Today we’d like to introduce you to Tyler Rougeux
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I have been a musician since I was 11 and was coming to the end of an era with the band I had been in for over a decade, it was 2018 and I thought I was starting a rock and roll side project, Crooked Bones, when suddenly it became my only band.
Whiskey Folk Ramblers had started in 2006, when I was only 21 and lasted 12 years. We toured around, put out albums, got turned down by a couple bigger labels, went through some line up changes, then eventually called it. That’s how Crooked Bones became my only band. It started out just as a fun group with simple songs for some buddies, but as the music grew a bit I started to realize we needed WFRs bassist in the band, and my old high school buddy Alex needed to be on drums and not bass, like he originally did. I was 15 and he was 14 the first time I went to his house with my electric guitar and 12 watt amp. We taped a wal-mart microphone to a broom, and taped the broom to a chair, and he had this badass drum set because his dad is also a drummer, and that was that. We were hooked, and had a high school band we called the Cronies. So, after all these years of playing in a 6 piece Alternative Country, Spaghetti Western style band with trumpet and piano and lead guitar parts and all this, Crooked Bones is a raw, fun, 3 piece rock and roll band with Jackdaw on bass, who’s been with me 15 years now between both bands, and Alex on drums, who I started playing with when I was only 15. So it’s a pretty good little vibe we have.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a very smooth road, no. There are several scenarios I could give, just on the simple fact that we self funded the band and never had a strong financial backing, but also just the obstacles of touring with a 6 piece band, or even a 3 piece band, and van problems, etc. but one example I’ll give is when I was 25 I had to have spine surgery, but we were already booked to support a larger band on a small tour, so only a few days after the surgery, I was back in the van and we were keeping our spot on that tour. I had a lot of physical restrictions, I had to sit in a chair while we played, walk with a cane, we had to stop the van every 45 minutes so I could get out and walk (to prevent blood clots) and then I had to take up a whole row in the van for laying down. But it has always been what I wanted to do
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
When I was 11 I bought my first guitar. I had fallen in love with live music the previous summer at a local block party show with a ton of bands, and by the time I was 12 had started a band with my childhood buddy, who would go on to start Whiskey Folk Ramblers with me some years later.
I’ve always enjoyed painting and drawing and have created several little cartoon characters with their own back stories and all, but music has always been my number one passion. I got married once and I even told her that I was married to the music first. In hindsight, that may have been a little much, but it’s how I felt at the time.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Mostly just baseball. I played a bunch of baseball as a kid because my dad had been semi pro and taught me a bunch at a young age, and my childhood was sort of untraditional and boring, so I can only really think of baseball as a favorite childhood memory.
I guess playing my first show with a 3 piece band at 13 was cool, but that was the teenage years.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @crookedbonesofficial
- Facebook: Crooked Bones