Paint By Thunders 2006 by Jose' Diaz

I now live in Victoria, Texas and work in the oilfield as an assistant manager on 24hr call. I’ve been lucky to remain with a very good company for 23 years.

I’m a musician at heart. My first exposure to music was in church as a child. I sang in the choir or with my brothers on many occasions.

At about 13 years of age, I began to take interest in guitar. I’m sure it had something to do with seeing JIMI Hendrix on T.V. That and Roy Clark on Hee Haw! My first axe was an acoustic from Navratil Music in Victoria. I learned a lot on it and took night jobs to pay for my first electric. In 1980 I bought a Gibson Sonex 180-custom. I still play it to this day. No guitar since can do what it can.

My first amp was a Sunn 150watt combo with a single 15” speaker. I played it for years until it finally blew up.

These days I spend as much time as I can recording my own music. I wish I could spend all of my time doing that.

I play guitar, keyboards, drum machine, bass (guitar thru a synth{s}), and sing (though my voice aint what it used to be). I write all my own lyrics and do all my own packaging of my cdr.

I was married for too many years to the wrong person and have been divorced now for not enough years. Eight years ago I met Glenda. She has become my muse. She cooks and cleans better than any one I know and together we raise her Daughter Daisy.

Glenda and I Have 8 long years together. She’s strong willed and also the main force driving me to have fun every day. Before she came my house was Spartan in accommodations. Now it glows with what she’s done to almost every room. The studio however, is till all mine.

I play thru a crate stack and a peavey heritage 212 combo with a Marshall 4X12 cab extension. My rig puts out 560 watts. My floor pedal is a BOSS GT-6 that gives me unlimited tonal possibilities. My guitars are the Gibson sonex 180-custom, an Ibanez rgx with Floyd rose and locking nut, a Johnson fat-body electric jazz (loaned to KAMA Linden for a mini tour in Texas). (She’s from New York), and a BC RICH BICH. I also have a blue A.J. Reynolds acoustic. The keyboard I use is a standard GE model from Radio Shack. And my studio and drum machine are both from BOSS. I also use a headphone amp from Samson and AKG, Sennisheiser, and Sony headphones.

I have appeared on 2 volumes of A.O.G.MEDIAS, COMPILATION series #’s 5 and 6. My three cds currently available thru cdbaby.com are; NOBODY WINS!!!! ; SCREAMING WITH MY EYES ; and, DEATH AND DECAY.

The style of my music can be described as guitar rock/metal/progressive rock, but I try to be as expressive as I can and try many different ideas while I record.

My main website is legasyssongs.com. I’ve had thousands of visitors from all over the world and the hits there have been on the rise from the beginning. If you visit, please sign my guestbook! I like to hear from visitors like you. You’ll also find many pics there of me, my art, my famillia, and my equipment. If you go for the tunes, there are samples from every one of my cds as well as a few entire songs. Don’t be afraid of the buy button, it’s not binding. It just takes you to the cdbaby page where you can sample the same tunes. If you don’t like mine, feel free to browse around all the genres, there’s a lot of music there that’s better than what’s in the mainstream. It’s unclouded by big money.

Well, that’s me (in a walnut-shell).

‘til next time,

KEEP IT LOUD!!! KEEP IT PROUD!!! AND KEEP PUSHING BACK THE CLOUDS!!!!

9/22/2006-(I'D LIKE TO SHARE SOME INSIGHTS) - September 22, 2006

This is just a paste of a letter from a good friend who recently did and interview with a filmaker. The film which percipitated the interview is called "ELECTRIC PURGATORY". It's a documentary about blacks in the Rock-N-Roll industry. The film looks to be an eye opener from the trailer I've seen. Anyway, I was asked for insights and this is what rolled off the top of my head.:

Easily done.

My mom would rather I do soft tunes all the time. I respect her for that and do oblige her often. But deep down inside there's a rage that burns like nothing else can to get out and express itself with volume, distortion, and the wildest flesh-melting tones I can come up with.

I sometimes catch a glimpse of the pioneers such as Charlie Christian, Clarence Brown, Django R., Jimi H., Segovia, this list has no end,,, and I soak up what they were doing back then and try to emulate it in some way. I don't think I'm ever successful, but nonetheless, I really try to feel it.

I've been called many names in my life. From across the spectrum, nigger, black mother fucker, spook, beaner, spic, this list goes on as well. My heritage spans many races, but my soul spans only the human race. I have little or no regard for the racist element on this earth. Racism comes from everywhere and leads to nowhere.

Most of my family listens to R&B, soul, funk, rap, etc. But a few listen to Metal, blues, and even classical. I listen to it all. I respect them and everyone else for whatever they listen to. Give me a choice and it will be something loud!

These days the music industry is shaking a bit from the threat of indie unsigned and unknowns getting exposure and eating away at the base of their profits. In desperation they now pull out the dirty pool trick of acts they've held back on. These artists are very talented and the music is new and for the most part unheard. I'm sure they would have been bigger long ago without the big companies.

I'm not Hendrix. I'm just me. An unknown artist who believes in what he feels inside and tries to share it. I don't expect fame or fortune but it would be nice to have a bathroom I can play baseball in.[;-)] the worst thing anyone can do as an artist is limit their "expression-form" to an ethnic narrow-mindedness. As for myself, I believe that just because light has a visible spectrum, that does not mean that that's all there is to the spectrum.

I will always be, LOUD! I will always be, PROUD! And, I will always be, PUSHING BACK THE CLOUDS!!!!

Jose' Luis Diaz/LEGASYS

TO ALL INDEPENDENT ARTIST/BANDS

This just a reminder to you, that dollar for dollar cdbaby.com is still the best place to debut your original material. For a truly small amount of money you get a place from which to sell your product, upc codes, a website you can customize for a small monthly fee, and the best bar none in advice and tips on how to make the most of every moment you put into your musical endeavors.

Cdbaby.com was the stepping stone for my own music and without it I would not be heard by as many people as I am today.

My list of friends’ world wide has grown exponentially. I’ve enjoyed music you cannot find in the narrow confines of the mainstream. I have branched out to many other websites, but I still debut all my new stuff from cdbaby.com. (With a few exceptions for pod cast like Les Lewellyns’ preyinglizardmusic.com.)

The music industry can be unforgiving. You will only ever get out of it what you put into it. If you expect the world without working for it you will be disappointed. I expect nothing. I’m happy turning out my music to my taste and if the world wants to listen they are all more than welcome.

I’d like to acknowledge the help I’ve received from many individuals. Jesse De La O, Les Lewellyn, Robert Cetl, Derek Sivers, Adam West, Kenny the gardener, there are far too many individuals to name them all here but my thanks goes out to them all.

Here comes 2007. I’m hard at work on my 5th cd and hope to release it sometime in the early part of next year. The inspiration for it comes from many of the friends I’ve made in the past year. I hope they can see what effect they’ve had on my writing and understand that true friends need never meet to affect each others lives.

Although what’s left of my heart is a cold shell filled with darkness, when I tell you “God Bless”,

I really mean it.

Stay Loud! Stay Proud!! And keep Pushing Back The Clouds!!!!

Jose’ Diaz/LEGASYS

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