On stage
“I was in Iraq twice. I was there for the invasion in 2003, went back for peacekeeping in 2005, and spent the better part of four years fixing radios on amphibious assault vehicles.
When I came back from Iraq the first time, my first stop was Guitar Center. I’ve been playing music since I was probably about eight years old, and I wanted a Paul Reed Smith guitar in the worst way—I could never afford one. But after banking everything that I was getting paid, buying that guitar was my first stop. On my second deployment, we took a ship over and because there wasn’t anything to do, a lot of the guys said they were going to learn how to play the guitar and I started teaching.
Back at home, when Playford Music & Sound closed, it was Jackson’s last brick-and-mortar music store. Craig Playford had owned it forever, and as a kid I spent a ton of time in that place, going in every week, seeing what was new. When I heard that Craig was gonna close his doors, I’d already been looking at commercial real estate for my studio to give lessons and do recording. We needed somewhere where people could come in and be creative. So, three years ago, I opened Rude Boy Music.
I think that the community is a big part of what we do here. For example, I started a program last October called Play It Forward, and I encouraged all of my musician buddies to bring old instruments that they weren’t playing anymore. We spent most of October and November fixing those instruments up and we gave 32 guitars and amplifiers away to kids for Christmas. I put a Billy Corgan Signature Edition Reverend up to a raffle, and we were able to raise enough to attach three free months of lessons to every guitar that went out of the building.
One of the things that we kind of pride ourselves on here is having Joe Kesselring as our luthier. Every piece that comes through the store goes back through Joe before it hits the floor. One of my biggest pet peeves about walking into a music store is things being out of tune when you go to pick something up, so we make sure every instrument is ready to play off the rack.
On the studio side, we can do everything from recording your music to setting you up with a live stage with full sound and lights along with equipment and personnel rental for sound guys. We give lessons to both children and adults. With AI and stuff, getting a physical instrument in somebody’s hand and showing them that they can actually make music is important to us. We want people to get excited to play and excited to learn. I’ve got a gentleman taking piano lessons from me who is 81 years old. He just started about six months ago, and he just wants to do things to keep his brain sharp. Then I’ve got five-year-old kids taking guitar lessons and drum lessons here, too. I love seeing kids walk out the door with a big ol’ smile on their face, knowing they’ve accomplished something. To me, there’s really no better feeling than just seeing somebody grow.”
—Dylan Bullinger & Matthew King, Rude Boy Music
2624 Kibby Rd, Jackson, MI 49203
