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I didn ’ t want to screw it up . But this former cattle land was totally beaten down because Ecuador has the highest deforestation rate of any country in the Western hemisphere , and I go down there to surf a lot with my buddy , Carlos . His wife is American , so I met him here , surfing . And he knows what I do now , but when we met , we were just surfing — he ’ s not a metalhead or anything . So he invited me to go surfing with him , and after several trips , he had bought some property , and he brought up this other property that had become available that had been cattle land that they ’ d been grazing for 40 years , and the ground was just compacted and clear-cut .
And I had a fairly significant chunk of change , and I thought , “ Screw it — I ’ m gonna go on tour , so I ’ ll make this money back , and it
feels good to do something .” And that was right at the beginning of the pandemic . So then the pandemic hit , and It was like , “ Oh ! I ’ m not going back on tour to make money — I ’ m not doing anything . I ’ m staying home !” Because it wasn ’ t just buying the land — we had to have an environmental scientist come and look at it , we had to break the land up , we had to fence the land , we had to pay local people to work it . And there ’ s a significant outpouring of capital for that . So I ’ m like , “ How can I make some money during this time ? Oh yeah ! That Cameo thing !” And from the beginning , I was like , “ I ’ m gonna use most of this money for a reforestation project .” And I have not quite broken even yet for all the money I ’ ve put into it , but it has defrayed the cost . And actually , I made back my initial outpouring of cash , but I ’ ve bought more property , and I ’ ve been able to pay people to work this land , and I funded it all through Cameo . So I thought , “ Well , now I
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can use this so-called ‘ celebrity ’ for good .” And I bought the land without ever having set foot on it — I mean , I ’ d seen it across the toad , and it was a dead field . But I went back a few months ago , and it ’ s amazing , and it ’ s all green . And I filmed a bunch of footage and put together a short little film about it , and I did that as sort of a thank you to the people who bought those Cameos from me , and also as a bit of transparency . So I framed me doing Cameo as a way to help the environment from the beginning , and I wanted to show people that that was exactly what I was doing , you know ?
How is the wildlife there now ? Has it again assumed control ? LRB : It ’ s incredible . Like I said , the land was cattle land for forty-some-odd years . But recently , people in the area , for the first time in ages , have started to hear howler monkeys again , back in the area . And they ’ re awesome . So we ’ re trying to work with not just the flora
but the fauna . And the wildlife in Ecuador is freakin ; incredible — there ’ s so much crazy shit down there . So we ’ re just trying to provide a habitat , you know ? Because animals are here for a reason . Nature works the way that it does for a reason . So maybe I ’ ll just disappear into the jungle and find Baloo someday ! But the jungle produces a lot of oxygen . They call it the planet ’ s lungs , and the jungle is being eradicated . So we ’ re just trying to fight that , you know ? So Carlos and I need to establish a foundation because right now , it ’ s just him and I doing this privately . But we ’ re thinking about trying to partner with an NGO because if we were to do fundraising on a larger level , we would have to have a complete foundation . We ’ d have to have an organization with clear parameters and bylaws and transparency while we ’ re handling this money . Because right now , we ’ re just punk-rocking it , and that ’ s cool . But when you go over a certain continues on page 31
TIM LEE ’ S LIFE ON THE ROAD
I SAW A DOZEN FACES ... THE DIARY OF NEVER WAS by Tim Lee ( Cool Dog Sound )
The title of this book sets up a couplet ’ s inevitable conclusion , “… and I rocked them all .” That gives you the essence of this spirited memoir . As he claims , Mississippi native Tim Lee may be “ never-was playing music well past his sell-by date ” to many , but not to all . Lee ’ s ongoing career in independent rock and roll has touched the lives of at least hundreds , to stretch the wisecrack a bit further . Over the decades , the true number spills into multiple thousands of those who have thrilled , danced , drank and swooned since the ‘ 80s to music by the Windbreakers , hometown heroes Beat Temptation , the Tim Lee 3 , Bark ( with multi-talented partner Susan Bauer Lee ) and more . Lee ’ s underdog tale lacks the light show and pyrotechnics of a stadium rocker ’ s bio , but he tells down-to-earth stories from dive bars and clubs in the American southeast and touring van stops nationwide with a relatable voice , good humor , humble pride and sharp wit . Wry asides offer advice from first forays in how to apply “ stank ” to any guitar solo and a plea to forget any mention of Lee ’ s first song . Lee ’ s life in rock and roll extends from childhood evangelism for Mott the Hoople to rubbing shoulders and sharing stages with members of R . E . M ., dBs , Chris Stamey and countless other peers who love him dearly . Lee describes lessons learned as a touring member with Let ’ s Active , leading to sometimes dubious encounters with heroes like Lou
By Jeff Ebel
Reed . One chapter is tellingly entitled “ High Times and Low Wages .” The book ’ s 265 pages are rapid-fire fun , blasting through heartbreaks and triumphs with dogged persistence . It ’ s an ultimately inspirational story at its essence and a case study for anyone who would make such a Sisyphean pursuit out of life . Tim Lee ’ s answer , and possibly yours too , seems to be that he can ’ t help it . Instead of the wry Bon Jovi quip , Lee could have quoted fellow road dog Willie Nelson : “ The life I love is making music with my friends .” ( cooldogsound . com )