A few months into the fresh year of 1957, you would have been hard-pressed to find Joe in the daylight. Most of his days consisted of going to school and then rushing home to listen to some Clyde albums. On the weekends he shopped music stores to upgrade his collection, and he eventually took a job sweeping floors at the local grocery store for music money. Life was good for the boys, as Sean and Joe starting jamming more and more. After only four months of work, however, Joe decided to quit his job because he was having trouble finding enough time in the day to listen to music and create it. Sean became a master of the drum set, creating beats wherever he was. He had received a drum set for Christmas a few years later in 1960, but the boys decided to set it up at Joe's house because Sean practically lived there anyway. Joe had a hard time connecting with his electric guitar at first, mostly because his mom only had enough money to buy him the guitar for Christmas, and not an amp. This turned out not be a problem, as Joe had always felt a stronger connection with acoustic guitars.
A few years later in 1962, Joe started to do something he never imagined he'd even have interest in doing: singing. He hated doing it but he thought that if he wanted to be the world's biggest rock star one day he'd probably have to be able to sing. Whenever his mom would leave the house to do some errands Joe would rush downstairs, grab his acoustic, and start singing in his room by himself. He didn't really pay attention to how is voice was, but he was far too shy to get anybody else's opinion it. The second he would hear his mom's car pull in the driveway, he would stop singing and just practice instrumental versions. Joe wanted to be the next Clyde. He was beginning to see that outside of Clyde's music, the whole industry was heading south. What he loved about Clyde was that his soul was in his music, and he meant every single word he said. He was completely for his music and that was all he cared about, and Joe saw himself in Clyde because of that.
It was May of 1962, and all Sean and Joe wanted was for summer to hurry up. They were getting sick of going to school when outside looked so enticing, and they were completely done with doing work. Right when the boys could taste summer on their tongues, an absolute bomb was dropped on them. The boys came home one day and turned on the TV, when they heard a special news report with the headline: Rock Star Clyde Cringle dead due to drug overdose at age 27. Joe couldn't breathe. It was simply not real. It was a perfectly sunny day, and yet Joe had never seen this type of cloudiness. Both boys instantly broke down in tears, and they no longer looked forward to the summer. 
A few days later at school, Sean told Joe that they needed to talk. He began to act all serious, and Joe was confused because that was a rare thing for Sean. He began to explain that he heard his parents talking last night about moving by the end of the month, and Sean had no clue where they were going. Joe sensed the fear in Sean, as all he had ever known was their town, Joe, and music, and now two of those things were being taken away from him. Things were simply falling apart, and now more than ever, Joe needed his music to keep him going. 