Filed under: concerts | Tags: harriet, jarrod gorbel, mae, natalie, singularity, the honorary title
Note to self: You’re not allowed to talk to bands at a concert!
Ugh, I do terrible while talking to bands. I just can never think of anything to say or find a way into conversation. I noticed this especially last night with Jarrod Gorbel of The Honorary Title. The one thing I wanted to do the most was just leave him alone… say “Hey, great job” and walk away. The dude is tired. But no. All the other people on the planet want to talk to him and so I get jealous so I feel the need to say something, but that whole time I’m talking, I’m thinking, “Fuck, this guy doesn’t want to talk to me. He doesn’t want to talk to anyone. He wants to go to fucking sleep,” and that throws me off completely.
So note to self: don’t talk to bands. I just feel stupid afterwards.
But hey. The Honorary Title really is one of the best bands ever assembled. Even Harriet was like, “They are such a solid band.” she said more… but I can’t remember entirely how she put it, so I won’t put words in her mouth. Yet again I partially missed them…. missed 4 fuckin songs. That pissed me off… all because mapquest/the highways are so damn confusing. Had someone answered their phone before Joan and had we had any clue of which way we were going, we couldda made it on time… but with both of those things going wrong, it made us just slightly late. Well… not entirely. I was only 10 minutes later than I was shooting for… but it was still too late. God gave me a chance to get there earlier and I blew it. Damn, me! But I must say, Natalie is awesome to talk to. She’s totally in the same league as me as far as enjoying all forms of art and appreciates them all exquisitely. And one of my favorite moments was when we began talking about Harriet’s art-work… it was in that moment you knew that we were just one fucking creative couple, teeming with intrigue and talent.
I said it once before… and I’ll say it many times again: we’re a power couple. We radiate good things.
Oh, P.S.- I gotta praise/bitch out Mae for a minute. GREAT show… as always. And the new members are sweet (bass player could totally be more animated… but the one before wasn’t, so it’s cool). But whoa. Where the fuck were the songs from the new album?? All I remember hearing were Just Let Go and Rocket. How about Brink of Disaster? Crazy 8s? Sic Semper Tyrannis? Sometimes I can’t Make It Alone?? It’s their SINGLE! Waiting, Telescopes- gosh. I would have loved to hear some of theses songs. They played far too many songs from their first album. So that really makes me wonder what they’re thinking… I get this feeling the two members leaving affected what they can play live? Sounds stupid, but it’s possible. Seriously. Major buzzkill. I was practically dying to hear Brink of Disaster and Crazy 8s. I waited the whole concert for those two songs and I didn’t get them. Ugh.
Filed under: music | Tags: allen, concerts, harriet, jarrod gorbel, mae, natalie, nicolas bunzmann, scream and light up the sky, singularity, the honorary title, the metro
Tomorrow is when I see The Honorary Title & Mae at the Metro. I’m going with Harriet, Allen, and Natalie. I’ve been awaiting this day for oh so very long, but only today did it hit me about just how amazing the concert is going to be… and then I also took into consideration that it’s tomorrow. So, since Spanish class (1st period), I’ve been looping THT songs in my head (I really only care about them, Mae’s cool and all, but I’ve seen them, twice? three times? However, songs from the new record will be awesome to see live.) and now in keyboarding I’ve been checking out live reviews and news on THT. Oh. My. Gosh. I really can’t wait. It’s times like these I truly realize how great of a band these guys are. Jarrod Gorbel, the singer/guitarist, really is such a joy to watch and listen to. He’s got this charisma that is undeniable and I love it. He seems so comfortable in his own skin (but behind the scenes he’s actually not- that makes him so much more real and I love that, too). While searching stuff, I found this awesome quote from Nicolas Bunzmann, someone working for Fanbolt.com and this is what he said about THT: “There are plenty of bands that are worthy of a listen, but few that deserve to be on a permanent rotation in your playlist; The Honorary Title should be at the top of it.”
I couldn’t have agreed more and love that statement. As soon as this period is over, I’m gonna go take a piss, go up to B401 for study hall, and write stories while listening to The Honorary Title. They really are just such a joy to listen to. It’s such a shame more people don’t know about them.
There are certain songs that are made that are just undeniably awesome. No matter who you show it to, you’ve gotta sit back and go, “That really is a great tune.” The Honorary Title have so many songs like that. Anyone I show THT to, they fall in love instantly. And if they don’t do that, they are intrigued and go, “Hey, this sounds great,” and want to know more.
So this is me just saying that I absolutely can’t wait for tomorrow and here is some open praise for a band you need to be listening to.
Signing out.
Filed under: music | Tags: apollo's dream, concept album, drums, guitar, music, yours truly
Glenn just left. We played music together for the first time in… jeez. So long. And you know what? I absolutely loved it. It sparked a lot of thoughts… thoughts I’d like to share now!
We wrote an amazing new instrumental song today that is going to work towards our concept album we’re making. Writing this song is what made me think the most. It’s almost like we’re meant to write music together. We’re always on the same page, sometimes thinking on the exact same wavelengths, wanting to take a song in the exact same direction. But even if we’re not thinking alike, we each trust each other’s musical abilities and follow wherever the other leads. If I lay down a drumbeat, Glenn follows, writes somethinng of his own, no questions asked. Vice versa too- when Glenn drops a guitar riff, I don’t say “Change that” or “let’s do this”… I just write. I trust where he’s going with it, I trust his skill. This harmony makes for fast song writing and rather awesome songwriting.
I learned to really trust Glenn when he made me change the drums on Yours Truly. He wanted me to use less “kick drum” on the 1st verse and I didn’t agree at first. Reluctantly I changed it and just kinda played it half-assedly. But as time grew on, I realized he was right. Less kick was a better maneuver. I knew especially at that moment I should trust Glenn’s judgment. He’s a fantastic songwriter and I should stifle my pride and sometimes let him pull the reigns when necessary.
Also, we’re writing a concept album together! After writing Epic Alternative (it was pretty much him and I the whole way, really, spare a few segments submitted by John) together, we’re both kinda done with AD, I think, and want to make a cd that’ll jsut trump the shit out of EA. It’s gonna be ambitious. It’s gonna be huge. But I do believe it’ll be awesome.
I love writing music with Glenn and we’re gonna write as much as possible for as long as we can.
Here’s to best friends.
Filed under: music | Tags: a girl named you, music, myspace, new tunes, romancing the angels
What started off as a song I thought was absolutely amazing because kinda crappy which then turned into pure amazingness. Just more affirmation that I really do have a gift. I gave dad a cd full of new stuff I’ve written- 1.2 hours worth- and he said he loved it. He’s never come back to me right after listening and gone, “That was awesome.” I’ve always kinda heard him mention it over time… but this time he came right up to me and said he enjoyed it a lot. I told him too, “That’s why I gave it to you… even if they’re just like, demos, it’s clear evidence I’ve gotten a lot better lately.” I’ve actually really been contemplating making RTA a serious venture. Like, it was always just for fun. But now… I think I might want to really pursue this. It’s obvious that people are digging my new sound: new songs are complicated/interesting yet still poppy. Older songs are given new life with an exhuberant live performance. And… let’s not talk about the How To Use Your Materia stage. That album can appeal to the people looking for complex jams… but I’m not looking for complex jams. I don’t wanna write complex jams. I’m all about the message. The hook. The talent. Gotta combine those three elements together to make beautiful music.
http://www.myspace.com/romancingtheangels
Go ahead and take a listen. I’d love it if you did.
Check out “A Girl Named You”… that’s my latest.
As somewhat alluded to before- they’re all just demos. They’re not perfect, but I do try to make them worthy of listening.
Filed under: music | Tags: acoustic, angels and airwaves, AVA, I-Empire, live shows, matt wachter, singing, tom delonge, We Don't Need To Whisper
Tom loved spouting his mouth off about how amazing his new band Angels & Airwaves was going to be, but when they emerged, the results were less than stellar. Granted, I was moved by the music, I loved it- it had all the potential in the world to re-configure my world… but it didn’t. I thought AVA was terrible live and I clearly saw where the album “We Don’t Need to Whisper” fell short. Then I-Empire was released and I finally started to see: AVA had definitely grown and maybe, just maybe, Tom really was tapping into something that could mold mountains and shape skies. I was still very skeptical about the live show and pretty much avoided their concert here in February. However, after seeing two awesome acoustic performances thus far on AOLsessions and a radio show, I’m starting to think that maybe things have changed for AVA. MAybe they really are on the path to being one of the best bands around. The acoustic shows are tight as hell and sound wonderful. Something I’m starting to think is that Matt Wachter was a necessary addition. His competent bass playing that sticks out so much more than Ryan Sinn’s seems to be helping the band hardcore. Tom has also changed his singing- it’s normal. You can tell he’s focused, he’s into the music. So as I said in a review about I-Empire, I think their third album will seriously kick so much ass and rule my life. So I believe in their studio sound… But now I’m starting to see that their live show is shaping up and it’s shaping up wonderfully. I’m actually itching to go see them live right now. and it’s in this moment I’m starting to realize that AVA really does have the potential to be the best band out there, just as Tom was saying so long ago. With evocative albums and a tight live performance… I’m truly excited to see where AVA goes. I think the group has just hit their healthy stride and ain’t nothing going to stop them.
I could probably expand on these thoughts, but I gotta go to school.
Peace and love.
-Mort
So it’s occurred to me that I haven’t played music in a while. I had a three week break then it was our first Appa practice and now there’s another nice two week break in between our Appa practices… and I haven’t played with Apollo’s Dream in who knows how long. I really really need to have practice this week + the two shows coming up. I need to be remotivated. It’s not that I’m done with Appastar or music… c’mon, we all know that music is part of the three factors in my life that make it so amazing. It’s just that, I’ve kinda forgotten how incredible playing a show can be. I’ve somewhat forgotten that practices are usually the things I look forward to each week.
I was also watching a music video by Maximum the Hormone and saw their undeniable energy invade the screen. I wanna do that again. I’ve been thinking about Appa’s last great show a lot lately. That Matchbox show was like, legendary for me. I wanna relive that.
I dunno, there’s really not much to say here. I need to be remotivated into music. That’s all.
