DEADAMERICAN

By AMANDA LLEWELLYN
VIEW STAFF WRITER

Last December, Florida musician and businessman Rob Jarmon gambled with his own life, hoping that the hand he'd dealt would play out the way he'd imagined.

Jarmon quietly sold the fleet of vehicles used for his successful carpet cleaning business and walked away from a million-dollar home, his friends, family and everything he'd ever known to chase a dream of becoming a rock star.

"I gave up everything," Jarmon said. "My business, my house, my girlfriend and her kids. I just walked away from it all to pursue this crazy dream, this need that burns me up ... to be on stage, to sing, to be a part of something big."

According to Jarmon, he chose Las Vegas because it is an extension of Hollywood, inhabited by people with real ambition and connections, but brimming with a bit more flesh and a tad less plastic.

"I came to Vegas because I wanted to make something happen," Jarmon said. "This is the place to be for that. Here, or in L.A., and I figured the chances of finding real people in this town were much better."

Jarmon moved in with an old Army buddy living in the valley and placed an ad on the networking site Craigslist.org, hoping to find musicians with similar goals.

Guitarist Art Baker answered the ad in early February, and the pair went on to form the band Dead American.

"When I found Rob, we made plans to meet, but he ended up being stuck in California and we weren't sure that he would make it back in time for the original meeting," Baker said. "But, it was fate. This is a unique combination we have here, and we're making it work."

Baker has been on the Las Vegas rock music circuit for 30 years, and while he said that he has a lot of friends in the music business, he believes that the chemistry of this particular group of musicians is a special find.

Baker said he knew the fit was right the moment he spoke to Jarmon on the phone, and although Jarmon's business trip to California threatened to thwart the group's first jam session, Baker would not be easily deterred.

Baker said that, standing in his backyard that same night, he drew a circle in the dirt and sent a request out into the universe, demanding that Jarmon manage to make it back to Vegas before the next day.

"I just said, 'He will be here by 11 p.m.,' and he was," Baker said. "It was hard to believe because he'd only left Los Angeles around 8 p.m. But, there he was, and he hasn't left since."

According to Jarmon, the nagging inclination that he might have made a hasty mistake by leaving Florida so quickly had begun to percolate until he met Baker.

"It's been a long road, man," Jarmon said. "Yeah. It's definitely been a tough one. I've been through a lot, but I guess, who hasn't? But, I'm glad I hung in there."

Jarmon said that while he enjoys living with band mates, things can get a bit intense when it comes to songwriting.

"Everyone here is so passionate," Jarmon said. "Everyone has something to bring to the table, but I think that's what makes us strong. The fact that we will fight it out for what we believe in musically -- even with one another."

While the band has been playing as a group for only three months, the summer gig schedule is a testament to its grunge-infused Southern rock sound.

Band members are enthusiastic about the Sin City buzz, but Jarmon admitted that the ambitions and hopes of Dead American go beyond playing Sin City hot spots for the next 10 years.

"We want to ride this as far as we can," he said. "And if that means we can get a record deal, that would be ideal. I just want to be able to make a living doing something that I love, and I love this."

According to Baker and Jarmon, it's the human experience in general that inspires their songwriting, the soul of their music.

"Are you an American?" Baker asked. "One day, you will be a dead American. That's the point. We're all the same deep down. We hurt. We love. We live. We die. That's what drives our music."

Dead American will play at 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Cheyenne Saloon, 3103 N Rancho Drive. Admission is free.

For more information on the band, visit www.myspace.com/makingearsbleed.

- Spring Valley View