Nick hits it on the nail yet again. What a guy. Sigh.
The other day there was a joke fest going on about all of us who play crazy punk rock type stuff now who grew up listening to ridiculous soft rock or mainstream drivel or what-have-you. It is also regularly true that, at CJ rehearsal, someone will mention this or that band in a "well of course everyone knows this band or this album" and my answer 100% of the time is "I've heard of them, but have no idea what they sound like." This is always met with total disbelief and a not-so-subtle sense of "well you really kind of suck."
How this happened I do not know. I bought 2 cds a week in the summers of 1990 and 1991. This is the basis of my frame of reference...and yet I don't even know half the bands in the genres that I was glued to from those summers. My music collection now is 100s deep...but I know almost nothing. I had big brothers with great taste and also was glued to my radio throughout the 70s and 80s. But until a few years ago I could not have even told apart AC/DC, Led Zep, and The Who. I can tell them apart now only because you really can't take rock drum lessons and not learn that.
I think that my musical background is narrow...but deep. I know a great deal about the bands that I know about...and I know nothing else.
I really don't know how it is that people read every comic book, watched every movie, and listened to every album that ever came out. And still have time to know about cars or their jobs or educations or what have you. Clearly I mis-spent my youth daydreaming about cute girls.
Anyway...who are my song-writing or instrument-playing influences? Fuck I don't think I have any. I steal what I can but basically do whatever comes out. It's probably a mis-mash and I barely understand enough to even be ABLE to copy others.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Long Notes
It has always bugged me that I can't hold the last note in Debaser for the full 15 seconds. Likewise, that I have to take breaths during the intro to River Euphrates and its 20 seconds of "ride". Now, I'm learning The Happening and it has 18 second long notes...and you have to do them up to 12 times consecutively. So it is like note-for-18-seconds-big-breath-another-18-second-note...and that goes on for nearly 2 minutes.
I've never been good about doing vocal exercises or breathing exercises or even about practicing my vocal parts. I hate singing in front of people. I also hate trying to mimic someone who has one of the best voices in rock and who I personally look up to a bunch. I mean...I love doing it...I just hate that anyone else has to hear it.
But I recognize too that I'm usually too hard on myself. In point of fact, no one in the world but me cares if I nail these vocals. We do a pretty good job with the songs in general, so I think that the average listener's brain fills in the missing bits. Essentially we sound like them...and they (the listener) don't know the songs as well as we do anyway...so they probably could not tell you how accurate we are.
This morning I went looking for a live clip of Debaser where she holds the note the whole time. I've been on this search before, so I know that there is evidence out there. But this morning the first four examples I found were these. In the first three she bails really quickly. In the last, she tries, but runs out of breath right about where I always do.
This last one I find particularly endearing, because she's doing what I'm doing...which is trying to reproduce the record.
Here's any interesting twist...Charles comes in and covers the breath and drops out when she's got it again. After watching several vids from the Doolittle tour, this seems to be the way that they resolved it. She takes the first 4 bars, he covers the second, then she comes back in. It actually looks like sometimes they traded back and forth for all four times through the progression.
Anyway, the moral of the story is...it's hard. And it doesn't matter. But what else is there in life but to sweat the small stuff?
I've never been good about doing vocal exercises or breathing exercises or even about practicing my vocal parts. I hate singing in front of people. I also hate trying to mimic someone who has one of the best voices in rock and who I personally look up to a bunch. I mean...I love doing it...I just hate that anyone else has to hear it.
But I recognize too that I'm usually too hard on myself. In point of fact, no one in the world but me cares if I nail these vocals. We do a pretty good job with the songs in general, so I think that the average listener's brain fills in the missing bits. Essentially we sound like them...and they (the listener) don't know the songs as well as we do anyway...so they probably could not tell you how accurate we are.
This morning I went looking for a live clip of Debaser where she holds the note the whole time. I've been on this search before, so I know that there is evidence out there. But this morning the first four examples I found were these. In the first three she bails really quickly. In the last, she tries, but runs out of breath right about where I always do.
This last one I find particularly endearing, because she's doing what I'm doing...which is trying to reproduce the record.
Here's any interesting twist...Charles comes in and covers the breath and drops out when she's got it again. After watching several vids from the Doolittle tour, this seems to be the way that they resolved it. She takes the first 4 bars, he covers the second, then she comes back in. It actually looks like sometimes they traded back and forth for all four times through the progression.
Anyway, the moral of the story is...it's hard. And it doesn't matter. But what else is there in life but to sweat the small stuff?
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
A Rare Case of Patting Myself on the Back
This weekend I was out supporting a friend who had a cd release show. The premiere local ska band rounded out the bill. I cozied up to the bass player and asked about sharing a bill sometime. He knows me as a drummer, and I suspect he thought I was drumming in the ska band. He asked what we were like. I said, "Oh we play stuff by Mustard Plug...Mighty, Mighty Bosstones...Streetlight Manifesto..." He stopped me. "Streetlight Manifesto?!?! Man, those are some hard basslines. I could never play that stuff. It's really fast."
So basically the person I thought I ought to aspire to play like told me I play better than he does. That's pretty cool.
It also tells me that we basically started with the hardest stuff out there. Since I was blind to this fact, I just learned it. Had I known I probably would have been too terrified to try. So here's to being blind.
So basically the person I thought I ought to aspire to play like told me I play better than he does. That's pretty cool.
It also tells me that we basically started with the hardest stuff out there. Since I was blind to this fact, I just learned it. Had I known I probably would have been too terrified to try. So here's to being blind.
Friday, February 22, 2013
For Your Edification...
The Academy Is, About a Girl:
Streetlight Manifesto, Somewhere In The Between:
Streetlight Manifesto, Point/Counterpoint:
The Guild, I'm the One That's Cool
Bomb the Music Industry, Future 86:
Bomb the Music Industry, I Don't Love You Anymore:
Hugh Masekela, Grazing in the Grass:
Parliament, Everything is On the One:
Rockwell, Somebody's Watching Me: Black Eye Peas, My Humps: Metallica, Master of Puppets: The Clash, Rudie Can't Fail:
Streetlight Manifesto, Somewhere In The Between:
Streetlight Manifesto, Point/Counterpoint:
The Guild, I'm the One That's Cool
Bomb the Music Industry, Future 86:
Bomb the Music Industry, I Don't Love You Anymore:
Hugh Masekela, Grazing in the Grass:
Parliament, Everything is On the One:
Rockwell, Somebody's Watching Me: Black Eye Peas, My Humps: Metallica, Master of Puppets: The Clash, Rudie Can't Fail:
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Vocal Effects
A very nice closeup I stole off FB.
Related, last night I got a rough mix of a few songs that were recorded live from a CJ show recently. The sound guy pulled everything straight off the board. It probably counts as the closest thing to a legitimate recording that we've ever had (or may ever have in the future, since recording really isn't the main concern of a tribute act). He had the effects turned up super high on RS's voice (perhaps borderline too high) and it made RS sound like magic...like an entirely different person. I kept having to remind myself that I was listening to...well US...because it sounded so otherworldly, polished, and...ahem...professional.
I can't say that it did the same for my little vocal bits, but that's probably just me not being able to listen to myself sing without wanting to vomit. But it is worth remembering that the dry ass, bare-bones, shitty quality mic/PA combos (run by no one at all often) that I'm used to singing through probably do me no favors. Nor the shitty rooms. I'm no great singer...and I'm not trying to make excuses...but even the pros would probably sound a bunch worse under the performance conditions in which I find myself.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
The Sadness...My Amp
So I bought an amp back in spring of 2011 that I thought was perfect. It was an Ampeg BA600 with a 1x15 inch speaker. 600 watts. 35 pounds. It had power, light weight, and a good brand name. It cost me $850. It was going to be my forever amp. It was my first quality equipment purchase.
Every so often, it has seemed like it would cut out, but I chalked it up to bad cables. Then, a rattling/buzzing started at high volume. I've tried to ignore it. I don't think it is under warranty anymore and even if it was, I can't bear the thought of shipping it somewhere.
I looked it up and it sounds like these amps, while Ampeg in name, were made by some other company and the quality control was poor. The screws inside the amps were not quality checked to the proper torque, so when you vibrate the air inside with 600 watts of power, the screws come loose and rattle. Some of them also have a problem with cutting out. It doesn't seem like there is a fix to either problem.
I'm sad, because I was trying to invest in quality equipment and it didn't work out. It sounds like what I'm looking for...high power and low weight...is just a pipe dream. Probably the best solution is a separate cabinet and amp head...and possibly to move to a 2 x 12 configuration instead of a 1x15 or 4x10 in order to save weight. And there's my nagging feeling that any good venue will just DI me anyway...so what is the fucking point of even having a good amp...essentially it is a monitor. Of course, it is true that I play in lots of venues that do not have sound systems that can accommodate a DI bass. Probably for those I can muddle through with what I have or wait to get a good deal.
It is true, though, that I think that bass is going to stick around for a good long time. It would be nice to have something I could rely on. Of course, having a reliable amp is also probably a pipe dream...there will always be speakers or tubes to blow...wires to break...fans to stop and over heat...drunks to spill and drop...and the ever-present threat of theft. All life is impermanence and that goes for music equipment too I guess.
A footnote...which is that, recent bad wire excepted...I have two basses that are easy to play and sound decent and one cost me $100 (w/ practice amp) and the other cost me $75 (w/ practice amp AND a free acoustic guitar thrown in). I fantasize about fancier instruments (or ones that match KiD's)...but the two that I have are really great players and I'm so lucky to have them.
Every so often, it has seemed like it would cut out, but I chalked it up to bad cables. Then, a rattling/buzzing started at high volume. I've tried to ignore it. I don't think it is under warranty anymore and even if it was, I can't bear the thought of shipping it somewhere.
I looked it up and it sounds like these amps, while Ampeg in name, were made by some other company and the quality control was poor. The screws inside the amps were not quality checked to the proper torque, so when you vibrate the air inside with 600 watts of power, the screws come loose and rattle. Some of them also have a problem with cutting out. It doesn't seem like there is a fix to either problem.
I'm sad, because I was trying to invest in quality equipment and it didn't work out. It sounds like what I'm looking for...high power and low weight...is just a pipe dream. Probably the best solution is a separate cabinet and amp head...and possibly to move to a 2 x 12 configuration instead of a 1x15 or 4x10 in order to save weight. And there's my nagging feeling that any good venue will just DI me anyway...so what is the fucking point of even having a good amp...essentially it is a monitor. Of course, it is true that I play in lots of venues that do not have sound systems that can accommodate a DI bass. Probably for those I can muddle through with what I have or wait to get a good deal.
It is true, though, that I think that bass is going to stick around for a good long time. It would be nice to have something I could rely on. Of course, having a reliable amp is also probably a pipe dream...there will always be speakers or tubes to blow...wires to break...fans to stop and over heat...drunks to spill and drop...and the ever-present threat of theft. All life is impermanence and that goes for music equipment too I guess.
A footnote...which is that, recent bad wire excepted...I have two basses that are easy to play and sound decent and one cost me $100 (w/ practice amp) and the other cost me $75 (w/ practice amp AND a free acoustic guitar thrown in). I fantasize about fancier instruments (or ones that match KiD's)...but the two that I have are really great players and I'm so lucky to have them.
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