zombie tunes (likely not "monster mash")

Recently, someone got me stuck on the idea of creating a soundtrack for zombie life.

He thought Sigur Ros. My reaction: Sigur Ros? I dunno. Maybe, maybe if they were from the old-school George Romero zombie mold, beautifully tragic, moving slowly through un-death with only a single, simple desire to eat brains.

I hear Bloc Party - specifically the latest album, Intimacy, for the more modern Danny Boyle / Alex Garland zombie a la 28 Days (or Weeks) later. The frantic zombie, the zombie that can run and remember and is just fucking crazy with the rage.

Or Massive Attack, maybe, for the hybrid - the Resident Evil zombie. Modern, cultured, but still prone to bouts of ultra-violence.

Well, more thought needs to go into this very important subject. Clearly.

needs more cello

So the other night, we played with a cellist. Or more accurately, Erik and I jammed with a cellist, another singer, and yet another person. It kind of came about quickly, over drinks of course. Friday night we were out with a friend of mine (Kristina, singer, amongst other musical talents) and her sister who was visiting from Seattle, and sister's roommate. And to this moment I'm not totally sure how it came about, but Kristina claims that she was pushing Erik into jamming, because she knew I wanted to so bad. So he said sure. Which is all I heard, and all I needed to hear. I was on the phone immediately, booked the next night at 8 o'clock. Erik put out calls, messages, to the other guys. (No luck either way.)

Well the night progressed, and again I'm not totally sure how this happened, but the girls all got invited out to jam as well. Because Sis brought her cello as well as her banjo to Vancouver, I think is why.

Anyway, so the end verdict - it was fun. But it was Weird. While it was cool to be able to work on interactions between myself and Erik so well because we could really hear each other, it also illustrated how important - or certainly, how thoroughly integrated - all the other instruments are. The other guitar adds a real layer, and the bass - well, I just plain got lost a Lot that night, and I think it was the lack of Jason's bass. Whereas the drums provide the structure to the group, and the guitars fill the sound, the bass really is the glue that brings it all together.

But the cello, such a trip. There were times where it was so clear, and it was amazingly cool to hear. It just changed everything, and in a good way. My conclusion was: sometime, I need to hear the cello AND the bass together. Chris Walken wants more cowbell, I'd like to hear more strings.

And we didn't even break out the banjo!

success!

I apologize, person who is reading this, I forgot to tell you that I finally got the band back together last week! Yes, success.

It was Fun. Jason, Erik and I met last Friday at 7 and ran through some songs. Several songs. A (very) few sounded good, though rust was quite apparent throughout. Then Dan showed up at 9 and we played for another couple hours. Same deal. It became a case of not being too critical of the songs as wholes, (and man that sure looks like "whores"), but to find good parts in each of the songs. And ironically, I think we played the endings of a few songs quite well. Ironic because we usually have no idea how to end songs, and then proceed to butcher the bloody hell out of them until they just die unhappily.

Erik and I both were having some trouble with a few songs. You know what, if you don't play for months then trying to remember lyrics and chord progressions (or in his case, drum lines and progressions) during the actual song - well, it's harder than you might think. But we muddled through.

We did a lot of old songs - the theme of the evening was Nostalgia: Let Me Dial You Back To... 1996, 1994, 2003 etc. I think the best songs of the evening were Radiohead covers. Airbag (we played twice), Creep, National Anthem all went well. We managed to absolutely massacre Karma Police, though, unfortunately. Oh well, sorry lads. Next time, yeah?

Still, a Lot of fun. And now I'm trying to get another time commitment out of the boys. So... see you in 6 months I guess.

Well dang, I hope not.

high school musical

Not the Disney version - I just watched my High School Musical on TV. It's called "The Blues Brothers." Now, it wasn't released in my high school years, exactly, but it did play a pivotal role in my musical upbringing (awakening?) in the late '80s.

Just look at the lineup:

James Brown
John Lee Hooker
Aretha Franklin
Ray Charles
Cab Calloway

Not to mention Steve Cropper, Donald Duck Dunn, Matt Guitar Murphy... When the backing band has more (musical) star power than the frontmen, that is pretty impressive.

Anyway, watching it reminded me to thank the following people for my own musical development:

My parents - for making me take piano when I was a kid. Man, I hated it. I really really did. It was the endless practicing! But, they also allowed me to quit when I did (Royal Conservatory Grade 4) - and, didn't really discourage me when I went out and bought my first guitar and amp.

* Nostalgic note 1: it was only last year, some 20 or so years later, roughly, that I spoke again to our old neighbors the Wards. And they informed me of the entire neighborhood's annoyance when I cranked up Clapton or Hendrix or whatever and tried to play along. Apparently it was very loud. And, heartbreaking to hear now, not very good. The only redeeming thing, they said, was that it annoyed our neighbors to the back of our house (where my room faced) the most. And everyone hated them. So they poured another scotch, shut the windows, and cut me some slack.

James Morley - who, besides sharing a love for the Blues Brothers a little later on, originalyl introduced me to AC/DC. Yes I know, AC/DC. But they were ultimately a Gateway for Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, the Who, hell even the Beatles. Oh, and The Clash. Thanks James for The Clash.

** Nostalgic note 2: When we were 19, James and I rented a 4-track and recorded an album. 70+ minutes - a real LP! Both of us only really played guitar (and pretty poorly at that), so we had to learn all the other instruments. Still have that (somewhat embarrassing, but still very Awesome) CD. Beans & Rice, Out of the Cupboard. (And if you can name the song reference there, you win the privilege of never hearing our album!) Seriously though, one of the best summers ever.

Stewart Butterfield - who ultimately convinced me, the completely delusional me, that Zeppelin was in fact a better band than AC/DC. Yeah, Stu, you were right.

Shingo Takada - who taught me how to play the blues, for real. Guitar master, that guy. He used to keep this broken neck from a beer bottle that he used as a slide. Cut his hand up something fierce, but man it sounded sweet!

Dan Stringer, Jason Hunt and Erik Campbell - guitar, bass and drums of The Supergroup That Never Gigs. It is they who try to drown out my recently-pubescent-boy vocals and tolerate my occasional guitar wanking. Solid solid guys.

There are others, of course. But these people represent real Milestones. So, much love y'all.

I have The Fever

So I am in a band. (And I'm not giving you the name, since 1. we have not produced any records and thus the name is yet unprotected, and b. the name is so awesome that surely, without a doubt, it will be stolen. But just to give you a hint: several years ago, the band's other guitarist and my old roommate Dan and I were watching Xena: Warrior Princess, possibly in some state of disrepair, and the whole name unfolded like a rare, beautiful, hot, womanly orchid.)

We never actually gig, we only really jam. And we've been jamming off and on for, I dunno, 15 years maybe? (So screw you, Phish! Bunch of dirty hippies.) Anyway, we last jammed many many months ago. Circumstances - kids, work, everyone got busy and/or complacent. But as far as I know, even though our bassist just had a son less than a month ago, and even though our drummer appears to be on a self-imposed hiatus, we have not broken up. At least no one sent me that email.

Now, every time I see a show, pretty much every time, it makes me want to play. Here's the thing: in the past few weeks, I have seen Frank Black (Media Club, 6-Aug-08, solo show i.e. no backing band, kicked ass) and Radiohead (Thunderbird Stadium, 19-Aug-08, gigantic downpour all night, kicked ass) and am burning with the fever to play again.

And I shouldn't say that we just jam, because we also write. And I have so much to say, I really do!

I have approached said bandmates - but honestly, there is no point right now. Jason the Bassist just had a kid! So how do I proceed? People, what should I do??

Having no outlet for my stream of consciousness genius sucks. And so I impose on you My Blog. Seriously, if you want less painful blogs on the internet, convince my friends to get back into the music. Their email addresses are as follows...