Today I would like to talk a little bit about why and how I became a musician. I have always been interested in music, since I was a little kid, I would see my mom playing chords on her acoustic guitar in the living room, and on a couple occasions, I even had the opportunity to catch my grandfathers band when he would play family friendly venues such as the Dutch Wonderland amusement park in Lancaster Pennsylvania. I really looked up to him when he played those shows, and I would fantasize about being on stage with him. That is really where it all started for me. I wanted to be cool like Gammpy, as I call my grandfather.
Later on, I would go through various musical phases. As a small child I was exposed to a lot of 50's rock n' roll through my grandfather, as well as some surf rock, and a lot of country music from my dad. But most of the music that was available to me early on was top 40 radio type stuff, which at the time would have been stuff like Michael Jackson's Thriller album, a lot of glam metal, Madonna, Prince, and a bunch of new wave stuff like Flock of Seagulls, and Divo. I also heard quite a bit of classic rock and what I would call roots rock from my mom's radio, stuff like Zeppelin, the Eagles, CCR, Bruce Springsteen, Journey, and to many more to name here.
In my earliest years, my family was dirt ass poor. The cool kids in my eyes were the kids that had a Walk-Man, which we couldn't afford. My dad eventually got a cassette Walk-Man, and it was always a real treat when I got to listen to his, and I started asking for tapes for Christmas and birthdays. It wasn't till like 1994 or so when I finally got a cassette player of my own, in the form of a little K-mart mini boom box. By this time, all my friends had CD players, so I was a little jealous, but still happy to have my little boom box, and my Woodstock 94' two tape set that came shortly thereafter. I didn't have to many other tapes, so I would record my favourite songs off the radio on to blank cassettes, and with the remainder of my blank cassettes my little sister and I would make our own recordings, which included everything from make believe radio talk shows, to sessions of the two of us singing and her playing her little Casio keyboard while I played my red Yamaha keytar, which neither of us really knew how to play. We would also record ourselves singing along to Disney tapes.
From this humble beginning, my sister went on to take up playing the saxophone, and later the keyboard, although she would eventually find her true calling in the visual arts. I, on the other hand, got wrapped up with, sports, boy scouts, and video games. It would be many years before I would really think of playing music again. Somehow though, I think I always had in the back of my mind the music from those Woodstock tapes, where I was exposed to bands like Live, Green Day, Red Hot Chilly Peppers, and especially Metallica.
It wasn't until my teenage years, when I was going through that awkward stage of trying to find myself and establish my identity that most of us go through, that my interest in music really came to a head. I had been doing some singing in the school quire, and had begun to be exposed to some of my peers that were musically inclined when I met my friend Ben, a talented aspiring young musician with in interest in Goth-metal and industrial music. It was also right around this time that I was starting my freshman year of high school, and was looking for this to be a chance to really reinvent myself. I had just gotten my first CD player, and I had began acquiring every Metalica CD I could get my hands on.
To be continued.....
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
From the Ashes of DOS
Image via Wikipedia
Joshua and I had been talking over the last few weeks about him coming out to Mulberry and jamming with Paul Lambert and I, but I had kind of forgotten about it since the break-up of DOS. Anyway, he wanted to come out and jam today. So I called up Paul, knowing he would probably be working at Mulberry this morning, and asked him if he could let us in to the band room, to which he graciously agreed. Anyway, once Joshua and I got to jamming, it was clear to me that he is somebody who I need to be working with. I mean, we have worked together before, we gel well together, and we have a shared vision of were we want to go. Also, I noticed that both of us seem to have improved our chops since the last time we worked together.
After some jamming, and a coffee break, Paul Lambert took a break from working, and came down and jammed with us for about 10 minutes or so. Joshua and I both definitely had a good time jamming with Paul on drums, and I don't know about Paul, but he seemed like he was in better spirits than I had seen him in a while, so I hope he liked what was going on too. Anyway, I had a chance to talk to Paul for a bit, and he said he would be down for drumming on my new project. So there we go, All of a sudden I got a rhythm guitar player, I've got a vocalist, I've got a drummer, and I've got a lead guitar player (yours truly). Now all I need is a bass player, so my next stop after our Mulberry jam session was off to Guitar Center to talk to a certain bass player I know. After having a conversation with him, he was really psyched about this project, and has agreed to work with us, so I now have a full band again, and I couldn't be more thrilled. From the ashes of DOS, a new band is formed.
Labels:
dos,
Drummer,
guitar,
Instruments,
Lead guitar,
music,
Paul Lambert,
Singing
Sunday, June 28, 2009
What I Have Been Listening to
Cover of Quebec
1. band: Ween
album: Quebec
song: It's Gonna be a Long Night
I first heard of Ween about 7 years ago when I was living in Pensacola FL. I just kind of recently rediscovered them though.
2. band: Sixth Finger
album: Bossa N' Stones, Vol. 2
song: Paint it Black
I don't really know much about this band. They popped up on my Pandora a few days ago, and this interesting Rolling Stones cover caught my attention. Really different.
3. band: Eddie and the Hot Rods
Album: Life on the Line
Song: Ignore them
This band's music kind of bridges a gap between the Rolling Stones, and later, wilder British punk rock bands.
I could go on, but I am just going to leave you with these 3 songs to check out for now. Maybe I will do more posts like this later on down the road.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Gear
Image by ♫axime via Flickr
It would take me years to save up the money for all that stuff. I already have a nice little tube amp that works just fine, and an acoustic guitar that is respectable. I just really want an electric guitar, and a couple cool effects to play with. If I stop being so darn picky, I could get an electric guitar with a gig bag, neck strap, and instrument cable for about $80, and a cheap, but effective multi effects pedal for about $50. I would also need a power supply for the pedal, which runs about $20. So for just $150, not even including my employee discount, I could have everything I need to practice with an electric guitar set up, and I could upgrade little by little instead of waiting years until I have enough money saved up for the top of the line gear.
It's not like I am going to be out playing clubs tomorrow or anything. I don't even have a band any more, so I just want to take some time to work on my chops, and jam with some friends, maybe work on some new material, and eventually do a little recording. It will take some time to get a decent band together again, and if my racing career takes off, I may be limited to studio work for a while until the next hot shot comes along and takes my ride. I have a lot of other bills to catch up on before I can even spend that $150, so I will just practice on my old Alvarez acoustic for now.
Labels:
Arts,
Electric guitar,
guitar,
Guitar amplifier,
Instruments,
music,
Stringed
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