Me, The Band & The Vampire Crewe

I’m making coffee and am about to cook some breakfast. I can’t explain why, but I feel like this morning is a re-boot or something. I woke up around 5am to use the bathroom, got some water for the cats (who were freaking out not only because the water bowls were dry, but the food bowls were empty). After I laid back down, I couldn’t get back to sleep. Sometimes I have a narrow window of opportunity when I get up at night. If I go use to bathroom and come right back to bed, I usually go right back to sleep. But if I meander at all, sometimes the brain boots up and I start thinking about stuff, and sleep is impossible. In other words, however sleepy I might be, when the brain is ready to go it won’t be denied.
What I started thinking about was the band. Or, more specifically, the band as it pertains to my music, and what I want to do inside and outside of the band. I want to play with these guys, and I’m looking forward to getting into some of these clubs and making some noise. But we don’t seem inclined to follow any original paths. In other words, we’re mostly doing cover tunes, and only seem interested in working in more cover tunes. Which makes sense. We’re not going to go out there and get a lot of gigs playing nothing but original music. But I have to admit that I’m chomping at the bit to work in some original music. “This Old Dawg” is a perfect club song. So far, though, the idea of doing any original material has been left on the shelf as a theoretical possibility.
That’s fine. I don’t have to perform any of my songs with the band. I like Systematic Chaos a lot, and mostly I just want to get out there and play. But I can’t help asking myself where, if anywhere, this is going to lead. Are we just doing this to have a good time and maybe make a few extra bucks? Or do we consider this a road-worthy vehicle that might eventually lead to bigger and better things?
Myself, I know what I want. The same thing I’ve always wanted. So while we’re going over “Cat Scratch Fever” for the umpteenth time, on the side I’m going to start working on my own music. I’ve got a boatload of ideas based on the book I’m writing about the vampire named Crewe. That’s what I need to be working on. I can’t afford to worry too much about what the intentions of the band are. If we start getting out there and playing more, I’ll certainly be on-board. But I need to not only look to my future, I need to get busy creating it. I’m not getting any younger.