It was a Sunday morning, around 9 o'clock or so. I can't remember what song it was or who was playing upstairs at the time, but we were recording tracks for the cd "Lean Mean Texas Machine." This particular session we had to record in the morning because some of us had gigs that afternoon, and the rest were working that night. We took a quick break while I went down to the corner (about a five minute walk through the neighborhood) to grab something from the convenience store. About three houses down, I came across a man walking his dog and talking to one of the other locals in front of his house. I heard him complaining about a pothole in the middle of the street - it was loose and every time a car ran over it, it made a lot of noise. Now I wasn't thinking about much of anything at the time but staying awake, which was getting more and more difficult with each passing minute, but the next thing that came out of that man's mouth stopped me dead in my tracks. As I got past him a few steps, he said "�and someone needs to tell that damn band to be quiet!" I was so mad, I could have kissed him. You see, for three months I had tried to come up with a name for this thing, and I was still battin' 0. I thought maybe bein' that it was a Sunday mornin', it might be a sign from God. (Ok, I was tired.) I walked back to them, interrupted what was left of their conversation, said "Thank you," and walked off. The words "For what?" went unanswered, and like so many gifts in life that can never be repaid, remain unanswered still today.

Many thanks to the musicians who make up "That Damn Band." A special thanks to my mother and family for always encouraging me and believing in my music.

- David Brake

Strangely enough, the biggest misunderstanding about me that I've encountered since recording the CD actually has to do with the title song itself. Although I may have invited some of that by having "a little fun" with the cover, as anyone who knows me or has ever heard the story of it live will tell you --"Lean Mean Texas Machine" is not about me at all. I wrote the song back in the 90's, and it was inspired by a couple of guys I met when I first moved down to Houston in '93. In fact, one of them is the character in my mind from whom I wrote the narration, and from whose point of view I always imagine singing the song. I met these guys in a country bar, where at the time I may have looked a bit out of place, and they were kind enough to show me how to pick up women. The more confident of the two (the narrator) said "look, don't be scared of 'em, you just gotta know what to say. Here's how you do it down here�" , and he walked over to a very beautiful young woman standing by the bar to ask her to dance. Now she was only about 15 feet away-easily within ear shot of me and the other fella, so I was really looking forward to an invaluable lesson in female acquisition. Well he walked up right up to her, looked her up&down, and with all the confidence in the world looked her straight in the eye and said�"Damn!" (Pronounced "Dayam!") There was a bit of an uncomfortable silence while she waited for the rest, but there was no more. She shook her head in disgust and walked off, and later that night I wrote the beginning of Lean Mean Texas Machine. I forgot about it until I found the lyrics in my pile of stuff about 7 years later, and finished it in '99.

- David Brake