JANUARY 11, 2021:
2020 in review/upcoming releases!
First part of 2020 I released an LP, "Pineapple Foghorn" and then proceeded to write more songs. So, there is another LP written and mostly recorded of that kind of stuff. In the spring I managed to get a few guys (Ben Rew, Juan Lozoya and Scott Wade) together to try to play some guitar jr music as a band. It ultimately did not work out for a number of reasons not the least of which was that it would seem a 3 stringer guitar tuned in a triad does not play easily with normal guitars. (I guess I just had to find out the hard way, haha) Covid-19 shutting down all live events naturally didn't help any. But playing with other guitar players is probably not gonna happen in my solo act unless they are also multi-instrumentalists. I'll just leave it at that.
Another big reason is that Ben decided that he did not want to play rock music, per se, anymore. He put away his guitars, researched synthesizers and started buying, buying, trying, trying and selling, selling synths until he wound up with 3 or so that he really likes. I learned a lot with him on that journey I must say. He wanted to not work on any of the stuff either of us had written before and write new, spacey, synth music. Then he decided that he hates Seattle and moved to Los Angeles. Suffice it to say Ben was going through some changes and I want to support him in that. Go Ben! While I was let down that he did not want to work on the tunes I'd been working on I was still ok, since I had also been buying synths for a while and have been thinking of making synthy musics, too. In fact, I just got an electronic wind instrument midi controller (aka an "EWI") and a new synth myself which has been verry exciting! It will be premiering on my next releases so keep your ears peeled for it. It'll sound like a crazy lead synth player joined the band, but it will be a synth-sax. Still mutating over here, lol!
2020 in review/upcoming releases!
First part of 2020 I released an LP, "Pineapple Foghorn" and then proceeded to write more songs. So, there is another LP written and mostly recorded of that kind of stuff. In the spring I managed to get a few guys (Ben Rew, Juan Lozoya and Scott Wade) together to try to play some guitar jr music as a band. It ultimately did not work out for a number of reasons not the least of which was that it would seem a 3 stringer guitar tuned in a triad does not play easily with normal guitars. (I guess I just had to find out the hard way, haha) Covid-19 shutting down all live events naturally didn't help any. But playing with other guitar players is probably not gonna happen in my solo act unless they are also multi-instrumentalists. I'll just leave it at that.
Another big reason is that Ben decided that he did not want to play rock music, per se, anymore. He put away his guitars, researched synthesizers and started buying, buying, trying, trying and selling, selling synths until he wound up with 3 or so that he really likes. I learned a lot with him on that journey I must say. He wanted to not work on any of the stuff either of us had written before and write new, spacey, synth music. Then he decided that he hates Seattle and moved to Los Angeles. Suffice it to say Ben was going through some changes and I want to support him in that. Go Ben! While I was let down that he did not want to work on the tunes I'd been working on I was still ok, since I had also been buying synths for a while and have been thinking of making synthy musics, too. In fact, I just got an electronic wind instrument midi controller (aka an "EWI") and a new synth myself which has been verry exciting! It will be premiering on my next releases so keep your ears peeled for it. It'll sound like a crazy lead synth player joined the band, but it will be a synth-sax. Still mutating over here, lol!
So, I'll still work with Ben long distance and I'll still hang out and do stuff with Juan and Scott sometimes, too. I still want to form a band around the guitar jr music at some point. Everybody is super cool and nice and talented and everything but style wise we were all on separate pages. Juan is a killer metal style player and I'd like to do some heavy music with him. Scott is one of those music theory guys who can guitar shred like crazy, so how could I not want to work with him sometimes, right? I also learned a lot about the difference between loud and soft guitar playing. I had no idear how different they are! On those terms I am way better prepared for future times. Mid year Ben did me a solid and gave me a copy of Logic Pro X music editing software. I have been slowly transitioning over to it from Pro Tools, which along with the EWI are kind of big deals for me. I wrote a slew of material in learning Logic. So actually I have 2 or 3 LPs in the works all quite different from one another.
In other news, in between everything else I have been slowly chipping away at THE FLYS OF TEXAS ARE UPON YOU video project based off of an essay that I found in a stack of poems/lyric ideas Randy Biscuit Turner gave me back when we were working on NAUGAHYDE DREAM SEQUENCE stuff, circa early 2000's. I didn't realize the essay was in the stack of papers. I was looking for a list of silly band name ideas that was also in the stack. I was thinking about names for the Guitar Jr. music band and remembered about the list. When I was looking for the list I ran across the essay and was amazed that I did not ever remember seeing it. Its about Punk music in Texas from someone who was there at its beginning and names many names and places. I looked to see if the essay was out there on the web and did not see it. (it turns out that its in a book by David Ensminger...I think its called LEFT OF THE DIAL...). One day I showed it to Ben who exclaimed, "holy shit this should be a movie". I think he envisioned actors on a set so I just giggled and agreed. That night though it occurred to me that it could be a good documentary presented as a power point style thing. So, I've been gathering photos off the web all year and slowly getting the documentary together. It oughta be out at some point this year along with more music. All these projects are in late stages, so hopefully I will have stuff to share soon.
Thats about it for now. Hope you all had good Holidays and stuff!
For those that know, HAPPY BULLSTAR!!
In other news, in between everything else I have been slowly chipping away at THE FLYS OF TEXAS ARE UPON YOU video project based off of an essay that I found in a stack of poems/lyric ideas Randy Biscuit Turner gave me back when we were working on NAUGAHYDE DREAM SEQUENCE stuff, circa early 2000's. I didn't realize the essay was in the stack of papers. I was looking for a list of silly band name ideas that was also in the stack. I was thinking about names for the Guitar Jr. music band and remembered about the list. When I was looking for the list I ran across the essay and was amazed that I did not ever remember seeing it. Its about Punk music in Texas from someone who was there at its beginning and names many names and places. I looked to see if the essay was out there on the web and did not see it. (it turns out that its in a book by David Ensminger...I think its called LEFT OF THE DIAL...). One day I showed it to Ben who exclaimed, "holy shit this should be a movie". I think he envisioned actors on a set so I just giggled and agreed. That night though it occurred to me that it could be a good documentary presented as a power point style thing. So, I've been gathering photos off the web all year and slowly getting the documentary together. It oughta be out at some point this year along with more music. All these projects are in late stages, so hopefully I will have stuff to share soon.
Thats about it for now. Hope you all had good Holidays and stuff!
For those that know, HAPPY BULLSTAR!!