Rick D:  

It was nutz.... then it all became clear. By Dominick A. Miserandino DM) How did you start in the music industry? RD) I tried to learn how to play guitar at a very young age - 8 or 9 or so, but I could never get it. All the guitars I tried belonged to my uncles, and they had strings a half mile off the fret board. Then one day when I was 16, I walked into a fog bank in the back yard, and it was like a baseball bat hit me in the head. I was playing 500 one day and I missed a fly ball that disappeared in the sun - and reappeared on my face, even broke my nose. Knocked me on my ass and knocked me flat out. After that, I could play guitar. My dad always told me that to get a jackass's attention you had to get hit it in the head 3 or 4 times - I guess that works. DM) So your guitar playing emerged after a head injury? RD) Isn't that the way it comes to you? Something just hits you and you're inspired? Actually, I should have hated music. In grade school, I was a trumpet player, sort of. I had this mondo music teacher b***h that would poke the end of my nose with a ball point pen every time I made a mistake. I'd come back from lessons with one big black dot on the end of my nose! DM) I notice a little hostility in your history. Did this trial by fire further motivate you or hinder you? RD) Some people believe in detractors. I don't; they just piss me off. When someone tells me that "you can't" or "you'll never amount to anything", I just want to spit in their face. So honestly, there is a thread of motivation in me that wants to prove them wrong. On the other hand, nothing is free, nothing is easy, and nobody owes you anything. And you can't expect everything to go as you think it might or should. Goals can be attained incrementally or by degree. Many times, I've had disappointments, failures or plans not work out. But after that, you suck some air back into your lungs, you get up, and try again. Then there are some things that are just beyond your control, such as when personal tragedy strikes. I finally did get a great music teacher in my freshman year at college. I was in a group of students who were at a rock festival with him. One morning he was bringing water back to our camp and he just dropped dead right in front of us. There was a doctor in the next site over, but even that did not make a difference. So sometimes, you can't do anything; the lesson may be very painful, but that particular music teacher is one reason why I keep going. DM) Who were your influences? RD) I'm influenced by literature and movies more than by other bands, I think. I like to listen to a wide variety of styles. My favorite bands are Green Day, NIN, Rollins Band, REM, in the rock vein, but on the softer side, guys like T-Bone Burnett or Counting Crows are cool. I like many female artists too--Sara, Tori, K.D. Lang, the Indigo Girls. DM) What literature and movies have influenced you? RD) "Ferris Buehler's Day Off" is my favorite movie of all time - ha. Ferris's room was like my room: electronic crap all over the place, books on classical philosophy, religion, "Old Man and the Sea", "Catcher", Scientific American. All that. Anyt...Expand for more