Touring Musician: 2005-2007
On July 1st, 2005 Tyler Christensen was standing at the Tempe Bus Station waiting for a Greyhound. He had a ticket in his pocket that said this bus would take him all the way to New York City. He had another ticket in his pocket for a flight that left JFK Airport in New York City for Prague, Czech Republic. On July 4th, 2005 a British Airways flight would wisk him away from his mother country on Independence day. Or as Tyler calls it “Indie-penance Day”.
The journey was to be an exercise in survival by the fruits his raw talent. Busking down by the Narodni Divaldo in front of the Velvet Revolution Memorial, and playing downstairs at Sir Toby’s the hostel where he stayed in Prague.
Above the Velvet Revolution Memorial, there is a grand covered walkway that lends itself to reverberating echo and passers-by must walk through amid large white pedestals directly past the memorial. Playing covers like Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen and Imagine, by John Lennon while mixing in his own originals Tyler would net about 300Kc/day ($17 US).
In Prague the police don’t let you busk everywhere, I had to do a lot of hiding. Prague 1, as they call it, has the most major tourist attractions, coincidentally the most tourists, and the most people who don’t understand the exchange rate. Americans would plop a 20Kc coin into my case, thinking it’s some kind of Czech Quarter. 20Kc is like a buck in the states, that’s a beer in Prague man!”
“But, the money is a little tenuous. The police fine you, I think they said, something like 400Kc if they catch you. That’s like twenty bucks US. So, I would either find spots just outside Prague 1, or ninja-duck into walkways and alleys if the police started zooming around.” He laughs. “You’ve never seen a bigger production than a Czech cop screeching through the streets leaving plumes of blue grey tire smoke, and sliding to a halt by a tramstop, flying out of the car to write a ticket for someone that jumped on a bus without paying the fare.” Laughing heartily. “It’s insane, you’d think they were responding to a crime or something. No free rides in Prague, baby.”
In Mid July, Tyler played a surprise show at the Marquis De Sade on Templova 8 in Prague 1. Where he was once relegated to playing in the outskirts of ‘Golden Prague’, on the streets, he now had a night solo at the most popular ex-pat bar in the city. It was all by chance that the show even occured. As Tyler was stopping by for a Pivo at the Marquis de Sade, there was another American drinking in the bar.
I think his name was Mike he had bellied up to the bar to listen to some Woody Guthrie CD’s he had just bought. He was having the bartender play them on the house system. He saw my guitar and we were chattin’ Guthrie, and drinking. I talked about busking and wanting to play a bar. I went to the restroom and was getting ready to leave when I heard the bartender Matt and someone else talking about the music act that just cancelled. Mike chimed in and said, ‘That guy was just here with his guitar.’
I walked out of the bathroom and Mike said, ‘there he is!’ Matt and the manager said, ‘well, let’s see what you got.’ There were a few quiet day-drinkers hunched over their tables immersed in conversation. I turned back to Matt and the Manager and said, ‘well if we’re gonna do this let’s do it right. I announced the situation, something like, if you like me they let me play here tonight, or something like that. I played “Sign”, and the day-drinkers forgot about their conversations. I played from nine until about one a.m. Matt and the manager gave me some of their tips that night, generous guys. That was a huge night for me, not regarding the money.”
Tyler’s time in Eastern Europe and Sweden molded an already rich knowledge base of performance and production. He returned to The States and incorporated lessons learned into his guitar work. His playing became more percussive and pronounced from having to compete with trams sparking by, and playing without amplification in The Marquis de Sade. He began playing without a pick and using his bare hand instead on more subtle tunes. Many techniques Tyler employs in his playing today were learned on the streets and bar seats of Prague, Czech Republic.
Tyler returned to the states determined and prepared to make a bonafide go at music. He had been watching the music market evolve. Recording software had caught up to professional studio technology. He began focusing on producing his own records and finding his own way through the music business. Long since an admirer of Ani Difranco and inspired by her label Righteous Babe Records, Tyler Christensen founded Supernormal Records in January of 2008.
