3 years ago, I was walking up to the front of Shady Coffee and Tea to
meet up and talk with a strange man in the dark.
Wait, it’s not what it sounds like, I swear.
That man was one Tim Williamson, lead singer and guitarist of Roseville
punk 3-piece Rebel Radio. Backed up by Jason Sensation on bass and Jerred
Parkerson on drums, they have continuously carved out their stake in the
Sacramento music scene. We met up on that fateful night to talk about his band,
music, and whatever else came up. What became of that interview was shaped into
my first published article for the Press Tribune, here in Roseville. It ignited
a passion inside me for the written word I didn’t know was there in the first
place. It was an experiment that paid off for both of us in the long run.
Fast forward to today, and things have certainly
changed quite a bit. I am meeting up with Tim at the same coffee shop, but this
time on their sunny, warm patio surrounded by coffee drinking patrons and some
of their wandering, babbling toddlers.
Tim and I plop down at our own table, and get to
chatting over out caffeinated beverages. I notice he is wearing a Dodgers hat
as we begin, but I let it slide, this time. We start chatting about upcoming
shows they have on the horizon, and he fills me in on their current stats by
saying,
“We
[the band] came to a decision that we weren’t going to do any of the ticket
selling nonsense…We’ve stayed away from places like Ace of Spades and The
Boardwalk. We’ve been playing places more like Blue Lamp, Café Colonial, TheColony, and stuff like that.”
He also goes on to
add that Jerred had just had a baby, so that was making scheduling a tad
difficult, which is understandable. Despite
the recent challenges, they have been able to release their newest album, “Self-Titled”, which was recorded at
Earth Tone studios in Sacramento. When it was released, Tim described the
ensuing craziness after it release by explaining,
“We got the album
out, then we had this marathon week where we had out album release show that
Sunday, we did the Buck-O-Nine show on a Thursday, then we played First
Festival the next Sunday. And after that we were just kinda burnt out (laughs).”
This relentless
drive and love for playing is what has made Rebel Radio a band that people not
only routinely come out to watch, but a band to respect in our local music
scene. Tim has also done a lot since our first interview to contribute even
more to the punk scene in Sacramento. When The Colony opened, Tim was
immediately drawn in because it reminded him of a time in his past, which
elaborated on by saying,
“Back when I was first getting into playing music,
back in high school, a lot of shows were really DIY and under the radar, kinda
illegal…there’d be a cooler full of beer, nobody checking ID’s, stuff like
that…Venues like that and punk music were always really joined together. That
feeling we got the first time we played there [The Colony] we were like ‘This
is what it used to be like!’…it was like this little weird, unmarked door you
would go to, and there’d be no sign there, and there would be 60 smelly kids packed
in there to see some bands.”
The next year, the same guys who ran The Colony
opened Café Colonial, also near downtown Sacramento. Guess who was there? Tim
and Rebel Radio. He also mentioned that he used to run open mics at Café
Colonial, but now he serves as more of a co-host with Marty Taters when they
have the open mics once a month.
In terms of future shows, though, Tim tells me,
“The only thing we have booked right now is Nov. 19
with Voice of Addiction at the Café Colonial. Other than that we have just been
taking our time, taking it easy, for now.”
Personally speaking, a lot of things have also changed
in Tim’s day to day world. He works for a before and after school program with
Star Education out in Granite Bay, which caters to younger child education.
They recently have begun to expand into Roseville area schools, as well.
Another aspect of Tim’s life that has changed since
our first talk, and it’s one concerning sobriety. According to Tim,
“I’ve
battled drug and alcohol abuse for pretty much my whole life. I’d say a good 20
years. About a year ago, I just got to a point where I saw that it was holding
me back creatively, physically, mentally, and emotionally, you know. I just
made the decision to try out sobriety, and I’ve been sober 11 months now.”
Through a strong combination of Alcoholics Anonymous, and good old-fashioned
willpower, Tim has cultivated his sobriety into a tool to help him become a
better performer. He goes on to elaborate,
“Being a musician and performing it was all a part of
it…I have social anxiety as it is so I just needed something to take the edge
off. Which led to getting hammered and playing shows, and sounding terrible (laughs).” Performing and playing shows
themselves proved to be their own set of challenges sometimes, too. Tim
explains,
“The hardest times are when you get there to load
in for your show, and then you’re sitting there just like, ‘What am I gonna do
here?’…I got all this nervous energy and I have to do something with it! (laughs).”
All in all, I can’t
help but be amazed in two different ways after chatting about all this with
Tim. One is the amazement at the fact that, despite the challenges that have
popped up in front of him, Tim and the boys of Rebel Radio are not going to
stop, no matter what gets in their way. With Tim at their helm, they will
continuously charge forward and succeed regardless. To me, it serves as a great inspiration to never give up what you do even
when the path is rocky and uncertain.
The second
realization I come to occurs to me after our delightful conversation has ended
and I am walking to my car. I owe Tim, Jason, and Jerred a lot. If those three
never got together to make a band, I would not be doing what I am doing right
now. I feel like I wouldn’t have been given the confidence to put my words out
there, or been given a resource to practice the written word with like this.
Thanks, guys. See you in the pit.
