Filed under: music | Tags: crystals, infinite love, music, romancing the angels
Sorry I didn’t do this on time- not that anyone’s listening anyways. Yesterday didn’t go as planned… A rather bad phase of my sickness made me retire to my bed when I should have been drumming. However, in the early morning hours while noodling with Alex, I did come up with a pretty sick song. It’s very bare right now- needs a lot more work… but I see it evolving very quickly. Just gotta keep jamming on it, gotta keep listening for things. Right now my workload for this album is huge- should probably keep the progress to a minimum as far as the writing process goes. Time to start recording!!! Maybe I’ll get drums to Crystals done today? Maybe wait on me, too? Need to practice Infinite Love more. For anyone who thinks they know that song, think againnnn.
Okay. Saving the rest for Day Three blog.
Haha, p.s., the King on Katamari Forever definitely yells, “Ah! Blogworthy!” when you do something great.
Filed under: music | Tags: angels & airwaves, boundaries, inspiration, music
Along with making this new album and attempting to find inspiration, it’s time I went back to the place where inspiration grows the most abundantly for me. I need to start listening to Angels & Airwaves incessantly. It’s not because I want to make AVA-esque music, but it’s because Tom’s music makes me want to do fucking great, cool things with myself. And it’s that personal drive that gets revved up inside of me that I love harboring and running to the greatest lengths with. He doesn’t necessarily push me to be a better musician or anything, but he challenges me to think outside the box and make sure I’m doing something noteworthy and spellbinding. Like with my last two songs, Spring and Amber Glow. Sure, they’re phenomenal songs- I love them. But did I do anything cool? Eh. They’re just great songs. They’re not pushing boundaries like Surrender Your Love, Tveil, Tripwire, or Submerge. And granted, it’s not all about pushing boundaries- look at One More Time. Fucking love that song! But the harmonies are so unique that Tim spent about 6 months trying to figure them out and never could- so it’s shit like that which I need to do and always bring to the musical table.
Anyways. Just wanted to share that. Expect my Album Diary soon. Gonna try and write drums today- nothing else is really on the list…
Today I started recording a new Romancing the Angels album. I decided I want to document it as much as possible as a way to remember this slice of my life during such a tumultuous time. Plus, sitting down and writing about what I did each day for the album will help keep thoughts of the creative process always running through my head. The more I talk and think about this album, it is my belief the better it will be. I want to eat, sleep, drink, and live this new project. Steal the Sky was the first step towards greatness- this will be my leap into such heights.
So far I’ve already got confirmed tracks:
Crystals.
Infinite Love.
Amber Glow.
Spring.
Tremolo To You.
Wait For Me.
Sar Chasm.
Some Kind of Bullshit.
I’m Not Yours (I’m Somebody Else’s).
Race for the Moon (maybe?).
Today I tracked guitar demos for Infinite Love and Crystals so I can write bad-ass drum beats. Then as soon as possible it’s gonna be recording drums for those two songs and getting everything done. I might add drums to Wait For Me. I’m also going to definitely be trying to play more shows… possibly enlisting Erik as my drummer. I wanna do smaller acoustic shows, but I want to do shows nonetheless. I’m ready to finally make RTA a working product.
That’s day one for ya.
Filed under: music | Tags: alexisonfire, dallas green, this could be anywhere in the world
Gosh. I haven’t listened to this song in a long time: “This Could Be Anywhere in the World” by Alexisonfire. And I just felt so compelled to tell the world how great AOF is. Their tone immediately excited me. The guitars just sound so awesomely heavy. They’re like… indie metal-ish, though. Not the music- the TONE. Let’s get that straight. They sound like a really heavy indie band and its absolutely great. And it just occurred to me that Dallas Green is an absolute genius when it comes to melodies. The way he says “haunted” in this tune (my bad, the way he SINGS) is pure brilliance: he doesn’t pronounce it properly, instead he makes it more of an “ooo” and when you think about it, it’s weird. But after a hundred listens I’d never thought about it until now… and he doesn’t pronounce haunted right, but he makes it soudn better.
fuck im so tired.
Just know tihs: AOF owns.
Filed under: music | Tags: appastar, death cab for cutie, harriet, idiot ambush, narrow stairs, Progression Media, recording, romancing the angels
Well, boy, haven’t written here in a long time!
Really, I don’t know what’s up with me and my music. Progression Media is kinda layin low for a while (can’t do much more with it at this point besides recording more people and keeping the name alive), RTA is getting better every day, and Appastar is just reaching, reaching, REACHING for new heights.
This past weekend I sang with my girlfriend at the Benet Muse Coffeehouse. We did wonderful. I fucked up a couple unnoticeable times because I was far too sick to really perform (at least musically), but it was still fun. To me it was just a cool performance with my girlfriend… but for Harriet I know it’ll be something she never forgets. My hope is that maybe we can do it again sometime. I also played Menoma with my old bandmate, Mike. It was straight up sweet. It’s inspired me to record the drums for it now and finally get this amazing gem done.
Hm. Gonna have a lot to do musically today…
record acoustic demos to new stuff so I can write drums…
cut drums to menoma?
record vox for songs?
I dunno. Stupid blog.
Expect a review of Narrow Stairs death cab up by the end of the week. It comes out tomorrow!
Filed under: Progression Media, music | Tags: adam, appastar, lauren, music, myspace, new bang, pro tools, Progression Media, recording, romancing the angels, writing
Alllllrighty,
I haven’t updated this baby in a long time it seems. Let’s go over what’s happened with me musically, the changes in this WordPress, and what’s up with Progression Media.
Oy, that’s a lot to discuss. And I’m kind of afraid of writing it all down… but I’ll give it a shot.
So Appastar is doing well. We wrote a new song called New Bang that is, well… amazing. It just shows that we’re all fantastic musicians prepapred to make some really great music in the near future. Sure, the Appa tunes we have now are great… but they don’t include the creativity of each band members. They pretty much only contain the creativity of Allen and Judd (since they wrote most). chris, tim, and I were just there to add stuff. On New Bang we all collaborated and wrote it together. It’s beautiful.
Romancing the Angels is better than ever. I’ll quote Glenn: “Your electric stuff is fantastic.” I appreciate his comments almost more than anyone’s. This new song Tripwire I wrote is just… leaps and boudns ahead of everything else I’ve written. Only 30 seconds into it and Harriet mentioned how it’s probably the best thing I’ve ever written. Hah… we hadn’t even gotten to the good parts and she was thinking that. Hooray.
Progression Media is doing so well. It’s small… but word is getting out. And Adam Cowsert is pretty much a full-time partner with it. He’s helping me and I’m listening. PM will be recording the duo Max and Keegan in the very near future. Should be great. From there I’ll get a lot more people listening and finding out about me. Well… us. PM is a family. I got Lauren Baker to contribute photos recently- they’re up on the MySpace! But I don’t know how to distribute them otherwise… gotta think. Brainstorm with Adam?
I know what the next piece of equipment I wanna get is too… 003 Rack with Pro Tools. I’m pretty sure of it.
Anyways, I’m gonna bounce. Peace!
I just woke up and turned on Roller Coaster by blink-182. I turned it in because today feels like a summer day. I slept in till 8, its nice and sunny, and I feel better than ever. But… now I feel even better because a) I haven’t listened to blink in a while and b) blink is perfect feel-good music. Oddly enough I’d forgotten in the past week or so just how liberated blink’s music can make me feel. When I heard Roller Coaster I thought of so many different wonderful thoughts: their music dvd that I strive to mimic, the summer days I’ve spent being a dumbass; in fact, blink’s music can basically sum up how I’ve felt just in the past few days in general. As I sit here listening, I feel empowered and it’s awesome. This is the reason why blink will always be my most favorite band… Sure, the Honorary Title and the Pillows are incredible, nay, the perfect bands! But they don’t make me feel the way blink does. And as long as blink has the ability to make me feel lighter than air and they can stimulate my senses like no other… they will reign as my favorite band.
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.
