Getting Out of the Funk and Into the Rock

I once read somewhere that to be a good writer, no matter what form, you need to read a lot and to write even more. Having my focus on writing lyrics, I've also added into the equation listening to a lot of music. In my quest to keep writing and become a better a songwriter I've done quite a bit of the following:

1. I got myself a library card and have been going book crazy. According to my Books on Facebook application (Yeah, it's bad, I'm even keeping track.) I've read 7 books since September 1st and many more over the course of the summer. I read during breaks at work, I read when I get home, I read in waiting rooms, I read on my days off, and whenever I feel I have nothing better to do. (Which is quite often.)

I'm a little proud of this development, there could be worse things to be addicted to, T.v. or drugs for example. I enjoy reading, it passes time and I'm doing it to improve myself. But I can't help but feel a little pathetic at times knowing there are other things I could be doing. We'll get to one of the most important things I could be doing later.

2. I love music, there is no denying that. Lately, I've been on a new music listening frenzy that is only rivaled by my book reading kick. Many of my favorite bands, and some that I just enjoy in general, have been coming out with new music in the past couple of months and I've been eating it up, hence my earlier posts, "Burn Burn" Burning Up The Car Stereo, Those Are Some "Sick Puppies", as well as posts about Green Day, Hinder, and Three Days Grace. Not to mention dropped albums I haven't mentioned like Paramore, Breaking Benjamin and Thousand Foot Krutch.

It goes on and on my friends. And I can't help it. As Three Days Grace would put it, "At night I feel like a vampire, it's not right, but I just can't give it up." It's great hearing new music because for me it's a little bit of inspiration, which leads to the determination to make something better of what I create.

But lately it's only lead to quite a bit of frustration, too much procrastination, along with unhealthy doses of constipation. Not the kind you're thinking of, more lyrical constipation, constipation of the brain. Which leads me to the one thing I haven't been doing much of at all when it comes to the steps to improving my songwriting chops.

Writing!

The most important aspect of this whole process has been totally neglected and I haven't done anything about it. I rarely put pen to paper or even fingers to keyboard. The pages have been blank and frankly I haven't known what to do to remedy it. Even this blog has seen posts that are way too far and few between. My guitar has been collecting dust in it's lonely corner, the area I like to refer to as the musical black hole of my new apartment.

Am I putting too much pressure on myself to perform? Probably. Am I not going with the flow like I always used to and just letting ideas comes as they come while making sure to jot them down and not take things for granted? Most definitely. Am I full of excuse after excuse why I can't get things done? Absolutely! But is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Yes, there is. It comes in the form of a chorus that leaked out of my brain two days ago.


Once the ball is rolling, who knows where it's going to end up. Keep it rockin', I will!

New Three Days Grace Video for "Break"

As if I haven't listened to the new single, Break, from Three Days Grace enough, the video just premiered today. Check it out below. I'm pumped for the cd to drop next Tuesday. My parents are visiting, I'm hitting 4 Royals/Red Sox games (Go Sox!) and getting one my favorite band's new albums next week. A good week it will be. If only I didn't have to work.



Rock on!

Hard Rock, Sore Throats, Hot Bass Players and Getting Old

I'm only 26, but when did I get so "old"? It's like it happened with a flick of a switch, when I wasn't paying attention, just trying to pay the bills and keep myself happy. Last night, though it was a Thursday (wow, that makes me sound real lame), I braved the unknown nightlife of Kansas to try to regain a semblance of my youth by doing something as simple as staying up past 9:30 and seeing a real rock show, something that I haven't done in the longest time.

Last night was the big show I had been waiting for for months, Sick Puppies in downtown Lawrence playing with The Veer Union and headliner Hurt. My excitement was in the chance to see Sick Puppies, who I've been a fan of since their first album was released in 2006. With the show being right here in town and their new album "Tri-Polar", which I just had to go out and snatch the day it came out (see Those Are Some "Sick" Sick Puppies) blasting holes in my car stereo speakers, I felt this was my opportunity to strip myself of my old man status and act like the rocker of old days that was seeing rock show after rock show excited over every riff and lyric.

The show was at The Granada, an old school looking music venue on Massachusetts St. in downtown Lawrence. KJ and I showed up in time to see the opener, a local Kansas City band called Black Oxygen. They put on a decent 20 minute or so set and made way for The Veer Union, who is known for their single Seasons, which gets quite a bit of play on the local alternative rock stations around here. Their set was highlighted by a dangerous looking mohawk, a drum set set off to the side of the stage due to lack of space, and some kicking tunes. As enjoyable as they were, we stood back at watched from the back of the pit, taking it in and waiting for our chance to truly rock out.

Once The Veer Union finished, I set aside my walker, grabbed KJ and walked to the floor in front of the stage and rocked out like you're supposed to at a rock show as Sick Puppies commanded the room. The modest sized crowd surged around us as we were pushed forward to the very front with Shim (the lead guitarist and vocalist) hovering over us and bating us on to keep moving and making as much noise as we could. I sure as hell didn't hold back. I belted out every lyric that I could, which was most of them, and shouted my excitement like I did in my college days, rocking it out for Foo Fighters or Three Days Grace. (We saw some very good shows back in those days.)

Shim really owned it song after song and Mark truly held his own behind his kit, but there's really no way to sugar coat it, Emma, the bass player, was smoking hot. There is nothing much hotter than to see an attractive woman rocking out on a stage, ripping the hell out of her instrument and looking damn fine in the process. At some points it was hard taking my eyes away, seeing her so intense and into the music, head banging in her tall black boots and short skirt. Heck, even KJ admitted she would tap that. That's saying something when your girlfriend tells you that. It's sad that I didn't have the guts to go say hi and check out her hot Australian accent at the meet-and-greet after the set, but watching the show was a treat in itself.

Sadly, after Sick Puppies, our geriatric ways kicked back in after a couple of songs into Hurt's set. I'd never heard of them until this show and I didn't know any of their tunes. (I did really dig their tune "Ten Ton Brick".) Their music was heavy, intense and most definitely gut busting in the best of ways, but we were both exhausted and dreading the work day that was to follow.

I hate to admit I left early, at only 10:30 to boot, I'm usually the last one to want to leave early from a rock show, especially after paying good money to be there, but we'll take it one step at a time. Me protecting my lady from the moshers and screaming myself hoarse to the lyrics of Sick Puppies was more than a small step to my reintroduction to non-loser-dome.

Come "Break" Some Stuff With Me and Three Days Grace!

This blog has mostly been about popular music and my ongoing obsession with it lately, and for that I apologize. That wasn't my original intent when I started writing. This place was meant for me to write about my triumphs, struggles and ideas about my songwriting. But with the songwriting stuck on the struggle side, I've been overly excited and focused on new music, and there hasn't been any shortages when it comes to my favorite bands pumping out the new tunage.

When it comes down to it, writing music and being creative has just as much to do with your influences as it has to do with anything that you're actually doing in the realm. If it weren't for these artists like Our Lady Peace and Three Days Grace, I'm convinced that I wouldn't have the interest in writing and performing that I still so badly have. That probably means more posts about new albums and concerts that I've attended, but the more I think of it, the more I feel it fits the original purpose of my blog.

So, speaking of Three Days Grace, they have a new album called "Life Starts Now" that's coming out on September 22nd. (Which of course I'm totally pumped for as TDG is one my favorite bands.) The first single, Break, just debuted on their site at ThreeDaysGrace.com about 20 minutes ago and I'm on listen number 4 in a row as I type.

TDG continues to impress me album after album. This new song is no exception. I'm excited to hear the rest of the album in a couple of weeks. Man, I just love hard rock with the slamming drums, the crunchy guitars and the raspy vocals. I can't get enough. Though it's not the Three Days Grace, you throw a female vocalist in there and I'm hooked, I just can't help myself, I just dig it. (Think Flyleaf, Halestorm, even Paramore.) This heavy, pounding stuff isn't really the kind of music I really want to make anymore, but the lyrics of Adam and the music of TDG are still a huge influence for what I want to create.

In fact, once I heard the first little preview of Break last week, I couldn't help but pick up my guitar, that's a good sign.

Steven Tyler Living A Little Too Close To The Edge?

This is NOT a funny story by a long shot, I don't want to make it sound that way by the punny title. (For you Aerosmith fans out there, I think you see what I'm getting at. Living On The Edge, anyone?)

On August 5th, Steven Tyler fell off the stage while performing on Sturgis, South Dakota and according to the NY Times article posted at the bottom,"sustained a broken shoulder and received stitches to the head," forcing them to cancel the rest of their summer tour. It makes you wonder what Tyler did to anger the rock gods or whether it's something that's just bound to happen when you've been rocking shows for almost 40 years. (I'm leaning toward the latter.)

Watching the video below makes me cringe a little, not only from the fall itself, but the reaction of the crowd, who you can tell knows something is up. (You can hear an obvious, "Hell no!" near the end.)

That's the scary thing about show biz, not only does stuff like this happen every once and a while, but it's usually bound to get caught on tape in the process.

Read the full details in the article here >>>

Music Weekend To Remember

It's been a while since I've had Internet and it feels good. Better late than never I guess. We're finally settled into our new apartment, well, sort of. There's still boxes here and there and we don't have a home for a bunch of stuff but it'll get there.

We officially moved last weekend after being in limbo and living in three different places over the past couple of weeks. Of course, moving weekend not only happened to fall on one of the most scorching days of the summer, but also on one of the busiest and best music weekends I've had in quite a while.

I've mentioned before that going to more shows, along with doing more writing, is a top priority in my music world. Last weekend was a good kick in the butt. After a long day of moving, my girlfriend (KJ) and I, went to downtown Lawrence to check out one of the great places that makes up the music scene here in town, The Replay Lounge.

Also, as I've mentioned before just about everyone that I work with is in a band or was at some point and we finally got a chance to see one of those bands in action. Two of my co workers make up half of a band called The Gleaners. After quite a long wait (we got there a bit too early for an 11:00 show.), the show rocked. The acoustics were better than I had expected for the little club that consisted of a bar and wall of pinball machines, you could hear every piece of the band like you should, and my ears weren't even ringing by the time the 40 minute show was done like they always used to back in my band's days. I look forward to hitting some more shows down there soon, and hopefully getting to see The Gleaners again at some point too. Check them out at their Myspace, it's good stuff.

To top off the weekend, the following afternoon, KJ and I drove to Kansas City, Kansas to visit the brand spanking new Best Buy and watch a small acoustic performance by the band Rev Theory. They are currently on tour as part of the second stage with Motley Crue and Crue Fest, but since the Sprint Center in KCMO isn't big enough or have the capability for that stage, they set up an intimate acoustic show to compensate.

They set up in front of the Musical Intsruments department, something I didn't realize that Best Buy was in to. The whole section looked pretty intense with the guitars hung to the ceiling and it made a good back drop for the short show. After wading through the Monster Energy drink girls (short shorts anyone?), the crowd of about 100 or so ended up on the floor as Rev Theory rocked out 5 acoustic versions of their hit songs which included Hell Yeah, Light It Up, Wanted Man, Far From Over, and their next single to be, Broken Bones.

From our view point with our backs against $30 Blue-Ray copies of Trading Places starring Dan Akroyd and Eddie Murphy, it was definitely worth the trek, exhausted from the late night and the hectic moving in. We were tempted to stay for the autograph session and the signed guitar raffle, but the line was pretty daunting and we didn't have the patience or the energy. (Even with an endless supply of energy drinks in the place.) Instead I gave one last glance toward the Monster Energy girls (how could I not, come on) and drove home to the mess that is our new apartment, even a week later.

But it's good to have a new home, it's good to have the Internet, and I can't wait to get to a good comfort level where I feel like I can play my guitar without bugging the neighbors. (I always have that feeling when I move in to a new place where I don't feel 100% comfortable playing, it just takes some time getting used to.)

I've been thinking more and more about getting with someone to do some jamming on the acoustic guitars, it would be good to get a new pair of ears on the songs I've been milking for the past 2 years. With more music weekends like I just had I'll definitely be feeling the motivation!

Rock on!