Matthias spent most of his life believing musicians were born with two talents: playing their instrument and getting ripped off. He didn\u2019t mind the small stuff. The promoter forgetting drink tickets. The guitarist \u201cborrowing\u201d a pedal until the end of time. These were usual. But Hamilton one night went beyond the usual. He played a hole in the wall with a dressing room that smelled like apologies. Matteo, the promoter, claimed the ticket machine \u201cglitched,\u201d the bartender claimed no one bought drinks, and the sound guy claimed amnesia. Matthias walked to the van feeling mugged by committee. The anger began to boil as he drove home. The slow kind that bubbles all night and kills sleep. By morning, Matthias invented ten different revenge fantasies, including one with arson. But went to the piano and a riff came, jangly, then a lyric. Corny, but promising. Within an hour he had a finished song: part blues, part courtroom testimony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He recorded it in his kitchen using a PZM microphone that cost less than the amount he\u2019d been stiffed. He added a background vocal track composed entirely of sarcastic \u201cmm-hmm\u201ds. When he uploaded it, he didn\u2019t expect much. Maybe a few musicians clicking \u201clike\u201d while remembering their own fiscal betrayal incidents. The song took off. Many shared it. Promoters shared it. Even journalists picked it up, \u201cthe unofficial national anthem of being screwed over\u201d they wrote. The Ontario Arts Council used it in their festival application video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two months later, Matthias returned to the Hammer, this time at a better venue. When he walked on, they yelled for the song. And when he played it, the place roared every time he sang the line, \u201cPay me what you owe me, or I\u2019ll write you into history.\u201d
The best part was afterward when a sheepish man approached him, sweating, carrying a folded envelope. Matteo handed the envelope over, \u201cI heard the song. I, uh\u2026 figured I should square up.\u201d Matthias opened it. Inside, the exact amount he\u2019d been owed, plus a little extra. The magical power of public embarrassment. Matthias tucked it into his jacket, and said, \u201cDon\u2019t worry. You\u2019re only in the bridge, not the chorus.\u201d He walked away feeling lighter than he had in months. Sometimes revenge is a really catchy hook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Matthias spent most of his life believing musicians were born with two talents: playing their instrument and getting ripped off. He didn\u2019t mind the small stuff. The promoter forgetting drink […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"Layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","author-rockbob","post-9299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-tales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9299\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}