I don`t know if i have any heros anymore, but Ace Freely made me want to play guitar, and the Replacement`s Bob Stinson, and Husker Du`s Bob Mould were my two biggest influences by far.
Cheap Trick`s Surrender. I was probably 12, and it was a big, big moment when I got together with my two friends in my dad`s living room, and we stumbled our way through it.
Unfortunately, I`ve had more than a few pretty bad ones, but one real low point was when we played Augusta, Georgia, and there were seven people in the bar, none of them particuarly into it. After about 45min we just said, "Fuck It," and walked off. Hyena the one guy there that actually wanted to see us ran up and said he was going to kick my ass because I wouldn`t play anymore.
The Srtat which I call "Boing." I usually look at guitars as mere tools, but I`ve had that one for ten years, and it earned my respect because it just would not break. No matter how many times I threw it down, it just bounced back and played great, which is how it earned it`s name. I decided to show it some respect, so I had the whole thing rebuilt and painted and made brand new. It`s like the perfect guitar now, so it`s become the instrument that I won`t ever throw on the floor anymore. But it`s still "Boing."
Don`t get a canvas strap. Get something smooth so it doesn`t leave brush burn on your shoulder. And make sure it`s colorfast so it doesn`t bleed all over the slick new shirt you bought to look smooth at your gig.
In the past we never had any money to record, so we had to do everything in assembly-line fashion: do all your bass and drums, get one good guitar sound and record all your rhythm tracks, then double them. Then do all the solos and vocals and bang, you`ve got a record made for 20 grand that`s as good as it could be. This time, we were able to finish each song individually, so they could all have their own personality and character.