Hello, I'm Aubrey Holman

I'm currently living in Greenville Mississippi

     Now that all that has been said.. here's my bio...   Uh ummm..   I was born in Vicksburg Mississippi.  By age 1 my family and I had already move to Greenville, Mississippi where I currently live. 
I began playing guitar at age 10 and learned maybe a piece of a song...  I think it was,  "The Bear Went Over the Mountain."  Shortly after that major accomplishment I put the guitar down to pursue a more serious life of camping out with friends, riding bikes, and narrowly escaping juvenile detention on a few occasions...  After my wilder days were past I bought an electric guitar and amp from a friend of mine.  Well... it wasn't actually much of a guitar and the amp wasn't much of an amp either...  I bought it for $11.00 so there wasn't much to complain about.  It was a Harmony electric with a cheap sunburst paint job.  It had a humongous whammy bar that looked like a spoon handle attached to a flask.  The amp was even worse..  it had no back on it.  Come to think of it.. it had no sides either.   It was just a board with a hole for a speaker and a few knobs on the  front.  I had to prop it against a wall and put a shoe or some other appropriate weight on the floor at the base of the slab of wood so the vibrations steaming from its 10 watt speaker wouldn't shake it flat on its back.  I don't think the amp even had a name.. If it did the label obviously rotted off years before.
     I kept breaking strings on that thing!  I was beginning to think I was doing something wrong but I later found out it was the cheap GHS Boomers it was putting on it.  So...  I picked out a few tunes on that thing.. one of them I remember being "Black Diamonds" by KISS.  Actually, it was just that I discovered the A minor chord by accident and put 2 and 2 together and realized it fit in that song somewhere. 
    Time passed and I began to pick out more and more song (pieces)..  It wasn't until I got an invitation to play in a REAL band that I actually learned a complete song beginning to end.  The band consisted of a drummer named Robert who was close to 30 years old,  a lead guitar player (Donnie) who looked like a anorexic Neil Young and talked like Tommy Chong, and Me...  I was a chunky 12 year old with a haircut like Glen Danzig. 
     We were all heavy metal too.  We didn't care what we sounded like as long as it resembled Metallica and was as loud as our amps could push.  Robert didn't have a crash symbol...  Instead there was a pot top suspended by a wire hanger which was attached to a symbol stand of some sort.  I'm sure we had a bass player but for some reason he doesn't ring a bell...  Maybe he was just the quiet type or wasn't memorable.  Maybe he never existed.  Who knows..  "Dude... if you're out there... sorry I forgot you...  remind me if I have."
    Well.. we covered a few songs but never got anywhere.  We never even named the band.  If we did..  I guess I forgot that too.
I was either 13 or 14 when I joined my next band.  We called it "Resilient".  The name meant "strength..the ability to quickly recover... to bounce back suddenly", if you will.  What did it mean to us?  Nada...  we just looked it up in a dictionary and thought it sounded like a "kick-ass" band name.
    Rodney Frothingham was our singer and the oldest member by far..  I think he was 17.  Kenny Ware (bassist) was 15 or 16.  Caleb Lester (drummer) 15 or 16 and Phillip Jackson (lead guitar) 16 at least.  All I remember about my age is that I had to be picked up every time we had a practice or a gig.  I had no license but had no problem warming the back seat on the way.  Resilient was actually the first time I played with musicians who were actually talented.  Of course we all had horrible timing and chose songs that only a castrated opra singer could sing but, in general, we were all pretty good.  On our first gig, in fact, we were mistaken, by some passer byers, for a much older band who was also well known in the delta.  We recorded a few songs too.  I think we were the 24,843rd band to cover and record "Knockin' on Heaven's Door."  The other was an original tune called "Dreamer" that was derived from some poem that Caleb (drummer) found in a book.  Rodney (singer) joined Caleb and they wrote another verse, added a chorus and we put it down on cassette in a make shift studio owned by Kenny Ware SR.  Dreamer actually made it on a local radio station Q102.3 FM and found itself on regular rotation...  We thought we were the cats pejamas...   We were destined to be rock legends..  Then the bottom fell out..  

-The Fall of Bandkind-

    Do you remember in the 80's how all the songs were either secretly or openly about sex?  "Hot for Teacher", Van Halen...  "Cherry Pie",  Warrant....  "Seventeen" ... Trixter...?   You get the picture.  Well soon after came "How Sweet it Is" by Resilient...( that's us in case you don't remember)..  Funny thing happened..  Well, it's funny now... but then....

We were in the studio... we'd just laid down several tracks of hard-core original rock songs in the studio and it was time to put some lyrics down..  All was well until we got to "How Sweet it Is".   Rodney began to sing and Mr. Ware (Kenny Ware Jr.'s Dad who was recording and owned the studio), began to listen.to the lyrics.     Now, I don't even remember what the lyrics were ...   At the time I was just a rythem guitarists.. I didn't give a damn about lyrics then.   I do remember the straw that broke the camels back though...  it was something like:  "....blonde... on the tip of my toungue..".  * see Q102.3 FM archives: search for: "Resilient..Where are they Now" aka "Before We Thought They Would Have Become Stars".

The music stopped and rodney stumbled on his lyrics against the silence....  "What's this song about?", Mr. Ware questioned with one eye-brow raised...
Anyway, the truth came out that Mr. Wares boy (Kenny/ bassist) was in a band full of punks who had the audacity to record a song about oral sex in HIS DAMNED STUDIO!!!???
I don't rember what the bands defense strategy was but I'm sure it had something to do with:  "We're a ROCK band!!"
It was over then...  All the recordings... all the parties... the publicity....  all the airbrushed shirts with the brick wall and cherries on it that said:  "How Sweet it Is" on the front and "How Sweet is It?" on the back....  OVER!

    We were washed up.  Caleb and I turned to drinking... or actually drinking more often and in larger quantities to cope with the pain.  Phillip and Kenny went their separate ways and Rodney went to on College..  There were so many times when Caleb and I rode around in his Mazda pickup jamming his sterio as loud as possible to the sounds of "Copperhead" "Slaughter" "Whitesnake"  "AC/DC"  "Guns and Roses" "Skid Row" "Cinderella"  "Kick Tracey"  "KIX"  "Warrant"..    I mean... you know.. all the cheezy bands of the 80's and early 90's... we had em covered.. and dreamed of being big stars and hanging out with all our rock heros..

    Somehow in some other time in between then and now, Caleb, Phillip, and I met up with a guy named David and his loverly girlfriend Barbi...   She had a great voice and she sang for us in a band we called:  "ROX".   pronounced:  (R-O-X!!).  We sounded great but never played anywere.  Our greatest achievement was partying under the Arkansas/Mississippi River Bridge and Painting our band name in florescent orange on one of its pillars..    Whew!  those were some wild nights..  sooooo much fun!  Well, except that night Phillips girlfriend had an epileptic seizure in the bed of Caleb's Pick Up...  that was kinda scary in fact. 

Some time after graduating high school.... Caleb Kenny and I joined up with a talented young musician by the name of Buddy Hughes...  We formed a band we called "Shake Bone Fest".  Not to brag but, we were a great band.  We started out with a singer named Roy.  He was a character.  On any given day Roy could be seen with a t-shirt of any sort, loose knee-length cargo shorts, flip-flops, dirty toe nails, and a black beret on his head (tipped forward slightly just enough to give him a sorta beat-nic tint).  He had a great deep voice and a pretty good vocal range..  Once again I was the shy rhythm guitarist who stood on stage looking down at his guitar and nothing else.  After I got comfortable with that position though I would occasionally slip up to a mic and belt out some back up vocals then duck back down.  Eventually I got to sing a song....  Don't know why or how I got to that point but the song was:  "What's the Frequency Kenneth".   Yall remember that one don't you?  REM song?  Anyway, I always thought my voice was sorta wimpy but everyone seemed to like it.  I still don't like the sound of my own voice when I hear a recording of it, only it doesn't bother me much.

    Roy ended up losing his house in Moorehead, MS due a technicality..  (We were all in college by this time I believe..)  I don't remember what the reason was exactly that Roy was booted from his house but I think it had something to do with him quitting his job and not paying rent...  You know the routine.     I was living with my parents who were at the time managing (with the intention of buying) a large Plant Nursery called "Plant Land."  My Dad employed Roy and allowed him to crash at our place for a while.  Something else happened and Roy had to move out..  I honestly couldn't remember....  something about him not picking up clothes off the floor and ducking out on the rent or something....
Shortly afterwards the band revolted and King Roy no longer, was.  Suddenly we were at practice and Caleb (or someone) pointed at me and said:  "Aubrey can sing".

At first I remember being so excited...  here I was the quiet underdog of the band.. being pushed up to the middle of the stage..  The idea was cool but when it came down to it...  I was having a hard time..   It was like learning to play all over again.  Especially on songs where the music and melody were out of sync such as: "Down on the Corner" by Creedence Clearwater Revival.. and the real kicker...  "Pain Lies on the Riverside" by Live.   I think I went off on the band when we first practiced with me as singer.  I just remembered being stressed out and I felt that they were dissappointed with the way I was singing..   Most likely it was just me and my paranoia stemming from my newly exposed position.   I just remember going off and saying something like:  "I'm doing the best I can right now...trying to learn these lyrics ....give me time...."   Something like that.    Even David Weiss was putting pressure on me..  He was the owner of ONE BLOCK EAST, a local bar where we got our start.  David was afraid that we'd lose our crowd if we got rid of Roy...  I was afraid of the same thing..   It was tough but I'm just glad I didn't quit..

    Singing really opened me up to a world of music I never knew.  I remember reading over some of the lyrics that Roy had translated onto paper and saying to myself, "I didn't know this song was about that."  I really started to appreciate lyrics much more than guitar.  I'm the first to admit that I was never that good at lead guitar.  Even now I don't consider myself to be a great guitarist maily because I never sat down and learned the theory and structure that it takes to be a great guitarist.  I just learned a bunch of songs and took the next step.  In a way though doing so has helped me in songwriting.  It sort of keeps me from following the usual patterns.  I was never really interested in writing songs until I had to memorize the lyrics of 60 or more songs.  I guess it's true then: "to write... one must read".   If I'd never been forced to sing and have never been pushed into this uncomfortable position, which, even today, is still pretty uncomfortable, I would have never put lyrics to music and would have remained a mediocre guitar player.  (Most likely).  Not that I'm some wonderful lyricist or songwriter in general but I have found what I truly love. 

Shake Bone Fest rocked out for a few more years, then slowly drifted apart and interchanged members until it just didn't feel right anymore.  I continued writing and released 2 albums but have written numerous songs.  Some songs I have recorded and copyritten.  Some I put on albums, some I forgot, and some I just tossed into the garbage can way in the back of my life.

Now I play lead guitar for a band called Lazy Bone.  I'm 32 years old and I've gotten much better at lead guitar.  It's alot of fun... I'll give it that and it's nice not having to be the front man for once.  I still play acoustic and sing all around when I get the chance but for now my songwriting in on hold...  I kinda think of my songwriting as being "Frozen in Carbonate"  (* see Star Wars episode V)   I've been busy with what some call the "Real Life"  I've been married for 7 years and I am a career firefighter for the City of Greenville..  The reason I pointed out the word CAREER is that when most people ask me what I do and I say "I'm a firefighter"...  they all say the same thing:  "Volunteer?"   Not that volunteers are losers or anything but why does everyone assume I'm a volunteer firefighter... I mean... do I look that damned broke?  I know I drive an old truck but come on!! 

Recently I reunited with the boys from Shake Bone Fest and we played at a wedding for our good friend and biggest fan Ricky Fontana...  We sounded soooo good!  I knew we would.  Nothing like playing with pros.  It was great and I'm sure we'll be doing it again soon but until then...   ("I'm gonna call up Morris and have him get the band together. We're gonna have a party.") *see Slingblade 1996 by Billy Bob Thornton.

I'm currently living with my wife and 2 dogs in Greenville, MS.  We just bought a house with a small building in the back that I just can't WAIT to morph into a writing/ playing/ and gaming room.  It takes that you know?  To be a writer it takes solitude and separation from the world.  Lately I haven't had that but....  I'm working on it.  Money is slow and creativity is trickling.... but it's still there, it still has a heartbeat and, BY GOD it still fogs up a mirror when you put it just under its nose!  Anyway, I can't wait to get my music room in order.  When I do...  I promise all of you who are even remotely interested in my music... that I will make up for those large gaps between my albums..  I just hope you like what you hear...

Till then... I love yall and hope to see each and every one of you before that Great Gig in the Sky.  *  (see Pink Floyd's  Great Gig in the Sky lyrics ;)


Thanks for listening..
Aubrey William Holman
october 13th 2007