Saturday, March 25, 2006

I Wrote a Song About a Train One Time...

Tonight I started work on my seperate project from The Human Fund...I met up with my friend Chris who plays the keyboards, and dabbles in a few other instruments (including the Ukelele), and we talked over some ideas and jammed on some of my new originals, a few of my old favorites, and some covers we both enjoyed...We swapped some influences and gave each other some listening homework and an overall good vibe was shared.

We have plans to record some stuff together and see how that goes, and of course to play some shows together as well...We will be starting off small playing coffee houses and whatnot until we are ready to move up from there. Much like the situation I am in with The Human Fund.

Chris is of course, very busy...as it turns out, most people have to have jobs and cannot devote their lives to playing music with me. But because it is just Chris and I, it will be very easy for him to learn the material on his own using stuff I have recorded and fake sheets and whatnot. It will be a fun learning experience and a new outlet for me to try some new things.

I would love to say that I foresee one giant project forming out of the two, and good things coming out of everything, but I dont like to make predictions cause they lead to expectations and that can trap you in a corner.

One thing I know is that there was some drama surrounding the formation of this side project and things were taken out of context and communication barriers were not overcome for a while. Things have been worked out, and I am trying not to keep everyone in the dark about what I am thinking...But I am much more motivated about everything, even moreso then before, but I also have a general understanding of the fact that it is going to take time before I try to jump into anything too big. Id rather do it right, then be unprepared when the time comes, especially because we are somewhat going through a transitional phase, or at least heading into one in the near future. There is no telling what will happen, who is staying and who is going, and what will be left. But they are a great bunch of guys and a great bunch of musicians, and as long as we are in the same vicinity, I imagine we will be playing music together in some form. I wouldnt be on the same level without them, and that goes for all of them...

Im not one to worry about the future, as I have said numerous times in this blog...but I do hope everything works out for everyone...and most of all I hope I can maintain all this creativity and experimentation and overall drive to try new things without stepping on anyones toes...and I hope everyone understands my need for something new...and most of all I hope they understand that doesnt mean discarding the old...

So anyways keep your eyes peeled for a number of things...

  • The Human Fund Demo - We are working on trying to get a handful of songs tracked out before Picnic Day, so we will have something to hand out to everyone...Its gonna take some time and a lot of hard work, but we will be doing everything we can...Ryan and I have already started laying down the drum tracks...
  • The New Project - I will be working with Chris on doing some recording on this stuff as well...Once we get some stuff worked out keep your eyes peeled for a new myspace site, and other such things dedicated to said project. It will be a while, but like I said the wheels are in motion.
  • New Material - I have been trying to write a lot more and will be writing new songs for both projects. Some may even be shared and tweaked one way or the other. Also keep your eyes peeled for more covers, cause we need to expand our library a bit...I hope you all like the Cars!
  • More Shows - Of course I will be doing what I can to get shows more and more, and with both projects getting off the ground, there will essentially be twice as much to see. Once we get our demos recorded, we will be lookin to branch off into the Bay Area and other bigger better places nearby...

Well Im done talkin shop...I hope this has been informative, and even moreso I hope I can live up to all the hype I just laid out on the table...

Monday, March 13, 2006

Chro-Monica Man

Its hard having so much going on in your head at once, especially when you dont know how to interpret a lot of it. I have a shitload of ideas kickin around inside dealing with my music and what to do and what not to do, but I dont really understand any of them...and I am still struggling to even obtain the means to extract them out of my skull without fracturing anything.

Sometimes I have a hard time dealing with the fact that I dont have complete creative control over my current band...and even if I did, I dont know enough to be able to take charge and plan out everything exactly how I want it.

To help this problem I am starting to do a lot more on my own, which includes a lot of just learning more of my instrument and even taking up new ones as well. I am hoping to learn how to get my ideas in expressable form to everyone else I work with and make things go the way I see them in my head...whatever that is.

I suppose there will always be compromises to make, especially in the current situation I am in. I know that I will never have complete control over the Human Fund, and maybe thats what has been bothering me so much lately. Maybe I want said control...but I honestly wouldnt know what I was doing if I got it, and the band would be nowhere without the contributions of the other members. But even so, that desire for that artistic control is there.

My solo working will help me gain a better perspective of the whole thing and hopefully will only help the band, and my career as a musician. Unfortunately there is no way to tell what will happen down the road, and for once in my life that bothers the shit out of me. I have never been one to worry, and I certainly have never been one to jump ahead of myself...Ive always flown by the seat of my pants. But this music is different for me. I am trying my best to strive forward and make this shit in my head expressable exactly how I need it to be expressed. And I dont even know what that is...Is this why most artists go insane?

There is just an endless amount of things I can do, but there is only one way to do it right in my head...If I knew how to get that idea out of my head, I would be a lot happier with the end product. I mean I love playing music no matter what it is, or where it is...and I especially love playing with the guys I currently play with...but my search for my sound is not even near completion and its gonna take a lot of exploration in the music world to find it.

I have accomplished a lot as a songwriter in the past months, but I want to accomplish more as a musician and an artist.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Remember The Alamo?

No not that really shitty movie starring Dennis Quaid and Billy Bob Thornton as Davey Crockett...Man that movie sucked...

Moving on, I recently visited the lovely state of Texas and spent some time doing all sorts of things like playing softball, going to dueling piano bars, and visiting overrated zoos. I did have a lot of fun and drank more booze in one week then I have in months.

Softball was fun even though I sucked up the place offensively...including a one-strike strikeout in overtime. However I did make a sweet tag out at the plate (I was catcher) to keep us from losing in the bottom of the 7th. Of course if Texans could play centerfield we wouldnt have been in such a pickle to begin with.

Pete's Dueling Piano Bar was sweet. It consisted of a couple prolific piano players leading drunken sing-a-longs for tips and just for the sake of a good time. I even got to shoot the shit with one of the piano players and we talked of music and bands and such. Dwight got hammered and we all sang a song about his little penis while he sat on the piano telling one piano player that his sister was lousy in bed. Little did everyone know, Dwights nickname is Girth Brooks for a reason. So if you have a Pete's Dueling Piano Bar near you, make sure you give it a visit sometime.

And as for the Fort Worth Zoo I have to say its a bit overrated. I mean its obvious they did a nice job organizing it and there are a lot of cool activities for little kids like rhino-go-karts or something like that, and a mini-train ride through the 'safari'. Of course it ought to be really nice considering they charged an arm and a leg to get inside. It was close to eleven bucks for adults to get in. So yeah it was setup nice, but I found the animals to be lacking overall. Sure I did get to see a monitor and a hippo...A couple animals I havent seen yet and often think of eating, but I wasnt too impressed with the overall selection. They had some giraffes which are always cool, but they seemed a bit short. Dont get me wrong it wasnt too bad...and if it wasnt so overpriced and overrated as one of America's Best Zoos, I would have been quite impressed.

So Texas was fun. My asshole is still suffering from all the beer and mexican food, but I still had a blast. It was good to see Dwight again and its always good to see Sparky. Dwight's house looks awesome from the model home he showed us and I cant wait to live in it someday. Or at least visit it a lot and kill that stupid fatass cat he loves so much.

But for now its back to the music and we have our first show tomorrow night at a small club/bar. I am excited. I have also been thinking of doing some more solo stuff because the other band members school schedule is so demanding right now. I am putting some serious thought into doing a lot more solo acoustic shows and possibly even recording an acoustic album. I think I will do some experimenting with recording it on my laptop and try to learn a few things about the software I own, as well as the overall science of mixing silence and sound...