Music is truly a universal language — and it brought us together from across the globe.
Long story short (kinda) — Our founder's job took him pretty much all over the globe. Russia, UK, Thailand, USA, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, U.A.E., etc. And because music is truly a universal language, music was shared, friendships formed and, well... there you have it.
You'll find songs/videos in different languages, instruments you've never heard before and, hopefully, some new tunes that you really dig.
The Beginning
I think I was about 12 years old when I got my first guitar, a gift from my great aunt. I was fascinated with it for about two weeks, but soon lost interest because it was just too difficult to learn the chords, playing hurt my fingers, and I had other priorities like little league baseball and watching cartoons.
The Band That Almost Was
A few years later, a couple of my teenage friends got the "guitar bug" and we tried to learn some chords so that we could start a band. We wanted to be famous, like The Beatles, but that lasted only a few months before other priorities, like girls and cars, overwhelmed us.
Moscow Calling
Later in life, I got interested again when my job took me overseas for the first time. I was working in Moscow, Russia and I remember listening to a cool Russian radio station. I remember hearing Needles and Pins and I thought, "I wish I could play that!" In a short time, I learned that three simple chords will yield HUNDREDS of songs, and that really encouraged me.
The Ice Pick Moment
My best friend said, "We sound so bad that people would be shoving icepicks in their ears to stop the sound!" I guess he was probably not wrong about that, but eventually, we did get better.
Building Connections
Over the next two decades I managed to connect with several people who were just like me. I hooked up with some folks who could hardly play at all and some who were so good they could have performed on stage. Every time I'd take a new assignment, I would seek out some folks who were "wannabes" like me.
The Recording Era
I eventually bought a little Tascam Porto 7 recorder. You could pop in a cassette tape, record seven different tracks and then mix them all together. WOW! Our recordings were very crude and amateurish, but we couldn't have cared less. We were having a blast doing it.
Ice Pick Sound Studios Today
Now, having traveled all over, I've made a lot of musical friends. We write our own stuff, create covers of our favorite songs, make music videos, and have a riot doing so. THAT'S why Ice Pick Sound Studios came into existence. We're all about the music!
Randy L. Pearson
Founder, Ice Pick Sound Studios