3 posts tagged “good golly”
I saw these questions at the back of an art book "illustration play" (which you
should buy really), so I thought i'd don my own answers about my music, like the
artist did (one of my favourites is included - Rob Ryan).
[1] How do you describe your work?
pretty schitzo. can be painfully sad and acoustic or quick and hard rock and roll.
or electro, or kinda dance, or just weird experimentals you won't hear.
[2] what inspires you to create?
mainly pain. hearing something good and inspiring, something i can "steal" from
someones mix. the instruments and mix are more important to me than what the voice
is singing, but i hate instrumentals though aha.
[3] what do you find the most playful and exciting in the process?
turning my drum machine on and setting the BPM to a crazy number. if i'm feeling
low i'll put a low number if i'm alright it'll be as high and fast as i can play.
[4] what makes you choose the current media and execution approach for you work?
anything that buzzes me..
[5] what other medias would you like to challenge yourself with?
comics (sketching characters now), art styled videos (currently doing), write a
book, maybe of poetry.
[6] who in the field catches your attention most recently?
hmm..the new kills album, as they were the people who inspired me to use drum
machines and make one guitar sound massive. the black kids, but only one song i
know, but i love the production of it.
[7] who would you like to collaborate with and why?
jason pierce of spiritualized, or cat power, they're a couple of my favourite
artists. production wise..maybe bernard butler or rick rubin and michel gondry
[8] what would you like to be if not an artist?
a poker champ. and if i could run, a footballer.
[9] please close your eyes and show the first image in your mind?
i'll give you a song instead ;]
I got a comment from a guy on here, talking bout the "a&r" group they have on this blog, that review your songs, talking bout how not to "hold my breath" of getting a chance with them. It got me thinking..
I don't think I ever did think I'd get a chance from them, I didn't sign up with the expectation, I signed so i could stream my new songs and people - if they wanted - could hear them. I became disillusioned with the "industry" when I played to Sony when I was 18 and when I had further dealings with other labels. Not because I had bad experiences of "your no good dude", just because it's a total head fuck. Well it was for me at the time.
"We want this..."
"your backing bands not right..not COOL enough for you"
"you only have three killer HIT songs"
"your songs are too long.."
Ton's of "advice" that can echo and haunt your brain when you're trying to create. I got sick, what the fuck? I've always been sick, I coped to do a showcase, that went well, but gigs got too much for me, sure I could do it once, twice a month, but with getting these comments, which weren't terrible I guess I just couldn't be bothered anymore, I was too hurt. The industry made me bored of music and made me hate it, so i hid my guitars away and just lived.
Then sat in my parents house one christmas I heard a record, by The Hells, who used to rehearse in the studios I did and wow, i got the music demon back, i wrote and wrote and recorded hundreds and hundreds of songs (i have about 8,000 now) and why did I? for you? for the labels? No, for me, a fuck you I guess. These are my songs and hey, i fucking love em' and I could not live without writing at least 10-20 songs a week, I couldn't live without hearing my voice in my headphones drentched in echo, I couldn't bare to be not strapped to my guitar, cause it's my heart and my life and I doubt I'll get a deal and i doubt i'll do all the things my heros did, but it still makes me feel good, makes me feel better. I love it when you like it and buy it and want it as bad as I need to make it, but it's ok if you don't.
I've had so many near "happens" that the opertunity doesn't phase me now or shine a huge torch like it used to. I've had labels I never responded to again as it was head fuck, a label that went under from promoting one of their shit bands who they signed before finding me, a label who I didn't wanna sign to because it released one of the worst huge hits of this decade.
This can be enough, write, record put it on here, myspace, my site . Everyone whose's not in a&r and who aren't know it all "musicians" have liked it, people at the gigs I've done have liked it, people on youtube seem to dig it, so that's all I need, I write songs and people like them and download them and that's the coolest.
On a different note, i've decided to record and write everyday this month (started last night), so recorded some tonight, here's one song "Kiss Me" hope you like (:
I found this site after having a dream. I dreamt of searching "A&R Email" on the net, looking for a record deal and within an hour I got an email saying "we'd like to sign you!" . I found the site, now all i need is the email!
I upload "Love Is All We Need" (below) because it's a track i'm most proud of and it shows off the best side of my "sad songs". I remember writing it in bed, pretty drunk after an argument with my girl..she'd stormed out and I wanted some kind of hope to cling to. I wanted some kind of grand production with it and it to sound different from what i'd attempted in the past, with more pushing sounds. The guitar sound is one i'd probably find hard to recreate again as I put it through a huge amount of pedals that get "that" sound. I was shocked by how much everyone liked it and got many emails asking who produced it and which studio did I use, when I had done it solo at home on my 8 track. I hope you like it as much as I had fun creating it.
featured on "Lord, I Got The Blues" LP
and now the email?
