Right so I haven't posted in months so there's a bit of catching up to do. I played my second and last gig with Lifeproof back in January as part of a monthly showcase night in a venue called the Workmans. It didn't go too well. It wasn't a complete disaster, but it ranged from getting our set cut short due to sound checking starting over an hour late, to getting trapped backstage because me and Ally couldn't find the door switch.
I won't get into it too much, but after that gig I had a lot of time to think about the band and my role in it, and I wasn't happy for numerous reasons. I also discovered that Ally had wanted to leave before Christmas for her own reasons but hadn't because of me. So after a few months of standing back from the band (due to college work) I realised that I wasn't enjoying myself any more and so I left, along with Ally.
After this happened, myself and Ally had begun building our pedalboards from my pedal collection and we revisited an old idea of mine to start an experimental project. I had set up a facebook page for it, naming the project "Help Never Came" at the same time as when I set up the Lifeproof facebook page, just to secure the name. Ally had begun playing guitar instead of bass and discovered she had a knack for it, while I started playing bass. Finding motivation to write songs has been hard, due to both laziness and a lack of confidence but we've started a couple of songs, as well as finishing a rough version of our first song. We're still trying to find our feet with the thing, as we still try to find a style, and while we figure out the singing situation.So far though it's been fun and it's refreshing to be making music in a casual manner.
This is a list of bands that are writing, have confirmed new material this year, and bands that have said nothing and I'm just being hopeful.
1) Delorentos
I've already heard some of the new material off the new album and I can't wait to see how its packaged in a studio release.
2) Tvvins
Probably the most exciting bands I've seen in a while, this takes members from Cast of Cheers and adebisi Shank and pretty much throws the best of both into a sexy sounding soup!
3) Codes
I thought the first album was ok with a few good songs. I wan't crazy about it. Then I heard triangulum off the new album and it just blew me away. Heavy and synthy, what more do you want? A hole album of it? Here's hoping...
4) Ham Sandwich
Have long been one of my favourite Irish bands. I can't even describe why I love them so much but I want more.
5) Snow Patrol
A band I put off listening to because I expected them to be indie filth but they're definitely one of the best Irish bands going. They go from soft to hard to experimental to epic almost seamlessly.
6) Dogs
An electronic band with actual musicians. with actual instruments. Yes please.
7) Crafty Fuzz
A straight up balls to the wall rock band with a strong female singer. A refreshing change among a sea of electronic and indie music.
8) And So I Watch You From Afar
Arguably Ireland's best musical offering at the moment, this instrumental tour de force is as heavy as any metal band but still goes down as easy as warm milk, and I just want more... A collaboration with other musicians would be nice though.
9) Fears
This is an alternative to singer songwriters than i can get behind. Using synths and soundscaping guitar, they generate a sound similar to lemolo or a more minimal warpaint.
10) Bats
Probably my favourite heavy band that Ireland has to offer, like crafty fuzz they offer a nice change to the usual array of indie and electronic bands.
11) Dirty Epics
Female fronted rock band that justs gets to the point and makes you wanna dance.
12) Young Wonder
I saw them a while ago and I still haven't made up my mind. The music was a bit boring and the singer ranged from being majestic to sounding like multiple cats being butchered so I want to see how their sound is produced and packaged in a studio atmosphere before i make a final judgement.
13) Girl Band
Bringing hard rock and effects/experimental together to form what I can only describe as a user friendly HEALTH, I eagerly await a full release from these guys.
14) Jape
While I preferred Ritual to his last album, the man cannot be faulted when it comes to easy listening music thats good to dance or chill out to
15) Destrossat
I played a gig with these guys last month and they blew me away. Such a fantastic post rock/instrumental band and I hope they go beyond their current EP and release more. They're good enough to be the next and so i watch you from afar...
I realise that I explain why I want to hear more from some of these bands, and then give a brief description of others, but those descriptions are why I want to hear more from them. Now... Fingers crossed...
I used to Jam with a guy called Dave in college a few years ago. He was in a really good prog rock band called Wizard Fist. After falling out of contact I decided to look up the band and see if they were still active. I couldn't find them but I stumbled across his new band...
That's how I discovered Dogs. To simply put it, they're an Irish electronica band, but they're so much more. Unlike other electronica acts that are either comprised of indie band musicians playing synths, or just producers, this band is heavily guitar and bass driven, with a producer providing synth and drum sounds and strong vocals (and a standby female vocalist to provide great harmonies and alternative vocals -Example: Out in Cover) They released their EP earlier this year upstairs in Whelans and it's hands up one of the best performances I've seen this year. Even if electronica is not your thing, I'd strongly recommend giving these guys a try. It's nice to see people taking a genre from a different approach.
So back in October, myself, Mike and Ally went into the studio in Temple Bar for a 12 hour session to record 3 of our songs, "Beyond Me" "Clarity" and "Hiding From The World."
The session was a great experience but it was a bittersweet experience. Even though we were recording everything as demo quality, we were pushing it to record 3 songs. It didn't help that 2 of us had no experience with click tracks, and I was writing the cajon parts for "Hiding From The World" on the spot, and that our guitarist was our sound engineer who only had the help of a first year who had been on the course for a month-ish (no offence to the guy, it wasn't his fault but he wasn't much use) and finally there's the sound engineer that was meant to come in and give us a hand but instead got pissed drunk and had his lecturer ring us to tell us he wouldn't be in...
We got it done anyway and here's a breakdown of the tracks:
The first song myself and Ally ever learned in this band, we figured it was a handy one to play and we knew it for the gig already. It was a good representation of our sound, or at least our sound from our earlier back catalog that we're still planning to keep. It was handy enough to record actually. Me and Mike scream during the choruses too, and we recorded this by screaming down a hallway at a microphone. They seem a bit too compressed but meh, it's not meant to be perfect.
Clarity:
Again, this was a track that we had taught Ally for the gig and it was representative of how our sound was progressing as we wrote more songs. This was really difficult for me. It has a long lead in were all I do is cymbal swells until it kicks in. The click track was far slower than what I was used to playing and it threw me off for the first few takes. The transition from the kick in to the last part of the song sounds a bit off but it sounds fine live. I think for studio though that it probably needs a fill to help transition. We haven't gotten to it yet but we are going to put vocal harmonies in this.
Hiding From The World:
I had insisted on including this as I wanted to emphasize the fact that we have a catalog of unique acoustic music as well as electric material. I had half an idea of what I was doing and my cajon was recorded in 1 and a half takes. So the first verse is a bit messy. We also never got around to putting piano on the track unfortunately.
So what's happened since then? Other than Mike mixing the songs, we were meant to play a support slot for a gig on the 14th of December, and despite being told we needed 10 of our own guests on the facebook page, which we had (Our friends aside, it was going to be my birthday night out and half of Allys class were going too) but they didn't like the fact that we weren't posting it every day and whether that was the reason or not, they struck us off the roster and as moderators and replaced us without so much as a message. So that was fun... Then Mike got a message saying I was being unprofessional due to a status I put up:
"Hey everyone. Regarding the gig, MY PYRRHIC VICTORY - Free Christmas Show! For reasons unknown to me, the headlining band have struck us off the roster. So my birthday night out will be reorganised to a different night and Lifeproof. will hopefully be playing a gig early January. More on that later."
Maybe it was because they said we couldn't play due to unforeseen circumstances and I basically called them out without being direct. My friends weren't happy and it was probably more about their reactions but hey, you can't blame people for being supportive. (Thanks guys ;) )
So after that happened, we were all rather relieved to not be playing for them. And now we've got a gig on the 6th of January in a better venue for a music showcase night, and for the first time since August, we're not under pressure when we're practicing as we finish writing two new songs. Seriously, that last practice was the first one since the unpleasantness and it's probably the best we've had since playing as this line up.
We also got to play with our new Peavy guitar amp over the marshall micro stack which was always just meant as a novelty purchase. Everything just sounds SOOOOooooooooo much better.
So for yous that don't know, this is a music festival that runs around Dublin city after the summer. It features around a hundred bands playing over 3 nights across around 6 venues, as well as a number of bands playing random spots during the day and some talks here and there. There's a selection process with a number of conditions, the main one being that you have to be an independent band. This is the point of the festival, to showcase upcoming and established talent that aren't associated with labels. To give these bands a platform to put themselves out there to audiences and industry people who wouldn't ordinarily see them.
It seems to run similarly to SXSW but on a smaller and more localized scale. Sure, it could be run better. Most bands get a line check and a 10 minute turn around after a 30 minute set. Personally though, I believe its a small price to pay for a small band to get exposure and an opportunity to play with other bands. This year I ended up volunteering at a theatre venue out the back of a book shop. It was fantastic. There was such diversity among the bands, (and how good they were =/ ). With the exception of a dodgy sound engineer one of the days, everything was ran really smoothly and there was great interaction between bands and attendees. Hopefully more opportunities like this will spring up for upcoming bands as other festivals provide larger unsigned band opportunities and small festivals like 10 days in Dublin grow with every year.
I know my bands goal is to be accepted into the festival next year, so that we can hopefully network with some new bands and showcase (whore) ourselves out to new potential fans, meanwhile possibly playing in a venue that wouldn't normally be open to us.
At the start of the summer, I went to a festival in Dublin called Forbidden Fruit in the grounds of Kilmainham. On that day I saw Kasabian, Fight Like Apes and Crystal Castles who were all fantastic, as well as a few other bands. The band of the day however, was HEALTH. I really liked this band before I saw them, but I'd never seen them live and I never took the time to see how they got their sounds. Well... This show blew me away and opened my eyes. Throughout the set I was amazed at the nice vocals contrasting with the harsh guitar and bass noises. I was also blown away at the bands use of microphones to make sound effects.
The next song I want to talk about is "Die Slow." This is another track were the bassist puts down the guitar and manipulates settings on his pedal board, or something anyway. I love the ring modulated sounds over the sampler/synth leading into the guitar chord driven choruses.
Then there's the song "Tears." It was created as part of the soundtrack they made for Max Payne 3. It's probably one of their most radio friendly tracks but it's with so many of their tracks being so intense and harsh, this is like the token soft acoustic song, except still using effects and what not to get their signature style of playing across.
"Crimewave" is one of their harsher songs. It's very drum heavy, featuring one guitarist on a floor tom for the whole song and the other guitarist at one point playing the china cymbal for a short part half way through as well, and around 2 minutes later we see the bassist using the microphone they use for sound effects to feedback against the amps to generate sounds.
This band is very inspiring because of their nontraditional approach to guitar and bass playing. There's always a danger of combing harsh music with clean or "nice" vocals, my example would be Symphonic metal. Some people like it but most of it seems like a novelty for hot girls to front mediocre metal bands (this does not apply to everyone, it's just a personal opinion and one i won't get into because it's not the point of this post) but it works so well for this band. One of the only noise rock bands I actually like and they're studio stuff does their live show no justice.
So our bands first gig (and my first real one) was Friday gone, aka Friday 13th of September, 2013. Originally I thought I was going to be fine, that'd I'd get on stage and just laugh and have fun. Then I found out we wouldn't have practice on Thursday and the idea of not practicing the whole week freaked me out a little to the point were I got really frustrated on Tuesday and started messing up as much as I was getting right. We were working on a 4th song to play just in case there was an encore and I had to lock down the solo and some of the chorus bits, which I did... Eventually.
Wednesday went a lot better and we were all joking and messing with no real mistakes. As light hearted as the rehearsal was, there was an underlying uneasiness... Thursday and Friday morning was spent trying to suppress the nerves. Naps and my morning shifts in work helped, but I was ranging from shakes to disillusionment to everything in between.
Luckily on Friday, our lift was an hour and forty minutes late. Luckily we would've been early if they'd been on time so it wasn't too bad and it helped to distract all of us... Till we got there. I can honestly say there's no worse feeling. I was ranging from being drained to panicked to nauseous, changing second to second. Then when we went on to sound check, my arms went so weak they nearly dropped the sticks, which is strange when your arms also are so tensed they hurt. So many conflicting feelings. After we sound checked a few of my friends showed up and everything was becoming real. Very real. And we were all trying to deal with it in our own ways. The first band came on and it was countdown time.
We were third on the bill and our time was coming up. We listened to the first band and how the crowd reacted with them. Yeah they knew the band personally but it was still nerve wracking to see them so active. What if nobody reacted to us? What if they just stared at us? There was at least 30 people and to be honest, before this week I'd expected there to just be the bands plus maybe 10 other people at most. No that'd be too easy. Second band comes on. Hey look its the drummer who was asking to borrow my stand earlier. Hey this is the original I listened to on Facebook. Any thought but we're next. After their first song we go backstage. All my gear was on stage from the sound check so Ally and Mike tuned up again, although Mike had to loan them his guitar cause of a string malfunction (It broke...) I drink another can of Monster Rehab and wait... Waiting at the side of the stage. The last two bands drums sounded awful, will mine be that bad? No they couldn't be, we sound checked and they didn't (Never play a gig without sound checking, ever) The other band finishes... We're up...
I set up everything as quick as I can, of course I've the most drum gear out of any other band. Worry. What if I'm taking too long? Just keep going. Oh shit everyone is staring at us. Just keep going. Mike and Ally are still going. Okay I'm okay... Crap, Ally's set up isn't working. There's no sound. Me and the sound guy are trying to find out what the issue is. He's plugged the jack into the wrong hole. Nope, that's not the only problem. Luckily Mike figures it out and we're set. Shit, that's not a good start. I look out at the crowd. The lights are blinding and beyond that there's just darkness. I look by the stage and I see about 3/4 rows of people fading into the black. I breath in and my nerves settle... Ish. Better than they'd been for most of the day. Ally starts on bass. Mike starts singing. Wait. Wait... Cymbals. Mike starts on guitar. We build and build as a band. Build on the cymbals for the last time... Drop mallets, grab sticks, kick in. It all goes perfectly. People I don't even know, none of us do, are losing their shit to our song, our song that's being played for people for the first time. The nerves don't pass but the rush of excitement rolls in and takes over. Over our 3 song set I make a few mistakes, nothing bad enough for anyone outside of the band to notice. The main thing is I never stop. Me and Ally make stupid faces at each other, Mike and Ally size up and play to each other during instrumental breaks, I get the crowd swaying for the melodic part of "Beyond Me." The set is a testament to how well we've gelled as a band over the last couple of months as well as how comfortable we are playing in general. My arms literally feel like rejecting the drum sticks for the last 2/3 minutes but somehow I make it to the end. Relief. We get our gear off the stage and all hug it out in the back room, completely drained.
Over the night, there were some good bands, some awful, but it seems we've made some friends and although we didn't place in the festival, feedback from some of the crowd, the other musicians and some of the judges was really positive, and at the end of the day, this whole gig was about getting our first performance over and done with, and we succeeded in that.
So originally me, Ally and Mike were planning to get a 3 track demo recorded this month. We're in the middle of pre production and everything. But then Ally had talked about a festival she's played the last couple of years with her old band and we kinda said screw it, let's get our first gig under our belt. I'm doing my thesis this year and kinda felt throwing myself into the fray was the best option rather than waiting for the "best opportunity," when realistically I'm going to be in a constant state of melted headlyness till June.
To get our spot in the festival though, we have to place top 3 out of 8 in the battle of the bands competition in Skerries that's on next Friday. It's a 3 song set with at least 1 cover, so we decided on "Clarity," "Requiem For A Dream," and "Beyond Me." I proposed requiem (Actually its called Lux Aterna but its better known as requiem for a dream) because the idea of taking an orchestral piece and adapting it for a 3 piece would really show us off as a band. We set up the facebook/twitter/gmail/soundcloud/etc pages and invited people. We recorded a rough demo and took a few photos, everything to spruce up the page and make it look like we're taking this seriously, as opposed to all those old band pages from other bands that never made it much further than being set up. We've an intense week of practice ahead of us as we're still getting Ally comfortable with the material and I'm refining some of my drum parts to help keep time without cues from the guitarist, Mike. Also need to work on a back up song too. It's been a funny few weeks for all of us as the reality of the fact that we're playing a gig is finally setting in. For so long people have asked me about the band and I've had nothing to show for it, and now I can finally invite people to a gig and prove I haven't just been pretending all this time...
Ally is getting to play a style of bass that she's always wanted to but was never really in an environment to play or learn. And Mike is getting to showcase his music after about 6 years of writing, re-writing, being ridiculed, having no drummer, re writing, having no bassist, re writing, etc etc. It's brought up a lot of personal stuff for the 3 of us, stuff that I'm not going to get into detail about yet but it really is like this small 3 song set is the culmination of years of effort. An actual justification for all our work and hopefully the start of the journey. Don't get me wrong, none of us expect to be rockstars packing out Wembley Stadium, but it'd be nice to release some music and to be playing some decent venues with our own fan base who listen to us and not just because they're our friends that we've guilted into coming...
Another reason I like her is her basic understanding of music and musicians around her. It's always nice to see tweets of pictures with guys from Dillinger Escape Plan or The Mars Volta, and other musicians from all walks of life. I think this is they key to her not being like a bog standard pop artist. Even when she's performing on her own, I've seen videos of her creating loops of vocal noises using microphones and an iPad.
The last note I'll make is the music she sings over. I don't know how to describe it, maybe some sort of jazz/ soul/ indie hybrid? It's fantastic. Listen to "Come Into My Head," it's probably my favorite example of this.
Unfortunately poppy vocal based music witch catchy hooks and melodies aren't a thing I'm interested in playing but I'm so glad to to have it as a fan of music, and I hope to do something different with my band as she has with herself.
So I've talked about other bands a bit so far, whether it's why I like them or to review their albums. I figured it was about time I actually said something about my own involvement in music. Over the years I've been in a few bands, mostly after school - hang out bands. Nothing serious really.
(Nothing serious at all...)
Then there's all the idea's I've had for bands. Everything from technical multi-genre bands, to korn/tool/rage against the machine-esque metal, to all types of hard rock or experimental/noise rock. I even had plans for a musical collective where members would slot in and out and we would rewrite songs as new people joined, and I'd be the only permanent member.
But none of that is what I'm actually doing. The band is called Lifeproof. Once called Nova Prospekt, One Winged Angel, Beyond Now, and Gan Ainm. We're a 3 piece. I play drums and percussion, Mike plays Guitar and Ally plays bass. We'll also have session players (probably lead guitar mostly). Originally Mike started writing songs after leaving his last band, Deception Fold, he started writing new material. He would've been 16/17 around then. He's now 22 so most of that is replaced/ ditched or improved. Anyway, Mike was still in school and turned to his friend Jimmy and told him to get a bass. I think he meant it half as a joke but a few days later he had ordered it and yeah.
(Jimmy, Ladies and Gentlemen)
They'd asked me to play drums but I couldn't set up my drums and it'd be around 2 years before I could. Fortunately (for me) they never found another drummer and I was eventually able to play with the guys using my electronic kit, but unfortunately, after a couple of months of practicing together as a band Jimmy had to move to Wales so we were back to two members.
(Mike assures me the toilet has great reverb...)
We had great intentions of sending demos back and fourth but it never really happened and when I was able to permanently set up my acoustic drum kit and the start of the year (2013), me and Mike were making leaps and bounds and Jimmy stepped down so that we could find someone to join so we could begin recording and gigging. Eventually Ally joined and we're currently rehearsing our demo that we're hoping to record a demo in September (2 electric tracks and 1 acoustic) while going over the back catalog and writing new material. Fingers crossed we'll be playing our first gig in mid September.
So after all this, I've neglected to describe our sound. Well we're a 3 piece-ish. It's rock music, but we go from heavy rock to melodic to post rock. How I normally describe it is take the band Isis, take out the heavy metal parts and swap them for tool/ them crooked vultures/ Qotsa/ Foos/ A perfect circle/ etc style rock. Hopefully we'll have recordings so I never have to describe us again... And hopefully there'll be some pictures of us doing stuff too
So the girlfriend and I have been discussing the new paramore album quite a bit and the only things we seemed to agree on was that:
There ARE good songs
They don’t seem to have any overlying direction or theme
Both of us need to listen to the album a few more times
With this in mind I figured I’d do a track by track summary to give each song a fair look at rather than a sweeping blanket statement which I felt was necessary with a 17 track album. EDIT: I done this and the review was just blehh... So I've rewritten it to hopefully make it readable.
The first thing I wan't to do is to pick on the 3 interlude songs. These 3 tracks are played on ukelele and to be honest, there's nothing that stands out on any track other than they're playing a ukelele. They're pure novelty tracks that bored me and stuck out for all the wrong reasons.
So now that's out of the way I'm going to discuss the band orientated tracks that make up the other 14 tracks. The album is very experimental in a number of ways, which was both surprising and unsurprising.Considering they lost two vital band members prior to this album, it would've been very easy to stick out a "safe" album, but instead they took a risk and tried a number of new things.
The introduction of synths is a new direction for Paramore. However, they tend to be subtle or modestly used. There’s also a prominent use of effects across all instruments. Sometimes it’s heavy fuzz, sometimes it’s modulated drums, and sometimes it’s something as simple as deep reverb. Then putting out a 17 track album with a variety of songs that range from taking influence from different styles of music [influence, not adopting a new genre], throwbacks to their original sound, progression from their current sound, experimenting with new instruments.
They also experimented with other vocals. "Ain't it Fun" features a gospel style interlude (EXPAND THIS) while "Last Hope" features layered vocals as opposed to a choir to acquire a big vocal sound.
Despite their experimentation they haven't lost their basic trademark sound from their previous albums. Tracks like "Now" & "Daydreaming" would be good examples, and the single "Fast In My Car" is a good example of them adding subtle synths here and there to combine the old trademark sound with their new experimental side, and there's also the track "Still into you" where they introduce glockenspiel/ metallaphone instead of synths but still keep that core Paramore sound.
Unfortunately the 3 interlude songs aren't the only tracks I've got issues with. Some songs have some boring parts, like "Last Hope" which has a boring start that makes me want to skip it till halfway through, or "Grow Up" which is a bit boring overall but especially with the drums. The last track "Future" started promising but lacks variety or layering to keep it interesting, and although there's lead instrumentation after the fade in and out (I don't understand why they done this, there's no reason for this), it still doesn't really build up to as much as it should. And "Crazy Girls" just wasn't a good song in my opinion.
I applaud the band for taking a risk with this album. Yes it has it's flaws but it’s exciting in a way, because nobody can say what direction the band will ultimately take. Will they reinvent pop punk with the heavy use of synth sounds, or drop them altogether and develop their sound like they did from Riot! to Brand New Eyes. And looking at tracks like “Part II" and “Future," they could even develop into a rock band that sounds like a stripped down “A Perfect Circle." Yes, the last possibility is a bit far-fetched but what I’m getting at here is that they could go any where from here. Hopefully they drop the ukulele… Into a fire...
So I saw him play the o2 a few days ago and basically, all I can really say is wow... He's fantastic live, from his singing to his solos to his musician-ship (I often have a soft spot for multi instrumentalists) and also the fact that he doesn't just stand there like a pole. Also getting to see one of my favourite drummers, Carla Azar, playing was a HUGE bonus. All I'll say is she's a drummer, plays with a jazz grip, and listen to her band autolux.
The White Stripes:
The famous band with the famous question... Are they married or are they siblings? I was never crazy about them to be honest. Don't get me wrong, really liked some of their songs and had great respect for what they were doing, but Meg's drumming capabilities was as much a hindrance to the band as it helped define their sound. Seven Nation Army is a testament to this. It was such a simple song that it was one of the only songs that my second band ever managed to cover, it was the first thing i learnt on guitar, and yet it's one of the most recognisable riffs in the world. I defy anyone to hear this in a club or pub and to not have most of the people drunkenly chanting the riff out.
Taking Blue Orchid, we can really see Megs limitations. The drumming nearly follows seven nation armys drums exactly. Starting off with only bass hits and then going onto bass - snare - bass - snare. Great song nonetheless, and Jacks fuzzed up guitar sounds great, but it'd be nice for the drumming level to be a bit more advanced.
Personally my favourite song is probably Little Acorns off the Elephant album. It starts off with a narrated story accompanied by some piano. The when the story is finished, a heavy fuzzy guitar kicks in playing what the piano was playing. I really like the contrast with that riff which becomes the chorus, and the verse which is very suppressed.
The Raconteurs:
Jacks side band during the later life of the White Stripes released two studio albums. This effort really allowed Jack to open up creatively and with his guitar style as well. While not as experimental like the Dead Weather, The Raconteurs are probably my favourite Jack White project. And while I love jacks vocals, it's nice to see him share vocal duties with the other members too.
Steady As She Goes
As I sit here listening to this song, it's actually painful to try describe why I love this song, I just do. I guess this'll be short and sweet. Probably the one song everyone knows if they've ever heard anything by the raconteurs. The start is one of the best composed openings into a song I've ever heard. It starts off with a simple drum beat, followed by bass and then followed after by the guitars, leading to probably one of the most recognisable intros in modern music. The structure is all over the place too, not that I ever noticed till I tried analysing the song. The song just flows so well. It goes intro - mini verse - mini chorus - mini verse - chorus - verse - chorus - Eh, I better jump back in, its not a sequences lesson. At this point it kicks back into a verse, but there's a new guitar riff and there's a duet were the second vocalist is trailing behind the first [I'm sure there's a term for that] which sounds great and leads into the outro chorus. Huh... Not as short as I thought it'd be...
Store Bought Bones
So the start is a bit different to the studio version, which I should point out before I start. The difference is the live version builds up to the solo organ riff while the studio version goes verse - guitar break - repeat. I think one of the things I love about the song is the use of solo instrument breaks. There's quite a few of them, but because they're spread across guitar and organ, it remains fresh. It's an interesting mix to the traditional song structure. Then there's the explosive solo that leads into a delicate and almost surgically precise outro.
Carolina Drama
It's very rare that I like a ballad, maybe because they're usually done by country and folk singers and its just not my style, but here lies the exception. And the thing I love about this song is the lyrics and how easy it is to get into. There's nothing wrong with the instrumentation, but bar the little lead guitar riffs, and the little break in the middle, there's nothing that stands out, which makes sense in a lyric driven song. You just have to listen for yourself but here's a few quotes...
"Who was a triple loser with some blue tattoos
That were given to him when he was young
And a drunk temper that was easy to lose
And thank god he didn't own a gun"
"He saw that red-necked bastard with a hammer
Turn the priest into a shell of a man
The priest was putting up the fight of his life
But he was old and he was bound to lose"
And I'm a bit of a sucker for ambiguous and open ended conclusions...
"Well now you heard another side to the story
But you wanna know how it ends?
If you must know, the truth about the tale
Go and ask the milkman"
The Dead Weather:
Unlike his other projects, Jack gets behind the skins for this band and shares vocals with Alison Mossheart of The Kills. I don't know what else to say so on to the songs...
Hang You From The Heavens
I love the sound of the bass and how it and the drums carries the song during the verses. Halfway then the verse gets a bit fatter [is that even a term?] with heavier drums and guitar and keeps this feel into the instrumental part straight after before finishing up
So Far From Your Weapon
Maybe the best example of their experimental nature I'm going to give... Alison takes up guitar duty for this track, and the bass has got a fat modulated sound. You can hear an distorted ambience in the studio version. That, mixed with the tempos, the crescendos, the backing harmonies make this a beautiful song for me, and a very sinister one too. "There's a bullet in my pocket burnin a hole, so far from your weapon and the place you where born. There's a bullet in my pocket burnin a hole, you're so far from your weapon and you wanna go home" - Still sends chills down my back...
Will There Be Enough Water
Okay so he's MOSTLY behind the drum kit, but the song is basically a big ass guitar solo... Oh and might I add... The sexual tension is UNREAL.
Are Friends Electric?
A cover of a song by Gary Numan & The Tubeway Army. I just love the cover but I love the use of effects in it. Yay experimental!!!
It Might Get Loud:
This is a documentary he done with Jimmy Page and The Edge. I wont get into it to much, but besides the obvious jams here's two of my favourite bits. The DIY intro and his custom guitar with a harmonica mic [sorry but I couldn't get a clip in English]
Solo Career:
There's not much to say at this point. He's back to playing guitar and piano with his predominantly female backing band, playing the kinda fuzzy, bluesy, experimental solos, stuff you'd expect him to play. Good mix between the heavy and the light, and a nice range of instruments. I can't really fault it at all.
Freedom at 21
Lets just do a list...
Drum intro
The general guitar riff
Stylised video
Guitar and vocal breaks
That solo... UMPH!!!
Josh Homme's cop cameo at the end...
Other Recommendations:
Treat Me Like Your Mother - The Dead Weather
Attention - The Raconteurs
Icky Thump - The White Stripes
Sixteen Saltines - Jack White
I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself - The White Stripes
I remember one of my friends trying to get me into NIN when I was about 16. Unfortunately the song he played for me was "March of the Pigs", which although being one of my favourite songs now, instantly put me off them at the time. I was insane, hard to follow, and probably one of the worst songs you could show someone who was only starting to get into music (yes, yes, I was a late bloomer to the music world).
Two years later though, I'm in college and my class mate hands me a Usb with The Fragile on it, and insists I listen to it. And that was the beginning of our love affair. With the high energy "Just like you imagined" that just makes you want to kick someone in the face, and yet unfolds into a beautiful piano piece halfway through, or "The day the world went away" which is so simple and just builds into something so emotionally charged, and then watching it live with the addition of drums and it just changes. It's times like this that I consider Trent not just a musician, but some sort of Demi-God. Here's 4 different versions of the same song...
Studio
Live
Still
Quiet
CRC Sessions
ALL THE VERSIONS!!!
One of my favourite things in music is when two different artists/ bands/ whatevers collaborate or play together. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but I can respect the effort. Nine Inch Nails has performed live and/ or in studio with Saul Williams, Dillinger Escape Plan, Gary Numan, Marilyn Manson, Josh Homme, and David Bowie to name but a few.
There's nothing better than a band that changes it up live or records alternate versions, and NIN does both spectacularly. On the "With Teeth" album, there's two versions of "Right where it belongs," then there's the quiet versions [like the version of the day the world went away (quiet)], and my personal favourite, Reptile. Reptile appeared on NIN's "Down the Spiral" album, but the version I love is performed by Trent, Jeordie White, Peter Murphy and Atticus Ross. This is a true example of changing it up.
Trents also done a lot for the industry. I can't say I've followed it too much, but he released the slip online as a pay what you want release. He's released files online so that the public can remix his songs and then hosts them on the Nine Inch Nails website. He's been documented in several disputes with record labels in the interest of staying true to his music, and then there's other things like developing apps for NIN fans.
I could probably keep going and going, from his other band "How to Destroy Angels" with his wife and Atticus Ross, to his soundtrack work [Quake, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Social Network, Call of Duty Black Ops 2], to his instrumental album, to the fact that he's a multi instrumentalist that isn't afraid to experiment, he's basically the personification of everything I want to be musician-wise.
Everyone has their selection of terrible music they had bought for them when they were kids but the first CD I ever went out and got for myself for "Songs for the Deaf" when I was about 15 [I know, I was a bit late to the party, but at least I kicked off with a bang.] This album was so dark and energetic, to this day I don't think I've heard anything like it. One of my favourite things about the album was their temporary member, Mark Lanegan, doing vocals on some of their songs. The man's voice is unreal and just adds to the dark feeling of some of the songs. This coupled with Nicks often driving bass lines and contrasted with Troys lead riffs and bends (or lap steel, he mixes it up quite a bit) really drive the dark atmosphere of this album. Singles aside, I think "Hangin' Tree" is my favourite example of this.
One of the things about this band is how many members they've had... Some were always temporary, some left for whatever reasons, and the was a certain bearded bassist who was kicked out because of domestic abuse charges... And although the line up seems to be somewhat permanent at this stage, their albums, while all being great rock albums, always manage to somehow change their sound with each album.
Unfortunately, this is insanely hard to describe so i'll just discuss some of their songs and why I love them...
Little Sister:
Off the Lullabies to Paralyze album, as a drummer, the first reason I love this song is the use of jam block. It's always fantastic to hear percussion being used well in songs, and not just as a novelty. The second reason is the chorus. It's a head-bangers dream as the song just explodes in a fit of energy. Last but not least is the solo. Post chorus, Josh proceeds to play the usual lead riffs, but then opens into a great solo before blending back into the ending bars of the song. The solo just fits in so well and suits the song very well. One of my musical pet peeves is when a solo just seems to be included in a song for the sake of it and ends up just sounding awkward and interrupts the flow of the song, but this solo is just executed beautifully.
Better Living Through Chemistry:
Off the Rated R album. This is probably the most progressive offering from QOTSA. The songs opens up with a beautifully hypnotic guitar and vocal line, accompanied with the drummer beating out a bongo line (and a suppressed glockenspiel or something on the studio version). This first part then ends with the drums kicking in, the guitar opening up a bit more, but the vocals staying hypnotic (The album version also has backing vocals coming in at this point to keep the feeling through). Then the song breaks with only guitar feedback going before bursting into what I can only describe is a rock song on speed. It just goes mental (mental, not sloppy), a wonderful contrast to the start. Finally then the song comes back down to earth, as if almost to say, hey we should probably wrap this up soon. The vocals kick back in, the glockenspiel comes back, and basically the song continues from the last bars of the opening part of the song.
No One Knows:
Something everyone will love... Dave Grohl on the drums... Besides the video being epic, i'll go into why the song is great. The verse has a simple backbeat on the drums and the guitars pretty much match this with a very suitable melody line over this. At no point do you think, god this is so easy, you just get really into it. This is one of those moments that shows that complicated doesn't necessarily mean better. Then comes the chorus and everything explodes. It kicks off with a series of drum fills which sound great and I know I've used this part of the song for practising fills on my own drum kit. After the second chorus everything stops for the bass line which then carries us into the drum fill/ guitar solo, which is really something I've rarely heard pulled off even nearly as well as in this song. The solo then finishes and the bassline carries us back into the outro verse.
This is probably going to be a reoccurring thing with these posts but their best attribute is most definitely their live performances. Great stage presence, fantastic performances blah blah blah the usual goes for these guys. BUT... There isn't many bands that change up their songs live or have ridiculous jams halfway through, but these guys? Well lets just say watch No one knows on youtube and then watch this performance, it'll speak for itself...
So while I was out at the Death in Vegas gig tonight I felt like I needed to express my love of music somehow [other than playing it obviously] so I decided to document my music related thoughts, to reflect on those moments when you see someone on stage or on youtube or whatever and you say to yourself, damn why isn't that me up there? There's a good chance nobody will ever see this but myself and this blog will fall into the forgotten crypts of the internet but till then it's time to fanboy it up...
