or early 1990s, i no longer remember, i visited friends who lived in a squatted flat in brixton. I was introduced to a couple that was temporarily staying in one of my friends rooms. they guy looked like a heroin addict. he was introduced to me as topper headon, the clash drummer. i had no idea of his or the clash's fame and had certainly not heard their music before. topper told me he works as a cab driver. not sure if he still would be as some of their songs were successfully rereleased.

― xenografia, Tuesday, 1 February 2005 17:23 (twenty-one years ago)

re: bill withers -- i wouldnt be surprised if his label owns the copyright to that song. many of R&B folks from the 60s/70s rarely saw royalties for their works.

re: mid-level indie bands -- lots of them work temp jobs in between tours. this also explains why bands like that tour a lot: its one of their few sources of income.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 17:41 (twenty-one years ago)

i think i recall--perhaps it's in his biography--that while he hasn't taken up the gig fully, Philip Glass still renews his NYC taxi license whenever it's up for renewal

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 17:48 (twenty-one years ago)

i saw one of them out of mclusky working at HMV in cardiff and one of menswear works in that snazzy trainer shop right by camden locke

― joey deacon, Tuesday, 1 February 2005 17:55 (twenty-one years ago)

That would be Tim Quirk: He went on to become editorial director of Listen.com, now a part of Real.com. Great, great guy. TMJ unfortunately didn't make him much money due to the ol' demon RECOUPMENT.

But as for others: Bobby Sherman became a California EMT; and of course Pete Best made donuts at a bakery after becoming an ex-Beatle.

Does becoming a preacher count as "going back to work"? If so, we can add Vanity, Little Richard, Ma$e, and a ton of others.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 18:35 (twenty-one years ago)

i think i recall--perhaps it's in his biography--that while he hasn't taken up the gig fully, Philip Glass still renews his NYC taxi license whenever it's up for renewal

That's awesome.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 18:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Debbie Googe became a cab driver, didn't she?
Also Billy "Bass" Nelson (the OG bass player from Funkadelic) apparently got into the computer industry in the 80s-90s, before returning to Clinton's touring band.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 1 February 2005 18:39 (twenty-one years ago)

That would be Tim Quirk:

actually, i was talking about sandy smallens. tim was tmj's singer and might have had a desk awfully close to the sonicnet office in san francisco, but never inside it. sandy was the tmj's bassist and his desk was inside the sonicnet office in new york. apparently, being in tmj was an excellent background for getting back to work in the digital music biz! (and tmj, of course, had a song back in the day that celebrated noted getting-back-to-worker hugo burnham of gang of four.) ((and if you spend your time in music tv/video circles, you're likely to run into a third member of too much joy.))

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 18:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Does becoming a preacher count as "going back to work"?
Wasn't the King of Rock and Soul, Solomon Burke famous for this sort of thing? Preacher, undertaker, concessionary seller of ribs and popcorn before his own shows. I remember reading a story from Dion or somebody talking about how, before they got on the tourbus, Solomon would buy some sandwiches somewhere and then, a few hours later when the other performers were "dying for something," he'd charge them five (1962!) dollars for a ham sandwich.

Somebody once told me they had met a lawyer at a business meeting who told them he had been in Looking Glass, if not the lead singer
himself.

And what about the bass player in Huey Lewis's old (and for one album, Elvis Costello's) band Clover, who has been known to play with Lucinda Williams but also got a day job as a chiropractor, Dr. John Ciambotti?

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 19:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Wow, seeing SonicNet's and ATN's names bandied about takes me back... Webnoize.com was the horse I rode for a while, then AOL, then back to relatively straight work. Good times, tho.

― BlastsOfStatic (BlastsofStatic), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 19:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Fact Checkin Cuz: Thank you for once more living up to your name. :)

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 19:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Does becoming a preacher count as "going back to work"?

Paging Al Green.

― The Mad Puffin, Tuesday, 1 February 2005 19:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Webnoize.com was the horse I rode for a while, then AOL, then back to relatively straight work

guess those stock options never quite paid off, huh? ;-)

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 19:20 (twenty-one years ago)

"topper told me he works as a cab driver. not sure if he still would be as some of their songs were successfully rereleased."

Last I heard (a couple of years ago) he was living somewhere down near (Dover?) and still driving a taxi.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 19:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Cappadonna also became a cab driver after the last few Wu related albums started tanking.

― King Kobra (King Kobra), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 19:23 (twenty-one years ago)

You know, I got a cab ride once from a pretty well-known music writer.

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 19:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Kelly Hogan bartends at the Hideout in Chicago.

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 19:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Rick Buckler (The Jam) now makes a living restoring and selling old furniture.
A former Buzzcock (can't remember if it's Steve Garvey or John Maher) is apparently working as a car mechanic somewhere in the USA.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 19:30 (twenty-one years ago)

speaking of restorers, billy zoom from x had a shop for a long time where he repaired and customized guitar amps. he may still have the shop, but his website says he's too busy producing to work on amps right now.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 19:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Prior to his death, John McGeoch (Magazine, Visage, Banshees, Public Image) was working as a nurse.
The Damned's keyboard player Monty Oxymoron still works as a psychiatric nurse when the band aren't touring.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 19:36 (twenty-one years ago)

didnt those alimony docs that came out on the smoking gun awhile back mention that exene cervenka (sp?) was a high school teacher? also, didnt one of the girls from sleater kinney teach in between all hands on the bad one and one beat?

― Dude, are you a 15 year old asian chick? (jingleberries), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

xxxpost:
Wasn't one of Mott the Hoople also in the furniture restoration business- Overend Watts?
I thought I heard that Pete Shelley was working in the City of London as a stockbroker or something back in the 90s.

Anton Fier was working as a counterman at a local sandwich shop in downtown Brooklyn until recently.

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 19:40 (twenty-one years ago)

"I thought I heard that Pete Shelley was working in the City of London as a stockbroker or something back in the 90s."

Buzzcocks have been back together (only Pete and Steve Diggle from the origonal line-ups) since 1989....

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 19:42 (twenty-one years ago)

One of The Raincoats (Gina Birch?) weas running an antiques shop before the band reformed.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 19:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Sterling Morrison was a teacher .. College I think ...
He did that too. He went back to grad school to get a PhD in (Victorian?) Literature at UT Austin.

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 19:56 (twenty-one years ago)

rock stars who went back TO work that's meant to say in the thread title by the way sorry. if i were from rochdale it'd be okay as it is.

― piscesboy, Tuesday, 1 February 2005 20:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I saw something about the drummer from Bl*nk 1*2 teaching drum lessons even now

― King Kobra (King Kobra), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 20:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Can we really count something like that?

xpost:
Baby's got back work.

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 20:07 (twenty-one years ago)

"I thought I heard that Pete Shelley was working in the City of London as a stockbroker or something back in the 90s."
Buzzcocks have been back together (only Pete and Steve Diggle from the origonal line-ups) since 1989....
Yeah, you're right. Shows what I get for talking and listening to strangers.

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 20:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Santiago Durango went to law school when Big Black split (wasn't he the reason they split?). He may still be there of course if he's done a lot of re-sits for being a daft lad.

Greg Demos, former GBV.....wasn't he another lawyer type?

― Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountain Dog (Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountai), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 21:02 (twenty-one years ago)

and speaking of gbv-related peeps, there's also john petkovic of cobra verde, who's a reporter for the cleveland plain-dealer. though i'm not sure if that's technically going "back" to work, 'cause i'm not sure if he was ever NOT doing it.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 21:06 (twenty-one years ago)

an old co-worker used to get her taxes done by (i think) the drummer from the circle jerks.

― ddb (ddb), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 21:08 (twenty-one years ago)

The Bass Thing from the Wonder Stuff briefly worked at the Tower Records on Broadway....before he died.

I saw Debbie (guitar player) from Curve/Echobelly working at a used disc store in London right across from the Notting Hill tube stop in 2000.

Jack Natz (Undead/Virus/BlackSnakes/Cop Shoot Cop/Lubricated Goat/CrimeWave/Crux) is now a bike messenger.

Supposedly Wild Bill Carter of the Screaming Blue Messiahs is now a scooter messenger in London...with a tenuous grasp on sanity.

an old co-worker used to get her taxes done by (i think) the drummer from the circle jerks.

I've heard that too, only it's not the drummer, it's their bass player circa Golden Showe of Hits (whose name escapes me).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 21:12 (twenty-one years ago)

jesse peretz of the lemonheads gave up music to become a video and filmmaker.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 21:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Laura Cantrell actually wasn't a stockbroker, she was an analyst at B@nk of @merica up in midtown. Worked a floor above me when I was there, but I didn't know her. Tony Rettm@n of Blastitude.com/200 lb. underground zine infamy works in publication services there.

And didn't Sterling Morrison become a tourist boat captain while waiting for the Velvets reunion?

he was a tugboat captain. also, a medieval scholar.

M4rk Ibold is also a "food designer" for photo shoots. Meaning, he makes sure photographed food looks good.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 21:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Philip Glass still renews his NYC taxi license whenever it's up for renewal

if it's a medallion, and not a license, there would be incredible financial incentive to keep renewing it.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 21:24 (twenty-one years ago)

M4rk Ibold is also a "food designer" for photo shoots. Meaning, he makes sure photographed food looks good.
you'd be surprised at how this is actually somewhat difficult.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 21:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I wasn't trying to imply that it isn't difficult, just explain it in layman's terms since it's not the most common profession.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 21:35 (twenty-one years ago)

oh i know. sometimes its also referred to as "food stylist"...

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 21:37 (twenty-one years ago)

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