Recognition Series: pt. 7 - Peter C

I first met Peter in a freshman year English class. If I remember correctly, the initial reason that we started talking was the huge tattooed cross on his shin. We started talking about tattoos, worked together on a few little class projects, had similar tastes in graphic expression (which we found out through one of the projects), and both had a great interest in music.

Peter, though initially from New York, had family in South Carolina and basically lived down there full time. He did have a well-established band from home, but they hadn't really wanted to continue stuff since he was moving so far away. I've listen to some of their music, and it sounds really professional -- well produced and everything. They even had a music video made for one of their songs (Just search for The Reserve - Ignite on Vimeo and you should find it). The band sounds a lot like Angels and Airwaves and I think that a lot of their music was actually influenced by this.

Regardless, Peter and I got to talking about getting involved in some music-making together. This kid was the real deal -- producing connections, recording experience, full professional tracks etc. He told me that if we got something together and it started taking off, he wanted to drop everything and work on the music. Tour, create an album etc. And not just tour in the region, I'm talking full tour in US and even in Europe. Now, I don't know if he really had THAT many connections... but regardless it was pretty mind-blowing.

As the year went on, we both sort of settled into our respective majors and areas of study, and of course we no longer had class together after the first semester. This was a really weird feeling, to have a whole bunch of people in your classes and then just have them drop off the face of the Earth after four or five months due to class changes.

A few years later, as I was finishing up my junior year, I happened to run into Peter again, after we had lost touch for almost two years. As it turned out, he lived pretty much just below me in the same building in my apartment complex. I don't think he ever really got a serious music project together that gained the attention he wanted. But I'm telling you, the kid is talented; and music is truly his passion. I'm too practical and logical to try to give up all my studies to shoot for the stars with music -- but I really hope it works out for him. And in fact, it did inspire to really start working harder on making my own music.