Hello, to the world of those who may actually care. My name is Aaron Hug. I’ve been going by Ion Orb since I started my music lifestyle up again in September 2024. I recently recorded my first 3 songs in 12 years. Here is a synopsis of my musical story:
I started playing guitar at the age of 17. Unfortunately, too late in the game to get good enough with such confidence to be writing quality music by the time I was out of high school. I wanted to start earlier, around 13 years old, but when I asked my mom for a guitar, she said no. When I began playing at 17 years old, I practiced like a madman, from 4 to 8 hours a day for well over a year.
At 19 years old, I played some open mics in the Philadelphia area. I couldn’t ever record, though, because it was too expensive at that time. Plus, working full-time on an $800 monthly income doesn’t leave you anything extra to buy things you want.
Around 22 years old, I gained enough confidence in my writing skills to play out as much as I possibly could. I recorded a demo under the Sintaxxx name in Philly around 2003 with the help of 2 friends. I didn’t put much effort into it as I felt a demo is a demo, and I would produce something great when it came to a real studio album. That never came to be. I would have needed a dedicated band to play the sound I had envisioned, to which I never had. It’s not to say that I didn’t try. I would say that I’ve met up with hundreds of musicians just trying to find mates that were right. Sometimes I would drive hours to jam with another musician, but nothing ever came of it. So, I stopped playing at 24 years old.
In 2009, while living in Oakland, CA, I finally decided to buy a cheap $200 digital 8-track and record a handful of instrumental tracks. With the help of a drum machine, I recorded all the instruments and engineered music for my first time ever. I only handed the demo out to a few people. A couple of those tracks are on my SoundCloud, ‘Killer in a Jam’ and ‘Zizzy Wong’.
Life of music then took me to year 2012. My life was in complete disarray, but music helped me rise above it. I started recording songs with lyrics and spread my demo out on record store countertops in San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley. I played a bunch of open mics and went to Los Angeles for a month. There I was, an aimless wanderer, getting my kicks on the backs of my Visa and Mastercard. While taking a catnap at Silver Lake Park, on another perfect LA afternoon, I remembered a conversation that I had with a friend of mine. What did I want to do in life? Play music and…see CHUCK BERRY! There was still time to do so too. I got on my first ever smartphone and bought a ticket to see him at Blueberry Hill in his very own Duck Room. I zipped across the country as if my life’s destiny was to partake in but one event.
Ole Saint Lou provided the most wicked lightning storm and heat I’d ever experienced in my life. And oh yeah, I got to see Chuck play at one of his last ever performances. Shortly thereafter, he did a rare interview in which he told Rolling Stone magazine that his hearing was failing and his hands could barely move anymore. I did get to experience one notable connection with Chuck besides just seeing him play a life-changing set. Going into Chuck’s final song, he asked the packed crowd, ‘Do you want to hear ‘My Ding-a-Ling’?’ The crowd went wild with excitement, screams, and cheers of yes, Yes, YES! One lone voice in the crowd let out a baritone, solemn no. That voice was my own. For those that don’t know, Chuck never listens to anyone but himself—go ask Keith Richards. Yet, on that fantastic night in the Duck Room, Chuck Berry decided to listen to a singular nobody in the crowd. He then tore into a song that may have been improvised and was the coolest sound I may have ever heard in my life. He also had a kind word about me that may be the most significant thing anyone has ever claimed of me.
During that time, many people were saying I should check out Nashville, TN, and when I arrived there, I was lost. I had nowhere to stay and nothing to do. I found a place with free rent and decided to record an album with the same cheap 8-track recorder I had previously. It was only the 3rd time I ever tried recording and mixing, and my first time ever mastering music. For what it’s worth, it came out ok, considering I didn’t know the first thing about engineering music. It was called ’Serotonin’ and I regard it as a full-length demo. A good microphone would have made all the difference. I tried to get booked gigs, and two gracious locations in all of Nashville allowed me to do so. I also tried to get booked on glorified open mics called Writer’s Rounds but was denied by all but one location. If you want to see a person fail, take away their options. Without being able to play gigs, I stopped trying again.
Then in 2019, while living in Phoenix, AZ, I bought some new cheap recording equipment with the thought of recording again. I didn’t until 2024.
In July and August of 2023, I wrote around 25 songs. I recorded them on video with my phone all within a few days of writing them and posted them on social media. I am and was living in Austin, TX, and because I was unemployed, I had the time and energy to get out and hesitantly play the mics again. I played hundreds of open mics in my early 20s and really didn’t want to do that again. I reached out to about a dozen dive bars in Austin, TX, but nobody responded with saying I could perform. One bar owner did respond and told me that he listened to my music and that I wasn’t good enough to play.
Not only do I know that I am good enough to play, but I know exactly to the extent that I can play and write. Especially given the fact that I’ve picked up and played my guitar a total of about 2 years in the last 20. I also know that I have the ability to exponentially get better at things I have a passion for. If I were given a routine opportunity, my guitar playing, singing, and songs overall would be a million times better by now.
I recently had a conversation with a friend that made me decide to buy some new equipment to start recording again. That was in September 2024. I withdrew my tiny 401k life savings to purchase the equipment and software to do so. I still had to do all the instruments, recording, mixing, and mastering by myself. I did have someone help with the drums, but I recorded the drum parts with my fingers on an AKAI Mini and sent it to him to learn the beats.
I contacted college radio stations before my first release, and I only got one response from a music director at the University of Austin radio station. He told me my mix wasn’t good enough to be played. On college radio! Ha. Don’t they have a locals or a new bands segment? I let him know that it will never be what it can be if I have to do everything on my own. He also knew perfectly well that it was my 4th time ever attempting to record or mix music in my life. He was actually trying to help, I think, but you know what would actually help? Play my songs a bunch, and then when you’re done, play them a bunch more.
So you see, I’ve been faced with a resistance in life. It’s these gatekeepers, no matter how small, that determine the world’s cultural reality and overall reality in other factions of life. By all vantage points and standards, they aren’t going to find another Hendrix, Bowie, or Dylan anytime soon with the way in which they operate. May I recommend adding a Disney segment to your College Station programming? After all, they have enough money to pay their engineers millions of dollars to produce the best sounding mixes possible. I personally don’t like the way those mixes sound, but apparently the sheep do. This may be a better question: do you know how many seriously, and I mean SERIOUSLY shitty bands are given the opportunity to play tons of live gigs and get their songs on college radio?
That takes us to where we’re at now in the tail end of February 2025. I’ve spent every waking hour since September 2024 learning how to record, mix, and master better. Spending 12+ hours on my days off from work to do so. Not to mention, I had to do the recordings of all the instruments and vocals. In total, I probably now have 6 months of experience with all of that. If all I am going to get from those in power, and with the ability to let me play a show at a shitty dive bar, or play my songs on college radio is negative, well, I guess I don’t want to be a part of the sour existence they’ve created for the world anyway.
$250 isn’t that much money to fundraise to make me feel like continuing my craft. I will record another song if I reach that goal. Consider it a donation to the real music fund. I will also continue recording if I could just get a string of gigs opening for someone. Or, just a bunch of verified plays on college radio and/or podcasts. Or if bandmates would come out of the woodwork in Austin or are willing to relocate here. Otherwise, I’m finished again, possibly this time indefinitely or at least for another 10 years if I make it that far.
I had 5 albums named and planned out going way back to my early 20’s. The ‘Serotonin’ album should be redone, too, as it would be great to prove that it was a diamond in the rough. The current album is called ‘Password’. It somehow has become what would be a double album with around 25 songs on it. If I can finish one song every month and a half to three months, I can probably get it done by the end of 2026 or 2027 sometime. I feel that there are still better songs than the three I just finished, only waiting to be recorded. This album is fairly special, to me, but it’s my next album that will be a true marvel. I hope to eventually get to make it.
The choice is yours. I leave it up to the few or the many. I can only do so much alone. Remember this: the smallest choices we make today forge all paths in our longest of tomorrows. So, choose wisely. The world reaps what it sows. Which, to no surprise, is precisely why the world is such a shit show.
Ion Orb
The Day My Music Died
Come Back To Me
The Look In Your Eyes
The following videos are demo cuts of music I wrote in July 2023. These videos were recorded within a few days of writing them.
‘The Look in Your Eyes’
“Stormy Glue”
‘Your Love Is Calling Me’
‘Don’t Cry To Me’ (its only world war 3)
‘That Great Big Ole Spaceship’
‘Jester Without A Mask’
‘The Ghost is your Face”
‘Heaven in Her Eyes’
‘The Day My Music Died’
‘All Our Days Will Be Sunshine’
‘Come Back To Me’
‘May Springtime Never Bloom’
‘Poor Boy On His Own’
‘The Light Will Guide Me’
‘All Her Love is Gone’
‘Every Road’
