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Welcome to STORIES TO INSPIRE #6 where I share inspiring stories of real people who've overcome struggle, made amazing positive changes or achieved great things against the odds.
Meet the awesome & inspiring 🤘 METAL MIKE CHLASCIAK 🤘 I'm really grateful for Mike taking the time out to email me and share this with us all!
Metal Mike is a metal recording and touring artist, writer, blogger and an expert heavy metal music coach. Mike has recorded and toured the world several times over with Heavy Metal's elite, has appeared on albums totaling well over a million sold, and is a long standing guitarist to Judas Priest's Rob Halford in the Metal God’s solo endeavor HALFORD.
Outside of The Metal God, Mike has recorded and/or performed with Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden, Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses, Sebastian Bach, Testament, Rudolf Schenker of Scorpions, Geoff Tate of Queensryche and Saturday Night Live's Jim Breuer.
NAME: Mike Chlasciak FROM: New Jersey, USA WEBSITE: METALMIKE.NET
GUITAR MASTER at: METAL HEROES ACADEMY
"My name is Metal Mike and most people might know me from playing in bands such as Halford, Testament, Sebastian Bach or PainmuseuM.
As a young guitarist, I have been known to practice for up to 10 hours a day. I would get up, play guitar, go to school and then run home so I can practice new scales, chords and songs until late into the night. I hardly ever went out and if I did, I would come back home within a couple of hours, so I can return back to my practice regimen. I remember some friends hanging by my window asking me to go out and me saying no, as I had to master the intro for “Killer Of Giants” from Ozzy’s Ultimate Sin album. I basically spent my youth locked away playing the guitar. No one asked me to do this and it felt very natural for me to want to play with aspirations of becoming a professional metal guitarist one day.
I picked up the guitar as it was something that gave me some goals to work on. I never knew whether I had any natural talent for it. I tried playing sports in school, but honestly I could not relate to others that easily. I always had other things on my mind versus just hanging out at parties, etc."
"As I started to tour the world years later, the stress of work, travel and life slowly began to take the toll and I found out that beer after the show was a great escape. But, I had to reign that in after a few years. It was after I decided to count my wanted calorie intake per day and see how many beers I can cram into it outside of as little food as possible. That made me realize that having a few drinks became way too important to me. Ultimately I had to remind myself that I wanted to be a musician first.
All the other BS outside of the music itself is exactly that. The plastic attitude of you against the world, the “don’t cares”, the “be metal and drink up” is the big bullshit lie. It’s you masking your insecurities, medicating stress and not facing what can be a better you. It bugs you because you know you can do and be better and you don’t want to make a commitment.
With a few changes such as going to the gym, better food, renewed commitment to music and guitar I was able to switch to a heathier lifestyle and results. I was able to focus on my goals, my business, my solo career, my teaching academy and family. It is possible. I also found it beneficial to find other hobbies outside of music as well, because my life was very one dimensional. All I did was play the guitar with no balance at all. You have to step away, so you can look from a distance at things that you find of value.
Everyone’s life moves through seasons. Sometimes it’s Winter, sometimes it’s Summer. You have to remember that nothing lasts forever and if you are experiencing a tough time, it is a particular season that you are going through at this moment."
I'm going to continue sharing inspirational stories from other BORN 2 BLEED
customers/followers. These will be true stories of overcoming struggles (big & small), the benefits of making positive changes in your life, having that PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) and proof that you CAN be the person you want to be and that there is ALWAYS a way to IMPROVE and achieve great things!
I want to build a community/tribe of like-minded people through BORN 2 BLEED so if you'd like to share your story email me here at info@born2bleed.com or DM me on Facebook or Instagram and send your story and pic of you rockin' your BORN 2 BLEED gear and lets fuckin' lift each other up, motivate and push each other forward!
NEVER GIVE UP!
Steve
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