Tuesday, Jul. 29, 2003 | 11:05
belated band banter
i'm late. i was supposed to write about Inshi practice last week. then i got busy, then my computer died, and now i'm cheating on work to write this, nearly a week after it happened. i apologise for any lapse in memory.
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phil (the drummer) picked me up about a quarter of seven, and we drove inland to bill's house, where the band practices. we went down to the basement and soon joe showed up. i put in my earplugs and watched them tune up. joe has this beat up old bass that doesn't always do what he wants it to do. phil has a couple broken small jazz cymbals that he switches halfway through the night, though neither really works. bill's equipment all seems to be fine, up to par.
then they start into a song. i had some idea of what to expect, something noisy and complicated and fast, but not this. phil calls it epic grind or brutal prog, but really neither term means anything. perhaps it'd be better to call it extreme experimental rock, or something. eer, for short. or maybe you could call it intelligent hardcore, or intelligent math-metal. oo, i like that one. the implication that math-metal is dumb and you have to be smart to make this music is kinda neat.
you also have to pay attention to make sense of it. if you have severe add it'll sound cool, but you won't follow the intricacies of the playing. it took me a few listens before i could hear how the drum/guitar/bass interplay worked, and how they all fit together. so the first few run-thrus i was lost, impressed mostly by the volume rather than the speed. not that it wasn't fast, just that it didn't make sense yet, and seemed to be fast just to be fast.
i could tell also that this was a band that hadn't practiced together in a week. joe even admitted to having not practiced in a couple days. a problem. music this challening you have to play all the time. you have to eat, sleep, breathe your part. you have to be able to play it backwards. i wonder if the members of Inshi can play their songs backwards. now that'd be cool--play the whole set one way, then reverse the songs the other way. the audience would never know.
my reason for going to Inshi practice is that i'm setting up my studio and hoping one day to record them. my parents may give me a few weekends at their place this winter, and i think it'd be ideal to record a band. i'm hoping to sit in on more practices and get a better feel for how they should sound. i think i could mic the band all at once and record their debut album. i'll have to ask them about that. i'll have to get to more practices. i'm looking forward to that.
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sorry, that's not a great write-up, but it has been a week and i'm a bit sporadic here at work. see, the fan in my computer at home died so now i can't do anything with it. i'm waiting for dell to send someone out to fix it. this is rather irritating. it also delays the benefit for bowie cd. i'm pissed off about that.
Friday, Jul. 25, 2003 | 08:44
eating everything
we got to the fireside late last night, about 8 (doors opened 6:30 or 7), so we missed the first act, ilya. i've heard things about them, but i don't remember what. when we came in, The Yellow Pages was just starting.
The Yellow Pages was, i noted, a very different band from acts that played the same stage last friday. then, race for titles and other indie bands rocked, with good music and thin, reedy-voiced singers. the music here was good, a little stronger, and the singers could really belt. the guy from The Yellow Pages sang, rather than whined, and it was a good set. rock is not dead.
then came Kill Me Tomorrow. they struck me as Bauhaus with a drum machine, though not quite as dark. i'm not sure what they sang about (the vocals from most of these groups were basically unintelligible, though not by design--mostly the music drowned them out, or the singers failed to enunciate), but they had cool music. the drummer set up center, with a kick, three snares, a couple cymbals, a tambourine, something else, and an effects pad he could hit. his mics ran through an effects pad like a kaos box or something. behind him was a guitrist with an analog synth, and in front of him, facing him, was the female bassist in a natty faux-fifties outfit. the music was dance-y punk. i suppose a Yeah Yeah Yeahs comparison wouldn't be out of place, but not very accurate either. the vocals are all different, since the standing drummer sang most, with some from the bassist and a few shouts from the guitar player. sometimes the processed kick got too loud and pulverized the rest of the song, but for the most part it was new wave dance punk. i would have figured them coming from the village, but they're from san diego instead.
next up, Thunderbirds Are Now. nikki really liked them, and i thought they were pretty cool too (though i may have liked Kill Me Tomorrow a little better--they were different, and hard to compare). they are drum, bass, guitar, keyboard/percussion, and the latter two sing. the keyboard player looked like a young val kilmer (nikki pointed out), and i could see him playing val kilmer in a movie about the making of the oliver stone film the doors, thus making generations of kids think val kilmer looked like this guy, like my generation thinks jim morrison looked like val kilmer. their music was punky rock, with korg synth stabs and lots of energy. they'd mix in disco patterns for fun, but the real excitement was the jumping, kicking guitarist and the spazzy keyboard player. he'd flail about, hit the right note, then flail about again. the guy didn't crash into stuff, but he did a lot of jumping and swinging his arms. it was fun, danceable rock music, though again i don't know what they were singing about. some of the crowd danced, and the singer cautioned about sitting on the stage as they might get kicked in the face. not on purpose, but in the course of things. i don't think anyone got hurt. not during their set, anyway.
finally, The Locust. blistering speed, unintelligible screams, green masks with big black screens for eyes. they wore uniforms (Kill Me Tomorrow should have worn uniforms, or similar-looking clothes, but these guys had actual costumes) and were shorter than i expected, but this san diego band played 23 songs in about 25 minutes. almost more interesting (and for nikki more interesting) was the mosh pit that opened the center of the floor during The Locust set. punks with stuff in their hair and studs on their jackets flailed about with geeky-looking punk kids. these weren't the drunk bastards at rock shows who are really just looking for a fight, these are energetic kids who respond to this fast, abrasive music with explosive limb movements of their own. it got a little rough as the size of the pit swelled and contracted, but overall it was cool. no one got hurt. even with the guy doing cartwheels. well, he might have gotten hurt, but i'm not sure he cared. unfortunately, the pit distracted me from the music and it took me longer to get into it than i'd expected. initially i was underwhelmed (after so much hype), but as i heard them i decided they were really very amazing. i'd like to know what they were singing (i made out the occasional 'fuck you' or something), but clearly they're pissed off about things. it was good.
i had no money to buy anything, or i would have bought all their cds. well, maybe not The Yellow Pages, but the others i heard. nikki had to promote for the metro (that's mostly why we went, initially, because she's interning with a promotions group), and since the other guy wasn't there i helped out. just yell at the people leaving to take one, please, then thank them when they do. the flyers still end up littered on the sidewalk outside, but at least they take them.
afterwards we had some food then hit the brew n view for house of 1000 corpses, which isn't very good. i was disappointed.
Thursday, Jul. 24, 2003 | 18:56
slang music productions wednesday night
the travails of a 14-yr-old recording artist: she's tired of singing after a 10 hour day, so she refuses to sing well and vince lets her go home with her wealthy (and kinda conceited) dad. i'm sure he's pretty cool in the right situation, but that wasn't the right situation. he also doesn't seem to like her that much, even though she's his daughter and his wife is just her stepmother. she does that thing of calling stepmom by first name.
the songs are progressing, though, and vince thinks they'll have six pretty much done and ready to mix by, well, tomorrow. that's cool.
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later, cap.one and his posse came in to record a 60 second commercial. they may have layed down another track but i had to leave before they got to it. cap's posse included some big guy in a houston astro's uniform (like the old-school orange and white striped things) called payroll, or something, this short guy who wrecked cap's motorcycle earlier, and this latina beatrice who runs raw something: a magazine and soon-to-be talk show. eventually dj geno came in, but he'd left his beats at the crib so he just recorded random stuff with his little pocket recorder. cap rapped to this beat some guy named xcel had given him. dude had just hit up cap on the street, said 'i got beats, i got beats!' and cap, rolling his eyes, said ok play 'em. turns out they're good. hot. i was digging them. beatrice was getting her groove on. it was banging.
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i still don't have protools software. tomorrow i'll tell you about inshi.
Tuesday, Jul. 22, 2003 | 12:09
boring update
i am gradually, slowly, creepingly, building a home studio. along with my nifty 3ghz dell xp computer, i've got a firewire hard drive (250gb), two mics & a stand, and a protools digi 002 rack. unfortunately, i don't have the xp software for the 002 rack, so i'm fiddling with reason and waiting for more power. my internship is going well, and as soon as i learn the basics of protools they'll probably get me involved in actual sessions. i'm eager to start. i want to be good at this. i have dreams, i have ambition. i'll get there.
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i'm also trying to learn html so i can make this site look better. sorry it's so plain now. it'll improve. i'll also get better about writing. future entries will be commentary on recent cd purchases, concerts, and all sorts of stuff music related. hang in there. dja and brilliance in action are on the rise.
