4/21/10

2/15/10

Hey long time no update. Hope everyone had a great Holiday Season and everybody got everything they wanted. Due to my lazy ineptitude I missed my yearly Holiday rant but we've all heard that before. All in all things have been going reasonably well. I'm sure we're getting sick and tired of the winter, I know I am. I'm hoping for the snow to make a hasty exit and the beginning of some nice weather.

<you know the deal>Unfortunaltey I haven't really been listening to any new and different music these days. It seems that everytime I turn on the radio, which is pretty rare, I either hear the same Boston tune or some new formulaic homogenized tuneage that grates on my nerves. A while back I was in the car with my son and he always wants to hear music so I let him run the radio. Well, he puts on a pop station and I have to tell you that every tune I heard had autotune on it! I think this effect while in the beginning had some merit to correct pitch has become such an abused piece of audio processing. Its unbelievably annoying how absolutely cliche it has become. It's kinda funny how he's into a lot of the Hip Hop stuff. I find it kind of disturbing how much cannibalization there is in that genre of music. The sampling is so rampant and pervasive. It would be nice to hear a bit originality. I tried to educate my son with the likes of James Brown who of course is one of the pioneers of the funk genre. What's nice about the old school stuff is the fact that there are actual instruments being played. Nothing can beat a groove delivered by a human. Instead grooves and beats are derived from a machine. I really don't get it. Maybe I'm just too old. </you know the deal>

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The new disk is going well. All the songs are written and the rhythm parts are all tracked. Looks like we have a total of nine tunes. I started working on melody lines and solos. I also have been working on the artwork and have come up with some of the visual counterparts to the music. I have a lot more work ahead but I think it will be worth it.

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Things at UMusic have been slow as far as the band goes. Seems like we're on hiatus for the moment which is ok as it gives me more time to work on my project.

I have actually been recording some of the old Roadhead material over at Jeff's studio for the past couple of months. Things have been going quite well. We have the basics tracked (rhy guitars, bass, drums) for one of our tunes. it's been a fun diversion and quite productive as well. It's also great hanging out with Jeff and Dale again. There's nothing like making music with good friends.

4/21/10

Back again! Things are greening up nicely. Now that makes me happy. I was really starting to get pretty tired of the cold, wet, snowy winter we were having. Hell we even lost power for a couple days due to that crazy wet snowstorm we had a couple months back. I had to break out ye olde generator and get that beast running so we could stay warm! Living in the northeast certainly has its challenges. The good thing is that when the weather does start getting warm you REALLY appreciate it!

And so it begins...the first moronalogue of 2010. (Hey Gary!) This one even has a title ...Chasing The Dragon. (sounds like a cheesy metal tune, but its appropriate). Anyway as one of many bajillions of guitar players out there in the sea of wankery and chromatic hooha I am truly guilty of chasing the dragon. What the hell does this mean you ask? Well as I've continued down this extraordinarily long road of becoming a legitimate player I find that there have been many detours, potholes and dead ends. Now that's not to say that these detours and dead ends haven't been worthwhile its just that I maybe could have streamlined the learning process by avoiding them. Since the interwebz has made this world much smaller and has connected many like minded people it seems that I run across a new "killer" guitarist almost everyday. In addition to that we have the ability to see as well as hear our guitar heroes/influences anytime we want. This can have a positive or detrimental effect on our psyches depending on one's mood at that moment ...but I digress. Ahem ... So what seems to happen is that we want to have the considerable chops that these guys parade in front of us so we set out to find out all about these "new and improved" players. Maybe grab some of their cd's, or buy there books or instructional dvd's, download their tabs and study them etc etc. Now this to a point is good. For one, you are supporting said player (making a living as a guitar player can be a sad state of affairs), and also you see how music is conceived and played through another person's perspective. Going through this process many times, I feel, could have a negative effect on one's playing. It seems like we are always looking for that magic bullet, that mystical secret that only the really good players know about that gives them their godly guitar powers. I have students that come in looking for that "concept" or that "exercise" that will upon 5 minutes of practice take them into the realm of Allan Holdsworth or beyond. (If there is a beyond, beyond Allan). Anyway...The negative effect I'm talking about is the loss of ones identity. Ever listen to a guitar player who sounds exactly like Greg Howe, Allan Holdsworth, Jimi Hendrix or Jeff Beck? I have heard some absolutely uncanny imitators. Frightening really. My argument is, "what's the point?" Wouldn't it be more fulfilling to sound like yourself? Now I'm not railing against the old adage "good guitar players borrow, great guitar players steal." I still think that school of thought holds some water. What I am railing against is the idea of us sacrificing our voices as musicians because we want to be just like *insert name here* You, me and all the other struggling musicians have a lot to offer. We may just not know it yet because we're too busy trying to alternate pick like Steve Morse, sweep like Frank Gambale, and tap like Steve Vai.

I feel like many of you guys do. It seems like we have so far to go. The more we learn the more we have to learn. The more skills we get under our fingers there's always that next phrase/lick that's just out of our reach. Kinda depressing when you think about it. Then I had a semi facilitated epiphany the other day. I was talking to Lou (friend, partner in crime, guitarist extraordinaire etc) and he's a good bit farther down the road than me as far as playing experience. He said play what's in your heart. What sounds good to you is what you should do. Stop worrying about what everybody else is doing. He also pointed out something very important. He said that it seems like each player does one thing and does it well. The example I gave before, Gambale with the sweeping or Brett Garsed with the legato. These guys found their niche, their way of playing, their own fingerprint, their special "thing" that makes them identifiable in style and substance. What's unfortunate is we kinda pigeon hole these guys by their technical specialty as opposed to appreciating their work as a whole (but that's a whole other story). Anyway I guess what it comes down to is to really play for yourself and nobody else. Makes sense when you think about it. Now that being said that doesn't mean we should give up our ambition to conquer the world one note at a time. I just think maybe we should try to play our notes our way instead of somebody else's.

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Like I said last time around all the basics are done on the new disk. I pretty much wrapped up solos/melody lines for 3 songs. There seems to be a lot more guitar work this time around. I'm not really the kind of person to just jam out to the rhythm tracks and hope for the best. I really like to try to come up with some melodically coherent stuff. (At least I like to think so). Progress is good.

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Things at UMusic have been busy. I edited some video of the performances that we did and put them up on the site. You can check 'em out here. We also recently had a Improv Workshop that was videotaped and edited. Please have a look and see if it would be something you may be interested in. We recently had an Applied Theory workshop which was great. Video to come!

5/21/10

I'd like to take some time to recognize two great losses to the music/entertainment industry that happened recently. Peter Steele and Ronnie James Dio.

Peter Steele:
I got into Type O in the 90's, probably when most of us did, when they released the seminal Bloody Kisses album. I remember when I first listened to the disk and was a bit taken back by this whole dark gothic, semi religious, vampiresque imagery and sound thing. I found Steele to be a charismatic front man and later found out that he was a bit of an unwilling front man at that. His look, vibe and vocals were intimidating and yet melancholic and but still fucking cool. His lyrical imagery generally dealt with love, loss, addiction and anarchy. Most importantly I don't think I had heard anyone in metal sing in that low a register before. I was used to the operatic or screaming style of singing that was the norm. The music I thought was facinating as well. Downtuned buzzsaw guitars. Distorted bass and pipe organ based keyboards provided a dirge like backdrop for Steele to sing about his dead girlfriends, vampire dreams and killing all the white people. That said TON were probably one of the most sarcastic bands to ever exist. They called themselves "four dicks from Brooklyn", they never took themselves too seriously. They put their first label Roadrunner on the map with the groundbreaking Bloody Kisses and from there never really deviated from their goth/punk/metal formula which propelled them to stardom. As with all bands there were some problems and unfortunatley most of them rested on Steele's shoulders. He suffered from clinical depression, drank to excess and indulged in recreational narcotics. All of these things, I think, probably contributed to his early death at the age of 48. He received help for his depression and checked into a hospital for his drug use. Unfortunatley he also got checked into jail for assault. Upon release his family and friends staged an intervention and insisted that he check into a mental institution to get additional help. Later on he became a self professed Roman Catholic which is somewhat ironic to how the public perceived him. Before he died he was in the midst of a long period of sobriety and was getting ready to write a new record upon signing with new label SPV. I feel he was a great writer, performer and a cool piece of my musical vocabulary. RIP Peter Steele, you are missed indeed.

Ronnie James Dio:
I wasn't really a huge fan of Dio's but I respected his work and his work ethic but most importantly I respected him as a person. I never met him or went out of my way to buy his records as I felt it was never my taste but from what I've read in interviews and also from talking to his fans he was a genuine guy and someone you would want in your corner. I was saddened by his untimely death and it got me thinking about him and I decided to do a bit of research. It turns out that he was 67 when he passed. I didn't think he was anywhere near that age! That piqued my curiosity even more. I wanted to find out about this guy's long and illustrious career.

Ronnie released his first record/single in 1958. Yep 1958! The band was Ronnie and the Redcaps. He initially played bass in the band and then moved over to front the band later on. In 1961 they changed there name to Ronnie Dio and the Prophets. This lineup released many singles up until their demise in 1967. In 1969 Dio, then in the band the Electric Elves shortened to Elf, caught the eye of Richie Blackmore. When Blackmore left Deep Purple he called upon Dio and the members of Elf to form Rainbow. Rainbow released their first album in 1975. This is where I think Dio came into his own. He would then release 3 more records with Blackmore and then leave due to Blackmore wanting to take the band in a more commercial direction. A couple of sidenotes: Dio performed on Roger Glover's solo effort, The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast in 1974 and Dio also provided vocals for the songs "Homeward" and "Sitting in a Dream" on an album which featured former Deep Purple vocalists Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale. After leaving Rainbow in 1979 he joined the flagging Black Sabbath replacing Ozzy. They put out the landmark Heaven and Hell record thus revitalizing Sabbath's career. In 1982 he met Vinny Appice and finally formed his own band "Dio" thus starting his enduring solo career. Since then he's worked with notables such as Pat Boone, Tenacious D, and Queensryche (as the voice of Doctor X off of Operation Mindcrime). He briefly rejoined Sabbath for a year or so in 1992 to record Dehumanizer then left to resume his solo efforts. After many tours and records he then rejoined Sabbath one last time in 2006. They changed their name to Heaven and Hell for legal reasons and put out the wildly popular album, The Devil You Know. They had a great tour and were looking forward to recording new material when Ronnie was diagnosed with stomach cancer. This unfortunatley spelled the beginning of the end.

Like I said at the top of the column, I wasn't what you would call a real Dio fan. But that doesn't mean that I can't appreciate his talent, perseverance and body of work. He was a true cornerstone in the metal community and for that he will be missed.

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The new cd is going well. Solos are done for 4 songs! Man this is a lot of work!

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Things at UMusic have been going well. I edited some workshop videos check them out here!