Ten Toes Up,Living With Music

Common Chords By Randall Hill

Ten Toes Up

One could say they have the ultimate man cave hidden away at a home in a Murrells Inlet neighborhood. Call it what you like, but members of the local band Ten Toes Up call it home.

“To me when we’ve been inland for a few weeks I start to miss it,” said band percussionist Joshua Gregory. “I can smell the salt air when we get to Conway and I’m like (takes a deep breath) I’m home.”

For the last several years the band members - vocalist/guitarist B.J. Craven, bassist Charles Freeman, drummer Adam Miller and Gregory - have shared this beach cottage and use it as the home base and practice studio for the band. It’s a home on stilts with a large screened-in porch with a fresh coat of gray paint.

Inside, a large open room meant to serve as a family area has been converted to a staging area for the band’s creative process. As they rehearse a new song called “Jesse James” about the American outlaw and gang leader, pots and pans from a hanging rack sway to the music above Craven’s head. Motivational charts designed to keep the band on track with creative ideas for songs are posted on the wall.

The place is tidy and organized, but the décor is busting at the seams with maleness. There are big comfy chairs and sofas, and full ashtrays and hot sauce bottles are on the tops of many of the tables in the room.

“This whole band is revolved around our relationships together,” Miller said while sitting on one of the sofas with the band’s mascot - a hound dog named “Bird” - stretched across his lap.

“This is where it all starts,” Miller said about the creative process needed to maintain a jam band. “This is where we live, eat and jam. It’s a struggle at times but there is also going to be a huge payoff somehow. It might not be financial but we’re just going to keep working at it and see what happens.”

Posted by
Randall Hill

Ten Toes Up performs their new song "Set Me On Fire"
at a recent practice session at their home in Murrells Inlet.

Ten Toes Up performs an acoustic version
of their new song "Carolina Mess" at a recent
practice session at their home in Murrells Inlet.

Ten Toes Up performs their new song "Jesse James"
at a recent practice session at their home in Murrells Inlet.