Barry Easton Gets the Job..

I had to make a decision about Barry. To be honest, I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I really liked Barry. I liked his attitude and enthusiasm. He had good instincts for drums a lot of the time. The times I thought his instincts were a little off the mark...I knew were about his age, and his lack of experience as a player...and in life. He had never been out of Connecticut...he had no tour experience, and at 17 yrs. old, he was just a kid, and was just starting to acquire life experience. That was not a flaw...it was just a fact. I knew that in time, he would get there...the big question I was wrestling with, was...when would that happen? Barry was a fast learner, and he was willing to take suggestions at  times, but he also had his own ideas about what drums were about, and sometimes those ideas went against what Charles and I had learned from being out there...doing it. At times, I actually appreciated his stubborn streak...it meant he believed in himself, and I knew that was a necessary trait to have with what we were attempting. But sometimes, Barry's lack of experience, and his occasional inflexible thinking was very frustrating to both Charles and me. In the end, I had to decide. I used the simplest method I could to do that. I listed all the pros in one column, and all the cons in another. With Barry, the final position would be immediately filled (at the time, nobody else was ready to go), and we could get right to work. It also meant that Mark's participation in the band was assured...and those two factors were huge. And Barry had already done a lot of work on the material, learning many of the songs I had written when he had agreed to jam with Charles and me before Mark had agreed to come aboard. If Barry became the drummer, all the time we had spent jamming didn't have to be wasted time. Even if we had gone with another drummer, and there were no other choices in mind that had, as yet, appeared...and if and when we found someone else...we would have been starting all over, from scratch. I also knew that Charles was impatient...after all, he had left a touring band that was very successful to do this project...and he was just too talented, and too in demand to sit idle for very long. And because of Barry's energy, enthusiasm, and team attitude, plus all the considerable skills he already possessed, it was my hope that he would grow into the job. I had a very clear idea of what I was looking for, and I knew that Barry wasn't what I had envisioned in my mind for the position...and I knew that Charles would have to make the biggest adjustment, but I believed that Barry was someone we could work with...because even Charles was impressed with his drumming at times, and I knew how fast I had grown up when I was in Chicago. So I made the decision that Barry had earned the job, and we all decided we were going to do whatever we had to...to make this band work. Barry was in. The selection process was over. The band was a reality.