Personal Legend

     So as you've probably seen my goal is to become a touring musician. It's one of my only goals and I know I should have more, but I have such a love for what I do that I can't imagine a life without it. While material possessions and money are nice there is so much more to this than that. First of all I want the music I create to bring people great joy. I would love for my music to help make people happy and help them out of a rough time. I want to make something that everyone can at least appreciate.
     I also want to be able to travel and see this wonderful world. There's so much to do and so little time. Most people don't get to explore the world and I would love to be able to do that. It'll be great because with a band I'll have my best friends with me and it would be great to also bring my girlfriend with me to travel and have her see everything. Spending time with those closest to me on these adventures would be amazing.
     It would be so much fun, getting to run around on a stage for a living. Just goof off all the time. Obviously there will be a lot of hard work put into it and it won't be all fun and games. But either way it would be better than staying home and working an office job. I just want to bring joy to peoples lives. See the world, be with those closest to me, and just have as much fund as humanly possible.




Here lies Andrew
He was someone many of you knew
He was quite the dork
But was always hard a work
His goal was to always make you smile
One that would last for a while
Even if he was so far away
He was always one phone call away
When he wasn't playing his own shows
You could always catch him watching his superhero shows
Always wanted people to be happy
Sometimes he could be quite sappy
He liked to refer to everyone as dude
and eat lots of fast food
Even though his songs were very fast
He wanted every single moment to last

Gratitude

     I currently do not have a real job, but I am an intern at BMR Music. Basically what I do is teach young kids Guitar, help keep the shop clean, help advertise, host Jam session, and I even take lessons from the owner.I'm really grateful to have this and it's a lot of fun.
     I like teaching because helping out these kids is a lot of fun and I like helping people. It also helps me retain a lot of knowledge I would otherwise forget. Sometimes I learn cool things from the kids and they help me discover new bands and artists. Also working so closely with my Guitar teacher is cool because he's a pretty nice and funny guy.
     Helping around the shop and advertising is good because it helps me learn to interact with people better and even helps me overcome certain social anxieties. The jam sessions I host are great too because there are so many different people that come every time that I'm always meeting new musicians and I learn so much by seeing how all these different people do things and all of the different stuff they listen to.



Show people what you got
Reach for the top
Always try be fast
Always have a blast
Strive for more
So it never becomes a bore
Play a lot of different music
People will think that's pretty sick
Shred the guitar
I will go far
Another day
Always a new way
Another challenge
Helps me gain more knowledge
The sky's the limit
So I will live it

The Wider Path

     My ideal future would be having a job as touring musician and getting to see the world. I'd really like to live in Canada. I'd love to have a nice girl, no children, and make just enough money to live comfortably, I don't need a lot of money to be happy. I'd like to be in a city, but a smaller one. I like having places to go to and things to do. I love living near a store.
     So here's a hypothetical plot twist. One day I'm on my way to the store, I really want to buy some Trix Yogurt, it's a nice sunny day, the birds are singing, children are playing, Dragonforce is blaring through my headphones when all of a sudden I get hit by an ice cream truck.... darn song distracted me as I crossed the street. I go into a coma for 2 whole years. When I wake up I have no memory on how to play the guitar nor do I have a desire to relearn.
     In this alternate timeline I end up getting really good at making breakfast food. So I open up a Breakfast place. I continue living somewhere in the Boston area. Settle down and have just one kid. Live a quiet and opposite life to the other timeline. Eventually my breakfast place becomes a huge chain even bigger than McDonalds ... well maybe not .... but I do open a 2nd place and to me it feels like being as big as McDonalds.




The Universe works in strange ways
Pushing everyone through their stories
Guides them through their destiny
Time after Time
Many opportunities open for me
Many times money is scarce
But the void is filled with joy
And experience
A great mentor gives me the opportunity
To grow and learn
Always surrounded by like minded others
Opportunities for real work may be low
But opportunities for the dream are high
Take them
Listen to the universe
Life is short
The Universe may be hard to understand
But I'll prevail if I possibly can

Vision Board

The reason I chose these images is because they all relate to my future. I posted a lot of pictures of me playing live and some of my heroes playing live. Because in the future I want to be a touring musician. The places I put in there are pictures of Canada and Japan because I am fascinated by Japanese culture and I went to Canada once as a kid and thought it was such a cool place, I really want to go back. I also threw in some inspirational quotes by Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters and Nirvana and a quote by Steve Jobs talking about following your dreams.


Looking into the future
I see
Many Places
Many Faces
Being on the road
It feels so right
The Music
The Energy
Extreme Happiness

Passion

     The thing in life I am most passionate about is music. Ever since I was a little kid I always thought being in a band and making my own songs sounded like the coolest thing in the world. When I was 10 I started playing guitar. By 13 I had started my first band and began playing gigs and going and making recordings at studios. I would absolutely love to be a touring/recording musician for the rest og my life and I'm gonna try my hardest to do that.
     I can easily make a career out of my passion. If I don't play out or record I can always help record other people or teach. Right now I'm currently interning at BMR Music in Malden. As of now I usually take a lesson for an hour and then help out around the shop for a while afterwards. Pretty soon though I'm going to start teaching. I have made some good connections from playing around New England and sometimes I make decent money from the gigs, I'm hoping to put together a small tour sometime soon, I'm friends with some bands who have done it before so I'm sure they can help.
     As for the type of people to market this towards it would just be fans of music, for now mainly fans of Power Metal, but in the future I'm sure I'll do some other things. As for causes I'd work with I guess that would be benefit shows, which I actually have done before. I've done a few shows to benefit the homeless and one to benefit cancer patients I believe .. it was a while ago so I don't remember if it was cancer or for some other disease. I think my work could greatly benefit a lot of people. I write very uplifting music so it could be good to help keep peoples spirits up in a dark time, I know music has helped me get through any I've ever had.




Music speaks to the spirit
Every note has a word to it
Every melody an emotion
It helps light the path
To my journey
When times get tough
It helps me hold on
And leave the past behind
The dark clouds fade instantly
No pain lasts forever
It's tough work
But leads to many adventures
It's a chase to create the ultimate riff
The catchiest melody
The fastest solo
To make people move
To hear the cheer at the final note
So far away seems the day
But determination leads to glory
To rise above the universe

Being Grateful

     There are so many things in life that I take for granted and don't realize it. As bad as it sounds I guess a lot of times it is people. I don't realize how much I love certain people until they're gone. Especially friends, so many friends of mine have come and gone and I wish I cherished our time together more than I did.
    At the same time I am grateful for all those who are or have been in my life, whether it be friends, a girlfriend, or family. Even though I can take them for granted I have learned to be grateful for those who care about me and I care for. I am grateful for all the experiences I've had, especially in my musical journey. I feel very lucky every day.
   One thing I love to take in and absorb are places. Whenever I go to a new and unfamiliar place I love just taking my time there and exploring. I even like doing that with old places in hopes of finding something new or refinding what made the place special in the first places.

Always cherish friends
They keep things bright when it's dim
Learn to enjoy them

The sun keeps life warm
Keeps all the creatures happy
Bring life to the dark

Music speaks to us
Even sometimes without words
It uplifts our paths

Food may seem plentiful
You must always cherish it
For it could vanish

Health is what you are
Sickness could always take over
Always watch yourself

Fears and Obstacles

   Just like everyone else I have my fears and obstacles. I do what I can to get past them, but they are still there. I believe everyone has the ability to overcome fear as long as they put in the effort and face it. Nothing should be able to scare you enough to not pursue happiness in life.
   I honestly fear change. I'm the kind of person that tends to find my comfort zone and stay there. But in life I want to be a touring musician so I have to get past my fear of change since I desire to travel and see new things. I think as long as I have good people by my side it will comfort me while traveling. I also fear failure. I know everyone does, but it is still a fear of mine. This connects a lot to the comfort zone thing, sometimes it prevents me from trying new things or sometimes doing things I know I'm good at in front of people, as I can get scared they won't think I'm good. It's something I can move past, I understand in life that in the wise words of Shia Labeouf sometimes you just gotta "DO IT"
   I do have many irrational fears too. Like the dark. It sounds so dumb, but it is a fear of mine and I used to have a lot of trouble sleeping as a kid because of it. I also had a fear of ghosts and as a kid when it was dark in my room at night my young mind would imagine all sorts of things, I would have myself convinced I saw something or that I wasn't alone. I did get over that fear as I got older, but to do that I just had to face it, I would force myself to sleep in the dark until eventually I got more comfortable. I also one time went ghost hunting which helped me face my fear of ghosts.

Blessing In Disguise

      So one thing in my life that was a really bad situation that turned out to be a blessing in disguise was the breakup of my first serious band NightSlasher. Basically what happened was everyone slowly but surely became unmotivated and lost interest. After 5 years of hard work we really weren't getting anywhere, many of the members became unreliable and started focusing on life outside of the band, which is perfectly okay, but at the time it really sucked. The straw that broke the camels back was when we had to cancel our studio sessions to make our first real album, that was kinda the only thing that was keeping everyone in the band was the hope that our album would happen, but unfortunately the plans fell through. So most of us went our separate ways me and a couple of the others started a new band.
     At first when it happened I was actually kinda happy, but once we made the announcement on our facebook page and a lot of our fans got pretty upset, I actually started to get really sad. I thought I might've made a huge mistake and messed up what could've ended up being a really good thing. Starting the new band was extremely slow and tedious as well and for a while I didn't know if going through the process of finding all new people and making all new songs would be worth it, I knew eventually that's what I would have to do, but I started to think about taking time off from music.
    I didn't though. Because once the new band actually came together it breathed new life into me.  Now I realize that breaking up the old band was the best decision I could've made. This new one is working out so well and I honestly feel we're 10000x better than the old one. We have better songs and just better and nicer and more dedicated people. I'm much happier now than I ever was with the old band.



Psychological Alchemy
An entrance to the mind
What lies beneath?
What don't we know
That in reality
Deep down we do know

It is a key
To unlock the door to the mind
And unlock the door to our minds mind
Find the hidden passageways inside
Show us who we really are

What drives us
Why we do what we do
Why we are who we are
All the questions have answers
All we have to do is look
At ourselves

Experience

     So I'm going to discuss some events in my life that have set the course for what I want to do with myself. I really haven't had to many bad experiences, so these will mostly be good things.

     The first event was playing my first gig. This was back in Dec of 2012 and I was 15 at the time. The gig was at RGs Pub in Haverhill, MA it was a crappy little bar, but for some reason it was packed with people wanting to see us and the other bands, it was a bout 60 or so people, which doesn't seem like a lot but for my first show that seemed like a million ... especially in such a tiny place. I had been playing in a band called NightSlasher for about 2 years at this point and we had worked extremely hard up to this point, then one day our new Bass player asked us about playing our 1st show, he had heard through a friend that a lady was putting something together and still needed a couple more bands so we got on that. It was just a great night, seeing all those people rocking out to the songs that I made was so cool and it just made me realize more than ever that I wanted to play music for the rest of my life. I wasn't really nervous going into it either, I was very prepared and everything felt so natural, my stage presence was so so, but that has improved greatly over the years.

     Another good experience I had was working my first job at Everett City Hall. It was a summer job that I did the past 3 summers and I really enjoyed it. I just did all sorts of odd jobs, whether it be sorting papers, moving boxes, archiving stuff, or making trips to Dunkin Donuts for the office. It was usually pretty easy, there were definitely some tough days where I did some tedious stuff, but my grandfather and one of my best friends also worked there, so it wasn't usually that bad, I learned a lot about responsibility and it helped set me up for getting  more real job at some ... soon hopefully.

     Another cool experience was when I went ghost hunting in the haunted woods. Now this didn't really shape my future or anything, but as a kid I always had an irrational dear of ghosts and the dark for absolutely no reason, it got better over the years, but even as a teen I was still scared. So last year me and all my friends decided to go to Maudslay State Park .. I don't remember where it's located but it seemed like the middle of nowhere. So we all had flashlights and a gps satellite so we wouldn't get lost ... and we even brought a sword. It was very freaky ... nothing paranormal happened, it was definitely very eerie though, it just felt strange. It was unbelievably dark and it was the middle of the night, if we looked behind us where the flashlights weren't shining it was absolute darkness, I have never seen darkness like that. We found all sorts of weird things, like a pet cemetery and an old run down garden and an area in the middle that was completely open for quite a distance  (I guess a house used to be there and it burned down a while ago) so eventually we got lost even though we had the satellite we kept running into dead ends and eventually all of our flashlights died except 2 (we initially had 6) and then the satellite started to die, but luckily we found the exit before that happened (it had less than 10% battery left) so even though the night was really scary it helped me realize that I probably won't have a night as scary as that again so I guess the thought of that and the fact that I faced my fears and came out just fine it helped me get rid of those fears. NOW I CAN SLEEP WITH THE LIGHTS OFF

Power

     One time I tried to race my friend. I discovered I was faster than him. I discovered I was the fastest the kid in my class. I felt so cool. I knew all the girls would like me now. I was on top of the world.
     Then the next day my friend beat me in a race. My life was over.  The girls would hate me. The cool kids would shun me. I was no longer the fastest kid in my class.
     Then I figured out that by doing a lot of squats and jogging that I could build up my strength and be the fastest kid in the class again. Also I would wear my flash shirt everyday to assure that I'd be extra fast. So then I beat my friend in a race again. I was so fast. The fastest kid in the world.


When I was a limitless child
I wanted to be a Power Ranger
I used to think everything on tv was real
so I thought I could be a Power Ranger
when I grew up
or have my own Pikachu
and catch all the pokemon
or go have coffee with the cast of friends
or become a jedi
with a really badass lightsaber
I thought if i went to new york
I would see spider-man
I always wanted to do that thing from Blues Clues
where Steve jumped into the pictures
I had quite the imagination

Mentor

Letter To My Mentor (My Guitar Teacher)

Dear Brian,

      I am writing to you to thank you for all that you have taught me. You have taught me many lessons on music and how to be the best I possibly could. You have taught me many lessons in life as well. You have taught me to never give up and even though many things will be difficult I will always prevail as long as I give it my all and never stop.
      I remember the day I met you when I was 11 years old and a friend of mine took me to one of his guitar lessons, he kept going on and on about his new guitar teacher and how he was so sick at the guitar and such a cool guy and I just had to meet him, so I figured alright that sounds cool I'll come to your lesson and meet this guy. I walked into the place and saw tons of guitars hanging on the wall and a huge poster of all the famous legendary guitarists and tons of empty pizza boxes. I remember my friend just looking at me and saying "Yeah, he LOVES pizza". Within moments of meeting you and watching you play you had made me realize what a horrible player I was haha. But you had also given me a free lesson and wrote down a bunch of helpful tips that still stick with me to this day. Eventually I started taking lessons from you once a week. You've taught me so much about music. You've taught me so much about life as well and you are definitely one of the few people I talk to when I have a problem and you've helped me through many low points in life. With your wisdom and especially your humor you were always able to make me feel better and put me right back on top of things.
     When I first met you I was just a young kid that didn't really know much about anything at all. Now I am much wiser and have a very extensive musical knowledge. I've played in a few different bands, been to recording studios, and played many shows all throughout New England and I never would've been able to do any of that had you not been there to help guide me. So I thank you for that.

You're a shredder on the guitar

But Splinter In my life

Guide me on my quest to be a star

You fear no strife

Always got me laughing

Van Halen got nothin on your tapping

You taught me to always reach high

So I guess a shredders not always the bad guy

My Perennial Quest

     Hi my name is Andrew Matarazzo, I am 18 years old and am from Everett, MA. I've lived there almost my whole life, there was a period of time from when I was 10-12 where I lived in Salem. Even though there was more to do there I always missed home so I was very glad when we moved back. I spend a lot of time playing music, I currently play guitar in a Power Metal band called Perennial Quest. I used to play in another band called NightSlasher and I did that for 5 years and we played all over the state and a few shows in Rhode Island and that was a lot of fun, but I wasn't really digging the music anymore so that's when I started the new band. The only place I ever worked was at Everett City Hall.  I worked there the last 3 summers and that was a lot of fun, my grandfather and one of my best friends also worked there so it was really cool to see them everyday.

    My biggest interest is music. All I want to do in life is just play music. I've been playing guitar since I was 10 and it's so much fun. Other than that I love reading comics and going to the movies and just hanging out with close friends and I just try to enjoy life as much as possible.

   When asking a friend how they would describe me I was told that I am looked at as a mentor, I am honest, and very trustworthy. Now don't get me wrong I definitely have my bad traits just like anyone else, I can definitely be cranky at times and I can also be a tad lazy, but I try to be as good as I can.

Work towards the sun 
On desires and aspirations.
Not allowing yourself to forget the 
Discovery of your motives. 
Envisage the possibilities. 
Realistic thinking is crucial, but continue to 
Fervently believe in your success. 
Utterly unfathomable is entirely possible. 
Laudably pursue 

The unattainable. 
Hold yourself to it, be
Indefatigable. 
Never forget to 
Go forward with 

Unabated progress. 
Nostalgia will not hold you back, but. 
Fall back if you need to. 
Optimism is the biggest key, 
Learn to love it. 
Dance on the edge of a risk. 

Become 
Everything you'd ever want. 
Find ways to 
Open locked doors 
Remember to find the 
Expectancy in uncertainty 

Make your way to absolute 
Euphoria.