Slow moving band mates
I’ve had a few people to contact in the last week or so, and had some really good and positive exchanges over email, it’s been a slow process but I’m starting to move towards meeting people (my working situation makes it slow). Quite excited about a drummer I’ve had really good communication from and a singer songwriter who I don’t think will do “my” thing, but seems worth meeting up with, chatting more about doing something different, he seems keen and well structured in his approach. Had contact from a bass player who seems like a really nice lad, however I’m a bit worried about this as on research he’s a young guy, really young and I’m a fair bit older so I don’t think he’ll either want to play with me, or want to play the sort of thing I want to play (looks very emo) but that said lets find out, don’t know to you ask and meet up. Had some other responses too, but they have either been no-go from the start or taking a really long time to progress. It’s shocking how few people will talk to you without you sending them at least three tracks (and by the way if you are asking for tracks to be emailed to you STOP using yahoo and hotmail address that can’t take big files, get a proper email account, you want me to take you seriously yet you have a limited free email account called metal_maniac_238472394@freemail.com – it’s a two way street you know). What happened to the good old days, of meeting up, seeing if you where on the same page personally, then jamming, rather than expecting people starting a new project to have amazing quality recordings up front before people will talk to you. Most of the people I’ve met who have asked for these sort of pre-requisits have sucks as musicians, it’s the ones that are just keen to talk/meet/play any way that I’ve had the best response from (few exceptions to the rule if you’re one of the guys I’m meeting who asked for tapes).
(note just realised I called them “tapes” – I’ll not change that, but just keep it for ammusment of how things have changed. That was a genuine typo though. )
Studio vamp and a failure in time and history
Working away from home is taking it’s toll on my musical aspirations, I’m not far enough away to warrent taking a guitar up, but I’m not close enough to home to sit down beyond having a fiddle. I’m trying to make a forced effort to sit down and play beyond pleasure, but stuggling. A big part is my playing and recording environment, it’s been a mess for god knows how long and I’ve never quite been %100 happy with the layout and setup. The past few weekends, bar a few nights out I’ve taken to updating some of the gear and re-arranging my space. It’s %80 there, the gears bought, updated and in place, and it’s getting a much better and tider/spacious layout where a mic cable can be laid out without the fear of pulling every item of every shelf down, and it can stay there for longer than a few days. If this doesn’t make it easier for me to sit, play, write and record I don’t know what will.
I’ve had contact this week from a Bass player and a female singer, as well as follow ups from a guy doing his own recordings. Not much to say on them as it’s very early doors, but hopefully a meet up with them next week will be productive.
Guitars, Pedals, Amps, Voodoo, Magic
A big part of last year was spent trying new pedals and amps out to gain new sounds, I learnt a lot. Different pedals can work differently with different amps, they can sound mega with one amp and dirt with another. I’ve also discovered the Pete Cornish signal chain bible which not only enforced some aspects I did know, but taught me a new thing or two. I know I’ve mentioned this a few times in my blogs about the experiences of trying new things but for me it’s worth mentioning and journaling again simply because how wide a difference it can bring.
I had a Les Paul moment this year and actually swapped my double neck and Sambora strats for a Gibson VOS series Les Paul Jnr in TV yellow. If I was going to dip a toe back into the Gibson water it wasn’t going to be for another Les Paul standard, despite how good they are. I always liked the Les Paul Jnr’s and loved the TV yellow colour but never managed to get them to work for me due to the type of music I was playing at the time. So this time it’s time to try something new.
Gibson Les Paul Jnr
I’m loving it, it’s got a fat neck and really works well with melody driven lines, the P90 brings out that classic 60′s/70′s sound. So far I’ve not written anything on it, but that’s down to a lack of sitting down with it, rather than not being able to use it.
I’ve also dipped back into pedals, I picked up a reasonably hard to find Frantone Cream Puff pedal. This gives a really really rich fuzz / light driven sound, a sound that in my teenage years I would have laughed at however now I like. I don’t think it’s a sound that you could write an album for, but for a riff, solo or song it works well. If I use this with my Fender Blues Deville amp and a Strat I get the exact sound John Mayer uses on the Crossroads track on Battle Studies. As I say, a core sound it’s too much, but I’ve used it for a solo on a song idea and love it.
I'm man enough to play a pink pedal
I also picked up an Ibanez 70′s Flanger, it’s battered to high hell and it sounds fantastic but in the off position it’s a complete tone sucker so has to be used with a looper, it’s battery connection is knackered due to it’s age so it’s quite badly behaved and I can’t find an adaptor to fit with with my Diago Power chain. That said it’s ace, I do love vintage pedals. Not really used it yet though in song writing or live (due to it being so hammered).
Work in progress is the Bogner Alchemist head This is essentially a clean fender with a vintage marshall dirty amp in a modern day packaging. It’s got a good reverb and delay effect in built. I’m trying to get a dealer to get one of these in stock so I can actually sit down and play it.
Affordable Two Rock ?
Then there is the holy grail…..the Two Rock custom reverb amp, this is the beast, the best clean sound I’ve ever heard, bar none. It’s price tag is something that’s quite restrictive to mortals. This year could be the year I find enough non-allocated cash.
Good news on the pedal front, the Way Huge Aqua Puss analog delay pedal, the one that stopped production many many years ago and can change hands for as much as £500+ due to their quality and rarity, are being re-released for what appears to be a pretty reasonable price tag of approx £140. They are expected to be re-released in early Feb 2010, in which case in February, if you check this very site you’ should hopefully see a post saying “I’ve got my Aqua Puss pedal”
The search for tone and sounds continues…..not bad for a guy who only every used a driven sound and no pedals.
First re-write of the year – First non re-write of the year
Towards the middle/end of last year I finished a song, which was quite driven by a guitar riff, the style was rock with a twang of country, a bit too much country on reflection. I listened back to it and decided the country element was way too much for over all tone of the song. So I’ve kept the concept and the lyrics, the main riff and left the chorus well alone, but I’ve started re-writing the song, rolling off the country vibe. I’m still recording the demo versions with a Telecaster so it still has the country twang to it, and the main riff is hanging around so it’s more the verse section. That said changing the verse so far has impacted the way the drums work and thus changed the song in quite a large way. So far I think it’s for the better.
As I sat down tonight re-listening to songs that where written last year and working on songs for this year I listened to one, a more slow blues based track and the positive side of this is upon listening back, I’m not going to change this at all, I’m happy with it and I think it’s the first track that’s made it to the proper demo recording process.
So far I’ve only made firm decisions on two songs, one partial re-write, and one firm tick in the box, time to go back to listening.
Absence, Loss, 2010
I’ve been away from my blog for a while now. Significant things in my life happened and changed things that made me not want to write anything or play any music for a while. I lost a close family member recently that just took me away from pretty much all that I enjoy. I took a break from doing anything musically and really didn’t do much “fun” whlie I digested all that had gone on, yes I picked up a guiar and on occasion played the piano but only as a way of relaxing or distraction, nothing serious or structured, or even with thought behind it. 2010 has now arrived and anyone who reads this is of course wished a happy new year, with the poor performance of my own personal goals in 2009 and my own family loss I feel I failed and in general not had a good year. I have raised the bar in some areas for 2010 and lowered some in an attempt to be more productive and progress further with my goals. I’m not really someone who makes new years resolutions but this year I’ve set myself a few, I’m not going to open them for discussion, reading or critisism as they are personal to me. I will update at the end of the year in how I got on.
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