Jeremy Guffey shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi Jeremy, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
My days start off quite normal . I wake much earlier than I should , usually sometime around 3:30 am and I’ll try and convince myself to sleep for a while until sometime around 5 am I get up and the 90 minute clock starts!
I’ll start with the shower after staring at the cameras of the yard to see what new animals may be running through the yard . After boring clean up and make semi presentable ritual , I’ll make my coffee , add my vitamin B supplement and wait for it to brew .
While waiting on coffee , maybe a glass of water or maybe some extra caffeine through a soda but I’ll wander into the “board room “ / “ craft room “ to check my latest resin creations and maybe pop a couple things out of their molds .
By now , coffee is done and I’ll pour it into the mug with the pre prepared vitamin B supplement and I’ll sit down on the couch and try and find something on YouTube to watch as I drink my coffee .
By now it’s usually about 5:45 am and by 6:00 am I’ve had my coffee still head outside and start pulling whatever tools I’ll need for the day and after one last check that I’ve gotten everything , I’ll load up the truck while it preheats and by 6:30 , I’m either driving to my first job and I’ve already arrived and my day job of landscape maintenance begins .
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Jeremy , known since the early 80’s as Jerm . I’m an artist , musician , husband & dad .
I’m best known from way back in the day when I booked / ran the club called SOMA . I was the guy behind the owner doing all the grunt work and trying to build our music scene .
I left that path to pursue my own music / art and sanity and ended up going through many different aspects of construction to finally land back at gardening / landscaping again . I have been doing that for quite a few years now .
I own a skateboard company called RedRumSkates. I hand paint skateboard decks and occasionally I actually make the skateboard decks myself .
I am also an artist under FTMJ ART GALLERY .I do resin crafts , jewelry making and much more . I am currently working with my wife on creating a booth for a local farmers market .
I’m also a bass player in the bands Morningstar , Black Widow Prophecy as well as the Left Outs . I do occasionally do vocals as well . These bands are my main focus as well as the art and jewelry these days as I still work 6 days a week doing my gardening.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
In my earliest days I didn’t have many people like me at all .I was a skinny redhead and being born on Halloween I was a bit odd . If you add in riding a skateboard when most rode bikes , I liked to draw weird ,almost “evil” things and I had a growing interest in the paranormal, I think my first times hearing Black Sabbath made the biggest impact . I had already started an interest in music and pop music was boring and the typical rock music was worse so punk rock was starting to open my mind and then Black Sabbath picked down the door as was the biggest influence on me . Ozzy Osbourne ( RIP ) was a huge influence with his departure and solo career and helped me grow as an independent artist in a world of conformity.
This must have been around the late 70’s , early 80’s when I was named Jerm from a skater friend whom also had the same name / nickname
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
This question is a hard hitter .
I have almost given up a few times over my life and had to dig deep to find inner strength to find a path out of my depression, anxiety and anger. When I first left home , I was in a bad place of addiction and after barely graduating high school at 17 , my first “residence” was with 3 sisters and their mom and I’m still not sure where I slept , but they were very gracious and let me have a place to try and find myself . I struggled for many months until I made a major unexpected shift in my downward spiral and ended up in Santee at my Dad’s place .
I struggled for years and eventually ended up at the club and somehow carving a way to survive and when I had left in 1997 from the club , it took me another 3 years to get myself back on track .
As an artist ,musician , I have found myself sometimes working harder at self destruction rather than success . I have struggled my entire life but until reuniting with my wife , which we had a couple interesting interactions that date back to our pre-teen years and then again in my mid 20’s , I have never really had someone who understood the chaotic character that I had grown into .
That being said , there have been times such as the recession years past as well as the COVID pandemic that have made me analyze my existence and question whether or not I could provide for myself let alone family .
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Is the public version of you the real you?
The public version of me is a thought that intrigues me and hence after deep thought , Yes , the public version of me is real because I don’t know how to be anyone else but me . The things the public version lacks as far as my reality is how much I see life as art . I do gardening because I want to work with nature . I look the way I do because I am a walking form of art . I dont dress to impress during the day because while pushing a lawnmower doesn’t require a proper dress code as I would for a nice dinner evening with my wife but when I do dress proper , even my band mates have mentioned that I clean up well .
I’ve been accused of many things such as looking scary but that seems to be fading away these days as your local coffee shop personality has as many tattoos and even beards have been fashion for many years .
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What do you think people will most misunderstand about your legacy?
Legacy is something I have been thinking about for years . I don’t really think about my legacy anymore as being of importance due to the fact that history seems to be re written by others so much that when rumors finally make it back to me , I just shrug and explain that it’s not true .
I had started my podcast “ Union and Metro podcast “ to tell my story but ended up finding that my guests had so much more to say than I that I tried to help share their stories rather than my own . I also gave up writing my book because I find that my life is constantly evolving and I’d rather live my life then look that deeply on the past .
That being said , I think the most misunderstood thing about me that will be misconstrued by people is that my dedication to the DIY lifestyle ,art and music are what drives me and that my wife Vee , is my muse . It’s not a “phase “ or a “gimmck” , we do live this way and art and music will always remain supreme .
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jerm_addams?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@jermaddams?si=f1LZv2UKDZ1bz_qI
Image Credits
Sulo King ( personal photo at my house )
