I Need To Get Out of Here!

I know I've said it before, but this place is not working for me...musically anyway. If this makes any sense, I feel like I'm trapped in a music killing cage where everyone can hear every single sound I make, see every move I make, while hating me for every second of it and poking me through the bars for good measure.

Is there any real reason to feel this way? Not really. None of the neighbors have complained. KJ doesn't mind the guitar playing and singing. Even the dog has gotten used to the extra sound. This feeling just emanates from inside of me, killing my focus, concentration and creativity.

I have so many ideas, none of which I can articulate into the full songs that play in my head as I doze of to sleep or daydream at the computer while typing a blog post.

What I think I really need is a sound proof studio. A simple set up with a place to relax with my guitar, my book and a pen along with a computer to catch those song ideas as they come out so forgetful me doesn't lose them. Or maybe just a simple, kind of out of the way practice space that I could rent and be alone with my thoughts and sometimes hideous noises that accompany my early songwriting stages that could compliment my intense lack of musical confidence. Heck, I'd settle for my own house, forget the soundproofing or the studio in general. Just a place that felt even remotely private, far away from the prodding, probably for the most part, non existent ears that judge and ridicule from all sides.

Perhaps this is just a bit of an overly dramatized dramatization. How many artists out there truly get there own safe haven isolated from the world to work on their masterpieces? I can imagine most of them don't. Though, a guy can dream can't he?

Overall, I'm just so antsy to get some of these ideas down and not sure how to do it. Any thoughts?

Billy Ray Cyrus Rockin' It!

Who knew Billy Ray could rock so hard. He's in a band called Brother Clyde. Their first tune, Lately,  is pretty sweet. They've been playing the hell out of it here in the Kansas City area. It sounds about as far from Achy Breaky Heart as you could get. Even though I dug my "Some Gave All" cassette back in the day, the new sound is definitely a good thing. Can't wait to hear the rest of the album when it comes out August 10th. Check the new song out for yourself below. Rock on!

One At A Time, Please

It's nice when things get rolling creatively. I really can't complain. Sometimes I'll go months without writing down anything significant in my book or weeks without jamming out a riff on the guitar. But when the gates truly open, there tends to be a flood and I'm helpless to stop it.

In some ways the creative avalanche that rarely comes my way is just as bad as no idea coming at all, mostly because I can never lock anything down. I'll be lying in bed and a great melody comes bouncing through my brain for one song. The next day, the bridge for another song hits me like a ton of bricks and I have to get it down.

But no matter how much work I get done, the constant song hopping is always my downfall. Before I know it I have a lyric book full of a scribbled mess of pages (the scribbled part for me is good, it's means I've been writing and rewriting and putting down lots of thoughts) but also a GarageBand folder on the computer packed with random recordings which in the end, never make much sense.

So what's my problem? I think it's focus. At the songwriting stage that I'm in, I feel I should be able to sit down and work on a song (one at a time) and bust it out. I've done it before. But here especially, there's always a distraction. Whether it's the dog needs a walk, I get an email, the tv gets turned on (the World Cup has me hooked), I think of a blog post idea and feel guilty for not posting in a month (like right now) or I simply don't feel comfortable playing as loud as I want in my apartment building.  (I get a little self-conscious,  most definitely in the early stages of songs when half the time I'm screaming nonsense words and fumbling on the guitar to get melodies and rhythms down.)

I have some ideas of how to be able to focus more and concentrate on one song at a time so I actually accomplish something, the most notable being getting out of this apartment. But otherwise, I'm not sure what to do. I really want to get these songs rolling. Anyone have any suggestions pertaining to focus and concentration, whether it be for songwriting or any other project you need to get done?

Rock on!

The First Listen

So what's with the first listen? You know, the first time you spin a brand new disc (or hit play on the iTunes or however you get your music). It's never what it's cracked up to be...but then, all of a sudden, you realize your stupidity and small-mindedness as the first listen becomes the second and the third.

For me, new music is an occasion. I try not to buy new music too often, the stuff can get expensive, but I have my kicks and it's hard not to indulge. I usually head to a place like Best Buy and immediately rip the case out of it's plastic prison once I get in the car so I can roll down the windows and enjoy a nice, slow ride home to rock some new tunage that I so crave.

But, it never fails. That first listen is never what I expect. Beside the one radio single I might recognize, the rest usually does nothing for me and I'm left wanting something more when the speakers have spit out the last notes.

Then comes the second listen. Whether it's right there in the car the same day, the next day, in my apartment, or in my headphones, something just clicks. The bland, unrecognizable songs morph into something totally different. The hooks pop out at me and the melodies sing their sweet sounds. The new disc becomes a totally new disc. Almost every time.

Maybe it's my expectations. Or maybe that first listen I always just zone out and don't get a hold of the big picture of what the whole album is about. In a way, it's insanely frustrating always having that initial let down. Even new albums from my favorite bands like Our Lady Peace and Three Days Grace do this to me even though I know they never disappoint and keep me listening year after year, album after album. Does this happen to anyone else, or am I just crazy?

Anyway, I think it's about time I just accept the inevitable truth that every cd that I buy is going to suck the first time around, but I should find comfort knowing that the second listen is most likely going to end up blowing my mind.

Thank you to Thousand Foot Krutch and their new album Welcome To The Masquerade for inspiring this post.  I have listened at least 4 times and I definitely enjoy...now.

I Love Music: Example #1

It amazes me what people can do with music sometimes. Videos like this make me feel worthless on the music front but at the same time makes me want to play so much more.

Thanks creative-music.org for showing this video.

I love music. Enjoy.

In With The New, Out With The Old?

As much as I like to recycle, there's always a tipping point. And I speak of music here of course. Last year, I wrote of reusing old tunes in my overall effort to rid the world of musical pollution in my post "Going Green By Recycling...Old Tunes." But lately, I've been cruising through my old Moleskines and my tried and true technique is feeling a bit over tried and a lot less true.

It is true that a lyric I wrote down 5 years ago might not have worked back then yet fits perfectly with a new riff that I pumped out yesterday. But overall, I've found that I was in different place in 2005. Not only do I now live half way across the country, but I hang with new people, I've had a myriad of experiences, and maybe most decisively, I'm not going through a colossal break up.  I bet you can imagine how depressing, boring and whiny every line of these books feels today.

Life events like break ups give major inspiration. Some good tunes come from them but from my experience, it's mostly just cry baby drivel. Who wants to hear that? I don't. And I don't want to perform it either.

So where does that put me? It makes me a regular Sly Sludge, reveling in my skills to pollute and plunder, leaving a trail of unused, discarded lyrics and guitar riffs in my wake. (Keep up with the random Captain Planet reference.) But you know what? I'm ok with that. The last thing I want to be remembered for is being that guy that people couldn't stand listening to because of his outdated, unimaginative lyrics that just made everyone want to shoot themselves. I've decided that picking a line from here and there to get things moving isn't a bad thing, but I also have to live in the now and work with events going on around me in 2010. There's no shortage.

The hardest part is giving up all that work from back then. But since I'm looking for new as well as more fulfilling lyrics in my writing, good riddance. Here's to upbeat and rockin' songs that don't make people cry. Unless that's what I'm going for of course.


Rock on!