What does 50 years in the music industry actually teach you about money?

In this episode of Backstage Money, host Jason K. Powers sits down with Steve Lynch, co-founder and lead guitarist of Autograph, pioneer of the two-handed tapping technique, and author of Confessions of a Rock Guitarist. Steve talks about going from an eighth-grade dropout to Guitar World's Solo of the Year, signing with RCA backstage at Madison Square Garden on the Van Halen tour, watching Aerosmith go broke in 1985, losing five promoters in one year doing 80s nostalgia touring, and why "write more songs" is the single most important piece of financial advice he never received.

This one is packed with real, hard-won lessons from someone who has seen every era of the music industry up close and lived to tell the story honestly.

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Jason K Powers: Welcome to Backstage Money, Real World Finance for Musicians.

I'm your host, Jason K. Powers, and this is the show where we pull

back the curtain on the business and money side of life in music.

Every episode, we sit down with working musicians and industry insiders who

have been figuring it out in the trenches, so you can learn from the

people who are actually making it work.

So today's guest is guitarist, author, educator, and pioneer.

He co-founded the band Autograph in Los Angeles back in 1983, developed

one of the most innovative guitar techniques of his era, and helped drive

the band to global recognition with the mega hit, and one of my personal

favorites, "Turn Up the Radio."

He toured with other familiar names over the years like Van Halen and

Mötley Crüe, Aerosmith, and Heart, sold over five million records, and

won Guitar World's Solo of the Year.

He ran a music school 10 years, and last year released his memoir,

"Confessions of a Rock Guitarist," a raw and honest account of the rise

and fall, reinvention, and search for meaning beyond the fretboard.

Steve Lynch, welcome to Backstage Money.

All right.

Thanks for having me, Jason.

Glad to

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

Yeah, man, I appreciate you being on.

I've kind of watched your story over the years and it's just been,

it's been a neat journey, I think.

And that's why I was like, I wanna get you on.

I want to tell this story." I think there's

Sure,

Jason K Powers: so many sides of it and…

Yeah.

Jason K Powers: like to start with y- origin stories.

How did you get into music, and how did you get into this and the band?

And I mean, walk me through it

Okay.

Well

I, the first time I really got interested and wanted this to be my

life was when I saw The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show back in 1964, and

that just completely changed my world.

I was only nine years old, and so I just, I wanted to do that really bad.

My dad got me this old beat-up acoustic guitar, with the strings that high

off the finger board, so you couldn't even play, but I mean, but I just

wanted to, and I kept trying anyway.

And then, then I got into bass guitar for a couple of years.

And, then when I was a super Hendrix freak, that was the first album

that I owned, was Are You Experi- Experience Jimi Hendrix's debut album.

And so I just listened to him, and I worshiped him, I j- I tried to learn

everything from him, 'cause I had an electric guitar at that time, too, but,

it was just like, it was non-playable.

So, anyway, when he died, the day that he died, I traded in my bass guitar for

a Fender Stratocaster, and that changed my whole world, and I was 15 then.

It was 1970 so October 18th, 1970, when he passed away.

And that was it.

I was just guitar player and it's been going on ever since then, so

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

So,

Jason K Powers: you find it, was that like your natural… Was it just

like, "Oh, I'm, I happen to be good at this," or was it you had to really,

really work hard to make that shift?

Or was it a pretty-

I had to really work hard at it.

Jason K Powers: Yeah

a natural just learning.

I really had to work hard.

And my fingers, 'cause I'm so dull jointed in both of my hands, you know, I had to,

learn techniques that would more, a- allow my hands to do what I needed them to do

rather than just somebody who can just pick it up and build up strength and that.

But I had to hold my hands differently and, so yeah, it was very hard

for me to get good at it, but,

Jason K Powers: Yeah

practice pays off, so

Jason K Powers: Yeah, sure, sure.

Well, how did, getting your first guitar like that, trading in

your bass and getting your guitar lead to all of a sudden down the

road you got a band, you're in LA

Yeah, I played in bands, a few different bands

professionally up in Seattle.

And, that was when I was 18, so I started playing professionally in

1973 up in Seattle, playing all the clubs up there and everything.

And, that was when I was 18, and I just continued to do that.

And then I had this teacher up in Seattle, too, Don Mock,

who recently just passed away.

Really unfortunate to hear.

But, he was, just an amazing player, and he taught me this tremendous stuff,

and he got me to go down… I was in Montana touring, and I called up to

set up more lessons, you know, when I came back into Seattle, and they said,

"No, he's at some new guitar school down in LA," And so I s- oh my God.

And they said it, I think it was called The Guitar Institute

or something like that.

And so I actually called up.

I got the number from information and called up directly and was

able to get him on the phone.

He was in between classes, and I said, "Don, what's this all about?"

he said, "Steve, quit your band.

Sell your equipment and get your ass down here." And so, like, six weeks later,

I was there, I mean, it was that fast.

I just finished off some of the gigs.

Maybe it was a little bit longer, you know, two

Jason K Powers: Yeah

still, it was around in that area.

It was really short.

And I was there, and, that, going to the Guitar Institute completely changed

my life, because it enabled me to know all of the theory and apply it to my

playing, and that was a huge thing, because I understood, now I understood

what classical musicians, what jazz musicians, all these different genre,

genres, I was able to put it together and understand how it all worked together

theory-wise, and so that was a huge thing.

And, up in Seattle's when I first started, doing the double-handed,

technique, playing around with that.

I saw Har- Harvey Mandel doing it, and, also some others.

There was a local guy named Steve Buffington who was doing

some double-handed stuff, so I was working on that.

And then when I went to the Guitar Institute in 1978, that's when I started

really getting into it, because, I saw this guy, Emmett Chapman, who did

a clinic, who played the instrument, the Stick, and he did this clinic

on, on how you can use both hands on this instrument, and, It was amazing.

And so he said in the clinic that he actually got started by, playing

guitar, but he thought, "You know, I wanna be able to have my hand, like

on a piano, play the lower register and the bass notes and different chord

Jason K Powers: Huh?

Then with my right hand, play on another set of strings,

another five set of strings, and then play all the melodies and different

triads and everything with that hand."

And so I thought, "God, how interesting." So I asked him after the, after he

did his clinic, I said, "How… What did you do on guitar that got you to

this point?" So he… I handed him my guitar, and he just kind of went, "Well,

you take one pentatonic scale here.

This is one position here.

And then with this hand, you can go up and you can play another

position right here." And so

he just went… And I just went, "Wow, that's it." So… And I was

already familiar with the technique, I'd already been playing with…

for a few years at that point.

And so that's when I started writing everything that I was learning, from

the Guitar Institute, the chords, you know, triads, arpeggios, scales,

everything, and I started writing it down two-handed, so that…

And then I ordered… I numbered each lick in a certain order, so

that everybody could understand.

Um, so, by the end of the year, I had written a book, on it, easily.

Actually, I'd written more like three books on it, 'cause I, I had

all this material written down.

And so I got asked, to do a, to write a book on it, and,

it was from Tommy Tedesco.

you know, he was a famous jazz player, in LA that did all the session works.

Every TV show that you watched during the '60s, that was Tommy Tedesco playing

Jason K Powers: Okay.

the '70s,

Jason K Powers: Okay.

then Howard Roberts, who was a great jazz name.

So both of them appro- approached me after I played, at the graduation ceremony

at GIT, and they said, "Man, that's…" 'Cause I played a couple songs where I

just, I played all this stuff two-handed.

They had never seen anything quite like it, they asked, they said, you

know, you should write a book, you know, on that." And they said, "Is

that something you'd consider?" And I laughed and I said, "I've already

got like three books," And they said,

Jason K Powers: Yeah

you know, meet us tomorrow at this address." And

it was the publisher's address.

So we meet, we met at the, publisher's home address, and I

brought my amp and guitar, and I showed him how I had written it out.

And I played it for him, and he understood it right away, 'cause

he was a guitar player as well.

and he said, "Wow. Okay. Sign up." So I did my first book and… The

Right Touch, and it sold very well, so I was really glad for that.

And then I sold… Or I, wrote two more after that and released

them back in, I think, 1987, so

Jason K Powers: Nice.

Nice.

I heard a rumor, when you, were at the Guitar Institute, you got

the, most likely to succeed award,

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Jason K Powers: say you did all right,

you know?

Yeah, and Paul Gilbert, and of course Jennifer Batten, she was in my

class, so we were getting together and changing ideas and stuff, and she was

so into guitar, and, and, she was really getting into that technique herself,

And so I showed her a bunch of things and gave her some paperwork to work on.

In fact, she took a couple lessons from me after we graduated,

and, then she just took off.

It was just, wow.

Playing with Michael Jackson, I mean, it doesn't get any better than that,

right, And then going out and playing with Jeff Beck, so it's like, e- equally

just as talented, So it's like, wow.

Yeah

she landed a couple excellent gigs there, and then she's also had her

solo bands and stuff as well, so she's done extremely well for that.

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

Yeah, that's fun.

So how did, this transition into the, start of Autograph?

I heard, I was reading up on kind of early on, and it's true, right, that you

landed this opening slot for Van Halen, and you had not played a show together yet

Well, what happened, you see, again, like in Seattle, I was

playing in a few different bands in LA.

In fact,

Jason K Powers: No

at that point I was playing with four different projects.

But we were guys that w- all of us had played in different arc- incarnations

of different bands together previously.

And so what we did was we just got together on, weekends, and

just jammed and drank beer, and we wrote some songs together, like,

turned up the radio and stuff.

That was, like, right before we went into the studio, to cut a

demo, And so with Andy Johns, who's, worked with Led Zeppelin and, John

Lennon, and the list goes on and on and on, The Stones and everything.

So anyway, he did the demo for us.

Randy, or, I mean, Kenny, the, drummer, was jogging every

morning with David Lee Roth.

they'd, they'd become friends, and so they were jogging.

They were meeting at David Lee Roth's place at 8:30 every morning, and then

jogging up and down Sunset Boulevard.

And, so, David asked him, he said, "Well, what are you doing musically now, Kenny?"

And Kenny played him a little bit of The Coup, which is the group that he was

playing on, playing in on, A&M Records.

And, then he played him the demo that we just did, and David

went, "Oh my God, I love this.

This is really awesome stuff." And then Kenny told him that, was in the band,

and David Lee Roth, through word of mouth had heard about me, you know, different

times and, as a guitarist in LA that was up and coming, And so anyway, and then,

Kenny mentioned Randy Rand and Steve Plunkett and Van Halen used to open for

Wolfgang, which Randy and Steve were in.

That was their band,

Jason K Powers: Okay

So Van Halen used to open for Wolfgang at these

gi- gigs in Hollywood, right?

and so anyway, David thought, "Oh, why don't you guys come and open for us now?

That'll be, you know, it's like full circle kind of thing,

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah

Halen really shot off through the roof, and so he asked us,

and then Kenny came back and asked us at the next time we got together.

He said, "Hey, David just offered us to open up for their 1984 tour." we

were all in different bands, recording.

me and the keyboard player were in a band called Holly

Penfield on, Dreamland Records.

Steve Plunkett was in Silver Condor on, Columbia Records.

And like I said before, Kenny was in a group called The Coup on A&M Records,

and Randy was playing with Lita Ford.

So we had paid gigs, right?

So, but then we thought, hey, what the hell, We've al- we've already

done this recording and everything.

Why don't we go out for a few months?

It might be fun.

So on our way, driving from LA all the way to Jacksonville, Florida

for our first gig, and we did it.

We rented this old Winnebago, and it could barely run.

You know, it's just, And so we made it and got on stage and kicked ass

and, had a great time for, four or five months or whatever it was.

And then we signed backstage with RCA at Madison Square Gardens when

we played there, and then we played for a couple more months with them.

then, RCA said, "Okay, guys, you're not… You're out here, you're playing

in front of, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people, basically."

and they said, "You're not promoting anything." So they said, "You need

to come back and record a record, then you can go back out on tour

with somebody else." So we did that.

That's when we went back.

It was, later in 1984, and we recorded the first album.

there, everything

Jason K Powers: And

took off.

Jason K Powers: the rest is history, as they say, huh?

Right.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Jason K Powers: did you think we're… I mean, walk me through, we were

talking before about kind of how you got to see multiple different

eras and the changes in those eras.

you- when you guys started out, we're talking late '70s, right?

R- yeah.

I mean, when we started out, it was basically '83, but when I first moved down

to LA, the disco era was still happening.

It was still '70s music, right?

Jason K Powers: No

so I watched that whole, disco thing fade out and, then, in the

early '80s the h- whole h- hair metal thing came in, and I watched all of that,

the, and until it started to, basically lose its popularity due to the whole

grunge movement in, in, '89 and '90.

And so I watched those transitions from those different types of music

and, I even did a solo record in '95, called Network 23, And, I

put a lot of work into that album.

But, know, the problem is, is because my name was attached

to it, there's a stigma there.

If you're an '80s musician and

got popular during that time, the, the record labels didn't wanna hear it.

They didn't even wanna hear it.

I had Marco Babeneaux from, Geffen Records.

He was, he was shopping it for me.

He says, "Steven, as soon as I say that your name, they just go,

'Nope.' '80s rock guitar player, No

And I thought, "You know,

Jason K Powers: Fascinating.

not just an '80s rock guitar player.

And I just did this whole album that sounds nothing like '80s

and nothing like Autograph.

This is a totally different thing." and so, so all of that just kinda, I'm, I'm

proud that I did it and I'm proud that I put all that work into it, you know,

'cause I played some keyboards on it.

I did all the, beginning drum patterns, and to show Chris Frazier, who was with

Steve Vai, still with Foreigner now.

And, so he played on the album and to my drum tracks, and then, I played the

bass on it and I wrote and, produced, you know, most all the album as well.

So a lot of work, so I'm proud of that, but it's just, as far as the

consumer goes, you know, it didn't make it commercially, so that's

Jason K Powers: sure

of the times.

Yeah.

Jason K Powers: Well, and

It's-

Jason K Powers: when, industries shift like that, and that, that

particular one was pretty, pretty sudden, I think, coming out of that

really fast.

Yeah

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

So talk to me about, you know, you guys are riding the wave up there pretty good

by then, and then this industry shifts.

And so, you know, since we always talk about kind of the financial side of things

here, what kind of were some of the things you maybe learned e- even if in hindsight,

along the way during that shift?

You know, you start, you get signed, you're riding big and you're making

the money, but then the shift happens all of a sudden, and a lot of people

what

Jason K Powers: left scrambling

what happened with me, l- luckily I had gone to the Guitar

Institute and I'd become quite, quite a good teacher, and the books I'd written

and instructional videos and everything.

And so I was doing clinics, I started doing clinics right at the end

of… Autograph ended in December of 1989, so it was the end of the '80s,

period, 'cause it was the last month

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

the last, you

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

of the '80s.

And so I was offered to go out and do these clinics, so I went and taught

325 clinics in 20 different countries, incl- including all the United

States except for Maine and Alaska.

Those are the only ones I didn't, teach on.

Jason K Powers: Wow

I had that income, and that was a good income.

But I wanted to go back out and play again, but there was just no money in it.

It was just all the grunge thing.

That's, all the clubs and everything.

I mean, everybody just wanted to see that.

And so it was over for all of the bands.

It wasn't just us.

I mean, it, everybody in the industry that was an '80s, that

was known for being an '80s band, there was just nothing after that.

Just, you know, and so I got to watch that, Like I said, I was lucky

to be able to go into teaching.

But one thing that people have to realize is that even when you make

it, and you do have, success on, with radio play, with record sales and all

this, that money doesn't last forever.

I rem- I remember, In 1985, when we, like, co-headlined with Aerosmith

because, they were just coming back after, there was a re- rehab and everything.

They, both Steven and Joe Perry were in, in rehab, and they came back, and they

had to come back 'cause they were broke.

And I'm going, "My God, Aerosmith is broke?" said, "Yeah, we haven't got

any money." You know, "It's gone." because the record sales go down,

'cause, the record sales only happen usually, like, the first in- the

first year after the album comes out.

That's where you're gonna get 95% of the sales, right?

And then the second year, it starts really dwindling fast and, you

know, third year and all that.

So five years out, you're pretty much done, and you get res- less radio

play because they're adding other bands, newer bands onto it, know?

And so the royalties from radio play starts to diminish as well.

And so you've gotta have kind of a back, backup plan, basically.

what they did was they came back really hard, They put out that album, I can't

remember the name of it, in 1985.

was it Pump?

Or I thi- I can't remember exactly what it was,

Jason K Powers: Yes

but, they came back really strong because they had a big name.

I mean, Aerosmith was a big name, one of the things that I would say to people

is Write, write, write as much as you possibly can, and never stop doing that.

And don't let, Don't let, don't write in one genre.

You know what I mean?

Be like a Diane Warren.

She can write anything, right?

And so that's what you do, is you write in all these different genres,

and that way you do have, other ways that you can sell songs in a,

to different, different platforms.

And, but that's the main thing is getting an agent that can do, that

can shop your tunes and all that.

But as a band, you just have to, sometimes you have to just

move along with the times.

Now, here's one that really, is a great example of that.

Guns N' Roses, they were a glam band in LA.

they saw the grunge thing starting to take off.

image changed, everything.

they kinda went into more of a '70s s- sounding band

rather than an '80s pop band.

You know what I mean?

It had that more, the more rawer, production in it,

the writing and everything.

And so I went, "Ah, they have the right idea." And then they changed

their whole look and everything, and they weren't a glam band anymore.

They slid under the radar because they kinda got, wrapped up in

that whole the grunge thing, and it was successful t- for them.

They weren't labeled a grunge band, but they slipped Right

under the radio- radar at the right time.

And

Jason K Powers: Right

their songs, again, the songs, that's what made them hugely famous

Jason K Powers: Yep, yep.

So did you find… D- w- well, let me ask this.

In that era, was there anything on the making money side that

helped you guys, guided you guys?

In other words, what I find today with artists is there's very little

guidance on what to do with the money now that I'm making it,

other than your stereotype advice.

but there's tons of advice out there on how to make money.

We were talking about this before about how to make money, but there's not a whole

lot of options out there or, education or anything like that about what do I do with

the money now that I make it, besides your stereotypical advice across the board, you

know?

comes down to marketing, and nowadays you do have

that platform, with the internet.

Now, I would- there's marketing companies also that you can hire

for, like, let's say five grand.

Now, that seems a lot to a band that doesn't have already any money.

but you, what, the amount of people that you reach by a platform like

that where they're advertising every- everywhere, and there's ones that

do it specifically for new bands.

And, and I see them popping up on my feed all the time even though I'm not

following them, and I thought, "God, who's this marketing company," you

Jason K Powers: Yeah

so I look at it, there's a few of them that

are doing real- really well.

And, but they're reaching just a massive audience and, they, they

do their own videos and a lot of these bands do without the h- you

know, the big production thing that anymore of like 250 grand for, to put.

Nobody has that kind of money.

That's what the, record companies used to pay for, but then you

had to pay them back, of course,

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

for recording the album.

But now people have, the ability to record at home, they have, the

ability to market them- market it themselves, the product themselves,

through the internet of course.

But when you get one of these marketing companies, and research

it, look for the ones, best, music m- marketing company out there, you know.

and they do a really good job.

It's, it's everywhere, and so people wanna check it out.

You know, I've clicked onto all of them and I'm going, "Oh, God,

these guys are really pretty good.

I hope they do something,"

Jason K Powers: Yeah

Yeah.

but if you get a band together, just go out and start playing

shows, especially in the beginning, you're just playing, to really limited

audiences, so you're not getting as much exposure, not nearly the kind of

exposure that if you would if you were, making videos and putting them out there.

like I said, you know, you can make videos yourself, just be very clever

about it and maybe find, somebody that's, that, really knows the angles.

But work on it.

There's how-to videos on there as well.

See, when I was doing it way back in the '80s, '70s and '80s, they didn't

have any of that, at your disposal, so you had to be really, So you had to be,

basically represented by a record label.

You know what I mean?

In order to get the money to do these things.

But nowadays, you have the ability to do pretty much everything

yourself and be creative on your own.

And if you know somebody that, that does really good filming or has really

good ideas, kind of listen to them, And the main thing too is this, is not,

if you try to do something that looks familiar to somebody else, don't do it.

You know, there's, it's… you sh- what you should do is you

gotta come up with your own theme.

Like I see a lot of people with these.

You can put a m- music video to anything, with AI, you

Jason K Powers: Yeah

any kind of music video.

But put your own input into it, And the same thing with, with recording.

You can use AI, but you really wanna sound like the band.

You can use AI, AI to maybe, add some things to it and

all that, but, be yourselves.

That's the thing.

And that brings me around to, know, people like, the bands like Pink Floyd

or, Genesis or Led Zeppelin, those were the bands I used to listen to.

And especially with Pink Floyd and, Led Zeppelin, they became

absolutely huge, and they still are.

They're still making a ton of money off of all the, all the albums that they sold.

But you see, they, they didn't copy anything that was on the radio at all.

When I first heard Led Zeppelin in 1969, I went, "Oh my God, who are these guys?"

You know, they… It's a totally new song, and the song I heard

was Good Times Bad Times.

That's the first single that was released.

But they didn't, they weren't really concentrating on

becoming successful that way.

The, these were all respected musicians in, in England already at the time.

they were just, you know, they were very young and everything,

19, 20, 21 years old and doing it.

And they created this thing where it was very different from

anything that was out there.

Jason K Powers: Yes

thing with Jimi Hendrix.

It was completely different from anything that was going on in 1967.

You know what I mean?

And then you have Pink Floyd, who came in, you know, with Syd Barrett singing,

Everybody loved them because they were so experimental, but it was kind of

a, kind of an underground following.

then once, Dark Side of the Moon came out, that's, that was just,

that was a game changer for them.

And what they did was they did, it's basically just a concept album.

You know what I mean?

the songs flow into one another.

The whole thing tells a story and, it was just amazing that they did that.

But they were able to do it with their following albums too, by follow,

by, following that same formula.

And, so th- that brings me to the point of just, like, write for yourself.

You can write outside of your own genre and everything and put your own

spin on it, but realistically, a lot of people try to copy other things.

Now, it's okay to be influenced by other bands and musicians, but when

it comes right down to it, you know, you gotta follow your own path.

That's 1978

Jason K Powers: Yeah

um- I stopped listening to other guitar players completely.

The last guy I listened to was Allan Holdsworth, and he was more, of

course, more of a fusion-type player.

And, I j- I just loved his playing, and I thought a lot of his stuff

was two-handed when I found out he's just got this, the stretch of

God,

Jason K Powers: Great stretch.

Yeah

And, uh, he was doing most all of it with just his left hand.

I was trying to figure it out two-handed, and I did, but it was really difficult.

And, anyway, so I stopped listening 'cause I thought, "I don't wanna sound like

somebody else." Now, there's different ingredients, that are in my playing.

You might hear a little bit of Jeff Beck or Jimmy Page or David Gilmour,

here and there, but, you know, and Allan Holdsworth, of course.

But, know, by abandoning that, trying to follow somebody else, like,

there's so many people that just wanted to sound like one person,

like especially Eddie Van Halen.

Then you had a bunch of Eddie Van Halen clones out there,

Jason K Powers: Sure

that didn't do any good, so… 'Cause it

Jason K Powers: Yes

a giant step sideways.

and that's already been done, so

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

can't do that anymore.

Jason K Powers: it really is finding your own identity.

Yeah

Jason K Powers: and especially today, I think with the era of social media

and viral videos and, you know, everybody gets caught up in it, but

the fact of the matter is that's what's catching a lot of the public.

That's a piece of the pie, right?

It's just finding, getting those videos out there just so people will see you,

and, people will catch on.

And they're gonna

Yeah

Jason K Powers: I once heard, I was talking to a guy about marketing, online

marketing, and he was talking about how, for this kind of environment,

yeah, for really any kind of social media marketing, but finding that you

be you, is what I'm trying to say.

You be you, and people are gonna be attracted to certain things,

and people are not gonna be attracted to certain things.

And so you be you, you'll get your fans that are attracted

to you and what you're doing.

You don't want the people that aren't attracted to you anyway.

And so,

It's,

Jason K Powers: yeah.

already been there, done that.

So do something that's yourself, And,

Jason K Powers: Yeah

even like exploring different things that are

outside of your regular r- realm.

Like I used to get into astronomy and I used to get into these conspiracy theories

and these spiritual things and it opened me up as far as writing goes because it

made me think completely differently.

Especially books like by, Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo

Emerson and Friedrich Nietzsche.

And you, these philosophers are really, really deep thinkers.

You know, it makes you

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

look at things from a completely new perspective, and

it changed my writing as well.

And then, going on my nature walks and everything by myself and just like really

clearing my head out and I'd have a little booklet with me and I'd start writing

down little ideas for songs and stuff and, so, I wrote lyrics that way and I

also wrote the music that way as well,

Jason K Powers: Yeah,

by,

Jason K Powers: yeah.

you know.

But

Jason K Powers: Yep

Find things that inspire you, I guess, you

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

So l- so on that, let's go back to, after Autograph kind of concluded,

in its primary years, you kind of made some calculated decisions to

Mm-hmm.

Jason K Powers: move on to new things.

And,

Right

Jason K Powers: in- Yeah … that same interest, right?

I need to do what I need to do and build my life how I wanna build it, right?

and

Sure

Jason K Powers: you took, a, a route that I thought was neat.

You know, you als- you started this, it was called the Federal

Way School of Music, right?

F- yeah, Federal Way School of Music, right?

I started that.

I'd been teaching at another, a music sloo- school/store for 10 previous to

that, And, then they closed down, and I just, I opened up the new school just,

like, literally, like a mile away.

And, so all the teachers came there, and it was very successful for 10 years.

But then, Seattle weather didn't agree with me and I started to get sick a lot.

So I thought, "Okay, I'm moving back to Florida." I'd lived in Fort

Lauderdale after I l- left LA in '92, and I'd lived there for five years.

But then, I felt great there.

But after living in Seattle and kind of for 20 years, I just thought, "I

gotta get out of here," you know, just, the weather doesn't agree with me.

I was allergic to the black mold and all that.

And so, I moved back down to Florida.

But, you know, one of the things, I guess that really thought about,

I would love to be out playing again, and that, that did happen.

you know, Randy and I and the drummer originally, you know, decided to put

together a different version of Autograph and hire a couple of guys, like a singer,

And then it ended up being and the drummer, 'cause Kenny was unable to do it.

There was just some issues with him, where he didn't have transportation.

He just he was having drug problems and stuff.

And so unfortunately, he was killed, He was shot and killed, and a lot of

people don't know that, but it was quite a tragic end, It's really sad.

But, you know, you get mixed up in those kind of things, And

that's what happens down the road.

but, Anyway, so, so we did that, went out and played again, and Randy

and I had a gas doing it, you know, and, got to connect with a lot of

the old fans and so that was awesome.

But, you know, and that's really, the only… But we only w- were making

money 'cause of the fact that we had an established name and songs on the

radio and we were on, MTV, VH1 for years and years, and also in a lot of

movies and TV shows we had songs in.

So that's another thing also is, you don't have to just write for other musicians.

if you have a good publicist, like let's say that you find somebody that's

really good at placing songs in movies, and you have a catalog of different

songs, you know, for the variation of different things, and, can also be used.

there's… I see people's names in different movies that I go, "Oh

my God, I had no idea that they were actually writing for movies

too." And so there's that route.

I mean, what you have to do is you kind of have to diversify and look at all the

places you could possibly make money.

But you know, just yourself going and knocking on people's

doors, you have to have an agent, but you have to write a lot.

but an agent does have to shop it because they won't pay

any attention to any musician themselves that sends anything in.

They just,

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

So,

Jason K Powers: And by the time you came back out, right, it was,

this was, what, around 2013 or so?

Was that right?

Yeah.

Jason K Powers: when you guys came back out and you released new music

playing, we rehearsed, a few times in 2013, but our

first gig was January of, 2014.

Jason K Powers: Okay.

Yeah.

So what was, like, the financial reality of that versus, back in the day coming

back from, you know, you had things going on along the way, but just to

focus on the band side, what was the most notable contrast, I guess, on the

financial side from coming back out, like then versus back in the '80s, you know?

Well, we, even back in the '80s, we were very conscious

of how much money we were spending.

We, cut a lot of corners, we had a small lighting, you

know, system and sound system.

But you see, most of the places we played, they all had a sound

system, so we didn't need much.

You know what I mean?

When touring with Van Halen, we used their system.

Mötley Crüe or whoever it might be, they have their own sound system, so

we just u- used theirs, and we used their lighting systems w- as well.

But what we did, well, when we were touring with these groups is, let's say

like, Van Halen, for example, they would play, two or three times a week, while

we would pa- play for 11 days in a row.

All those other days that, that Van Halen wasn't playing, we went and

played with our own setup at different, theaters and casinos and different bars.

And so we were making money constantly, you know what I mean?

11 days off, 11 days on, one day off, then back to 11 days on, one day off.

And so we did that most of our touring career.

we always filled in all the open days with other gigs.

And so was much more personal, and a lot of people saw us.

Rather than in, in the arenas, they also saw us on those platforms as well.

And so, that was another way we had to monetize.

But, you know, of course we were making better money back then because of the fact

that, we were selling a lot of albums.

But, you know, you also had to… We didn't see any money till we went gold,

we had to pay back all the stuff that RCA, did as far as the recording and

the two videos that were recorded.

All that had to be paid back.

So there was like already, probably 500,000 just in that.

Jason K Powers: Wow

we had to pay that back before we saw a penny.

And so that's why it's just the best thing to do is not use a recording

company, use a distribution company.

You know, just get your songs distributed.

You can start your own record label, and that can be just your thing.

But a distri- distribution company is the big thing.

Like with my book, The Right, Confessions of a Rock Guitarist, you see, I'm

signed to Indigo River, which is a fairly small, publishing company, but

they're very, real- very well liked, and they have a great reputation.

I went with them, but they're distributed through Simon & Schuster,

which is the biggest in the world

Jason K Powers: Yep.

distribution company

Jason K Powers: good

and publishing company.

So that's why I signed with them, because now I have distribution through

the biggest distributor, and that's what you wanna look for, is g- being

able to sign a deal with a distributor, not a record company, just to get

your stuff distributed and sold, so.

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

Yeah, it's pretty wild

the other thing is, is when we started playing again, we didn't bring

any amps, any drums or anything like that.

It was all set up for us.

there was always a rider as far as the equipment, the only thing

I brought was my pedal board and a couple guitars strapped to my back.

And, and that's what everybody did it.

Randy did the same, and the drummers just brought sticks basically, you know?

and, So that's the way it work, that's the way we played.

Jason K Powers: Yeah

and that- but if you have to cart around your own equipment

and everything, boy, that, that gets expensive because, if you don't have

a van already, you have to rent a van and do all that, and it's a major pain.

And then, you're out playing on a Tuesday night somewhere in the Midwest, and

there's only four people in there, and then the club owner doesn't wanna pay

you because he didn't make any money.

You know what I mean?

You, so you run into all these different snags, and I've been with

them all because I went through all that stuff back in the '70s, with the

bands I played with up in Seattle.

So, so I've been through all that.

But, Yeah

just the main thing is, you know, first of all, create the music, Right

And really be original.

You know, write music from what you feel.

A lot of people just try to, copy, similar, something similar to some-

a song that they already know and go down that, but that's not you.

You didn't experience that.

What

Jason K Powers: Yeah

Now, you listen to the songs, like, Robert Plant would

be talking about different songs he wrote with Led Zeppelin, like

on the second album especially.

He just said, "Oh, well, we were here, and I just wrote a song about it."

Well, what about Penny Lane by The Beatles?

Well, there's a street right by where they lived, so they wrote about that.

You know what I mean?

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

I mean, Strawberry Fields, that's the name of a little park that they

always used to go to and smoke pot, okay?

So, that's, so there's, all these different influences, from different

things they experienced personally.

And after you get that stuff recorded, you know, after you feel like you really,

you've niched your way into your own sound and you are really enthusiastic

about it, then you start putting together videos for each one, even if

it's a combination of playing live.

You know what I mean?

And just, say, getting like, getting a, like a stage, but you have to

have something that looks big.

So maybe rent, like a night, $200, in a theater when it's not being used,

you know, like a play theater, not like

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

a movie theater, of

Jason K Powers: Sure

and, that has a stage already and, get somebody to, know, to run the

lights and stuff and put together some live shots, and just do it in one day.

I mean, we did all our videos in just one day, know, all the videos we ever did.

So one day, like eight… You know, like sometimes Audigov would spend

as many as 16 hours on, one day.

We did two videos back to back and each one was 16 hours, so we were super burnt

Jason K Powers: Oh.

at the end of it, but,

Jason K Powers: Yeah

it, you know?

The first two videos for Turn Up the Radio and Send Her to Me, we did them back to

back over a weekend, Saturday and Sunday.

And so I'm saying that's something that they can do and, making it You

know, as inexpensive as possible.

And, also, doing the ind- adding on parts that have, virtual reality in there.

You know, the AI stuff, to make it look really cool.

So you have a theme going, but think of a theme.

What is this song about, you know?

And then put that theme together and put that in with live

clips of you playing, live.

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

whatever you wanna do with it, Or take some other

video of y- you know, of different things, and splice them in there.

But, the… And then the thing is after that would be to find a marketing agent

and really, get your stuff out there.

You don't need a distribution agent yet.

Sometimes these marketing companies will distribute it for you as well,

but it's like the marketing agent to get you known off of all these

different platforms that they use.

You're everywhere.

And then, concentrate on getting a distribution agent, or you can sometimes,

get referred to a distribution agency through, through the, marketing

agency because they might work together, and that's a big plus.

and then what you do is after that, you get it to that point, and then you can

start putting together live shows, but you've already got momentum built up.

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

putting a band together and throwing a name on it and, and going out

and playing live in clubs, you- you're just gonna get known locally, It's very

hard to break beyond that, And that's, that's the good- that's the really

good thing about, having, the internet today, is that you can pretty much

do everything yourself and get a lot.

or with a marketing agent, distribution agent, get all these things done without

having to go through the whole thing of signing with a record label and going

into rehearsals, which is expensive and all that, So there's ways to cut corners.

Always be aware of that.

And then always be aware of different places that you can put your songs,

like, like I said before, like in movies and TV and all that.

But there are places that, that do this for you.

An- one, a place that really has a lot of contacts for all of this is

called Copyright Alliance, and you sign up with that, and they have

different places on how to get your, songs copywritten and all that.

They have direct links to all these different things and all these

different companies that you can use.

But it's y- those connections that you find, through a really

trusted source like that.

Copyright Alliance.

And if you Google that and go into that, then you'll see all the different

things that they have to offer.

That's an incredible, way to do it Right.

there, You get, you get so much more, from just having, something

at your disposal that you can really use to your benefit, so.

Jason K Powers: Right.

Yeah, that's great.

I can tell that teaching is a thing of yours, you know?

you've liked to teach, a lot over the years between the school and

the lessons and the… Even just this conversation, I can tell

that's kind of a, passion of yours.

And-

do like to educate people both, like when I was, had the school

up in Seattle, I would let them know the realities and what, but, similar to

what we're talking about now, about the internet, using the internet and all that.

But I'll say, don't quit your day job quite yet because to make a living off of

this, it takes, it takes years, you know.

like after you're formed, sometimes it'll take two or three years or longer to

actually make a living just off of that.

But like I said, number one thing is writing songs, And-

so that's the most important

Jason K Powers: Yep.

So after, let's see, around 2019, I think you had left the band.

But in part for you, it was the writing on the wall in, I believe

it was a conscious decision to, a calculated decision I should say,

Right

Jason K Powers: you watched five promoters go out of business in one year, uh

Exactly.

and my issues with carpal tunnel were r-really bad at that point,

you know, to the point where I was playing, I'd be playing on stage

and, my hands would be freezing up.

and I thought, you know what?

The last thing I wanna do is go out and not having your hands freeze

up on stage, which they did a c- which they did a couple of times,

and it was extremely painful.

And I had to stop playing and stretch my hands out to get them sort of to uncramp.

And I thought, I don't want… You know, and I saw a couple videos, of

me playing and I'm just going, like, I could tell that I'm struggling really,

really hard just to get through the solo and, hands are freaking out and

they're going, "No more of this."

And so I went to a hand doctor he said, you keep doing this, in about five years,

you're gonna have a difficult time holding a cup of coffee." he said the, you've got,

beginning stages of arthritis and stuff. So he says, if you do it, you know, more

casually," and he said, one of the things that is, position when you're standing up

and you're playing, then your hands are in a much more vulnerable position than

when you're, when you're sitting down and

Jason K Powers: Sure, Sure,

more relaxed.

And so, so sure

enough, you know.

And at that point, like we, what we were talking about, the, another one

of the reasons is that I thought, you know, I can keep doing this, playing,

the Autograph songs and everything.

But, you know, and writing, writing some more songs, which, I, you know, I

just, uh, I wasn't into it because was so far out of that realm of the '80s.

I didn't want to write for the '80s, 'cause that had been over for

Jason K Powers: Yeah

you know what I mean?

And, so, so I wanted to write something new.

Of course, I did the solo album and now I have material where I could do that,

where I'll do a lot of it with AI, but I'd have real musicians play it on it as well.

You know what I mean?

Like structure the song with AI and all that, you know.

So,

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

that's what I want to do is I just want to carry on, but just do solo.

There's n- you never know, I might be able, I might put together a,

another auto- version of Autograph, but I'd really have to see how

well my hands would hold up.

Like I'd have to practice the songs, and, get used to playing them standing

up and see what my hands would do.

You

Jason K Powers: Hmm

they're gonna start cramping up again, then I can't do it, So I'm a

little bit hesitant, you know, on, on

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

at this point.

Jason K Powers: Well, I think you'd have the support behind you if you

Yeah, right.

Yeah,

Jason K Powers: to.

You know, that's what's really cool is the fans are still there.

I mean, it's so cool that everybody wants me to.

do that, but, I also wanna do something where it's completely different from

anything that I've done, and that's kinda

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

mind is right now.

Jason K Powers: Yeah

you know, spiritually I'm just in a different place, so

I'd rather concentrate more on that.

But like I said, you never know.

You know, a lot of people wanna do a band with me, so we'll

see what happens in the future.

Jason K Powers: Good, good.

Well, so by last year, tell me, you, you came out with this book,

Confessions of a Rock Guitarist,

Right

Jason K Powers: what kind of led up to that and what

prompted you to write that and,

uh

people, you know, on speaking interviews, you know, like all this

crazy stuff that I've gone through and everything and, and sitting around with

friends and family and explaining all these different things that I've gone

through in my life, and they s- say, "God, you've gotta write a book on this stuff.

It's just incredible." So about, probably about t- 10, maybe 12 years

ago, something like that I started writing down one-sentence reminders

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm

of, like, something that I'd gone through.

and, so I started writing these down, and they would just pop

into my head all the time.

so then I started remembering more and more and more, and then I put

'em all in, in chronological order.

Then when COVID hit, couldn't tour, know, and, couldn't teach, couldn't

re- really do much of anything.

And so what I did was, I started writing the book, started putting it in order

and writing and writing and writing.

So after a couple years, by the time COVID ended, my book was done

too, at least the first edition.

I, I had to trim it down a bit 'cause I was a little bit wordy in the whole thing.

They said, "Man, you you know, you're gonna have to take out a couple

of these stories, you know, 'cause it's, it's like an encyclopedia."

Jason K Powers: So much to say.

So much to say.

And so I did, and, that point, I finally got the

right version, that I really liked.

it was trimmed down, but I, I knew I had to go through that.

it's pretty long the way it is anyway, you know.

But, I could easily have written another book.

but my life is still going on.

I might write another one, you never know.

But, what was satisfying, just being able to put them all in just this big

story about my life, And, and a lot of people just didn't, couldn't even imagine

the things that I've gone through.

Jason K Powers: Yeah

putting them down and explaining them to people, even,

bouts with drugs here and there, but, and the trouble I used to go get in

when I was very young and all that,

Jason K Powers: No

so, but, you know, and being kicked out of, my house at the age of

15 and living in a tent and all this.

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

and, you know, I look back on it all and, and I think,

"God, I don't regret anything 'cause it made me who I am today," you

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

and here you go, you can either look at the things you've, that

have happened in the past and look at them negatively or look at them positively

and think of the growth that you've had, because of it, those different things.

And

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

way I relate to it now,

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

Yeah, I suspect it was, I wonder if it was sort of like fun

and nostalgic on one end, but

Yeah

Jason K Powers: means- Yeah … you know, looking back and kind of

even, you know, looking back at, people who are no longer here, And-

Right.

Jason K Powers: Yeah

… Steve Lynch: yeah

Jason K Powers: kind of hard to kind of work through that, and, or how

did that process feel doing that?

Well, that, that was, like, especially my friend that, that

passed away when I was like 12, 13.

I think I was 13, and that, that really hit me hard.

And writing that story, that was really difficult to do, 'cause

that was one that, it, it really changed my life, just, the fact that

he committed suicide at that age.

I

Jason K Powers: Yeah

he was a year older than me, so he was probably 14, but,

know, it's just tragic, you know?

And I didn't figure that out for years later 'cause being 13, the cops or your

parents aren't gonna tell you, "Well, he hung himself." You know what I mean?

He's like, they're not gonna tell me that.

And so but I figured it out, that's exactly what happened.

So and then I look at, there are so many friends and family that have passed away,

but that I didn't even mention in the book 'cause it, there's

just so many, that, there was no reason to go into that whole thing.

I think differently about death anyway, but, just talking about,

you know, everybody that's died, I didn't wanna do that.

But I did mention, s- a few notables that had to go in.

Jason K Powers: Yeah, yeah,

yeah

yeah, there were parts that were definitely sad in there,

and they brought back those memories, But I just went through it, and I

just wrote it like, "This is what happened in my life, and it's okay,"

Jason K Powers: Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

We'll, uh, we'll be putting, links in the show notes for people.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Jason K Powers: Absolutely.

And be good

It's a, it's a fun ride.

book, it's, called Confessions of a Rock Guitarist.

it's a fun ride.

It's… I write it with humor because it was really funny while

all this stuff was going on, you

Jason K Powers: Yeah

tragedy and humor and all the, all of what's in between mixed in,

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

one book, you know?

So,

Jason K Powers: Yes.

yeah

Jason K Powers: Um, all right, let's pivot a little bit.

a few questions that, you know… one question I wanna ask is, what's one thing

you wish someone had told you early on about the money side of the industry?

Write more songs.

Jason K Powers: Write more songs

really had drilled that into my head.

See, during my time, I was only interested in guitar playing, which, you know,

worked out in the end because that's what I'm mainly known for, is my guitar

work and, you know, the different things that I've written and taught.

And so, I would've put a lot more concentration into writing rather

than just practicing guitar all the time, I think that monetarily I

would've been in a much better place.

Even though I'm doing fine now, I have these songs

everywhere and stuff, so, and I'm still getting paid off of that, you know.

But, I'm thinking I would've made a lot more if I would've just concentrated

on writing, for different movies and, soundtracks and things like that.

That money never goes away.

It ke- you keep on, every, like, time anybody rents the movie Like

Father Like Son, 'cause we played live in that, I get money from that.

You know what I mean?

Jason K Powers: Okay

time anybody watches it, even just on, Netflix or something,

that I get paid for that, every time.

And plus all the songs that, we have in different TV shows like My

Favorite Vice and stuff like that.

we get, you get paid for that.

You still get paid for all of it, and so y- th- that's why I wish that

I would've just written more and tried to get more songs just in those

different, types of, situations, So

Jason K Powers: So what advice would you give a musician to have

those kinds of things happen?

Besides more songs, but I mean specifically, like what kind of

arrangements are being made early on when this music is being created, f-

from a deal side or the contract side or whatever, so that they're getting

that long-term residual from their own music rather than it just fading away?

the songs placed so that th- they're in, okay, like,

that you're either with BMI or ASCAP.

Now, for movies and s- and stuff like that, it's usually Universal Music Group.

And so y- you get signed up with these, you know, your agent can…

we had a business manager back then, so these things were placed in by

him, but now you can do it yourself.

you can go ahead and place these songs, register them

with BMI, become a BMI member.

anybody can do that.

Not anybody, but you have to be a songwriter, and you basically have to

have some level of success, because BMI pays you through, radio play.

So you have to have a bit of that going on, you know what I mean?

So it's step by step.

But one of the things that you wanna do is get registered with these

companies anyway, as soon as you can.

and then that way, that sets up your whole royalty thing.

Another one is SoundExchange.

again, that's all… these things that I'm mentioning, that's all when you're

getting… They collect from different things like the movies and TVs and the

commercials and all those kinds of things.

So, but you have to have that out there first.

But you have to… What I would say is, check out as many basic things that you

can as far as that, you know, look up SoundExchange, look up BMI to become

a member, Universal Music Group, and Copyright Alliance, who has links to

all these different things on there.

I mean everything, everything from, copywriting your song and on

through, you know, getting gigs and the best way to do this or that.

It's very informative.

So, that's one of the things is really check out.

Co- I think it's just copyrightalliance.com is what it is.

Jason K Powers: Okay.

uh,

Jason K Powers: Okay.

So for musicians coming in right now and trying to make ends meet right

now, what's maybe one honest way to make money, for them starting out?

Well, of course, playing gigs, right?

You get paid for that, selling merchandise, of course.

That's another thing that I was gonna say is the merchandise, When you have,

you're streaming different songs, you know, that you've made and on video,

having little places, 'cause everybody always asks, "Well, where can I get a

T-shirt from this band?" and So then you have a link of different merch that

people can buy straight through there.

And, merch companies, they do it, it's fairly cheap, and a lot of them,

they will even, know, they'll be your basic store for it, where there'll

be a link to buy merchandise you have directly through them, directly

through the merchandise provider.

And so you can do it that way, but that's an important way too, because then when

you're, when you have people wearing your T-shirts going around, everybody

goes, "Oh, what band is that?" You know?

And you go, "Oh, here, here's a link. Go check them out. They're

great." So you do that for your own band well, so it really helps.

Jason K Powers: So looking back across everything, what's one

business decision or financial decision you're most proud of?

Probably, uh, first of?

all, getting signed with RCA.

And

Jason K Powers: Okay.

Yep

was like, was like a huge one because none of the other things

would've been possible if we wouldn't have signed that deal with RCA, you see?

So that started the whole thing, and then it just kind of cascaded from there,

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah

but, like I said, you don't need a record company nowadays.

You'd need a distribution company, and you need a marketing company.

And a lot of times you can set up payments with them, whatever it may be.

If you don't have, like, five grand up to do a marketing company, may-

maybe if you were, like, a five-piece band, it'd be 1,000 each, you know.

But something like that, 'cause everybody's gonna benefit from it.

but, if you don't have that, a lot of them have, things where you can pay in

payments, So the, that makes it easier.

But, as far as making money, loud- it's like the merchandise

and the, and the playing clubs.

But, that's gonna be difficult to make much money because, a lot of these

clubs, they're only gonna pay you 500.

And at the end of the day, after you've went and played, and all this, your,

gas expenses and this and that, you know, it's not very much money, So

Jason K Powers: a common conversation we've had with

those doing live shows regularly.

The single most advantageous thing mentioned by

Mm-hmm.

Jason K Powers: merch as a supplement.

Like,

Right

Jason K Powers: every single person I talk to, they're like, "Get

the merch out there. Don't show up to a show without merch." You

Yeah, absolutely.

Gotta have merch there, there's no doubt.

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

Yeah.

It's been

had a merch person, so I didn't have to worry about that,

know, personally, but, for bands that are wanting to do it on their own.

Another thing is that, pay attention to, what you research, is especially

finding, good, formats where you can, look at what they offer, like Copyright

Alliance, and then it'll guide you to different sites and you can study them.

But being knowledgeable about the whole business and how it all works,

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

that's, very important because you can make

a lot of mistakes on the way.

You know, as, as we discussed earlier, a lot has changed since

the time when I started out to now.

I mean, it's completely different.

But, there's some guidelines that you still have to follow,

Jason K Powers: Yep.

like,

Jason K Powers: Yep

getting the m- the marketing thing together, getting the merchandise.

Sure, go out and play some shows, but basically really use the

internet to its full advantage

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

So winding down, I think my last big question I wanna know are what advice

would you give the musician… You know, we talk all the time about making the

money, but what advice would you give the musician to, keep the money they're

making, one, or prepare for the future?

Because you don't know how long you're gonna be able to ride the wave

Well, I would say indi- individually for each, individual person

in the band, if you're starting to make some good money, put that money away.

Invest it, if you wish, but the, but… And that's what

a lot of musicians have done.

There's musicians that have, know, like say for instance, Jefferson Airplane,

let's take them for an example.

S- San Francisco based, band.

But when they made their money, what they did, and Santana was another

one, San Francisco based band, where they started investing in apartments

in the whole Bay Area, San Francisco Bay Area, and, elsewhere too,

strip malls and stuff like that.

They st- And they're very rich from that.

They would be out of money completely if they didn't make

those type of investments.

Jason K Powers: I did not know that.

one thing to keep in mind, Yeah

Jason K Powers: Yeah

making investments where it's gonna keep on making money.

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm

You see?

So if you wanna make the money, do the things that I've said as far as the

songwriting goes and trying to, jump onto as many platforms as you can to get them

heard and get the, get your product sold.

But, then also when you start making that money, just go, go…

Don't go out and buy a Ferrari.

Jason K Powers: Okay.

Well, come on.

some nice cars, but I didn't buy a Ferrari, I just

said, "No, I'm not gonna do that."

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

But,

Jason K Powers: It is a common, it is a common story.

you get, you make all the money real fast and then you go and spend

it real fast thinking it's gonna

know, and I lived in LA while all this was going on.

I'd see, different bands that start up and they become pretty damn big.

Like, oh, God, what was the name of the band?

the one that did My Sharona and then, I can't remember them, but, I don't know.

The, band name is evading me right now, but,

Jason K Powers: Oh.

anyway,

Jason K Powers: The didn't like front of the Knack

The Knack.

Yes, I'm…

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

there you go.

Thank you.

Jason K Powers: Yeah

But th- they were completely broke except for, I think there was,

like one or two members that might have invested when they got that big chunk.

The ones that didn't are completely broke, you know?

So that's one thing to really look at is, is look at investments also.

You, you see, nowadays, you kinda have to be, and back then, you kinda

had to be a businessman and not just think, "Oh, you're gonna be rich

forever." No, because maybe your first album does great, but maybe

your second album does not do so well.

Jason K Powers: sure

know what I mean?

I mean, we sold about 5 million, internationally.

5 to 7 million is the total.

it's hard to get an exact number, but, that was internationally.

You know what I mean?

So it wasn't just here in America, and that was off of

three albums, not one album.

You see what I mean?

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

um, so you have to look at that, and luckily we're in a lot of,

like I said before, TVs, movies, and we've still got a lot of radio play, so,

that, that really helps tremendously.

Jason K Powers: Yeah, yeah.

But

Jason K Powers: Yeah, this, there's so much.

And, we talk about, Trying to keep the money you're making and in- investing

it in something that's gonna keep you going and playing for the future because

you don't know what the future holds.

And

right.

Exactly.

Jason K Powers: there's no… You know, that's one of the things I'm constantly

talking to musicians about is kind of our, what are we gonna do for down the road?

Yes, we wanna hope that we're gonna keep going and keep making it and

keep selling well and keep whatever.

But you need to plan, rationally, for the future in case it

doesn't go according to plan,

Oh,

Jason K Powers: for any reason

uh, you know, th- that's the thing is, you speak of

like going out and playing live.

Sure, that's immediate money right there, but that usually… And

selling merch while you're doing this.

But, w- what most people you probably talk to are fairly well-established

that are doing this, correct?

Jason K Powers: I mean, all walks of life.

I mean, getting started out who have their day job still, and

right

Jason K Powers: we're prepping anyway, you know, because, you

right, exactly.

Jason K Powers: know, and

that's, that's what you have to look at.

it's a tough business to make a living in it, you know?

There's no

doubt about

that

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah

that's what I tell my

sons all the time.

Do this because you love it,

Jason K Powers: Yes

uh, because that's the main thing, And be yourself

with it, and have fun with it.

It's not always about, becoming a star, but, really kind of appeasing yourself

and doing something that you really love,

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

you know, it's more about that.

but if you do wanna, continue an income from it, then you're gonna

have to make some investments off the initial money that you do make.

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

Yeah.

So

Jason K Powers: Well, I applaud you in the decades in the industry and your

pivoting and your following your passions at the time and being willing to risk

those pivots, you know, from it's time to walk away for now and, pursue this

other thing and now I'm gonna do this.

And I- it seems like you've had a good eye for that in, in your own world.

But doing what you need to do for you

Right.

Exactly.

Jason K Powers: yeah

and, having fun at it.

there's a lot of things I like to do.

I like to get out in nature a lot and I like to read and I like to, just

study different things, and that's

Jason K Powers: yeah

I have this inquisitive mind where I'm always looking at

Jason K Powers: Yeah Yeah.

uh, writing and going into a completely dif- different

direction is one of those things.

Jason K Powers: Yep.

Cool.

All right, Steve, so we close every episode with what we call

final riffs, just rapid fire questions, rapid fire answers.

And, let's dive in.

You ready?

All right.

So I wanna ask you, funniest thing that's ever happened on stage?

yes, that was in Washington, DC.

They had, these cameras up, on all over the whole coliseum

that we were playing at.

And, what happened was my, my, my pants, you know, custom-made

pants, they had, split apart in the front, and I didn't know it 'cause

I was just running around on stage?

and, so, and I had my guitar in front of me.

Jason K Powers: Oh, no

then, but then I was… There were people in front of me that

were like pointing at me and laughing and they're going, Oh, my God," And I

thought, "What, what are they laughing at?

What's the big deal?" And then, I kinda had my guitar to the side, and I looked up

at one of the screens, and there it was.

I

mean, I was just hanging out, you know.

I went, "Oh, wow." Put my guitar back in front of me real

Jason K Powers: Oh, hit the guitar there

and tried to get back behind my amps and rearrange

everything as quickly as possible

Jason K Powers: to shoot

and so I made it through the rest of the show, but

that was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to me

Jason K Powers: That's for sure.

That's for sure.

All right, if you could share the stage with anyone alive

or gone, who would it be?

I think that that would probably be?

David Gilmour,

Jason K Powers: Oh, yeah

yeah, or Jimmy Page.

I'm old school.

You know, I grew up with the

Jason K Powers: But yeah.

' Steve Lynch: 70s music,

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

uh

Jason K Powers: All right.

One city or venue you will never forget playing in

Oh, Madison Square Gardens.

Jason K Powers: Yeah

was like the biggie.

You played Madison Square Gardens and you've made it.

You know what I mean?

And so we played there quite a few times, and it was always

just, wow, incredible to be there.

You know, and that's where we got signed with RCA, so of course

that's gonna be, favorite place.

Jason K Powers: Pretty, pretty big deal place for you.

Yeah

Jason K Powers: concert you ever went to

Jimi Hendrix when I

Jason K Powers: IndieX

Yeah, I was 12 and I snuck into the Coliseum in Seattle

and, uh, watched him perform and it just completely blew me away.

Jason K Powers: Yeah

when that whole thing about just being, s- super into, Hendrix, you

know, that's when that really… I didn't wanna play bass, I wanted to play guitar,

Jason K Powers: if you weren't doing music, what would you be doing?

If music were not on the field

Boy, I would have to be doing something creative.

I think I would be writing books.

Jason K Powers: Okay.

Yeah.

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

things that I've studied and, like I started studying

this stuff back in the late '60s.

I mean, I was so young that I had to have a dictionary,

beside me, you know what I mean?

'Cause I didn't understand a lot of the stuff that I was reading.

But

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

what gave me an education 'cause I'm an eighth-grade

dropout, So that's how I got my education, was on my own, so I would

definitely say, know, being a writer.

Jason K Powers: There you go.

uh,

Jason K Powers: There you go.

Good.

All right, Steve, this has been a fantastic conversation.

you know, nearly 50 years in the music, a pioneering, technique, a major

label run, a school, a memoir, and a brand-new chapter, moving forward.

You know, there's not too many people, I think, that have navigated this

industry with that kind of range and lived to tell the story, honestly.

Yeah

Jason K Powers: go pick up "Confessions of a Rock Guitarist." We'll have

links in the show notes for you.

It is out now via Indigo River Publishing and available wherever books are sold.

We will have, again, all the links in the show notes.

And if today's conversation got you thinking about your own financial

picture, the mistakes, the lessons, what would you do differently?

That's exactly why I'm here.

Head on over to 1024wealth.com/music, grab the free guide, schedule a call with me.

Let's build a financial system for you that actually works the way

music and musicians live and work.

Steve, thank you so much for being on the show.

I appreciate it.

it's been fun having you and I think people that get through this will have

learned a lot and walked away with a lot.

I hope everybody was taking

so

Jason K Powers: no- I hope

so.

Jason K Powers: was taking notes.

Uh,

Yeah.

Jason K Powers: that's it.

I'm Jason K. Powers.

This is Backstage Money, where music and money collide, and

we will see you guys next time.

Thanks again, Steve.

All right, peace out