Justin Alan Gage (JAG)
was born in Southern California in 1984. But he
didn't stay there long; he was 4 months old when
his parents moved to France. That is where he grew
up and went to school. It is a strange concept for
Americans to think that an American is a foreigner
in another country and is treated the same way!
At the age of 5, he started attending a music conservatoire,
(a government classical music training school) where
he learned music theory and started getting voice
training. He also studied classical drumming there.
At the age of 14, the family had another big move.
They moved to the south coast, they could not have
gone farther and stayed in France. That was not
only true for the distance, but the mindset and
the life style of people.
During those 2 years around the move, Justin is
bounced around 6 different schools and almost as
many apartments. In these tough teenage years, Justin
falls back on writing... poems, stories, letters,
just writing.
He keeps singing and playing and is asked to do
so in church and school events. Eventually a first
song comes out. "You bring out the best in
me" was a thank you to the friends and family
that had stuck with him in hard times where many
relationships ended painfully.
At the age of 18 he picks up the guitar. This multiplies
the songs that come out and the opportunities to
play, as he is no longer bound to needing accompaniment.
In 2004, after a massive relationship failure,
he enlists with the US army infantry. Having little
space for music there, writing is the only contact
with loved ones. After several incidents there,
often triggered by his history in France, he doesn't
complete his training and returns to write and play.
Most of the unusual situations he has been in are
the source of most of his songs. A way to tell the
story, but in a way that other might feel that they
have lived that in a different way.
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