Alright good citizens of the internet, it’s that time again. That time when, for some delusional reason, you sit down and spend a portion of your far too short life reading this blog… an entity that will contribute nothing to your enlightenment in the long run. Never the less, thanks for stopping by.
I decided that in this thread I’d give you my perspective of what’s going on, instead of making it a band thing. So please keep in mind that these thoughts are mine and mine alone.
Lots has happening in the last little while. Since my last blog, we have finished our live setlist, performed it a two gigs, I’ve made major changes when it comes to guitars, I’ve been writing music, the other band members have been writing music, the t-shirts arrived, BluesFest was held in Ottawa, and I got to see some people I know
perform, all on top of questing to find my spot in a 2 guitar band. With all of that said, this blog will serve in large part to organize my own thoughts. If you ever wanted to know what goes on in my head, here’s your shot to get a glimpse.
First I’ll talk about what the band has been doing. The big headliner in terms of recent news is the two shows we played: one in Kingston, and then in Rockland. The Kingston show was a shorter set, where we got to open for Without Will, a Montreal band currently on tour. It was nice meeting them and getting back on stage. For me, it was important, because I was itching pretty hard to get in front of people. By the time Rockland swung around (2 days after), I was pretty pumped. The Rockland audience is always a blast, and our original music was well received. We had people skip out on wedding receptions to be there, so those of you who fall in this group (you know who you are): you fucking rock. It just feels nice now that Rob is on board to start getting those shows under our belt, getting to know each other more and more as musicians and seeing what this band is becoming as it is maturing. I think for me the two shows were a lot of fun, but more importantly they served as a learning opportunity. I saw where we did good, and where I want to improve as a musician.
Speaking of which, after the show I had a revelation. This section is mostly for guitar whores, so I apologize to the rest of you. I had played both shows with my relatively new SG standard, and it served me well. The PRS was in the case as a backup, and didn’t get much play time. I decided that since I could only play one guitar at the time, I had invested funds for something that was sitting in a case, and two high end guitars was something that I didn’t want. So I ended up selling both of them in order to purchase what I considered to be my dream guitar: a nice Gibson Les Paul. Up to now, it’s been heaven.
So I guess the theme of this blog is learning about myself, so let’s keep going on that. Since we completed our lineup, I’ve been learning to adapt to the two guitar format. See, I’ve always been a lone guitarist in projects in which I had any form of say or influence. The whole two guitarist concept with this band has been an ongoing
adaptation, and at times a struggle, but I believe I’ve finally come to terms with my spot. I think my mind had directly gone to trying to fill in a role of lead guitar, much like most of my heroes who carried the burden of the guitar track on their own. Guys like Gilmour, Page, Van Halen, Iommi and the many other I omit. It seems my mind was able to shed this constrictive shell, and I’m able to adapt more accurately. I don’t consider myself to be the lead in this band in any way; I see myself more like another layer of sound rather than an individual
instrument that is very distinguishable from the mix in terms of presence and style. What I’ll be looking to do in the future is blending-in rather than sticking-out. I think this way, the overall band sound can be fuller, as I tend to bring the rhythmic foundation to our songs in collaboration with the drums due to my style being very precise and unmoving. My hope is that this will result in a tighter sound. I am blessed to have an amazing guitarist at my side on stage, and I plan to take full advantage of the situation to solidify our music.
I’ve been writing a lot of music lately. For some reason, I keep finding myself in the middle of discussions amongst musicians on the process of creating and writing music, in the role of an observer and listener more often than not. This has really made me think about how I create. See, I realized lately that there is a reason I am known as spastic; I feel emotions very strongly on the moment, and when those emotions follow me for some time, they cast a moody shadow on my general existence, shaping whatever piece I am working on at the moment. For a long time it was anger. I don’t consider myself to be an angry person, but bouts of frustration had really affected me and changed the sound of my music. A good example of this would be the song “Faceless”, which we launched as the closing tune at our Rockland show. The song was written in response to our society’s tendency to criticize from a safe distance, rather than putting ourselves in the spotlight. It carried a lot of anger, and I think when it was brought to the band something special happened. Peyts had this idea of adding an empty space in the middle of the choruses, which in all honesty changed the feel of the whole thing, and literally makes the song. When it came to start playing it, Rob asked me if I would be willing to speed it up, and make it punky. I gotta admit, I wasn’t sure about the idea at first, but combined with the pauses and the snarl he unleashes during that chorus, the song really took shape nicely. But, I digress.
So with this said, I realized that for me music was born of chaos. This made my songs very angry, and pretty much monotone when it came to mood. I took it upon myself lately to pause when feeling these emotions, let
them pass, and then reflect on the situation in many conceptual ways. For example, when I was faced with a crisis a few weeks back, I tried to bring up the subject with a friend of mine, who simply told me he ''was
not having this conversation''. This sparked a strong reaction, but after letting this die down for a while, I was able to look at it from a different point of view. I wrote a piece about it, but instead of being my typical rage-fuelled high pace monster, it’s a reflective piece on comfort, those who seek it, those who find it, and those for whom it will be denied. You guys are really getting the inside scoop here, because I have not even pitched it to the band yet. Maybe one day you will get to hear this song on stage, who knows. I just thought I would include this in this edition of the blog, since people often ask me how I go about writing songs… hopefully this gives you a better idea of what goes through my mind.
So at this point, you’re probably asking yourself what we are up to next. Ok, you probably didn’t even think about what we’re up to next before reading that line… but now you are, so let’s go for it. On Friday, the 20th of August, we are performing a benefit show for Mike’s Place, a local restaurant that burned down in Hammond… the people who owned & operated the establishment are great, and they are real supporters of the community. We are super happy to be part of this project. Doors open at 8pm, show starts at 10pm… so we hope to see you
there in great numbers to support our cause. After that show, it becomes interesting. We’ve been hearing from a few sources (and a few fans) that recordings of some of our songs would be prime. So, while nothing is set in stone, we may very well be heading into a short studio period to get those tracks down, and get them to you all. Nothing set in stone like I said, but we will see with time.
So, until next time, stay safe, take care of each other, don’t forget to have fun, enjoy the summer days, smile for no reason, and most importantly, stay loud.
Peace,
Phil
I decided that in this thread I’d give you my perspective of what’s going on, instead of making it a band thing. So please keep in mind that these thoughts are mine and mine alone.
Lots has happening in the last little while. Since my last blog, we have finished our live setlist, performed it a two gigs, I’ve made major changes when it comes to guitars, I’ve been writing music, the other band members have been writing music, the t-shirts arrived, BluesFest was held in Ottawa, and I got to see some people I know
perform, all on top of questing to find my spot in a 2 guitar band. With all of that said, this blog will serve in large part to organize my own thoughts. If you ever wanted to know what goes on in my head, here’s your shot to get a glimpse.
First I’ll talk about what the band has been doing. The big headliner in terms of recent news is the two shows we played: one in Kingston, and then in Rockland. The Kingston show was a shorter set, where we got to open for Without Will, a Montreal band currently on tour. It was nice meeting them and getting back on stage. For me, it was important, because I was itching pretty hard to get in front of people. By the time Rockland swung around (2 days after), I was pretty pumped. The Rockland audience is always a blast, and our original music was well received. We had people skip out on wedding receptions to be there, so those of you who fall in this group (you know who you are): you fucking rock. It just feels nice now that Rob is on board to start getting those shows under our belt, getting to know each other more and more as musicians and seeing what this band is becoming as it is maturing. I think for me the two shows were a lot of fun, but more importantly they served as a learning opportunity. I saw where we did good, and where I want to improve as a musician.
Speaking of which, after the show I had a revelation. This section is mostly for guitar whores, so I apologize to the rest of you. I had played both shows with my relatively new SG standard, and it served me well. The PRS was in the case as a backup, and didn’t get much play time. I decided that since I could only play one guitar at the time, I had invested funds for something that was sitting in a case, and two high end guitars was something that I didn’t want. So I ended up selling both of them in order to purchase what I considered to be my dream guitar: a nice Gibson Les Paul. Up to now, it’s been heaven.
So I guess the theme of this blog is learning about myself, so let’s keep going on that. Since we completed our lineup, I’ve been learning to adapt to the two guitar format. See, I’ve always been a lone guitarist in projects in which I had any form of say or influence. The whole two guitarist concept with this band has been an ongoing
adaptation, and at times a struggle, but I believe I’ve finally come to terms with my spot. I think my mind had directly gone to trying to fill in a role of lead guitar, much like most of my heroes who carried the burden of the guitar track on their own. Guys like Gilmour, Page, Van Halen, Iommi and the many other I omit. It seems my mind was able to shed this constrictive shell, and I’m able to adapt more accurately. I don’t consider myself to be the lead in this band in any way; I see myself more like another layer of sound rather than an individual
instrument that is very distinguishable from the mix in terms of presence and style. What I’ll be looking to do in the future is blending-in rather than sticking-out. I think this way, the overall band sound can be fuller, as I tend to bring the rhythmic foundation to our songs in collaboration with the drums due to my style being very precise and unmoving. My hope is that this will result in a tighter sound. I am blessed to have an amazing guitarist at my side on stage, and I plan to take full advantage of the situation to solidify our music.
I’ve been writing a lot of music lately. For some reason, I keep finding myself in the middle of discussions amongst musicians on the process of creating and writing music, in the role of an observer and listener more often than not. This has really made me think about how I create. See, I realized lately that there is a reason I am known as spastic; I feel emotions very strongly on the moment, and when those emotions follow me for some time, they cast a moody shadow on my general existence, shaping whatever piece I am working on at the moment. For a long time it was anger. I don’t consider myself to be an angry person, but bouts of frustration had really affected me and changed the sound of my music. A good example of this would be the song “Faceless”, which we launched as the closing tune at our Rockland show. The song was written in response to our society’s tendency to criticize from a safe distance, rather than putting ourselves in the spotlight. It carried a lot of anger, and I think when it was brought to the band something special happened. Peyts had this idea of adding an empty space in the middle of the choruses, which in all honesty changed the feel of the whole thing, and literally makes the song. When it came to start playing it, Rob asked me if I would be willing to speed it up, and make it punky. I gotta admit, I wasn’t sure about the idea at first, but combined with the pauses and the snarl he unleashes during that chorus, the song really took shape nicely. But, I digress.
So with this said, I realized that for me music was born of chaos. This made my songs very angry, and pretty much monotone when it came to mood. I took it upon myself lately to pause when feeling these emotions, let
them pass, and then reflect on the situation in many conceptual ways. For example, when I was faced with a crisis a few weeks back, I tried to bring up the subject with a friend of mine, who simply told me he ''was
not having this conversation''. This sparked a strong reaction, but after letting this die down for a while, I was able to look at it from a different point of view. I wrote a piece about it, but instead of being my typical rage-fuelled high pace monster, it’s a reflective piece on comfort, those who seek it, those who find it, and those for whom it will be denied. You guys are really getting the inside scoop here, because I have not even pitched it to the band yet. Maybe one day you will get to hear this song on stage, who knows. I just thought I would include this in this edition of the blog, since people often ask me how I go about writing songs… hopefully this gives you a better idea of what goes through my mind.
So at this point, you’re probably asking yourself what we are up to next. Ok, you probably didn’t even think about what we’re up to next before reading that line… but now you are, so let’s go for it. On Friday, the 20th of August, we are performing a benefit show for Mike’s Place, a local restaurant that burned down in Hammond… the people who owned & operated the establishment are great, and they are real supporters of the community. We are super happy to be part of this project. Doors open at 8pm, show starts at 10pm… so we hope to see you
there in great numbers to support our cause. After that show, it becomes interesting. We’ve been hearing from a few sources (and a few fans) that recordings of some of our songs would be prime. So, while nothing is set in stone, we may very well be heading into a short studio period to get those tracks down, and get them to you all. Nothing set in stone like I said, but we will see with time.
So, until next time, stay safe, take care of each other, don’t forget to have fun, enjoy the summer days, smile for no reason, and most importantly, stay loud.
Peace,
Phil
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