Point Blank. 37I played in bands through the fifth and sixth grade with local neighborhood kids that I taught to play. We would change members and band names about twice a month, but we still managed to play in the talent shows hosted by the school, and of course we always had our wonderful and loyal fan club, our parents. Upon reaching the seventh grade, the musical talent pool grew by leaps and bounds, so the players
and bands were get- ting much better. I played baseball and guitar and that was my life. At
age fifteen I got my first car and my new
found mobility allowed
Kim Davis and Rusty Burns (Photo Courtesy Rusty Burns Website)
me to meet and play with bands of college aged players. It was time to raise the bar on how I approached being in a band. At this point I realized I would have to play at a dif- ferent level than what I was used to if I want- ed to hold my position and get any respect at all. I played in several bands that had man- agement and booking agents, so playing three or four days a week was common throughout high school. After graduation I was playing nightclubs, park festivals, and an occasional battle of the bands. I had already appeared on my first record, and life was really getting better in my musical journey. Any and every
player I have ever worked with has had some degree of influence on my playing, even if it wasn't always good, but influential nonethe- less. I feel that my style was developed in part as a result of the musical interaction with the other musicians I played with, cou- pled with who I was listening to and learning to emulate from records. I think every mem- ber of Point Blank had basically that same experience in the honing of their musical craft as well. The interaction of the players we worked with helped us to forge our styles which amalga- mated into what Point Blank became.
How did PB end up being managed by Bill Ham? What was your relation- ship with him through those years? Did you stay in
touch with him over the years? Since I was already signed with Bill for a cou- ple of years before PB came into being, it was just the next step for the rest of the band to sign with him as well. Bill was very hands-on in his approach to the band as he was also the producer, so the music was very impor- tant to him. We spent a lot of time together honing our stage show and basically learning what the big stage was all about as well as the protocol and image issues that once imple- mented made you look and act more profes- sional in the eyes of the musical powers that be. Our music was already big league but we
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