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he taught me how to read and then that's how I got into Berkeley College of Music
because of my reading ability. So I’m glad I learned how to read, because to this day,

I can read, so now I'll play with theatres, and I'll play with orchestras. I can play with
anybody now. Just give me the sheet music or give me the chords, or I can work it out
by ear as well.

BiTS: That's wonderful. How old were you when you first played with a band?

MD: The first band I had was in eighth grade, and we were called Dimension. It was
me and this guy on drums and his left-handed bass player, and we wanted to be like

a power trio. We wanted to be like Grand Funk Railroad. We wanted to be like Cream
and, of course, we wanted to be like the Jimi Hendrix Experience, but the guitars were
cheap. They weren't staying in tune.

The drums sound like boxes, you
know. Then I got into a band when
I was 15, and a couple of older guys

were in the band in the
neighbourhood, and we were like a
funk band. So we were doing, like,

Funkadelic Parliament type stuff
like that, and Slade, like 70s, 80s
funky rock kind of guitar stuff. We

got into that, and I just kept getting
better and better and better. Then
we started entering talent shows

and we were winning, and then, of
course, the girls started coming.
The more the girls, the more I

wanted to show off and play. So
yeah, it's just been getting better.

BiTS: And when you started

Grand Funk Railroad in the 1970s. playing and were getting a bit into
the music, how quickly did you
make a record?

MD: Well I first started recording, I started recording very early. After I learned how
to play, this guy gave me a drum machine, and so with that drum machine, my brother
bought me a little two track recorder. So I started writing my own songs — they were

terrible, of course, and had put little beats on and then my bass player didn't show
up one day, so then I decided to go to Sears, and I picked up a cheap bass for 80 bucks

and I started doing the drum machine. I started recording my bass, and then my guitar
tracks, and then I started singing. So I did that, and that was probably 4000 songs
ago, Ian.