So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star
How I Machine-Gunned a Roomful Of Record Executives and Other True Tales from a Drummer's Life
After years of working day jobs and making music in his basement, Jacob Slichter wondered if his dreams of rock stardom were a vain illusion. Then he was recruited by two of his successful musician friends to form a band that became Semisonic. Who could forget the smash single “Closing Time,” a runaway hit in 1998 that thrust Jake and his bandmates into the international spotlight and helped them sell over two million albums worldwide? But along the road to fame and success came bewilderment and personal chaos: How will we ever get a record deal? Which record company is the best? The worst? Do I really have to wear these ridiculous boots? …
JACOB SLICHTER is a native of Champaign, Illinois, and graduated from Harvard with a degree in Afro-American studies and history. He has read his road diaries (originally published on the Semisonic website) on NPR's Morning Edition. With his multiplatinum-selling band Semisonic he has appeared on the Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, and Craig Kilborn shows.
