Let's go back to when Joe was a toddler. He received his first guitar at the ripe age of four, and that was his first obsession. He was so obsessed with hearing the sounds he created, that a seed was planted deep inside of his soul, and this seed contained a dream. Joe was never really able to create real music with his first guitar, but he would pluck each string randomly to amuse himself with noise. His relationship with his guitar was rather symbiotic, he gave the guitar a purpose while the guitar nurtured and watered the seed inside his soul.
Jump ahead a few years and Joe was growing up in a relatively chaotic household. His parents just got divorced but he really didn't seem to give a shit, he just didn't like how his mom and sister started to fight all the time because he always had to diffuse the situation. When arguments would get out of hand, he would escape to the basement and pluck his emotions out on his guitar.
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Growing up, Joe had a best friend who lived right on his street, Sean. They were in the same second grade class and were best friends since they first said hi to each other. Everyday after school they’d ride bikes up and down their street, but most importantly, they’d eventually revert back to Joe’s house dead tired for some relaxation time. The subject of every conversation once in the basement was simple: music. Sean played guitar but really wanted to play the drums one day, and he showed Joe all types of new music and vice versa. They would always go to the basement and Joe would play guitar while Sean would just hit stuff to make a beat. Joe’s mom was always very impressed with their sounds and brought them countless cookies and other goodies (she was easily the nicest person either of them had ever encountered). The typical school days were always hard on the boys, because they would constantly be singing songs in their heads and playing pranks on their classmates as a way to deal with their boredom. The prank they were both the most proud of involved them loosening the hinges on all the stall doors and walls in the boys bathroom. When the bathroom would fill up with their classmates pooping out their problems, Sean and Joe ran in and gave the first stall a good shove, and thus all the others came crashing down in the scariest domino effect the poopers had ever witnessed.
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Jumping ahead a few years, the boys are both 14 years old and are hanging out in Joe's basement around Christmas time. They had just had a delicious meal with Joe's mom (his sister was not home in time for supper), and they were playing some records. Sean busted out this new record, and Joe was very interested. "What's this guy's name, I dig his sound!" asked Joe. "Clyde Cringle," repeated Sean, and the rest was history. Joe's ears had never heard such a different sound, as Clyde was famous for using an electric guitar, but it sounded beautiful. Joe became obsessed, finding more and more of Clyde's music, and his views on life soon started to parallel those of Clyde. Learning of her son's new interest, Joe's mother presented him with a gift that would change the course of his life forever: she had given her son an electric guitar.
