Desktop band

Today I started having a play around with GarageBand on my Mac. It's essentially a piece of software that allows you to create music tracks either by recording your own stuff, or piecing together the music with software instruments. I've used it a few times to just record one channel of stuff through the inbuilt microphone on my laptop, but have never tried experimenting with it as a way of putting together music. Essentially all I did today was see what all the different instruments and effects it has sound like (I did create a very short [about 15 seconds] tune with three instrumental parts, but realised that it requires a bit more than a couple of hours pissing around to put together something more layered and melodious i.e. good), but may in the future try to create something real. I say this now, but it'll probably be one of those things that never really gets off the ground - like learning the keyboard (which as it turns out would come in handy for trying to built up a track on GarageBand)!

Another music related thing is that I found what looks like a rather decent website containing free video tutorials on drumming techniques - it's called onlinedrummer.com and looks very useful from the three videos I've watched so far. Maybe my drumming could make a sudden leap from my usual rather simple beats.

Relieving the boredom

Have you ever wondered what it sounds like if you strap eight guitars together and then hit them with a big stick? Well I can't say I had, but yesterday I found out when I went to see a band called Boredoms at The Music Box on Hollywood Boulevard. The band is Japanese and (currently) consists of three drummers and a guy who shouts, screams, jumps about, does various electronic effects and hits the eight-guitar-thing with sticks. The gig was pretty good, although rather intense and unrelenting, as you might expect from a band with three drum kits. There wasn't much in the way of subtlety or variation in any of the songs, which meant that it did get a bit samey at times. There were times when you'd expect a song to have a lull and then build up, but they didn't really bother with the lull... or the build up - it was all full tilt. At their best, when some tune started coming through in the music and their electronic effects were used effectively, they were very good - they sounded quite like Orbital, but with more drums. And in general the drumming was impressive, especially the tempo that they managed to keep up. I was knackered before it started and felt even more drained after watching and listening to it. Oh, in case you were wondering the eight-guitar-thing sounded good and looked cool, although it did require an extra roadie person to constantly tune and replace strings on each guitar.

At the toad

Last night a few of us braved the arctic conditions to go and see a gig at a bar in Cambridge (Massachusetts, not Cambridgeshire) called Toad. We went to see a man called Ed Hamell, who had been described (by John) as a shouty man with an acoustic guitar. On arriving at Toad, which was rather smaller than our expectations had lead us to believe, we received a long, cold stare from the locals. We didn't allow this to scare us away and made our move to the bar before settling ourselves inches from the stage. The gig, which was a much a comedy set as a music set (in fact it's described as "... a one-man theatrical show which combines story telling, comedy and songs into a brilliantly outrageous theatrical event." on his website), was great (and free!) It kicked off a bit later than expected, due to a difference of opinion with some local frat-boy types, but when it started Hamell put in a lot of energy. This energy level, and friendly, fun atmosphere, just built up even more as the crowd grew on him and he grew on the crowd, and there was some general banter later on. He did fast paced songs mainly about politics and his family life and background. These spilled over, or built, naturally into his comedy. He was really good both musically and comedically. Apparently he's going to be doing some gigs in London early next year, so if you see Hamell on Trial advertised anywhere I'd definitely recommend going to see him.

Appeal

After last months fairly regular postings you've had to deal with a rather sparse period devoid of my opinion. I expect you were wanting to hear what I though of various new US TV shows like Bionic Woman and Life, or maybe just the scientific impact of the recent Nobel Prize Laureates, but have only been disappointed! Well you might hear about these things in due course, but I've just not been in the mood to talk about them. One distressing thing that I will mention though is the fact that the band I'm in has come to a crux. After just getting over the fact that our guitarist (and founder member) Chris was leaving us, we've been dropped with the bombshell that our new bassist is quitting the group! This leaves a two piece, and we're really not ready to start a White Stripes style thing going on (well we have done a White Stripes cover before, but that don't mean a thing.) Also this has occurred just after I've started to become a lyrical maestro by, so far, writing two masterpieces (they're not ready to air just yet!) To allow us to fulfill our promise as an ace rock band I now appeal to the good bassists/guitarists of Glasgow to join us. Only you can help us reach our destiny.

Second time around

It's been public via the medium of facebook for about a week now, but I should let my loyal blog readers know that the band I'm in will be performing its second (third if you count our Australia tour, but I prefer not to!) gig next month. This time around we're going solely under the name of Look Up for Danger with a new bassist in our line-up. We are again going to be playing at the Glasgow University Research Club on Thursday 20^th Sept, because the venue is so good not because we couldn't think of anywhere else to play. We'll be playing a new set of great covers, so everyone should come along and enjoy the evening. If you are around Glasgow University look our for some of our posters.

Friday night live

I'm sure you're all wanting to know how the gig went on Friday night. Pretty damn well!

The whole day managed to go without any major, or even relatviely minor, hitches. Chris and I picked up our drum kit from Soundhaus (which is one of the most stereotypically rock venues you can get - a dingy warehouse basement) and get it back to our venue without breaking any of the kit, or having any car troubles. After shooing off some studying students in the Research Club, we got everything set up and had a sound check. The amps, mikes and mixing desk all worked fine! With everything set out there was no denying that we were going to be performing a gig. We then had our final rehearsal at which we had our most intense practice yet. This left me feeling pretty knackered, but we were confident that we had all the songs at a decent level. Our last meal was a fish supper at the University Cafe (as recommended by the New York Times!), which has become a kind of unofficial band eatery. So we'd sound checked, we'd practiced, we'd eaten, all that was left was to actually perform.

We arrived at the venue about an hour and a half before we we due to start. We quickly got our gear set up again with everything still working. People started arriving at about 8.30pm and continued arriving! By 9.30pm we'd managed to pretty much packed out the room we were playing. It's true that the vast majority of these were our friends, and friends of friends, but it was still pretty encouraging for our first gig.

Things kicked off with the Look Up for Danger set. Once we'd got started a lot of the stresses and nerves went away. Ellie was belting out the vocals, and Chris, John and I were giving it our all. The first song wen't down really well, so from then on our confidence grew. Our version of Whole lotta love went down particularly well - for good reasons the drum solo was quite a bit shorter than the one in the original song. The Corpse Full of Bees set went down equally well, with one particular person was really loving our version of (Don't Fear) The Reaper!

The closest I've got to this sort of thing in the past is giving talks at conferences (if I discount when I was part of a group of children representing the UK in a singing competition in Indonesia when I was seven - yes that's true!) Performing in front of a crowd in a band is a whole lot more satisfying that giving a talk. It was all in all a really fun night - I'll be awaiting the audiences glowing reviews ;) I'm definitely looking foward to the next gig - we just need to put a few more song's in our repertiore.

[The less said about the after party the better ;)]

The last day

In approximately twenty four hours Look Up for Danger (closely followed by Corpse Full of Bees) will be mounting the stage (well there's not really a stage at the venue, but you get the idea) for our debut gig. Tomorrow will no doubt have some stressful moments as we're going to be rushing about like madmen. We've got to gather all our equipment together at the venue, including picking up a hired drum kit and mikes (courtesy of Soundhaus). We then have to set this up for a lunchtime sound check - fingers crossed that it all works (and that I can put a drum kit together). Then we head off for the final practice from 3-6 pm. Then we have three solide hours of nervous sweating before the gig starts. Now I just need to send off that final promotional email...

Play the music

Tonight whilst doing a bit of air drumming (maybe the lowest form of air intrumentalism) I thought it would be good to learn another instrument. As such I've placed a bid on ebay for a cheap keyboard - the piano/keyboard seeming to be the gateway drug into other instruments. If I do get the keyboard, and learn to play it decently, it could be another weapon in our band, otherwise it could maybe just help me appreciate playing proper music slightly more - as a drummer you generally are just bashing out a beat rather than playing a tune! This might lead me to being a multi-instrumentalist like my fellow band member ellielabelle.

Update: I've now purchased the keyboard I bid for for the sum of £50. I should however realise that in the future I might be wise to not go on ebay very late at night after several beers - just in case I end up buying more things I don't really need.

Update: My keyboard arrived yesterday and looks pretty decent. It also came with a couple of learn-to-play-the-piano books, so I'll have to get started learning over the weekend. I didn't however get that great a deal for it, as I just found it could be bought brand new from GAK for only £59 - I still made a slight saving though and as I said I did get the books thrown in.