For local guitarist, Hollywood lights can't compete with Sanger
BY KATHY FLOYD


Victor Gann was raised here, went to school and graduated from high school here. Then he left Sanger for the bright lights and big city of Hollywood. There he partied with the likes of Eddie Van Halen and Metallica. He met famous guitarists who taught him about music. Why come back to Sanger? "Got homesick, I guess," he said, and laughed.

Victor looks the part of musician with his reddish hair pulled back in a pony tail as he talks about graduating from Sanger High in 1989."In high school, I had a reputation. I was outspoken and opinionated, but I had a good time," he said.

He realized early that music was what he wanted to pursue. When he was six or seven, he had an uncle who played in a country band and who showed him a few chords. But when he was 16 he started taking those chords seriously. He took guitar lessons from Thad Bonduris in Denton. When he got out of high school, he was accepted by the Guitar Institute of Technology.

"The GIT is right in the heart of Hollywood. It's an intense program that lasts a year and a half. But they do break it up. You go for three months, then you're off a month. Just know that for the time you're in school, you have no life," he said.

"You're studying so hard and going constantly. There were some nights I would be sitting in my chair practicing, and wake up with my guitar still strapped around me."

Just because you play one discipline of guitar doesn't mean that's all you study. "If you're a metal guy, you still have to learn everything -- rock, blues, country, classical. But you still take special classes for you to improve in your genre."

Once a week you have to play for your teacher, and once a week you perform for the staff and students. That part could be a little nerve-wracking because some of the staff were well-known musicians.

He graduated from the school in 1991 with a degree in professional guitar, and music harmony and theory.

After he graduated, he hung around Los Angeles for a while. "I wanted to be a studio musician and I did get to play on one commercial, but that's a select group. There's just a small group of guys who get most of that business."

By now, Victor had begun to write his own material, so he decided to try his own band, and through the school, he got to know a few who were connected. "The school has a great network." His teacher, Paul Gilbert, helped him learn to use that network. While in Los Angeles, he was with five bands, but it wasn't all fun and games. "All the things you see on VH1's Behind the Music, it's all true. Too much, too fast -- it can ruin you," he said. Victor packed up and moved to Florida.

"I hadn't made it in music, so I thought it was time for me to hang it up and see the 9 to 5 world. I was burned out and disinterested, and just plain tired."

In 1998, his brother Jeff got him a job with GTE Wireless in Florida. The first year was great. "I was getting a stable check, benefits and I'm thinking 'this is really neat.'" While he was in Florida, he played his guitar maybe once a month, and sold almost all of his equipment. "I had no intention of starting up anything. I cleaned house. When I throw myself into something, it takes all of me," and he threw himself into his new job in Florida.

"By the second year, I was tired of the same desk, the same office. That's when I came home, or at least to Dallas."

Still needing a stable job, in late 2000 he got a job with another telecom company making stats and graphs.

"Being home was good," he said, "but the music was calling me back. I could actually feel it calling me. I was given a talent, an ability, and I wasn't using it."

When Victor came back to Texas in 2000, he started looking for Doug Griffith, a buddy from high school. Doug had a little sister named Shannon. "Doug and I were always hanging around together, and one time, Shannon wrote me a note and asked if I would go with her. That was a long time ago," he laughed.

While looking for Doug on the Internet, he found Shannon, and "We hit it off from there."

At their wedding two years ago June 7, the groom's cake was shaped like a guitar. They are the proud parents of two cats.

Shannon is just glad Victor found his way back to Sanger. "He's seen the bright lights of Hollywood. He's done that whole scene, and come back here, and I'm thankful for that," she said. Victor is also a sports fanatic. He's got a football signed by Roger Staubach in his practice room.

Now, Victor plays with Nobody's Fault, a local band. Nobody's Fault will be headlining the Sanger Sellabration in September. "We play about a 50-50 mix of original material, and everything from the 50s to Atlanta Rhythm Section, Billy Idol, AC/DC, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and ZZ Top.

"I'm having more fun with this band, mainly because I'm not out tryin' to get an album deal, and before I was very intense. I have a freedom with these guys that I haven't had before. I realized that I was the one who was putting the restrictions on, not others putting them on me.

He also gives guitar lessons to about 15 students. That's thanks to friends Angie and Shea Hassell. "Shea played the acoustic guitar, and wanted to play the electric, and our son Mitch just wanted to play, and Victor wanted to see if he could teach. It's working out well. Mitch is really doing well, and Victor is so good at this. We really enjoy him," Angie said.

Teaching is not the direction Victor thought he would go. "I just didn't know if I was into it. It's one thing to know how to play, but to show somebody else? Did I have the patience? But, it's been much more enjoyable than I ever imagined it would be." Although there are times when he might hear "Wild Thing," by the Troggs or Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" just a little too often. "It's really hard to listen to 'Smoke on the Water' any more because I've heard it so much," he laughed.

Even though he's got about fifteen student's now, and is picking up a new one each week, he'd like about 50 students. The majority are beginners. Victor starts them off with basics; chords, melodies, techniques. "Then they can go in whatever direction they want. Once they start getting a grip, then I just help them along. I see progress in all my students. Some are more natural at it, but I think they're al getting something out of the lessons."

The students aren't the only ones getting something out of learning from Victor.

"I feel like I'm going in the right direction in my life, like this is what I'm supposed to do," he said.

And he said he's still learning too, and reaping the benefits from the GIT. "They make you well-rounded in all aspects of music." Alice Cooper (the rocker/golfer) taught a music business class. Guest musicians who taught included Brian May from Queen, Joe Walsh, Tim Bogert from Vanilla Fudge, and Joe Satriani, among others from rock and blues.

Victor also got to meet Jimi Hendrix's dad. "He came to school and spoke and was so proud of Jimi, maybe not some things he did in his life, but the way he influenced music, and his part in musical history."

"It was great just to be surrounded by all the different aspects of music. I'm still learning how to apply everything I learned."

As far as his own listening pleasure, Victor prefers rock, but will listen to "anything's that's good. It was listening to AC/DC that I knew what I wanted to do. AC/DC is probably my number one influence, but Queen, Hendrix, and the Ramones are right up there."

Even though GIT was hard, it molded his philosophy of music. "You may not be a star, but you'll find your place." For now, Victor's found his place, right back here at home in Sanger.