So I thought I’d spend some time working on a new idea I had that may become a song … or an interlude … or something else … anyways I got my practice amp out, strat and effects case and proceeded to hook it all up. I’d recently restrung the strat and had also recently picked up my amp from Mjeb’s place after Theo had kindly brought it back from Tamworth. And here’s the point: I’d not opened my effects case since Tamworth … how could I tell? Probably the extra contents.
You know you've played a country festival when you open your effects case and find hay in it!
Cheers to Sebastian for some optimisation help, we've brought the band website back to speed. Yes!
We've done stuff to the cache, moved the Databases and Site to a new(er) el fantastico web server, re-inserted the search function (yes, look above at the top of the pages, unless I move it, a search function again!) and done some other stuff that you can't see but that is SUPER IMPORTANT TECHNO STUFF!!
I was slightly surprised that we didn't DESTROY THE UNIVERSE whilst making these quantum shifts. The large Hadron Collider is a cakewalk compared our our Dark Web Arts. In fact, we already discovered the Higgs Bosom whilst upgrading a copy of WordPress...hang on...whats that? the Higgs BOSON? Oh.
I have a bit of a confession to make: I am a frustrated drummer. If I could have, I would have been a drummer. I gets excited by tasty drumming. Theo and I have had many conversations raving on about our favourite drummers, drum solos, and songs with great drumming in them.
The other night I was over at Mr Wizard’s for a dose of spaghetti Bolognese followed by a desert of guitar noodling. After we were done working on ideas for the next album we retired to the listening room for a session of “hey check this out … have you heard this live version of … ohh the tone!”. In amongst the Yardbirds, The Allman Brothers, BB King, Rolling Stones we stopped at Muddy Waters. Specifically “Mannish Boy” from the Hard Again album; which brings me to the sound of the bass drum in this recording.
We have all heard many examples of recordings of bass drums. All the time. From the ‘thud’ of a rock bass drum, to the ‘bomm’ of a jazz bass drum. But this was something else. There was just so much detail in the recorded sound. A reliable source tells me that the recording took place in a school class room. No fills. Nothing fancy at all. But executed almost the same every single time. The sound was detailed and the playing was utterly hypnotic.
Ok, first note, the headline's not entirely true, true. Rosie doesn't wear headphones during our long car drives together to remote gigs, he's way too polite.
Ok, he doesn't wear headphones all the time.
And why would he wear headphones? As you, Dear Reader, may have gathered from his blog here, Rosie found my random taste in music somewhat challenging. he said of Skrillex: 'if you liked the sound that your old 56k modem used to make, then this guy is making your kind of music.'
That might be true. I never thought I'd be a Skrillex fan but I came across a song they did with Damian Marley whilst I was burning a pirates hemp crop with a WW2 Flammenwarfer (ok, so I was playing Far Cry 3) - and that's another fascinating insight into how we come across music these days. I have head some Skrillex songs on late night video shows and thought 'mneh' but when I heard it inside my favourite current First Person Shooter I was into it. Here it is:
Now I know this is VERY different to the kind of music we write and play, don't sweat it, it's not our NEW direction, but I have to confess that I am a complete genre traitor and will listen to almost anything if there's something that piques my interest and I dig this song.
Regular readers would have previously seen my blogs on Tuvan Throat Singing and other random interests. So anyway, if you happen to find yourself travelling to Tamworth in the car with me, and I am driving and therefore have Drivers Music Right, you may very well be subjected to some strange musical choices.
Anyway, today I spotted this video on FB, courtesy of Adam Spong, that I thought neatly summed up Rosie's position on Skrillex and the dubstep genre.
WARNING - This video is Hilarious (IMHO) but the cartoon character swears a lot so its NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK unless you wear headphones.
I've been helping Jim Finn and the guys in FINN with some videoclips for their new album.
Yes I know I should be making videos for our stuff (i'm trying!) but this is how we build up the favour bank for our own stuff, by doing stuff for others. Want people to volunteer for your stuff? well ya gotta show the love to get the love :-)
Whilst I was editing a new video for 'bomb the world with kindness' (that video is due out tomorrow, I'll post a link), I came across some footage from NASA and thought 'oh wow, I wish we had a song I could put over this'... and then it dawned on me (no pun intended) that Jim's new album had the perfect candidate, my favourite song from his new album, 'Eden'.
I thought the song was a cracker and it fits over this footage beautifully, plus the whole thing is beautifully in keeping with the message of the song.
Sit back, relax and enjoy Eden. Go full screen, it's awesome. Thanks NASA for public domain footage, it's great.