Don’t Quit Your Day Job, James Fague!

In my last column, I introduced you to my youngest contestant so far, and this week I welcome my oldest subject to date. Clocking in at half a century and still clocking in at a day job in between performing with his band and supporting other area bands is a man so dedicated to Rhode Island that he named his band after the state: James Fague!

Josh Hurst: What’s your age and location?

James Fague: I just turned 50 years young. I have lived almost everywhere in RI except for Woonsocket and the ‘Northen’ counties. I currently reside in the Bucket.

JH: What band(s) are you in, and what do you do in them?

JF: I am in  RHODE KILL, and I play bass loudly. Very loudly! Some of my past bands have been The Bastards, Wretch, Liquid Syn, Ballistic and F.O.A.

JH: How long have you been at this rock ‘n’ roll thing?

JF: Almost 30 years slogging away in the trenches, and I do it because I love it. It’s not like I make money at it. It’s tough to be in a metal band these days when you kinda fall between genres and you play original music. Not ‘ugly’ enough here, too ‘heavy’ here,  too ‘punky’ here, too ‘rocky’ here, not enough tattoos here, you know? You have to laugh at it, right? I’m laughing to my grave and an empty bank account.

JH: What do you do to pay the rent?

JF: I prostitiute on the side … shhh! And I work at a screen printing company making t-shirts for tool bags who play sports. I hate sports, and I hate it even more after seeing all these stupid sayings and asshole  team names on shirts.

JH: How did you end up with your current day job?

JF: I was in the printing trade up till 2010, and have been running offset printing presses of all kinds since 1987. I decided I needed a breather from the industry after being laid-off for two years. It is difficult to find jobs in the traditional printing field these days, so I answered in ad like 6 years ago for a small screen printing company in Westerly, RI and have been in the industry ever since. I currently work at Elmwood Sports in Warwick.

JH: What drives you to keep at music if you need to have the “day job” to pay bills?

JF: Love, creativity, friends, friendships, inspiration from bands like Mobile Deathcamp who do it for love, ANGER and the need to say ‘fuck you’ to the things I hate and to say ‘fuck you ‘ to  life and to death!

JH: Besides the income what keeps you at your current day job?

JF: Friends, really. I work with some great guys, like Kenny Ruhle (Do Not Resuscitate), Zack Parker (Wolfman & the Brimstone Boys), and that’s it. To be perfectly honest If I didn’t have to work a ‘normal’ job I wouldn’t.

JH: Does anything in your day job correlate to your musical endeavors?

JF: Marketing and networking.

JH: Where can anyone interested find you during your day work and/or night work?

JF: I dig graves at night at Swan Point. Shhh … they don’t know it.

You can also find James at facebook.com/RHODEKILL666