http://www.jackzerby.com

make music because it's in me. I'm not sure that I would say I love making music...I would say that it just comes out; most of the time when I'm not even consciously thinking about it..

It all started at 10 years old when I got my first Michael Jackson tape, Bad. I remember listening to it over and over on the plane to Florida for a family vacation, and was blown away by how tight and rhythmic it was. I tend to be a perfectionist, so his music struck a chord instantly by how intricate it was, but yet still had a soulfulness that moved me. I had the sweetest Aiwa walkman with the the most uncomfortable headphones ever made.

In high school I started my first band with my good friends Ryan (bass) and Jeremiah (guitar). We played mostly Metallica covers and the occasional original-yet-awfully-similar-to-metallica song. We jammed for various girls around the neighborhood, but for some reason they would rather have heard New Kids on the Block covers. Not cool.

Soon after that, Ryan and I joined forces with a punk/rock/ska band called the Kamikaze Pilots. We toured all over Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Playing to huge crowds of 15-20 people, and rocking every single one of them. I remember arriving at a large college gig thinking we were going to play on the main stage, but were later told that we would be playing in the rec room where the karaoke guy was about to finish up his set. In the middle of our awesome set, a guy playing Smokey the Bear walked in with a guide, took one look at us, gave a "these guys are terrible" swat at the air, and quickly turned around. We had been dissed by Smokey.

Then it was time to leave it all behind for college and real life. I sold my Yamaha Stage Custom Blue drum-set (my second love) to buy a guitar to bring with me to college. I started as all college acoustic players do...Dave Matthews, Three Doors Down, Matchbox 20, Backstreet Boys (what? woops). I wrote my first song called "Arms", and was hooked on writing my own stuff.

I'm not making music to get a record deal, to get on radio, or to be on American Idol. When I'm old and grey, one of the many things I hope to look back on is the legacy of music that I will be leaving.

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