The Revolution has begun

All this talk about guitars, music and lessons. Procastinating, having difficulty finding a place I can call a school. Well, I have not only found a premises where I can call "school", but I have also found a name.

Revolution Guitars - Lessons & More.

I've already started a blog and will have a website up within a week or so once the business name is finalised with the department of fair trading.

The place I saw today was brilliant. It was bright and big. The owner is a good man who use to play music himself.

I can't wait to get started.

Kids these days

I have my nephew over with me and the one thing he always reminds me about it how bored he is.

With his multiple gaming consoles of every brand, hundreds of games, television, computers and the internet.... I'm always surprised to see that anyone in this day and age can be bored. For when I was a boy, we were never bored. There was always something to do.

This comic pretty much sums it all up for today's youth.


http://www.arcamax.com/zits/s-723402-770841

When I was a kid, the only thing we really had was our bikes. Everything else we made ourselves. Boomerangs out of paddle pop sticks. Spears out of tree branches and a knife. Rockets out of Coke bottles, some vinegar and a bit of baking powder. The list can go on all night, as far back as my memory can take me.

Yet, my nephew can sit there as we both build a fire so we can cook a BBQ dinner. I don't use gas bottles and instant flames. I burn things the old fashioned way, using discarded wood, old fench posts that have been sitting in the weather for over 50 years and have now been replaced with colourbond steel.


I got him to build the fire. And while we waited for the embers to make enough heat for us to cook on, he said "I'm so bored.... is the fire ready yet?"

So I explained that we have to build up the fire to get it up to temperature so we can cook our food.

He didn't get it. Why do it this way when you can just turn on the gas?

So he sat there, with a pair of tongs in his hand turning the meat when I told him to. Wishing he was inside where he could play his game boy, his play station, switch TV channels because he lost interest in the other 4 shows that are on at the moment.

I love my nephew, but he really reminds me of all the other kids I dislike.

When you're young, you look at adults when seem to not get you. As you get older, you figure out what they were blabbering on about. "The bloody kids these days!"

Recording - Day 2

I turned up to the studio late. Had to wait for my wife to get ready so I could drop her off on the way.

I finished laying down my bass tracks in about 30 minutes and then hung around for a little bit. I still had to do some acoustic over dubs and play my Djembe over one track. When I suggested I do them now, that way I can leave and head to this party.

So, after setting it all up. The sound guy doing all this work, the Djembe didn't work with the song. I didn't think it would. But I like trying things. However, recording isn't the time and place to be trying new things. It's where you come after you've spent however long rehearsing. Rehearsals are where you try stuff out.

Anyway. I played my acoustic guitar on another track, having never played the song in my life. I nailed it in two takes. Packed up my stuff and said my goodbyes. Off to the BBQ.

My mate greeted me with a fresh beer. It went down well. Then thirty or so minutes later, the guest of honour turned up. She's put on a few kilos, and her accent is more Canadian than French. Still, good to see her. She's got a good sense of humour. And being from Quebec, is a little more open when the jokes get dirty.

My wife finally turned up. Sending me a message earlier that she ran into Dick Smith. I told her to tell him that her husband is one of his biggest fans. Dick Smith is a true Australian. He's a modern day patriot. Everything he's ever done has been for the good of this nation.

Anyway. I'll be calling up the guys later today to ask how the recording went. I hope they got all their guitar and vocal parts in. However, I somehow doubt it. It's a lot of songs to record in 2 days. I'm expecting them to say they did three or five songs tops. I hope they did them all, but I suspect otherwise.

The bad part about it all is it's still not a finished product. The sound guy now has to edit the songs. This may take a further two days. Then he has to EQ the songs so all the instruments are heard but not out of place. Then it's time to add some fairy dust and make it sound like we're in the same band. Finally ending up mastering the tracks and putting them on to a CD or good old vinyl.

There's a tonne of work to be done. Easily a week's worth of work now that the songs are down in the computer. That is, if the boys got to finish them all.

So, a record aye?

I'm not a fan of recoring the music I play. Everyone knows I just like to get up on stage and play some music. Recording the songs makes it serious. When all I'm after is a bit of fun.

One of the bands I play in wanted to record. Which, I guess is okay. I mean, I'll do it because I enjoy playing music. However, the weekend (this weekend), is ANZAC Day long weekend and my wife and I wanted to do something else. Especially since we've both been really busy and haven't seen much of each other, other than dinner and bed.

ANZAC Day is a day of remembrance for all the Aussie and Kiwi soldiers that fought with us in War. "Diggers" are they were called, helped to keep our country safe. And are more or less the main reason why us youngins' can enjoy the freedoms we have. I turned the TV on for the first time in a while, just to watch some shows that document and illustrate the fine men and women who helped with the War efforts. Lest we forget the tough men and women who fought for one of the best countries in the world. Good on ya', you old digger!

My band mates had other plans. And so yesterday we were recording in the studio for 10 hours straight. We spent the entire time recording the drums. With 45 minutes left on the ticker. I went into the control room and laid down the bass lines. Got half way through the 13 songs and it was time to call it a night. Today, I'll be heading back in, in a couple of hours and laying down the rest of the songs, which I should be done with by about 2:00 pm.

Then I'll be heading over to my mates place just up the road for a BBQ dinner thing that he's put on due to his sisters, hot, French/Canadian friend coming to Australia for a holiday. Her accent melts my innards.

Speaking of hot chicks that melt my innards. My wife will be shopping and joining us later. I think she deserves a pat on the back for putting up with my wannabe rockstardom. She'll probably just roll her eyes at me like she usually does. I wouldn't have got this far in life without her.

With compliments

Recently I was given the chance to play my African Djembe live on stage with a fellow musician that I have known for about 6 or so months.

We met at a music shop in my local area that holds a special evening on the last Wednesday of each month called "The Acoustic Club". Each month a bunch of dudes get together and have a jam session.

Being an acoustic club, the general turnout amounts to a room full of acoustic guitars. As you may have read previously, on my recent visit to acoustic club, I took my Djembe due to my finger injury and the inability to play guitar.

Since everyone loved it by the end of the night, I was asked by the person who organises the evening to bring it with me next open mic night, which was the following Wednesday.

Sadly, I was a little disappointed because when I arrived there, I didn't really get a chance to play it much. The host of the evening got up at the end of the night and told everyone that that was the end of the night and she invited anyone who wanted to have a jam session "That means you Steve" as she pointed to me.

So I got up, looking around because you can just sit there on your own playing some Djembe solo for 10 minutes. Well, you can, but you won't be playing to anyone. They'll probably all leave. Plus I'm not that good a player to hold a solo on the drum that long.

So, I had a quick 2 minute jam with a couple of people and that was that. Half hearted, half arsed. I was disappointed. I wasn't leaving until I had a chance to play my Djembe.

As you all know, I did, and I played it with Craig. This guy I met from the acoustic club. Well, in the end he announced a gig he was playing at and invited me along to play with him.

So there I was, the day before, at Craig's place. He played his stuff and I just joined in and made up some rhythm.

The following evening was the gig, and I turned up at The Roxbury. Craig turned up moments later and once it was our turn to play, we went up on stage, set up and got ready.

Everything went really well. I was having so much fun playing music, performing live on stage and having a ball. I was playing music and I wasn't thinking about what note next, who stuffed up just then that I'll have to cover for. Craig is a good player and singer, so even the stuff ups were covered up so I didn't have to. And he covered my stuff ups too.

We worked well as a team and I can't wait till the next gig. My little African Djembe went really well, however, what I really think will go well is a Cajon.

I've seen these around and saw my first one when I went to see a Spanish guitarist play live on stage. His percussionist sat on one and it sounded amazing. It was like a drum kit in a box. I'm either going to buy one, build one or get my handy, woodworking mate to build one for me. Either way. I'm going to have one. I'm gaga over it.

Anyway, I've digressed....

At the end of the gig, I had Craig thank me, and I thanked him. As much as we both worked well on stage, the opportunity was mine. He might have had a great time too, but I just got my drug fix being up on stage and playing to great music.

That's me in the white shirt.

Then I had the sound guy come up to me, and I thanked him for mic'ing me up properly. Trust me, if you sound good at the end of the night, it's worth a million bucks to thank the sound guy for all his hard work twiddling some knobs as it may seem, but I know it's not easy getting unfamiliar performers sounding right.

Then he asked about my Djembe. I told him it's just a cheap Indonesian made African Djembe. He told me he's a Djembe player and we sat and talked about all things percussion for a while. The we had to leave. But none the less, I made yet another contact in the industry and one that is a good sound guy at that. He gave me his business card too.

A great night that ended with me and my big grin. Wife in tow, and I dropped one of my mates off at the nearest train station. My mates from my other band turned up too. So I had some support there.

No matter how well or how poor you play. Or how bad you think you went. When you receive a compliment, it's always nice. It's always a great feeling to know that you sounded right and everyone enjoyed what you did. It's always a great pick-me-up when you receive something like this. It's a boost.

The song remains the same

When I think of music. I often think about the bands I perform in. I think about the way I play music. I think about the influences of the music I listen to and how it changes the way I play things.

If you ask any of my band mates and such "Is Steve a music snob?" They will say "Yes" and then also continue calling me other names like "Band Whore" and "Band Slut" because I play music with whoever, and I'm not committed to one band or person. I take every opportunity to perform live on stage, and if I could make a living off it I would. But alas, I'm not good looking and I can't sing very well. So I'll never be a rock star.

If you asked my band mates "What is the most common thing that comes out of Steves mouth?" They would say "Band Suck" and "People are f*@ked."

The latter is true, there's no need to bang on about that much further. We (my readers and friends) all know how people are all idiots, myself included.

However, when I say bands suck. I really mean it. From the politics right up to the music. Whether I'm performing with the band or not. It doesn't matter.

One of the strongest arguements I've always held about music is that most of it is rubbish. I think I'm allowed to say so. I listen to every genre, every type of music there is out there. Even just plain old noise. So when something ordinary comes along, I voice my opinion about how crap it really is.

One of the genre's that always falls in my targets is mainstream pop music. It has to be the most uninspring sound to have come to conception since Metallica recorded Load.

Why so? How can some of the coolest songs in the world be so uninspired? This video sums it up well enough for me to shut up about it.




So, next time Beyonce gets up with her mates Jay Z, Lady Gaga and all the rest of the regurgitating monkeys and puppets of todays music scene. Have a think about how many times the same music has been pumped into your ears before.

I have a theory on all this and why mainstream music is so popular.

A while ago I posted an entry about how AC/DC was the McDonald's of music in my twitter account. I may have said something about it here too, but I can't remember. My theory was that nearly all their songs sound the same. Which is why they're so popular. Every song is familiar. It's like snuggling up to a warm blanket you grew up with. It smells the same, it feels the same, it looks the same. So you love it. And AC/DC is just like that. The same, every album, every song. It's all the same.

People lap up pop music because without them even knowing it, they're listening to the same thing. A new song sounds awesome! Why? Because it sounded just like the last awesome song, which was awesome. But now it's old.

Why does it get so old, so quick?

Compare it to timeless classics, the ones no one buys but everyone will listen to if it's playing, and they'll know all the words. Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, it all sounded diffrent, and they were popular too. I can't explain why apart from the only reason being that people are idiots, which takes me back to my first point. Maybe we're all becoming more and more idiots. Eventually everything will be the same.

Look at kids these days and everything is already the same. "I'm bored" they say. How can you be bored? I had fun with a stick and a couple of marbles when I was a kid.

Yep, overstimulation has caused people, not just kids, to ignore the mundane and look as well as expect the fireworks. We all want the big bang at the beginning. And the middle, and the end. And we want to expect it every time. It has to be the same experience every time, or we'll want our money back.

In the end we'll all just conform, end up robot zombies, all the same. But that's okay, because that's what people like, for the song to remain the same.

What if civilisation collapsed tomorrow?

What would you do?

I recently watched a short video about what would happen if the Internet died? When I say the Internet. I mean the whole thing. You turn your computer on and open your mail application, no mail. No websites, no porn, no MSN chatting with your friends or family.

Take that a step further. What if there was no fuel as well. Trucks couldn't get to supermarkets for your food. Buses stop running. You can't drive you car. And since most of this country is still powered by coal, there probably won't be any electricity either.

That means you can't even turn on your computer to see if the rumours are true, the Internet is down. You can't watch television, store food in the fridge, dry your clothes, your hair, do your washing up.

What would you do?

Do you think you'd be prepared to grow your own food? Get on a bicycle to travel places? Build a windmill in your backyard for power? Wash your clothes the old fashioned way?

How do you think society today would recover from something like that?

Kids are bored if they don't have their PSP or Nintendo DS, and usually they're bored even when they do have them.

One of my guitar students said the other day "I'm playing it faster because I had three cans of V this afternoon", when I asked him to slow down the tempo. He's only ten, and he's drinking that vile, chemical drink that gives you nothing different from a drug hit. I bet he was bored during that lesson.

With todays society, over stimulated on energy drinks, more ads on TV, the Internet, video games, hand held games, kids don't go outside to play. They don't hurt themselves taking their home made billycart down the steepest hill in their neigbourhood. They don't climb a tree and fall out of it. Instead, they're at home, in the car, on the way to school, with their head burried deep in the electronic device resting in the palm of their hands, emmiting the wonderful glow of sunshine they call video games.

But if the grid failed, they won't be able to charge their game console. So they'd turn to their gaming machine connected to their TV, bored and uninterested as to why that won't work either.

Mum and dad will have to leave their jobs because everything is done on computer. Which is probably a good thing because they'll need to be home growing fruit and veggies for themselves and their family.

The kids will either be playing games like marbles, catch & kiss, hide and seek and all those other games they have forgotten about. Then come home to eat.

Schooling would change for them too. Most kids in Australia have laptops that the schools have given them. My neice has one. She's also got her own computer. One of my customers is a school that has provided all the kids school work on their laptops. Kids who have been brought up on this system will have a shock to their system.

When I discussed this with a friend, he said that something like this won't happen in our lifetime. He could be right, he could be wrong. Either way, I think everyone, whether you're green or not, whether you're savvy of the impacts and how our current way of life will only evolve into something even more detrimental to the environment is going to only speed up the process and make all this happen sooner than expected. It doesn't really matter. I think we all know that this will happen.

Are you prepared for when it does?

As I asked before, can you grow your own food? And I don't mean just say "yes, I can" because you think you can. Can you really grow your own food? Remember, it won't be the time for trial and error. Lose your small veggie patch, and you along with your family will starve.

You could rely on your local farmer. But do you know where they are? You'll have to travel to them on your bicycle, because they can't bring their truck load of produce to you.

While you may think "This isn't going to happen while I'm around anyway, so who cares?" If you care about your kids, and your grand kids, then you'll make sure, just like with everything else, that they're going to be okay.

Parents want the best for their children, so why give them a life they may not have chosen themselves? And if you don't have kids or don't plan on having kids, think about your friends and their kids.

Water! Water! Everywhere. But not a drop to drink.

I was watching television for the first time in months. Last time I watched it I thought I'd turn it on to see some news. Only to be greeted with the usual mindless crap that I've seen all before.

However, my favourite channel, The ABC (A Government owned channel) had a story on a farmer and other stories about the environment. One of which was about water storage. They talked about water tanks and how 50 years ago, if you didn't have a water tank in Australia, you couldn't survive. I wondered what had happened then, to all those tanks. Basically, what I thought was right. The water services were installed into towns and tanks went the way side.

And of course, now everyone's jumping on the bandwagon again and getting water tanks installed. The government even made it law now that any newly built home must have one installed. Funny thing is, this show went on to talk about the benefits of water harvesting, then at the end said "Scientists believe rainfall is set to decrease over the next 20 years."

I sat there and thought about that for a minute. While I didn't bother going into researching the last 100 years of recorded rainfall in my area. I figured, if they boffins are right, what use will a water tank be?

If they're wrong, that'll be great. But with our planets resources dying off slowly and what would seem unnoticeably, are they right? And if they are, will us putting in a water tank, when we have the water service already installed going to make a difference?

I know that one person can make a difference, because humans are like monkeys. We see something and we'll copy it. But we won't do it if we're told to. We all influence each other to some degree.

However, I couldn't help but think about the county we live in too. Australia is an empty country. The centre of the continent is empty and dry with only a few people living in the area who rely on food supplies getting flown in regularly. The rest of the place is a red sand desert.

The desalinisation plant recently opened in Sydney's Botany Bay hasn't really affected anything. With the last big rain we had having more of an impact on the Dam levels than the plant ever could. Estimates showed that the Dam level went up more because of the rain than because of the desalinisation plant.

I've always thought about those plants as evil. I can't see how they do any good stripping off the salt from sea water. Aren't we all better off if the government just spent the millions if not billions on the plant instead directly to us, with water tank installations.

This, plus electricity prices going up, it makes me think that going off the grid will become a necessity rather than a fancy new toy/technology, or just being trendy and jumping on the green bandwagon.

Ask and you shall receive.

This and other sayings like "if you never go, you'll never know." are funny. Funny because they're true.

If you've been following my breadcrumb trail I've been leaving along this blog, you'll have noticed that I'm making some changes to my life, my lifestyle and my work. Mainly my work, but in turn that is going to affect my life. I've started to wind down my IT business and pick up more music related jobs. Something that involves creativity, not surrounding myself with problems people experience with their computer, and not to mention the depressed state they're in because they don't back up!

Ask, and you shall receive. I asked for this. I asked for challenges in music and I got it.

I asked for more music, more opportunities to play music live, and I got it. In fact I've just about received everything I've ever asked for.

It's funny because it's amazing how it works. I told myself I want more live music opportunities and now I'm getting them. It's scary, but I'm loving every second of it.

I've asked for this, and I've received it. It makes me wonder how much of the bad stuff did I ask for in the past that brought that upon me? Then I look at a couple of my troubled mates who also suffer the same consequences I use to. They're over 30 years old now and still have a lot of growing up. I wonder what they asked for to get what they got.

Some things never change

It's funny when you live in an area you grew up in. You occasionally run into the people you use to know. And it's always funny to see whether or not they remember you.

My youth is full of people like this. Though, and unfortunately these are people I don't want to see again.

I never liked school or the people that went there, both teachers and students. I didn't go to my year 12 formal, instead I went to a night club in the city and hung around Gothic chicks. The company was much more entertaining than what was on offer at school.

And todays encounter confirmed that same feeling.

I saw an old school mate in a pizza shop this afternoon on the way to rehearsals. I stopped there for a quick bite to eat and get going. While waiting for my pizza I heard a very familiar voice. I only had to look up to confirm who it was I pictured in my head.

The same look, the same voice, the same manner, just 30 kilos heavier.

The thing that annoyed me the most was this person, much like most of the kids in my class were all sheep. They all followed the trend, and perhaps this is okay. But I've always been the one going against the grain, against the flow. I am status quo's worst nightmare.

Sadly, nothing had changed. This person was still the same kid I knew in school. The same vulgar twit that made school more annoying than it already was.

As a Buddhist in the making, I sat there eating my pizza thinking about why I felt this way, thinking about why I let it affect me. But the stupidity, the vocabulary and the mannerisms were too much for me to stay sane. So I scoffed down my food, paid my bill and left, thinking to myself, why is it that I feel I've grown up a little while others appear to have stayed 18?

I can act like a child too. And despite my wife's testimonial that I'm like a 15 year old boy when someone says the words "tits" or "legs", I am usually mature about most things. However, this bugged me. Seeing this old "friend" really made me realise that he was exactly the type of person I have avoided since just before leaving school. I have always tried to surround myself with people I want to have around me. He isn't one of them, a lot of people aren't one of them.

I suppose, when I think back, nothing does change. I'm still the same person who hates school and still giggles when someone says "ASSignment"

It's 1am here, I'm starting to ramble and not think straight, which means it's bed time.

Cleaning up

It's always a nightmare, especially when you're like me. Grew up with not much, so possessions kinda console you like a warm blanket.

However, there are some things you look at and think, is it right to throw that out?

Things like photos of my mums friends. Cards wishing her the best when she went into hospital. Cards telling her to get well soon. Her old possessions like a watch, or a book she liked.

What about things she kept of mine, like school report cards, or some dumb certificate that I got for something or other but made her proud.

Do you keep that sort of thing?

Do you throw it out with the rest of the junk?