"Rock and roll is a contact sport. I enjoy playing the tunes that really get the people going"

Calling rock and roll a contact sport reframes performance as something visceral, kinetic, and mutually risky. The stage isn’t a pedestal but a playing field where bodies, sound, and emotion collide. “Contact” signals more than proximity; it’s the tangible exchange between musician and audience, the sweat, eye contact, call-and-response, the hand reaching from the pit, the chorus shouted back louder than the PA. In that arena, energy isn’t simply projected; it is contested, traded, amplified.

A band functions like a team: the drummer sets the tempo like a quarterback calling the cadence, the bass holds the line, the guitars execute sudden strikes, the singer rallies the crowd. Momentum matters. A set list is a strategy with opening gambits, mid-game adjustments, and a closing push. There are bruises, missed notes, broken strings, rough acoustics, but also the exhilaration of a clean tackle: a chorus that lands, a solo that lifts the room, a spontaneous breakdown that turns chaos into euphoria.

Enjoying the tunes that get people going reveals a performance ethic centered on ignition rather than display. The craft is choosing grooves that make hips move, riffs that spark recognition, dynamics that manipulate breath, tight verses, explosive choruses, stops that heighten anticipation, bridges that reset the heartbeat. It’s less about virtuosity for its own sake and more about building a shared surge where the audience becomes part of the band’s circuitry, closing the loop with claps, stomps, and voices.

Embedded is a democratic spirit: value measured not by complexity but by communal lift. Rock’s promise is catharsis achieved together, strangers briefly aligned by rhythm, volume, and sweat. To court that moment requires stamina, courage, and generosity. The player steps forward not only to be heard, but to be touched and to touch back, accepting the beautiful volatility of live connection. That is the sport, and that is the joy.