by Bruce Sullivan

When Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience touched down for their spectacular performance at Boston’s Orpheum Theater last November, few knew that it carried with it an unlikely budding rock star: 36 year old local bassist Michael Devin. Devin, a longtime Leominster resident, graduated from LHS in 1992 and went on to earn degrees from UMass and Emerson. As the song goes, his future was wide open. But Michael was determined to chase his musical dreams, and in August of 1999, with the help of a friend, he loaded a U-Haul, headed out to LA, and never looked back.

While in LA, Devin earned a tour with Kenny Wayne Shepherd and played with Lynch Mob. But there were lean times as well. “I have endured the worst of living situations in order to follow the muse,” shares Devin, but through it all he maintained his dream. “Perseverance or success comes from having faith, a strong will, and wanting something badly enough. I don’t want to push a pencil. I want to rock a stadium. No offense to pencil pushers.”

That dream was well established during his youth in Leominster. “I’m from ? a factory town, where hard rock dominates the radio. There I absorbed Zeppelin, Sabbath, Purple, AC/DC, Floyd. I got my hands on a bass at age 12.”* In 1988, Michael was left home when big sister Kelly went to the [then] Worcester Centrum to see David Coverdale’s Whitesnake. “But his sister bought him the tour t-shirt, and he wore that shirt out,” explains Devin’s mother Lisa. He listened to WAAF, caught shows at The Lucky Dog, and had a high school rock band. But while most musicians give up on rock-star dreams, Devin never did.

Last summer, Devin’s perseverance paid off. Following a nerve-wracking audition alongside legendary vocalist David Coverdale, Whitesnake announced the addition of Michael Devin on bass guitar. And lightning was about to strike twice for the kid from Leominster.

Shortly after the announcement, Devin was granted an audition for Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience, and he nailed it as well. As JBLZE guitarist Tony Catania explained backstage, “He was incredible. We never even asked him any questions; we just gave him the job on the spot.”

With JBLZE, Devin played before thousands in 30 cities throughout North America. Devin tells Pulse, “The JBLZE tour was a marvelous ride and a great success. ? I’m just a kid from Leominster and it’s amazing to see the world opening up like this.”

Things are about to get even more exciting for Devin in 2011. Whitesnake will be touring throughout Europe, Britain, and Russia. But before you think that this Leominster kid may have gone all Hollywood, it doesn’t take long to realize he’s still one of us. “It’s a packie, not a liquor store. They’re jimmies, not sprinkles. ‘Wicked’ is still said before any adjective and Dunkin’ rules over Starbucks every time.”

www.whitesnake.com

Photo by Jamie Goguen