When I started playing the guitar way back in 1977, like anyone my age and beyond, I had lofty aspirations of becoming a guitar hero in a rock band even then (I dreamt of playing guitar for Suzi Quatro....), then I found Van Halen and Led Zeppelin and these two bands honed my ambition to the point were it would be wrong if I didn't get the chance to be a rock star. To a certain degree I think I managed to slightly pop my name above the thousands of guitar players with the same aspirations, we can't all be Slash can we! Mr. So & So has been the vehicle that my playing has travelled in and I'm thoroughly enjoying it too, I have total freedom in the band, we all do and for that I'm honestly grateful.
So & So has been successful at winning people over when they get the chance to listen to our music but fresh opportunities these days are becoming increasingly rare. We have been blessed with help from the likes of Steve Rothery from Marillion who is a fan and friend of the band and helps us out a lot, getting this kind of help is priceless and has meant the band has more reason to exist than just our love of playing and writing music. Beyond that, it's difficult to get to support some bands just because of the money involved in logistics and in some cases like U2, Radiohead or equally big acts you have to buy onto the tour, it makes sense as its a great way for a support band to raise their profile and sell product but the fees are eye watering, certainly not within the reach of the bands I know personally. It would cost thousands to support say Alanis Morrisette in the UK for just three dates and that's before you've even considered transport, hotels, fuel, food etc.
I'm 41 now and as much as the musical career bus hasn't stopped running yet, it's a lot less regular now. It's Elbow who give me the greatest hope, similarly REM who we're given their break after years of doing what they do, I wrote a song a few years ago called 'Born 20 years to late' and the title sums it up.
I'll be honest though, despite the fact that I've never been able to make playing the guitar my primary income, it's never put me off. As I've grown older, realism has taken over and I think I'm now back to adoring playing rather than desperately trying to be in the biggest band in the world.
Today's listening: Elbow - Build a Rocket Boys!
Thursday 29 November 2012
Monday 26 November 2012
A Day In The Life
I've just had a long weekend, a really good weekend but long. Mr. So & So had a gig with Also Eden on Friday at The Peel in London. It was a good gig and we all enjoyed it, sold some CD's and caught up with some friends too and the audience enjoyed themselves.
I had booked Friday off work for the gig, given the travelling. It started at 8am as I wanted to see my wife before she went to work and also I needed to change the strings on my Strat, I was teaching the night before so left it till the morning. Charlotte was picking Shaun up at 10:30 to meet at my house and we would then get in my car and meet Stu at motorway services, Andy lives down south so he made his own way there. I had to use my smaller rig as I was carrying Shaun's bass rig too as well as the merch (CD's and T-Shirts). They arrived at mine just before 11, we loaded up and made our way down the M6. We had a coffee break when we met Stu at the services and Shaun transferred to Stu's car so each driver had company. We arrived in London at around 3 o'clock and then had the usual wrestle with the traffic in the busiest city in the country. The clutch on my car slipped and for about ten minutes it looked like I would be clutchless for the rest of the journey, thankfully it re-tightened shortly after. We arrived at the venue at 4 and waited for the sound guy to turn up so we could unload the gear, half of Also Eden had arrived at roughly the same time. The sound guy duly arrived at 5 and we began to fill the venue with cases and bags. The gig was a double header, meaning that technically there's no support band, kind of like a double A-side for those old enough to remember them. We elected to go on first as I was in work the following day, though Shaun and Stu we're gear sharing with Also Eden so they would travel back home after the gig. As is the norm with gigs like this the last band sound check first and Also Eden were up playing at about 6:30 and we sound checked at 7:30 till just before 8.
A very quick change of clothes for us and we were on stage at 8:15, the sound was quite good on stage though I couldn't hear any bass or keyboards. The important thing for any band is that you can hear the drummer and the singer and I could hear both so all good there. We played for an hour, oddly our set was about 10 minutes too long and had to drop 'The Visitor', instead we closed with 'You're Coming Home'.
Next up was the part that is always difficult, getting gear off stage - and quickly, there was a 15 minute change over. Charlotte made her way to the merch desk, she's better at selling CD's than the rest of us, leaving us to remove our gear from the stage. At round about 9:30 I was loaded up and had chance for a quick drink of Coke and a catch up with friends before Charlotte and I started our journey back home.
M3, M25, M40 and then a very welcome coffee at 11:30, I was knackered then and knew that I had another couple of hours at least in front of me, though Chazzer could drive if I got too tired. The Motorway was closed at Walsall so we had an hours detour through the midlands before re-joining the motorway. We arrived back at my house at 3am, Charlotte collected her things while I unpacked my gear back into the house, a quick hot chocolate and then I was in bed at 4 and I was back in work at Toneworld at 10 later that morning.
I had booked Friday off work for the gig, given the travelling. It started at 8am as I wanted to see my wife before she went to work and also I needed to change the strings on my Strat, I was teaching the night before so left it till the morning. Charlotte was picking Shaun up at 10:30 to meet at my house and we would then get in my car and meet Stu at motorway services, Andy lives down south so he made his own way there. I had to use my smaller rig as I was carrying Shaun's bass rig too as well as the merch (CD's and T-Shirts). They arrived at mine just before 11, we loaded up and made our way down the M6. We had a coffee break when we met Stu at the services and Shaun transferred to Stu's car so each driver had company. We arrived in London at around 3 o'clock and then had the usual wrestle with the traffic in the busiest city in the country. The clutch on my car slipped and for about ten minutes it looked like I would be clutchless for the rest of the journey, thankfully it re-tightened shortly after. We arrived at the venue at 4 and waited for the sound guy to turn up so we could unload the gear, half of Also Eden had arrived at roughly the same time. The sound guy duly arrived at 5 and we began to fill the venue with cases and bags. The gig was a double header, meaning that technically there's no support band, kind of like a double A-side for those old enough to remember them. We elected to go on first as I was in work the following day, though Shaun and Stu we're gear sharing with Also Eden so they would travel back home after the gig. As is the norm with gigs like this the last band sound check first and Also Eden were up playing at about 6:30 and we sound checked at 7:30 till just before 8.
A very quick change of clothes for us and we were on stage at 8:15, the sound was quite good on stage though I couldn't hear any bass or keyboards. The important thing for any band is that you can hear the drummer and the singer and I could hear both so all good there. We played for an hour, oddly our set was about 10 minutes too long and had to drop 'The Visitor', instead we closed with 'You're Coming Home'.
Next up was the part that is always difficult, getting gear off stage - and quickly, there was a 15 minute change over. Charlotte made her way to the merch desk, she's better at selling CD's than the rest of us, leaving us to remove our gear from the stage. At round about 9:30 I was loaded up and had chance for a quick drink of Coke and a catch up with friends before Charlotte and I started our journey back home.
M3, M25, M40 and then a very welcome coffee at 11:30, I was knackered then and knew that I had another couple of hours at least in front of me, though Chazzer could drive if I got too tired. The Motorway was closed at Walsall so we had an hours detour through the midlands before re-joining the motorway. We arrived back at my house at 3am, Charlotte collected her things while I unpacked my gear back into the house, a quick hot chocolate and then I was in bed at 4 and I was back in work at Toneworld at 10 later that morning.
Wednesday 21 November 2012
Growing Up
When I was 18 and met Shaun at Leigh Music College we started a working relationship that was allowed to grow, time and life at that point allowed us to, no mortgage, no other financial commitments or family commitments...just song writing and this was so important to us as growing musicians. We used to 'play' with music in a way that we would try and break it, playing odd chords and weaving hooky melodies through them and then getting adventurous with time signatures, dynamics and instrumentation, if you happen to have a copy of Mr. So & So's first album 'Paraphernalia' there is a track on there called 'The Hypnotic', this is the best example of what we were doing at the time, the deceiving rhythm and really odd chords combined with a great vocal melody make it the track that it is. From the age of 18 through to about 22 we did nothing but write music and it's here that I learned, it's more important to be a good musician than it was to just be a good guitarist.
The significant thing that happened during this period was my good fortune knowing people that had great record collections. In this four year period I was introduced to bands such as Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Marillion, Weather Report, XTC, Frank Zappa, Gentle Giant.....the list goes on. I have one rule that I pass onto all of my private pupils, it's the single most important thing that I can tell them, 'Listen to every genre and as much of it as you can'.
The great thing about all the bands I listed is that there was a big back catalogue and as a student it was difficult to buy them all on vinyl, it was even difficult as a student to by some TDK D90's to record the albums onto, this meant that I would spend quality time with each album, studying the inner sleeve like it was some kind of homework. I soaked up the song lyrics, the producer and mix engineers names, even the 'thanks to' list was worth reading as I would then find out bands that were connected, an example of this is 'finding' Steve Vai by listening to 'Them or Us' by Frank Zappa. I thought I wouldn't like any country music (I blame Billy Ray Cyrus for that), but after delving into country rock I found some amazing musicians and bands, Lowell George from Little Feat has become a real favourite of mine. But it was Led Zeppelin that ultimately taught me that genres don't matter, 'When the Levee Breaks' is on the same album as 'The Battle of Evermore' and 'The Immigrant Song' is from the same album as 'Tangerine', rich and varied and in my case, very, very inspiring.
Dismiss genres at your peril as there always something good in there and you will miss out if you shy away from them.
The significant thing that happened during this period was my good fortune knowing people that had great record collections. In this four year period I was introduced to bands such as Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Marillion, Weather Report, XTC, Frank Zappa, Gentle Giant.....the list goes on. I have one rule that I pass onto all of my private pupils, it's the single most important thing that I can tell them, 'Listen to every genre and as much of it as you can'.
The great thing about all the bands I listed is that there was a big back catalogue and as a student it was difficult to buy them all on vinyl, it was even difficult as a student to by some TDK D90's to record the albums onto, this meant that I would spend quality time with each album, studying the inner sleeve like it was some kind of homework. I soaked up the song lyrics, the producer and mix engineers names, even the 'thanks to' list was worth reading as I would then find out bands that were connected, an example of this is 'finding' Steve Vai by listening to 'Them or Us' by Frank Zappa. I thought I wouldn't like any country music (I blame Billy Ray Cyrus for that), but after delving into country rock I found some amazing musicians and bands, Lowell George from Little Feat has become a real favourite of mine. But it was Led Zeppelin that ultimately taught me that genres don't matter, 'When the Levee Breaks' is on the same album as 'The Battle of Evermore' and 'The Immigrant Song' is from the same album as 'Tangerine', rich and varied and in my case, very, very inspiring.
Dismiss genres at your peril as there always something good in there and you will miss out if you shy away from them.
Monday 19 November 2012
Musical Pioneering
The girl in front of me has her iPod on really loud, so much that even I can hear 'Post Break-Up Sex' by The Vaccines, earlier on in the car park, a girl was dropped off at the train station car park and 'Shadows of the Night' by Pat Benatar was being played really loudly in her mum's car. Taste is one of life's intangibles and there is so much stuff out there - music, art, food, sport, clothing, cars etc. that we are bombarded by it everyday and as much as we are in danger of becoming the society that the film Minority Report predicts, there has also never been a better time to be creative.
Every single piece of music is made from the influence of a previous piece, the '50's rock and roll era is the best example of this and god knows how many varieties of 'Louie Louie' exist or 'Johnny B Goode'. As the world gets communicatively smaller the greater impact different cultures have on us and I would say that one of the single biggest impacts on my musical life has been 'Kashmir' by Led Zeppelin. The cross-over of moroccan string arrangements with an African flavoured drum part and a vocal melody that has blues bends in it, for me is just perfectly mysterious, add into that mix some Crowley-esque, Thelema imagery and you have all the components of music that is creepy and compelling yet gorgeous and powerfully emotive.
The reason that I'm talking about this is partly down to something that I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, 'how do you create music?' Well aside from the technical answer I gave there is also the social aspect too. I came back from Ibiza earlier this year inspired by some of the hypnotic Balearic grooves, so much so that I started to delve into some of what the Ibiza music scene has to offer (apart from the drugs of course). That took me through and beyond Ibiza and into Nero and Skrillex, a few months later and I've got the new Muse album 'The 2nd Law' on and there is the same dubstep sound and groove I heard earlier in the year. Furthermore, I've been listening to John Mayer's latest album 'Born & Raised' with a heavier emphasis on country music and blues music, this in turn has worked it's way into some of my playing, not intentionally, I'm just being inspired by him. The cultural mash up is fantastic and to be honest, without it we wouldn't have System of a Down, Sepultura, Ojos De Brujo, Sigur Ros, Youssou N'dour, The Mars Volta etc. neither would we have Gangnam Style opening the door to more music from the musically unchartered Far East, it's all good stuff and without it music would just go stale.
Every single piece of music is made from the influence of a previous piece, the '50's rock and roll era is the best example of this and god knows how many varieties of 'Louie Louie' exist or 'Johnny B Goode'. As the world gets communicatively smaller the greater impact different cultures have on us and I would say that one of the single biggest impacts on my musical life has been 'Kashmir' by Led Zeppelin. The cross-over of moroccan string arrangements with an African flavoured drum part and a vocal melody that has blues bends in it, for me is just perfectly mysterious, add into that mix some Crowley-esque, Thelema imagery and you have all the components of music that is creepy and compelling yet gorgeous and powerfully emotive.
The reason that I'm talking about this is partly down to something that I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, 'how do you create music?' Well aside from the technical answer I gave there is also the social aspect too. I came back from Ibiza earlier this year inspired by some of the hypnotic Balearic grooves, so much so that I started to delve into some of what the Ibiza music scene has to offer (apart from the drugs of course). That took me through and beyond Ibiza and into Nero and Skrillex, a few months later and I've got the new Muse album 'The 2nd Law' on and there is the same dubstep sound and groove I heard earlier in the year. Furthermore, I've been listening to John Mayer's latest album 'Born & Raised' with a heavier emphasis on country music and blues music, this in turn has worked it's way into some of my playing, not intentionally, I'm just being inspired by him. The cultural mash up is fantastic and to be honest, without it we wouldn't have System of a Down, Sepultura, Ojos De Brujo, Sigur Ros, Youssou N'dour, The Mars Volta etc. neither would we have Gangnam Style opening the door to more music from the musically unchartered Far East, it's all good stuff and without it music would just go stale.
Thursday 15 November 2012
The big label
All through put my teenage years I wanted a big major label to sign the band that I was in at the time, in fact when I was 15 EMI did actually contact the band that I was in (we were called 'World Peace Machine'). Though it never materialised after a few meetings with a very nice A&R man it did make me wonder if I was almost there, I hadn't even left school and the bass player was only 14. It never happened and for a long time it really ate at me, the 'failed musician' label was dangling over my head for a long long time and it very nearly finished me off as a player and a musician. Mr. So & So is a great band, we've never been worried about that but it's kind of like the King Crimson problem, great band but never really happened after the '70's for them.
Now I'm older I realise that a major label would never touch us unless we had a huge clump of money behind us, making the band a safe bet or if we went viral on the Internet. The sad thing for the big four labels now is that they are struggling to exist, some people revel in this but I think it's really sad, these labels had the capacity to give us The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, U2 et al and support their longevity, now Simon Cowells take on music is different and a 'pop' star needs nothing more than to be blessed with outrageously good looks and a colossal ego. Incidentally I'm not a Simon Cowell hater, if he didn't do it, someone else would....give the people what they want and the loudest voice wins. The disposable pop star era is nearly at an end too and then we are left with the music industry smashed into a million little fragments, each one of these fragments is a band or small label scrambling for the next opportunity to pop their head above the sea of bands around them. There's no doubt that's its an exciting time for bands and there is scope for bands to be successful, just not like it was when ELP or Fleetwood Mac earned more money than they could spend.
In the end, it's the music lover who misses out as I'm sure that there are a handful of bands out there who would blow my mind and be everything I ever wanted in a band, but how do I find them? The scattering makes it hard work and no-one will go through hard work to listen to music. Sadly the big dream record deal died when Fraunhofer created the MP3.
Now I'm older I realise that a major label would never touch us unless we had a huge clump of money behind us, making the band a safe bet or if we went viral on the Internet. The sad thing for the big four labels now is that they are struggling to exist, some people revel in this but I think it's really sad, these labels had the capacity to give us The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, U2 et al and support their longevity, now Simon Cowells take on music is different and a 'pop' star needs nothing more than to be blessed with outrageously good looks and a colossal ego. Incidentally I'm not a Simon Cowell hater, if he didn't do it, someone else would....give the people what they want and the loudest voice wins. The disposable pop star era is nearly at an end too and then we are left with the music industry smashed into a million little fragments, each one of these fragments is a band or small label scrambling for the next opportunity to pop their head above the sea of bands around them. There's no doubt that's its an exciting time for bands and there is scope for bands to be successful, just not like it was when ELP or Fleetwood Mac earned more money than they could spend.
In the end, it's the music lover who misses out as I'm sure that there are a handful of bands out there who would blow my mind and be everything I ever wanted in a band, but how do I find them? The scattering makes it hard work and no-one will go through hard work to listen to music. Sadly the big dream record deal died when Fraunhofer created the MP3.
Tuesday 13 November 2012
Money
I know that it's difficult for everyone at the moment given the economic turmoil that's affecting most of the earth. This is just about being a musician and trying to fund it.
A packet of half decent (Ernie Ball) electric guitar strings cost £6, not bad at £1 a string, but every guitarist should have a main guitar and a spare guitar, strings tend to only last four weeks before they start to noticeably lose their tone and ability to be tuned correctly. So that is £12 every month - £144 a year just on strings. Then there is the usual maintenance problems with amps in particular proving a pain in the arse. A full service and re-valve on my Bogner recently cost me over £500, I'd put it off as long as I could until it stopped working.
Then there is the whopping bill of my effects pedal board, my Strymon Timeline alone cost me £300+, that's just for a delay unit, even the frame that it sits on cost me a small fortune. I think in total my pedal board has cost me around £1500 this year and it's still not quite right (Dear Santa, please don't forget the Strymon Flint).
I made a conscious decision to solely be in an original band as it really is where my soul is and, me personally, I don't want to spend my life playing covers, though you can make good money doing this. It is different for bands doing original material, you may not know this but even some of the bigger gigs for original bands don't pay much more than £200 such is the state of the industry. So & So have survived by self releasing 'Sugarstealer' and more recently we reached out to our fan base to help fund the next album via Pledge Music (thank you so much if you have pledged, without your help we would have found this impossible to acheive). Factor in fuel costs for a gig in London (4/5 of us live in the north west and Andy lives in Plymouth) and all of a sudden the profit has gone.
I'm one of the luckier musicians, I have a day job (that I like) that I have alongside my music career and although I'm not rolling in it, I can eat and I'm warm at home. I know of a fantastic musician in the north west who has an incredible voice but he relies solely on gigging and that is a really tough life, it's anything but a champagne life style that we all thought musicians have.
I hope that no-one thinks that I complaining, I adore being a musician and wouldn't swap it for anything in the world (...maybe a porn star...nah, being a guitarist is cooler than even that), I'm just giving small insights.
A packet of half decent (Ernie Ball) electric guitar strings cost £6, not bad at £1 a string, but every guitarist should have a main guitar and a spare guitar, strings tend to only last four weeks before they start to noticeably lose their tone and ability to be tuned correctly. So that is £12 every month - £144 a year just on strings. Then there is the usual maintenance problems with amps in particular proving a pain in the arse. A full service and re-valve on my Bogner recently cost me over £500, I'd put it off as long as I could until it stopped working.
Then there is the whopping bill of my effects pedal board, my Strymon Timeline alone cost me £300+, that's just for a delay unit, even the frame that it sits on cost me a small fortune. I think in total my pedal board has cost me around £1500 this year and it's still not quite right (Dear Santa, please don't forget the Strymon Flint).
I made a conscious decision to solely be in an original band as it really is where my soul is and, me personally, I don't want to spend my life playing covers, though you can make good money doing this. It is different for bands doing original material, you may not know this but even some of the bigger gigs for original bands don't pay much more than £200 such is the state of the industry. So & So have survived by self releasing 'Sugarstealer' and more recently we reached out to our fan base to help fund the next album via Pledge Music (thank you so much if you have pledged, without your help we would have found this impossible to acheive). Factor in fuel costs for a gig in London (4/5 of us live in the north west and Andy lives in Plymouth) and all of a sudden the profit has gone.
I'm one of the luckier musicians, I have a day job (that I like) that I have alongside my music career and although I'm not rolling in it, I can eat and I'm warm at home. I know of a fantastic musician in the north west who has an incredible voice but he relies solely on gigging and that is a really tough life, it's anything but a champagne life style that we all thought musicians have.
I hope that no-one thinks that I complaining, I adore being a musician and wouldn't swap it for anything in the world (...maybe a porn star...nah, being a guitarist is cooler than even that), I'm just giving small insights.
Monday 12 November 2012
Life on stage
I love music, it's kind of obvious and if you know me personally you know that I'm pretty much marinated in the stuff. I love finding new bands and new music and I adore watching bands live, the excitement of seeing them put all their efforts and energy into a live performance is really inspiring. Of course being a musician means I get to be on the other side, looking back at the audience whose eyes are fixed on the band and enjoying what they hear. The whole process of organising the venue, the promo, the social networking, the transport, booking time off work etc. are all forgotten when you walk on stage, such is the focus that being on stage gives you.
I get really nervous, at any gig, it could be to 10 people on a rainy Wednesday night or a big venue with a couple of thousand people in. The stress of making sure everything is in place is enormous and does add a hell of a lot of pressure plus I have to make sure all my equipment is working and in tune (one day I'll have my own tech....well I've been saying that for 20+ years).
The build up is exciting once the soundcheck is complete and sometimes there's even a chance of a cuppa before starting to get changed to go on stage. Once we've been summoned by the stage crew there is a short wait at the side of stage during which there's a lot of "how does my hair look?" and "does this shirt work with these trousers?"
Before too long it's the walk on stage and a quick glance at the set list to make sure I have the right patches selected on my amp and effects...click, click, click, click...then we're in! The rush reaches a new point now as, providing nothing's gone wrong, we are playing towards the zone, where the band and audience interact with each other, a positive audience response will always make a band play better. In my case I kind of start to relax half way through the set (good job that 'The Visitor' is always towards the end of the set). The feeling when people cheer is electric, it's the best word to describe it - When people like our music it's amazing and if you see or hear people singing our songs....well that's about the zenith of musical joy. It confirms that what us musicians do is good and people love hearing it, this is such an honour.
The whole rock & roll lifestyle thing has passed me by altogether and the most hardcore I ever get is having some ham sandwiches on the rider and asking for mustard as well. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall in the seventies.
I get really nervous, at any gig, it could be to 10 people on a rainy Wednesday night or a big venue with a couple of thousand people in. The stress of making sure everything is in place is enormous and does add a hell of a lot of pressure plus I have to make sure all my equipment is working and in tune (one day I'll have my own tech....well I've been saying that for 20+ years).
The build up is exciting once the soundcheck is complete and sometimes there's even a chance of a cuppa before starting to get changed to go on stage. Once we've been summoned by the stage crew there is a short wait at the side of stage during which there's a lot of "how does my hair look?" and "does this shirt work with these trousers?"
Before too long it's the walk on stage and a quick glance at the set list to make sure I have the right patches selected on my amp and effects...click, click, click, click...then we're in! The rush reaches a new point now as, providing nothing's gone wrong, we are playing towards the zone, where the band and audience interact with each other, a positive audience response will always make a band play better. In my case I kind of start to relax half way through the set (good job that 'The Visitor' is always towards the end of the set). The feeling when people cheer is electric, it's the best word to describe it - When people like our music it's amazing and if you see or hear people singing our songs....well that's about the zenith of musical joy. It confirms that what us musicians do is good and people love hearing it, this is such an honour.
The whole rock & roll lifestyle thing has passed me by altogether and the most hardcore I ever get is having some ham sandwiches on the rider and asking for mustard as well. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall in the seventies.
Thursday 8 November 2012
The tortured musician
I mentioned in my first blog about the emotional impact being a musician has. Without doubt there is so much joy to being a musician and it's plain for everyone to see when a musician is in the bliss zone, surrounded by friends all speaking the same artistic language. There is also the unbeatable sense of pride when you hear the final mixes of a studio recording that you are playing on and better still, if you had a hand in writing that piece of music, the birth of a creation and you are a critical element.
There is also the other, darker side that some people will find hard to understand. I've had moments where I felt like putting the guitar back in its case, sliding it under the bed to be forgotten, all because I couldn't find the last chord in a really good chord sequence and it is more infuriating that I can describe. Then there is the big one....I've given my life to playing music ever since I played air guitar in front of a mirror in my mum and dads house listening to 'Hollywood Nights' by Bob Seger in the hope that one day I'll be a rock star, I wanted to be the best guitarist on the planet.....the thing is, you never ever reach the end, you never achieve that goal as, in my case, each time I achieve one goal that I set myself previously I subconsciously move the goal posts and then create another goal that is much much further away from where I am at that point. It's the source of any musicians torture, each time you write a piece of music you have just improved by a small amount and then already you look back at that newly created piece of music and see opportunities to improve on it and in turn learn a bit more, the cycle goes on and on and on..... In the case of So & So both Shaun and I have often said that we'd love to re-record some of the older albums, as we are much better musicians and players now, but we both know that it would never end.
I was once asked in an interview a long time ago what makes me tick as a musician, what drives me? My answer surprised even me when it fell out of mouth as I'm not normally good in interviews,
"Like any music fan I have loads of records and CD's at home and even when surrounded by all this music there are times when I can't find the right album to listen to as it doesn't yet exist, so it's my need to create it".
As much as I'm really proud of that, it carries with it the weight of being emotionally attached to each song I write and if anyone dislikes it, it hurts in the same way as if someone insulted a person I care about. Thom Yorke said that when he heard the final mix of 'There There' he cried his eyes out as all that musical anguish spilled out in order to create what he considers his best song. In truth that is why some bands take so long recording music, each note is placed there because it's the right note at the right time for it, you keep going until you find it and it's my belief that this is why certain albums are timeless and others vanish from peoples thoughts.
There is also the other, darker side that some people will find hard to understand. I've had moments where I felt like putting the guitar back in its case, sliding it under the bed to be forgotten, all because I couldn't find the last chord in a really good chord sequence and it is more infuriating that I can describe. Then there is the big one....I've given my life to playing music ever since I played air guitar in front of a mirror in my mum and dads house listening to 'Hollywood Nights' by Bob Seger in the hope that one day I'll be a rock star, I wanted to be the best guitarist on the planet.....the thing is, you never ever reach the end, you never achieve that goal as, in my case, each time I achieve one goal that I set myself previously I subconsciously move the goal posts and then create another goal that is much much further away from where I am at that point. It's the source of any musicians torture, each time you write a piece of music you have just improved by a small amount and then already you look back at that newly created piece of music and see opportunities to improve on it and in turn learn a bit more, the cycle goes on and on and on..... In the case of So & So both Shaun and I have often said that we'd love to re-record some of the older albums, as we are much better musicians and players now, but we both know that it would never end.
I was once asked in an interview a long time ago what makes me tick as a musician, what drives me? My answer surprised even me when it fell out of mouth as I'm not normally good in interviews,
"Like any music fan I have loads of records and CD's at home and even when surrounded by all this music there are times when I can't find the right album to listen to as it doesn't yet exist, so it's my need to create it".
As much as I'm really proud of that, it carries with it the weight of being emotionally attached to each song I write and if anyone dislikes it, it hurts in the same way as if someone insulted a person I care about. Thom Yorke said that when he heard the final mix of 'There There' he cried his eyes out as all that musical anguish spilled out in order to create what he considers his best song. In truth that is why some bands take so long recording music, each note is placed there because it's the right note at the right time for it, you keep going until you find it and it's my belief that this is why certain albums are timeless and others vanish from peoples thoughts.
Tuesday 6 November 2012
Writing music
"How do you write music?" I've been asked this question so many times and to this day, I don't really have a good enough answer. Any good riff, chord sequence or lyric is born out of a moments inspiration, that rare moment when you have genuine calm around you and this is as rare in my life as it is in anyone's. When I get to genuinely relax and get the time to just sit down with a guitar it's quite easy for riffs to appear as I'm noodling my way on the guitar and in my case challenging what my fingers can already do. This is why some rock and pop stars are wrapped up in record company cotton wool, the hope that they get that inspiration time a lot more often.
The hard part is finishing the bloody thing off! This is my argument to people who suggest that the more you learn the more you lose the natural musician. How can you complete a song on inspiration alone...where do you go musically? How can you stop repeating yourself? In my opinion (very careful to say that) this is probably the reason why I think some artists, who I'll not mention can come up with flashes of utter brilliance and then the rest of the song is nowhere near as good. Peter Gabriel is a great example of using musicianship, the wise old man of music has got better at songwriting as his musical ability has improved, check out 'Signal to Noise' from the album 'Up'.
Before anyone grumbles, I'm still a Clash fan and I love The Velvet Underground but more because of the moment that they represent, I'm not really a Jimi Hendrix fan but love the time he represents.
Within Mr. So & So the creative process is an odd one, initially there is a kind of unmuttered vote for our favourite riffs or chord sequences when they are presented at a rehearsal, generally a tune is very naked and it's just the bare bones so we can still adjust things before any of becomes attached to the tune. The ones that we keep going back to are the naturally selected tunes. Beyond this point we play with the tune like kids with playdoh, eventually shaping it into a solid piece if music, this is something that we are all involved in as we all influence each other I'm the process. It has to be said that we each occasionally present complete songs, but it's not as often.
The hard part is finishing the bloody thing off! This is my argument to people who suggest that the more you learn the more you lose the natural musician. How can you complete a song on inspiration alone...where do you go musically? How can you stop repeating yourself? In my opinion (very careful to say that) this is probably the reason why I think some artists, who I'll not mention can come up with flashes of utter brilliance and then the rest of the song is nowhere near as good. Peter Gabriel is a great example of using musicianship, the wise old man of music has got better at songwriting as his musical ability has improved, check out 'Signal to Noise' from the album 'Up'.
Before anyone grumbles, I'm still a Clash fan and I love The Velvet Underground but more because of the moment that they represent, I'm not really a Jimi Hendrix fan but love the time he represents.
Within Mr. So & So the creative process is an odd one, initially there is a kind of unmuttered vote for our favourite riffs or chord sequences when they are presented at a rehearsal, generally a tune is very naked and it's just the bare bones so we can still adjust things before any of becomes attached to the tune. The ones that we keep going back to are the naturally selected tunes. Beyond this point we play with the tune like kids with playdoh, eventually shaping it into a solid piece if music, this is something that we are all involved in as we all influence each other I'm the process. It has to be said that we each occasionally present complete songs, but it's not as often.
Monday 5 November 2012
Where's your Porsche?
It's mad being on this side of the instrument, many people don't perhaps know that it's emotionally difficult, politically difficult and mostly financially difficult unless you've arrived at the big stages and even then there are huge pitfalls facing these people....unless of course you are Elton John.
The first thing that I would like to talk about is money and to be honest it's my entire reason for starting the blog in the first place. A guitar playing friend of mine was recently telling me how he is really disappointed with the reaction of an organiser of a wedding or other family celebration when asked how much their act would cost. It still irks me enormously that some people will gladly pay a 'DJ' £1000 to turn up and plug his iPod or laptop into a little powered desk, into some speakers and then activate a playlist, however when a band of 5 members asks for £1500 for a 90 minute set, they baulk at it believing that they are rip off merchants and wrongly assumed that the fee would be "around the £300 mark". It's really amazing to think that some people think all musicians 'do it for the love of it'.....Well some musicians do, but the working musician eats food the same as everyone else and needs a roof over his/her head just the same as the client does. The following below is an example of what I'm talking about, some of you will have seen this before, it's been around a while;
Craigslist Ad:
We are a small & casual restaurant in downtown Vancouver and we are looking for solo musicians to play in our restaurant to promote their work and sell their CD. This is not a daily job, but only for special events which will eventually turn into a nightly event if we get positive response. More jazz, rock, & smooth type music, around the world and mixed cultural music. Are you interested to promote your work? Please reply back ASAP.
A Musician’s Reply:
Happy new year! I am a musician with a big house looking for a restauranteur to come to my house to promote his/her restaurant by making dinner for me and my friends. This is not a daily job, but only for special events which will eventually turn into a nightly event if we get a positive response. More fine dining & exotic meals mixed with some ethnic fusion cuisine. Are you interested to promote your restaurant? Please reply back ASAP.
I'm standing to one side on this and defending the working musician as I am a creative player who can't rely on music as an income stream. I'll be honest, I've never been paid more than £400 for anything musical in any one sitting and that's very rare. I recall way back on the 'Strange Engine' Tour with Marillion and after the last gig in Redcar being asked by a couple of gentlemen what I was doing now that our stint on the tour had finished, my reply was "Well I've got a bathroom suite to deliver in Wigan at 9"which took them both by surprise as they expected me to reply with something like "I'm back in the studio" or "I'm back on my yacht for a rest".
Forging a career in music is phenomenally difficult, even more so in the last 10 years as the industry is struggling to say the least and I will always advise my pupils to make sure they can balance music with something else that resembles a proper job. I'm lucky, I've ended up working in a boutique guitar store, working with some very nice people but had I not been made redundant 5 years ago, I'd still be selling boilers and bathrooms.
The first thing that I would like to talk about is money and to be honest it's my entire reason for starting the blog in the first place. A guitar playing friend of mine was recently telling me how he is really disappointed with the reaction of an organiser of a wedding or other family celebration when asked how much their act would cost. It still irks me enormously that some people will gladly pay a 'DJ' £1000 to turn up and plug his iPod or laptop into a little powered desk, into some speakers and then activate a playlist, however when a band of 5 members asks for £1500 for a 90 minute set, they baulk at it believing that they are rip off merchants and wrongly assumed that the fee would be "around the £300 mark". It's really amazing to think that some people think all musicians 'do it for the love of it'.....Well some musicians do, but the working musician eats food the same as everyone else and needs a roof over his/her head just the same as the client does. The following below is an example of what I'm talking about, some of you will have seen this before, it's been around a while;
Craigslist Ad:
We are a small & casual restaurant in downtown Vancouver and we are looking for solo musicians to play in our restaurant to promote their work and sell their CD. This is not a daily job, but only for special events which will eventually turn into a nightly event if we get positive response. More jazz, rock, & smooth type music, around the world and mixed cultural music. Are you interested to promote your work? Please reply back ASAP.
A Musician’s Reply:
Happy new year! I am a musician with a big house looking for a restauranteur to come to my house to promote his/her restaurant by making dinner for me and my friends. This is not a daily job, but only for special events which will eventually turn into a nightly event if we get a positive response. More fine dining & exotic meals mixed with some ethnic fusion cuisine. Are you interested to promote your restaurant? Please reply back ASAP.
I'm standing to one side on this and defending the working musician as I am a creative player who can't rely on music as an income stream. I'll be honest, I've never been paid more than £400 for anything musical in any one sitting and that's very rare. I recall way back on the 'Strange Engine' Tour with Marillion and after the last gig in Redcar being asked by a couple of gentlemen what I was doing now that our stint on the tour had finished, my reply was "Well I've got a bathroom suite to deliver in Wigan at 9"which took them both by surprise as they expected me to reply with something like "I'm back in the studio" or "I'm back on my yacht for a rest".
Forging a career in music is phenomenally difficult, even more so in the last 10 years as the industry is struggling to say the least and I will always advise my pupils to make sure they can balance music with something else that resembles a proper job. I'm lucky, I've ended up working in a boutique guitar store, working with some very nice people but had I not been made redundant 5 years ago, I'd still be selling boilers and bathrooms.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)