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Books of this kind are rare. That's why I took the time to read this release so intensively. I almost would love to see it never end but finally have reached the last page.
"Break When I'm Dead" tells the story of the active drummer Christian Lawrence, better known as Opus. His band Dead By Wednesday just finished a tour through Europe in April 2023.
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| A massive insight look into the life of a real underground drummer. |
It's a absolute honest and most of all open and intensive look into the life and soul of a musician. Also I've never met Opus in person it feels now to me as if I've been able to be with him at the most important stations of his life.
The start introduces us to the childhood of the author. He decides early to focus on music and drumming. The first band he forms are Garagantua Soul. You can almost feel how much energy and dedication it takes to be in a band like this. Christian tells us about the highs and lows and why the band ended the way they did.
The cool extra of the book comes to life in this section for the first time. Christian hands the pencil over to other people (here: Kris Keyes) and let's them tell the story from their own perspective. It colors the release and makes it even more fun to read. These insight words of other authors can be found at later chapters, too.
Opus has also been a actor in Reality TV formats for a limited time. I think that's the only period where music becomes left behind a bit. But it's not meant to last forever so he moves on with a new band called Dead By Wednesday.
If you ever wanted to know how release projects like that of the concept album "The Darkest Of Angeles" by Dead By Wednesday come together - here's your chance to have a fully detailed look. It also clears up why particular musicians fit to Dead By Wednesday and why not.
Finally Christian joins the live band for David Ellefsons band project that records and tours with the "Sleeping Giants" album. This chapter shows the differences to perform with well known names compared to being in a underground band and what this means in terms of favors but also disappointments.
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| Opus has chosen the drums as his tool of expression. |
I can only recommend reading this fine release. It's a big book full of fun, ups, downs, sad stories but also behind the scene news that you may not be aware of like me. I've always wanted to know how it's like to be underground and this book gave me the chance to be on board. In fact it's a rollercoaster ride so reading Christans words never becomes monotone but I've always wanted to know more once I came to the end of one section.
The only warning I would hand out is to everyone who is still full of illusions of the music industry. "Break When I'm Dead" will put you down on earth. It's not a publicattion that repeats all the cliches of the music business. Those may happen from time to time and they also do on the pages of this book but the focus remains on how it is to create, record and tour as a musician most of the real lifetime.
It's not expensive (5 Dollar for the pdf/ebook and 20 Dollar for the paperback) so please consider buying a book that gives you something no one else can give you - a backstage pass to the life of a drummer.
This page gives you a overlook on places where to buy the electronic version and the paperback at various services and online retailers.
https://books2read.com/breakwhenimdead
There's also a link for a purchase directly through the publisher Scout Media Books.
http://www.scoutmediabooksmusic.com/christian-opus-lawrence
The book will also be available at all Barnes & Noble and Walmarts everywhere.
