19 May 2010

Ears

First off, I've changed the look of the blog. This was because the last look had broken segments and, while it did look nice, it was a bit all over the place. The new one is a bit simpler and will suit me for the time being.

This got me thinking about how much more things look affects the way we would perceive something than how something sounds. Music has been becoming more visual since the television became a staple of every family's living room. Now, with the internet a staple of every family's house, YouTube has become the greatest place to find free music of all time. Just for some examples I can see a live performance of Frank Zappa here, Dizzie Rascal playing Bulls on Parade here and The Black Mages with an orchestra to the tune of One Winged Angel here. Coincidently, I added the picture of the Ghostbusters once the blog was written, it was something that came up in Google images after searching for "Music Video" and since I'd watched this today I thought I should leave it in.

I think that while music will always be sound, the way it will be enjoyed will forever be connected to the visual. As a musician I like to see what the guitarists, drummers, singers et al are doing when they perform. For non-musicians there will certainly be a different level of understanding and another reason for watching music be created on the spot. It certainly makes me think about how I should go about getting my own music on there.

I've been playing even more Ultima recently and I think I'm probably going to end up fusing with my chair and keyboard chewing on my desk for sustenance.

16 May 2010

Sick and Tired

I've spent the past week feeling ill in one way or another: hurt my neck, got a cold, muscle pains in my arm and the list goes on. However, that's in the past I feel good and less sniffly; I'm ready for some more blogging.

I work in a shop, a big one. If you've been to England then you've certainly seen one if not been in one. Last week I was working and thoughts went through my head along the lines of how much I'm looking forward to getting out of that place and how bad it is to work there. It then occurred to me that lots of musicians (if not all) go through this transitional period from day job to career and I thought it would be good to list some point about how to approach work and what gets me through my day job when it gets me down.

The People


I've often heard from co-workers that they hate the place but love the people. I suspect this is only partially true; some people hate both but don't want to tell you to your face that they think you're an arse. I would say that I've made more friends at work than any other single institution I've been to. The experiences that you have with people are one of many that will shape you creatively, go on nights out, meet for Quasar or Go-Karting or whatever.

On top of this you'll need people to go to your shows and co-workers will function well as audience members and spreading knowledge of you through word of mouth (what else is there to talk about at work?).

You Will Need Money


I wouldn't be able to be where I am without my day job money. Paying for transport, gear, lessons and beer all adds up. The only problem you may find is the flexibility of your job. I am lucky in that my job is very flexible and I only work two days a week, but even so I find it hard some times: I work a ten hour shift on Saturdays. This makes it very hard for me to do gigs on Saturday nights and I have missed many gigs because of this.

When You Get Down Remember: You Can Quit Any Time


There was a time at my job when a manager was desperately trying to change my hours so that I was working a lot more and I'd have a lot less free time. I was told I'd have to choice and I'd be obliged to do it. Eventually, with some help from my Mother, I realised that I did have a choice: I could quit. Getting another job of the same kind isn't as difficult as people would have you think, or I could have started trying to teach. As it happens my letter of resignation was rejected and I stayed, since then I've been working less and less.

The above is just a short list of that I thought about, I hope it helps me to remember what it was like being a G.A.

On a completely different subject, I've been spending this week listening to Frank Zappa and these links here and here really show him off at his best.

06 May 2010

Back from Holiday

What a week...

I've returned from Cheltenham where I went to their Jazz Festival and ate at their lovely restaurants, although Jazz seems to be pushing it a bit seeing as they had seemingly booked any band they liked which contained a brass section or a double bassist. One such band was Polly and the Billet Doux who had a great set of songs, a bit folky with a very busy guitarist and a quite petite singer. Between songs the singer stalled for time by singing Pump up the Jam and Mr. Boombastic. On both occasions the band, when ready, joined in causing great mirth for the audience.

However, the greatest parts were seeing Phantom Limb and John Scofield. Two very different acts but equality fantastic. The former full of vocal harmonies, soft melodies and a general feeling of easygoing-ness (I actually almost fell asleep! Not a bad thing in this case. The latter a hard hitting, heavy on the improvisation, bout of real Jazz from a legend in the (Sco)field. Both were really eye opening; my girlfriend said she understood Jazz after seeing Scofield (Quote: "I get why people use notes out a scale now").

On top of this I can't recommend the following restaurants enough: Ask Italian and The Everest Curry House as well as an unknown Greek food vendour who made some of the most delicious food ever to pass my lips (as seen in the picture, it makes me drool just looking at it!).

Now I'm back it's full steam ahead with Mike Hough and his performance at the O2. Last night we had our first full band rehearsal with a pianist and I'm feeling a bit worried because she (through no fault of her own) is taking up all the space I was on guitar. I'm really going to have to have a think so I can sort out some new arrangements to play in these songs that don't let me get lost in the mix.

One last thing: I've been listening to a fair bit of Oscar Peterson since going to the Jazz festival, he really is amazing and I urge all to listen some of his songs. One such song sounds like a jazz version of Blind Date.