Motion

A busy week came to a decent end. GS has two more new songs in progress, courtesy of Poison and Uber. There's an outside chance one of them could be ready for PEI next weekend. Since we're playing two shows at the nocases I expect we'll work out some old material this week as well. Those shows will mark the release of the split 3.5 inch floppy single with BB. The GS song on it is very short, and we've never played it live. Or even jammed it! It was written and recorded one part at a time. Playing it live could present some challenges, as we used three guitar tracks, two spacebeam tracks, two tracks of machine drums and a track of programmed synth to go along with the vocals. Why record such a thing? Well, there was no one there to stop us. It'll make a nice challenge we do try and play the song live. It'll be a significantly different interpretation. We'll also have the Born Female floppy single in PEI, as well as our tape and some copies of our mini-cd demo. We were talking about making a shirt tp bring up, but we're not sure yet what'll be on the front. I suggested a contrasty verison of the tape cover, but Poison has some doubts about this idea. I think it'll look great but I kind of don't blame her, in a way.

The last show at the Khyber was a success. I thought all the bands played really well, and there was a good turnout. (50?) It was as good a set as we've played I guess. Honestly, I'm not paying attention to much when I'm playing. Our friends seemed into it. This venue will be missed.

BB's week ended with an all ages show in Truro. Every conceivable force of nature and destiny fought against us doing this, but we would not be denied. I couldn't hear anything besides myself (I was right in front of my amp the whole time) and the ride cymbal, but we practice quite a bit so it's not hard to stay on course. I did some ambient noise with the spacebeam and some guitar feedback while Eb was re-stringing, which was fun. The lack of hearing anything at live BB shows doesn't bother me much, since it's virually always that way. I go with what people in the audience tell me afterward. I never think we sound as good as we can, yet people are often impressed with our set. That band needs full-on rockstar gear. Huge stacks, monitors, sound engineers running about... I think that's about what it would take for me to be satisfied with our live sound. Until that day comes, some kind words from the listener will suffice.

We're supposed to record soon. Through our many band discussions on this topic I've discovered that I'm the least picky about recordings. If a studio is successful enough to keep its head above water as a business for a long period of time, then whatever sound they can give us will probably be good enough for me. I enjoy recording bands on my own just becuase it's fun, but I'll never be capable of pro-quality results. As long as someone else is doing it, and they're not some hack, I'm indifferent, at best, about recording. Unless it's me or one of my friends running the show, recording is a pain in the ass.

I get psycho when I record. Actually, I get psycho when I do a lot of things, but recording is near the top of the list. I love the end result, but I hate the process of getting there, and I have no desire whatsoever to savour it. I get very focused on getting the job finished, and anything... ANYTHING that attempts to stop me from doing so is going to set me off. I'll do a million takes in a row, go without sleep, food, whatever. I've never reached the point of needing a rest. Well, not in my opinion! Recording is strange. It puts me into crazy-efficiency mode. No wasting time allowed. I say "tell me when you're ready" a lot. Attention to detail sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. I would not make a good producer. I want perfection, real, real fast.

The best way to deal with me being a psycho is to just be pleasant, calm and respectful, but make sure I clearly know what has to be done. Do this repetitively, and don't change the tone of your voice or your body language.

"Alright, you've nailed the first part. Stay comfortable."

It's important not to say too much though. Just be ready to start again seconds after I fuck up, and allow me to repeat this process for a long time. If it gets out of hand, set a limit. Like half an hour or something. Because chances are my ability to persist at perfecting a part will far surpass the recording budget of any band I will ever be in. I don't think it's boastful of me to say that. I wouldn't have to persist so much if I were a better musician. Whatever. TCB.

At the same time, my mind has played tricks on me in the past when it comes to recording. Things start to sound "good enough" that aren't. Under enough duress, I start to change the definition of perfection to include imperfect things. This can be a touchy issue. There's a good chance I'll freak out if someone tells me something I think is fine, isn't. Say something like "let's keep this track; you're done for now - but let's do another one later, just in case". When, really, you just want to throw that first track in the garbage.

How an obsessive-compulsive person can survive in such a sloppy lifestyle is a mystery to me.

My sense of quality control has kicked in too late again. Time to stop.

A Special Post For A Very Special Day

Figuring out one's living arrangements is a very important thing. Right now I think the way to go is the sublet. It's finite; if you end up not liking the place... well, you were never meant to live there for long anyway. Some sublets offer an "option to renew". That's a good option. Maybe you'll end up liking where you are, and not want to leave. But if this is the case, you'd best make sure the landlord doesn't want to kick you out at the end of the lease and rent to someone else. That sort of thing can happen.

Looking around me, I've seen the sublet work out, and not work out. Some tennants are kicked out unceremoniously, and without notice (oftentimes they brought on themselves; having too many guests over, etc.) Others opt out at the end of the summer; others stay around for another year, and another year after that.

Sometimes people (usually people who have rented for awhile), will eventually decide to buy a house. I've seen a lot of people my own age do this lately. It seems like a lot of hassle and legal BS to me. That said, I've never ruled out buying a house myself. I don't think I'm at the stage in my life to do things like that though. It would have to be one helluva house.

There are other options out there. I know more than a few people who have been able to "couch surf" for extended periods. Year after year, a new couch every couple of nights. In a way, I admire people who are able to do this, and I've thought of trying it myself. Life would never be boring. I kind of like a little familiarity though. An apartment is only as drab as you allow it to be. If you're getting bored, put up some artwork, paint the place or something. You might be surprised.

There are also people out there who don't live anywhere at all. How much part choice has in this is difficult to say, and would depend on the individual. This is probably not my prefered option for living. I think I like the sublet.

Hey, I never said I was clever.

Rock And Roll Is Killing My Life

Monday

morning - work
evening - BB practice

Tuesday

morning - work
evening - GS practice

Wednesday

morning - work
evening - take dad out for birthday

Thursday

morning - work
evening - GS show

Friday

morning - work
evening - BB out of town show

"Old band" played 62 shows in 5 years (not counting parties) and wrote about 40 songs. We only jammed when we had a show or recording session booked. By the end of this week, GS will have played 32 shows in just over a year and a half, and have written 23 songs.

Except for my dad (who's turning 59), I will not be able to hang out much this week with anyone not in one of my bands.

I'm not whining; it's time well spent. I feel like I'm getting stuff done, and it's very rewarding. It's just too bad it sometimes seems to take up every spare moment I have.

Tomorrow's Valentine's Day.

Inspirations

They change a lot. The local hardcore bands I was in in the 90s were influenced mainly by local hardcore bands from the 80s. I feel like that wore off quite a while ago. It's weird that I was driven that way for as long as I was. You'd think more would have changed for me between 1988 and 1998.

Maybe moving to Saskatchewan had something to do with it, although nothing stands out as having changed the way I think about music during that era. It did clean the slate in a way I guess. All of the comfortable musical niches I'd been a part of in Halifax were gone. I had to choose between being open minded and embracing what was available, or sitting home listening to my old records and pining for the glory days. The more people my own age I saw doing the latter, the more driven I was to do the former. That policy remains in full effect.

By the time I moved home, everything I'd known about the Halifax music scene before was obsolete. All of the genres I had been into just 2 years earlier were either wiped off the map or stale to the point of uselessness. I was still reluctant to stop going to shows, even though I wasn't quite sure what to embrace and make my own.

I'd spent the last 2 years in a state of musical flux, unsure of where my tastes were headed, but knowing they were changing very quickly. I'd tried getting into certain musical styles that just were not me. I even went so far as to join a band playing music I was only peripherally into (I joined because I was friends with everyone in the band, and that alone made it fun for a while, but it ended up not being enough). Anything to try and find something really inspirational to immerse myself in.

Looking back, there were three bands from that era that made a deep enough impact to influence me years after the fact, affecting both of the bands I'm in today. I normally go out of my way not to name-drop here, but I'm going to forget about that for now.

The first two bands affected me in a very similar way; both were very tight, dynamic units that "played physical", to use another sports metaphor. That is to say, they felt the music they were playing, and it showed. They swayed in the slow parts and threw down in the loud parts - all members. Both played with a ton of aggression and emotion. They communicated with each other visually, and this was evident in their music. Both gave the impression that a lot of what they did was improvised, although this may not necessarily have been the case. Both left me feeling like I'd been flattened by the force of their set, and that by the time they were done, they had nothing left inside to give. These bands were from Halifax and Fredericton, respectively: the Plan and 283.

The third band was a little different. They didn't possess the emotional or physical power of the aforementioned two. They played very loose and were not lyrically profound. What they did do though, was show me that fun, silly, enthusiastic, exciting, youthful punk rock was not as dead in Halifax as I thought it was. They jumped into the crowd. They set stuff on fire. They knocked the audience over. They knocked themselves over. They seemed to be telling the music scene's more ponderous elements it was ok for punk rock to be goofy after all. A lot of bands that could be described this way have a subtle undercurrent of resentment toward subgenres of punk that embody progression or originality - but that wasn't the case with the Mackoids. Their lyrics were ridiculous, yet they seemed intelligent and positive-minded. And these weren't a bunch of enthusiastic late-20-somethings trying to bring back the good ol' days - these were kids in high school. They were a real breath of fresh air. Fun will never die.

A mention should also be given to the Hold, who came to my attention not long after the three above dropped off the radar. They have intensity and power in common with the first two bands I mentioned, but their songs are short and fast. They can pull off a simple four chord song just as well as something more experimental. I also quickly found out they were very approachable people with whom I felt a personal connection. This is why I'm friends with them to this day. After seeing them play a couple of times, I got the sense that a music scene built around them would be a lot like the one that was such a huge part of my life in the 90s. This turned out to be exactly the case. It's called Divorce.

That was cheesy. Ha!

Get Confidence

Confidence can make the difference between success and failure in almost any endeavour, and playing music is high on the list. It can elevate any kind of music, not just the kinds that are hard to play. It doesn't always come easily at first - at least it hasn't for any band I've ever been in. It helps to not dwell on your band's shortcomings or think "we suck". Another thing I'd recommend is not worrying too much about what people think of you. A friend of mine back in high school once told me that no matter what kind of music a band plays, there's going to be someone out there who likes what they do. It's easy to make friends with people like that. If you must require a reaction from people in order to be inspired (which I don't recommend), focus on these people and shut everyone else out. Don't resent people who tell you your band sucks; be indifferent to this opinion. Oftentimes, these people don't like or don't know the "genre" you're in, so their opinion is meaningless anyway. If, for example, a friend of mine is learning a foreign language and they ask me how their grammar is, I'm not qualified to have an opinion. So if someone who only likes pop music tells me my thrash band sucks, there's no way I can take them seriously.

One time a band I was in got a new member and I had to teach him our set. He had a lot of trouble learning the songs because "they all sound(ed) the same". Now I have nothing personal against this gentleman, but let's just say we did not see eye to eye about what could be called good music. He listened to one band in particular that I really can't stand, and our songs varied WAY more than than theirs. Songs sounding the same is a useless complaint that has no meaning. All it means is the person evaluating the music is probably not into that genre, and therefore is in no position to say whether the band is "good" or "sucks". I don't know whether or not haddock tastes better than herring. I don't eat fish. It all tastes the same to me.

I don't know why I'm saying this, I guess it's all kind of obvious. When you play, do it with authority. Play hard, but don't just flop around up there like you're doing some sort of half-hearted interpretive dance. If the music you're playing makes you want to move, then for godsakes move. If it's not a "moving" kind of music, don't be afraid to look really interested in what you're doing. Otherwise, there's no reason for the audience to be, either.

As I finish this entry, I think of that song from a few years ago about everybody being free to wear sunscreen. I hope I don't sound quite that pathetic.

This Entry Was Inspired By...

...the "scenester fight" polls on locals.

*Ahem*

If GS Was A Hockey Team:

Uber - power forward; plays above his size, with a lot of heart; unafraid to crash the net

Ash - stay-at-home defenseman; if you haven't noticed him, then he's done his job

Poison - agitator/goon; more than willing to drop the mitts to stick up for herself and her teammates

If BB Was A Football Team:

WE - offensive lineman; his formidable blocking skills give us the time and space needed to run our offense

TR - quarterback; has about 10,000 plays scrawled on his wristband; thrives in a high-risk, high-reward system; can make plays outside the pocket

EH - "go-to" wide receiver; usually late for film sessions, but on the field his speed and timing are second to none; can catch anything thrown at him

DH - tight end; good hands make up for his lack of breakaway speed; blocks well and can be effective as a receiver if the play-calling is kept simple



Ok, that was ridiculous.

Improvved

The improv band played on Saturday night. After getting in from the out-of-town show at 7 that morning, I wasn't all that excited about moving gear again - especially the epic amount this band was going to need. It's the opposite approach of GS - get as much stuff and as many people onstage as humanly possible.

Eb and I made a couple of gear runs to add to what was in the trunk from the night before. By the time everything had been hauled into the club the excitement was starting to build for me. Here's this huge pile of instruments, and they're all going to be played at once!

I was worried the show would be a logistical nightmare, what with all the setting up and tearing down. As it turned out, all of the bands set up at once in different parts of the (large) room and there was no more downtime than usual between performances.

I couldn't stay until the end of the show due to other commitments, but I saw some interesting things in the time I was there. The first band was pretty primal, actually wrecking a couple of guitars; the second used an array of electronic noises, at one point unexpectedly breaking into a fit of fall-on-the-floor screaming, which I found out later had less to do with performance than just frustration with malfunctioning gear.

Our band was up next; between some absent regulars and new additions we ended up as a 13-piece. There were two people in the band I'd never even met before. We used three guitars, two basses (with a lot of effects), a sitar, a spacebeam, about five drummers and an assortment of tin whistles. The jam lasted about 20 minutes and was shockingly cohesive, under the circumstances. There's video of it out there, and it's somthing to see. So many people pounding on so many things, all in unison (well, sometimes). Admittedly, this is not for everyone (like all of my bands seem to be). It's "just a bunch of noise". Yet, to me there were more than a few inspired moments, and some people in the crowd were really into it.

The two bands I saw after our set were also quite good. Both were two-piece improv units, one with guitar and drums, the other with dual electronics. They both went over well. It was a great show overall.

There was talk that this show could have gone on at the One World, a vastly smaller venue. Now that I would like to have seen. Band members would have to be piled on top of one another, and who knows where the audience would go. It would be intense though. Less space = more rock.

Polarization

There's no middle ground with some bands out there. You either love 'em or hate 'em. These are most likely bands that do something risky with their music. To me, it's tough to love or hate a band that really plays it safe - that keeps its performance and songwriting within the expected norms of a rock band. As the girl says at the end of CKDU-FM's "zit remedies" station id, "They're ok, I guess".

I think some of the most interesting music has been made under divisive conditions, with the Velvet Underground being an obvious example. If you look at rock history, many of the most important bands had this effect on people when they first started out. Some overcame it and became famous; others became important only after their breakup; others became cult oddities or just faded away altogether. Whatever the case, I think it can be said that the further a band strays outside the norms of contemprary music, the clearer the line between those who like them, and those who hate them a lot.

Where this schism begins is difficult to say. Are there particularly sensitive aspects of a performance that run a high risk of alienating the listener? Some people will write off a band that looks weird. Or, more likely, looks weird in the wrong way. Maybe their music is just too out there, too different from what they're used to. GS is a band that aims to involve the audience in our performances. Maybe some people resent this; "the band should be here and the audience should be there". I dunno.

The first time I saw ____ was a good example of the audience-divide phenomenon. It was at a ____ event, and the band's first public appearance. They had jammed for the first time just hours earlier; friends of the band (and there were quite a few) all knew this and knew what to expect; casio-key garage rock played by a band in the first several hours of its existence. The singer, a friend of mine, was quite nervous before they began, despite the epic drinking session that prefaced their set. I advised her to just give us a show. With four barely-learned songs and next to no instrumentation (keys, drums), that's about all you could have asked. My friend isn't what I'd call "shy" so I knew she had it in her to entertain the masses. The set was fun; oh sure, it was sloppy and chaotic, but the couple-dozen people who watched from up close had a blast. The chaos is what we were there to see, and in the end I think the audience really helped fuel it and make the show memorable. The line between band and listener became blurred.

Friends of the band spoke highly of the show afterward. It was a fun time! It was interactive and silly, which from my perspective was the whole point. The point could not have been to make slick music because that's just not possible with so little time to prepare. No, the people simply wanted a show... and that's what they got. They were even in it.

The band was not without its detractors. "The show" is not universally valued; it was an issue on which the audience was clearly divided. I found this oddly satisfying, and it made the band that much cooler in my eyes. I think if a band is hated by everyone in the room, odds are they're either in the wrong element or they just plain suck - but being part loved, part despised raises a band to another level in my eyes. They must be doing something right. They're certainly not compromising or trying to suck up and make friends. This is the embodiment of everything I've learned about punk rock over the past 18 years or so.

I seem to find my way into bands that polarize audiences. The majority of the bands I've been in have done this. It hasn't been by design. It's more likely due to the fact that I value an impactful show over all else. Play what you want to play, and play it hard as fuck. People watching, even if they hate your music, will have to admit that you're passionate and unafraid of alienation. These two traits on their own can be enough to carry a performance. They are, to me, what punk rock is all about.

...which, after no less than seven paragraphs of self-indulgent philosophizing, brings me to last night's out-of-province show. Our friends "I-dot" and "B-dot" came along for moral support and the prospect of a fun road trip. That's what we got, and that's what they got.

We were playing a campus bar. Campus bars are not so much designed to showcase far-out rock bands as they are to provide students with a place to enjoy a cold beverage after class. They need to appeal to the student body at large - a highly diverse group that is in some ways a microcosm of society itself (and in other ways, a microcosm of the part of society that can afford a college education). For this reason, I had some worries about how well we'd go over. As passionate as I feel about our band, I think we appeal to a rather small niche at present. I was hoping this niche would be represented at the show, and it was.

We were on last. People (and there were quite a few) were filing out long before we started playing. I believe a lot of them were headed to other bars closer to the center of town. I don't remember how many people came up front when we played. Maybe a dozen? I also don't remember how many more people bailed once we started playing. It could have been a lot. I couldn't see because I either wear prescription sunglasses when I play, or no glasses at all.

We played decently; I'd say I was 80% happy with our playing. The guitar was apparently not loud enough. Maybe I'll run the twin through my bass cab next time. The dozen or so people up front seemed super into us. They got it. They knew about "the show". Staff, on the other hand, didn't seem to approve of crowd interaction. Like audience members tackling band members and vice versa, band members moving into the audience with their instruments, etc. I could only speculate what they must have thought of our music. I did talk some sports with a bouncer after the show. See? We're not that weird.

I would say this: if patrons or workers at the bar are being hassled physically or otherwise, staff should intervene. If the venue's property is being misused or laws are being broken, staff should intervene. Otherwise, staff should not intervene. If the mutual hassling between band and audience, or audience and audience, is clearly consentual, staff should not intervene. Let the band play their show. Let the audience join in. Of course, I don't have the legal burdens associated with running a bar, so this is easy for me to say.

The organizer of the show (who had been kicked out for his innocent exuberance, but found ways to remain on the premises) told me that this venue was not accustomed to punk rock shows. They must not have realized that people jumping on each other is normal at an event such as ours. They're just Riding The Pink Tiger.

I had some great conversations about music with B-dot during the drive home. He hid his extreme drunkenness quite well. Not so for I-dot and Poison. I think they had a rough ride. Uber's back seemed to hold up, and he moved around quite a bit during the set. I went home happy. We did our thing, and did it fairly well. I'd drive the 3 1/2 hours again to play for those dozen people up front. We'll be doing just that in a few weeks.