Secret Skill: Saxophone
CM Punk

“I want to say I started playing in the fifth grade. I picked the saxophone because as far as rentals went it was the cheapest. I chose an alto, and it was also the wind instrument that sounded most like the human voice, which I thought was very interesting. Reading sheet music was the hardest part about it, though. If you were into punk rock in the mid-1990s, then chances are you were also into third-wave ska music. I just liked it—you could shake and dance around in a different way than you could a hardcore show. What’s not to like about that? So to make a short story even shorter, many years ago, before I started this career, I briefly played with a local band called Hot Stove Jimmy. You’ve probably never heard of them. Their sound could be categorized as Chicago jump-up ska, from that very same third-wave ska revival. I was friends with a lot of guys in the band. One day, their saxophone player moved to Denver and, as a joke, the drummer asked, ‘do you still have your trumpet?’ even though I played the sax. They told me to bring it to practice. I wound up practicing with them but never too seriously. Eventually, they told me I wasn’t that good. That was fine; I was going to be a wrestler anyway. I’m sure I’ll play again someday. I can probably play whatever, a little of this or a bit of that. I was never very good at reading sheet music, but if I can hear it I can probably figure it out. The question was posed to me, ‘If you had to name a ska band after a wrestler, what would you call it?’ The answer to that question is an easy one. Skamala, of course!”