#i just want a fender but also just a good acoustic guitar would be nice 🥺🥺🥺

[ridiculously-over-obsessed]

Getting into playing the guitar is all well and good until you realise that you want a proper guitar that sounds right and then realising that my wallet is not going to thank me in the long run because they are expensive 😭😭

[raytorosaurus]

hey! I play acoustic guitar and I wanna start trying out electric but I also reeeally wanna get nerdy about types of guitars and gear and stuff, I find it very cool but I’m not entirely sure where to start. Do you have any book recommendations or anything like that? Also this is unrelated but I would kill to know exactly what gerard has got going on with their pedalboard cuz woah do they love that thing. Thanks and I love ur blog, hope you have a nice day!

hey so sorry this took me a bit to answer!! honestly my recommendation though would be to not go crazy with pedals to start out with. start with an affordable beginner's guitar, a headphone or mini amp, and maybe one effects pedal (i'd go with a simple overdrive or distortion one to start out with, they're your classic rock sound. or try to find a cheap practice amp with built-in effects and then you can forego pedals just to start out with - i have an older roland micro cube i got second hand for pretty cheap and it's really great and pretty versatile) and just get comfortable with playing electric first. first of all, you won't know what to do with the pedals until you're good at playing and they'll be wasted! but mainly, pedals are just really fucking expensive lol. it's not worth it unless you're a really committed player yk

also once again i'm definitely not an expert in any of this - i'm partly answering in this way because i don't have much gear myself and i think that's a better approach to learning that, like, sinking a whole lot of money into pedals when you don't know exactly what you're looking for or what sound/style you want (for reference i have two boss pedals and one digital multi-effects pedal, and that one i use so rarely, all of them second-hand). also learning + getting used to playing with pedals is like...a whole different skill set on top of just playing that should probably come after you get a decent grip on guitar itself. obviously you already play acoustic so you have a big headstart but playing electric is a pretty different approach, especially when you bring pedals into it. if you find yourself getting bored, sure, throw one in there to spice things up! but they're a pretty big investment sadly lol. if you just want to learn about them because you think they're super interesting, there are soooo many youtube channels out there dedicated specifically to that lmao. it's nerd central out there

and okay now if you're just asking about learning electric in general, my advice would be to find an online course that offers you some kind of structure - there's SO many resources out there for learning that it's actually overwhelming and one of the hardest parts is trying to figure out where to start and where to go next. i started out on fender play and it was pretty good (though it's aimed at people who have zero musical background so you may need to skip through some lessons), but i got a subscription when they were doing like. 70% off or something asdfkaljf, so you could keep an eye out to see if they do a new year's special or something relatively soon! otherwise if you can find a youtuber who does structured lessons in a sequential order i think that's your best bet - being dedicated to seeing through the boring parts of practice and not just jumping around and half-learning a bunch of out-of-context skills in any random order is the only way you can really get anywhere unfortunately ajsdkglaj. but honestly even the boring parts of practice are kind of fun especially if you're able to link whatever technique/scale you're learning to a song you enjoy. when i was teaching myself (like before i bit the bullet and started paying for lessons a few months ago lol) i would jump between the fender lessons and going through tabs of my chem songs to see if there were bits i could play with what i knew (playing along to those songs for the first time is the most exciting feeling in the world fr fr). and seeing the bits that i couldn't quite play but that didn't seem too hard really motivated me to keep going yk? anyway oh my god sorry this got so long AGAIN i'm not even sure if i properly answered your question LMAO.

oh but for the last part i will say that a really cool group of people is currently working on a zine showcasing mcr gear (including gerard's vocal pedalboard) over the years! it's a while off yet bc it requires a lot of research but it's gonna be awesome. gerard hasn't said much about his pedalboard yet but people who know way more than me are on it, hang tight B)

[pearbody-squareheads]

7/04/24 (379 words)

145.653 words, 491 pages

This has been a nice and curious day. In the morning my father and I went to a specific musical instruments shop- he's had that in mind for a long time. A 40 minutes car trip brought us there. A storage building full of every kind of guitars, and ukuleles, but mostly guitars. My father was looking for a tenor ukulele, and the only option they had left him disappointed. On the other hand, we also tried some guitars. An acoustic, a fender that was both electric and acoustic, but most importantly a Squire. It was so good... in the 15-20 minutes I played (with) it, I loved it. It's cheap (only 170 euro) but still good, it's a Fender sub-brand, small enough oigh for me to properly use it... I want it. But we'd need an amplifier too and that would be at least 100 euros more. But my father seemed almost willing, so maybe one day.

And I also wrote A LOT. From right after lunch to 17, but also a bit in the car, and then in the evening. But, three different pieces. The shortest one is just an idea, really. I may use it when I'll edit Ruben Three, if I find a way to attach it. The longest is what kept me busy for a full half of the afternoon, and it's about Ruben's childhood. At first, I started writing it thinking it could fit in Ruben Three, but it got too long and specific. So I thought, it will find his place in La Gora, and finished it accordingly.

And oh yes Fight Club was the catalyst of all this.

[abdulraveman]

Fender Newspaper vol. 6 

translated interview

Part 1

On October 7th and 8th, the non-audience concert at the Nippon Budokan was held. How did you feel?

There is no one in front of me. If you want to say how I felt, I can say you can’t compare it to a normal performance (lol) and while performing with a feeling that I hope it can be conveyed (to the viewers) well.

Singing acoustic the first day, band performance on the second day, how do you feel about your performance?

In terms of performance, I didn't do anything particularly difficult. Because it's just playing guitar and singing, there’s no difficulty. So the concert was a pretty safe/successful performance, right? (lol)

Why did you start playing the guitar?

My elder brother has a guitar, although I played several times when I was a kid, I was frustrated with the F chord. I bought my own guitar for the first time when I was 15-16 years old. At that time, I bought an acoustic guitar, so my second guitar was Fender’s Telecaster Deluxe. Then I wanted to install a Bigsby (a vibrato device) so I made a hole myself & broke it, & the tuning couldn’t match at all (lol)

Why did you choose Fender's Telecaster Deluxe?

I didn't have an electric guitar, I was thinking about buying an electric guitar... I wonder why? Maybe because John Frusciante (of red hot chilli peppers) and Kazuyoshi Saito often used fenders. So I've always admired Fender.

How did you feel the charm of guitar when you started playing guitar again at the age of 15-16?

I simply think guitar is really cool. Because if you want to form a band, you will first practice guitar. The mesmerizing feeling when playing solo is very cool, it feels like a painting. I probably felt like this at first. Also, you can play and sing with a guitar, right?

What kind of practice did you do?

I was practicing while looking at the music sheet. In my previous group, I didn't play the guitar solo much but rather focused on rhythm guitar (accompaniment guitar). So, I had to practice with an emphasis on rhythm.

Why were you particular about rhythm guitar?

Singing and playing is the main premise, so at the Nippon Budokan's distribution live, I only played a guitar solo, and I made a slight mistake in that solo.

Do you not want to want to play a guitar solo?

If I can play as well as John Scofield (jazz rock guitarist) I will play it all the time (lol) but I’m still longing for it. That's why I want to learn jazz guitar and know what it's like. I bought an instructional book about jazz guitar. The reviews says if I play it every day for 3 years, I can become really good. However, the time span is very long & I was frustrated after 4 days (lol)

(lol) You’re still a guitar and vocalist now.

But I have many musical instruments at home. There’s a bass and drums, and the bass is also Fender. I think it's better to experience all the instruments. I don’t want to add some unreasonable trends or improvisations. Therefore, a certain degree of understanding is better. That said, I’m not experienced with the other instruments. I don't really like the act of talking about things that I don't understand at all, so I think I have a basic understanding of all kinds of instruments, regardless of whether they can reach the level of playing it live in the end.

I think you must have a lot of guitars. Is your fender’s guitar a Stratocaster?

I have 4 Stratocaster & 2 Telecasters.

What is the difference between Stratocaster and Telecaster for you?

It depends on the feeling. I’ll decide "This is the tune!" in my mind. Telecaster is used when you want a punkish & loud sound and the Stratocaster's front pickup is also fun to play with. When I absolutely want to use this guitar without any special attachment, I just decide by my own heart.

What is the charm of Fender?

First of all, the logo is very cool. In fact, my own car’s seat belt also uses fender straps

Eh?!

I have about 8 Fender guitar straps, and the seat belt is custom-made. Because it is an old car, the seat belt is also worn out. And even though this was a car I bought at around 23 or 24, I drove it proudly thinking "I am so trendy to have come up with this (strap) at that age" (lol)

Why did you choose Fender among so many belts?

I still think the logo is classic & cool. After all the logo is a symbol. The silhouette, the lines, the sound of the guitar is also very cool. The why I like the look of Fender's guitar. That said, I recently bought AMERICAN ACOUSTASONIC TELECASTER.

Oh!

I wanted it after watching people playing with the Acosutasonic guitar. Although during the live broadcast at the Nippon Budokan I only used acoustic guitars, because (this guitar) also comes with a looper. I want to take the AMERICAN ACOUSTASONIC TELECASTER & loop it while playing.  But I feel that it was too hard and I left at home (lol)

Please be sure to try it for the next live!

I will if I have the chance.

 Part 2

The first singles "Silence" and "キッチン" of the second album have already been released in October, and it is decided to release the album on January 27, 2021. Is the guitar used for the composition?

Of course. Basically, I use a guitar. But silence is made not with guitar but piano. It’s just that even if I play the piano, I remember more of the chords or guitars, so I did it again with the guitar.

Do you usually play guitar at home?

Yes, there is a guitar in the living room.

Is for writing songs?

Because I really can't write songs, so I often play just snippets. I didn't think about anything but playing the guitar.

Is Fender used for the new album released in January?

Of course. Fender guitars have always been used in songs, and I definitely use them when I want the sound of a telecaster.

Among the various options such as actors and idols, why choose musicians as a means of self-expression?

Because so far I haven't worked wholeheartedly (as a musician). Only had the experience of having fun like part-time job. And the current situation has no other option besides being musician. But sure enough, basically I still love music. My family loves music. Every Wednesday is Karaoke Day, and the family will always go to Karaoke together. Therefore, inadvertently the music is around, listening to music and playing music when you like it. For me, it is a matter of course.

Do you have a dream or vision as a guitar and vocalist?

I think it’s good to be able to move with the times and maturing. I don't know what will happen two years from now, I don't even know about tomorrow. I can only go with the flow. Do what you want to do as much as possible during that, if someone is happy because of it, I will be happy too. To be honest, I don't have that long-term vision. As long as it is something you can do, you can try anything.

The form of music is also changing, and perhaps following the trend/going with the flow is also important. However, I want to pass on the joy of playing an instrument to future generations.

I think so. Although is the era when you can compose music even without playing an instrument and using a computer, but the "gong" sound from an audio amplifier is definitely different, right? In the end I still prefer the loud sound from the amplifier. Even though there are many sampling software for drum sounds, in the end I still prefer the sound from real drums.

Understood. Do you have any suggestions for beginners who are starting to learn musical instruments now?

Sure enough, you still have to love it. It’s impossible to not want to play well, if you don’t love it, right?

In the time you played guitar so far, what moment felt the best?

I am not very proficient in guitar now. But using the knowledge gained from that to create melody and turn the melody into chords such things become natural. But without that, I couldn't imagine becoming who I am now. And then, I am very happy to be able to share the feeling of "this guitar is so cool” with others. Saying "Because of this guitar, I am where I am now", although I'm not so convinced of myself that I can say it, it would be nice to be able to say it one day before I die.

So in the end, what do you think of the AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL II TELECASTER for this shoot?

Looks very cool, what colour is it?

It is a new colour, named [Dark night].

It’s a nice colour. I don’t pay much attention to the neck this guitar is easy to hold, and the rosewood fingerboard is rare. Because I only have TELECASTER with maple fingerboard.

Will the encounter with a new musical instrument bring new inspiration?

I hope new imagination will emerge (lol). I don’t know much about the age of the guitar at all, so I choose the guitar emotionally, and I want to enjoy it as I like.

Enjoying yourself is the most important thing.

Thank you very much! Will use it during lives!

 -

credits

part 1: https://shop.fender.com/ja-JP/interview/cover-2020-ryo-nishikido

part 2: https://shop.fender.com/ja-JP/interview/cover-2020-ryo-nishikido-b

translations based on: 弐死鬼怒炸炸 (link, link) &  锦户亮的黑柴厨房字幕组 (link) 

[dietzemusicgateway]

Guitar Shops Near Me

There are places in our community, where you can find the best guitar shops near you. Whether you're just getting into playing an instrument, or you want to improve what you already have, there are places that will help you along the way. Let's take a look at some of the best guitar shops near me, and the places that I recommend you might try if you'd like to purchase a musical instrument, or tools.

I would say my first stop would be Guitar Superstore. I always bring my qulkus with me because it's the quickest way for me to pick up a great new musical instrument. When you have a good look around at the Guitar Superstore, you're bound to find something interesting to you. If you are looking for electric guitars, you can find a few nice ones in their inventory. If you are looking for nylon string acoustic guitars, you will find plenty to choose from.

If you're not sure what kind of guitar or other musical instruments you want, you should check out Tabloids. They carry a large variety of different kinds of guitars and instruments. Some of the Tabloids that I would check out would be the Yamaha, Martin, Fender, and other kinds of guitars. You'll even be able to find Tabloid synthesizers in some of their Guitar Superstores. I really like to bring Tabloid musical instruments in to play with my own band as well as to play at local concerts.

Guitar World is a store that sells almost everything you could possibly need for your guitar. From strings, two picks, to cases, to amplifiers, they have everything you need. Their guitars and basses are very nice as well. I really like Guitar World because their customer service is always great. Usually, if you contact them before your order is ready, they'll be glad to help you with any questions that you may have about your order.

Another great place that you should definitely check out when you are looking for guitars is eBay. I've purchased a few guitars from eBay in the past, and I can honestly say that they are some of the best guitar stores that you will find. You can find eBay auctions for most kinds of music stores. In addition to guitars, you can also find drums, amplifiers, and many other types of musical instruments.

Before you decide on which guitar shop to purchase your instrument from, you should definitely take some time to think about what you are looking for. It's always a good idea to check out some online reviews about the guitar store that you are thinking of buying from. By doing so, you can see what their customers have said about the way their shop was by the customer's feedback. This is a great way to make sure that you're going to buy your new guitar from a reliable source.

Tumblr Wordpress Jigsy Bravenet https://dietzemusic.com/

[elleroodles]

hello el :] i was wondering if you have any advice for someone wanting to start playing guitar with no prior experience!!

man oh man this is SO exciting!!! i love that you asked me this!!! i have so many thoughts!!! i hope i make sense!!! if you have any questions about anything at all do not hesitate to reach out!!! i’m!!!!

1) the guitar itself! (+ other equipment!)

so i started on what was quite literally a grocery store brand guitar my dad got when he was in his 20’s, and if you want to take up guitar as anything more than a fun little thing to dabble in every so often (which is completely fine!) then you might want to start saving up for a trusty brand.

i can’t remember the name of my first guitar since it was a hand me down, but you can literally get them for like. $25 on amazon. i’m going into this assuming you mean acoustic, i’m not entirely sure what the price points are for electric. fender’s the big name brand, but i vastly prefer guild. i love the wood and the sound, and some people at my music studio have said they work realllll good with amps. there’s also several different sizes other than the standard, which is very nice for my tiny little body

the reason i’d invest in a guitar early on if you’re looking into music for the long-term is because they’re super durable if you take good care of them. my guild will probably last me into my thirties, and maybe even longer than that. my dad’s old guitar that i started on obviously did last a long time, but it did Not sound very good. it’s also worth noting that i started learning music with a cheap uke and definitely don’t regret it, this isn’t to say that you Need an expensive instrument to play music, it’s just definitely something to consider if you’re looking for playing in the long term

other stuff i’d advise spending money on is a capo and tuner!! a capo is used to change the pitch of songs and can make playing easier if you need to transpose a song, i wish i got one earlier than i did. it opens up so many more songs!! having a physical tuner is moreso for convenience, phone ones work just fine, but i once lost my phone at a music festival and was Very thankful for my tuner. plus they can help you find the right notes if you’re fretting or singing!! the brand i use is snark

oh and picks!! i don’t really use picks all that often unless i’m live because they mostly serve to make strumming louder, but it’s really up to personal preference. i find fingerpicking harder w a pick but it’s something you gotta mess around with and see what works for you!! picks are incredibly easy to lose, so i’d buy cheap and plentiful packs. i like the nylon jim dunlop .46 mm ones, but picks are really something that varies from guitarist to guitarist

now for the FUN PART

2) actually learning lol

befriend ultimate guitar and never lose it. i would live and die for ultimate guitar, it is probably the best way to teach yourself guitar. there’s chords and strumming patterns you can actually play, and the community’s truly wonderful. there’s a premium option, but i’ve been using the free version for years now and i’d marry it if given the option.

after you’ve signed the marriage license to ultimate guitar, make a playlist!! at first i’d just put any old song you want on it, and then launch into the easy tabs on ultimate guitar (which i’ll just refer to as ug from now on). ug has a playlist system which i’d also ulitize! i’d recommend some guitar songs i started out with, but the best advice my music teacher has ever given me is that if you play music you’re not passionate about, you’ll lose interest so quickly. i have never taken a formal guitar class in my life, and i honestly would say i’m a better player because of that (though i did come from a few years of uke, so i had a pretty good grasp on fretting/strumming). find a song you love that’s easy and learn it!

before launching straight into songs, you probably want to learn some chords. the most common chords in western music are c, g, f, d, a, and e, so i’d nail those down as well as am (a minor) and em (e minor). if you’d like a lesson in music theory and chord structures, i’d be more than happy to help. same goes for strumming patterns, ug is great for listening to and learning strumming patterns but i also like listening to songs and just trying to figure out the strumming pattern. this may sound a bit like bragging and i apologize, but guitar came very naturally to me because i have a good ear for music, so i never really had a whole lot of those beginning struggles. that sounded really arrogant shdgsg but what i’m trying to get at is that i’m probably not the best person to go to if you can’t figure out the rhythm of a song because my brain just does it for me shdgdg

misc stuff:

tuning: standard tuning is eadgbe, another one i like is cgdgbe (a good chunk of wilbur’s songs are in this tuning 🙄🙄🙄🙄). i personally Hate retuning and try to avoid it at all costs so i’d recommend getting comfy with it

more string stuff: strings go out of tune really easily!! especially on new guitars!! it’s super duper important to keep your guitar in tune when you’re a beginner so your ear gets that muscle memory with sound (ie being able to hear an a7 as an a7 and not an out of tune a7)

little bit of vocab:

dim: diminished

m: minor

b: flat

maj: major

don’t be afraid of chords that are all wonky like fdim7!! they’re not scary!! most are very pretty!! but definitely get good at your basic before moving on the trickier stuff

barre chords: UGHHHHH most songs have a pesky little f in them which is a barre chord (a chord where you gotta stick your fretting hand over multiple strings). another scary thing i’d very much recommend getting used to!

oh god i feel like i’ve missed so much, like i said, i had a very unorthodox learning experience so i might make a part 2 to this sometime soon when i get my thoughts in a better order and some sleep but for now i’m so excited that you’re looking to learn guitar!! it’s so fun!! ty for reachin out and if you have any more questions don’t even hesitate to ask, i’d love to help :))))

[painandpleasure86]

Burned all my energy (BreakyWeek2k19)

Author’s note: Hi ppl! This was for Day 4, but this last Thursday and Friday were so frenetic... I couldn’t post this before! Probably I’ll post for the last day... Thank u @runningfortocome​ for hosting this special week for this underrated ship and for supported me last Tues for the hateful anons.

Prompt for Day 4 that I choosed: “Back Chat/arguments in the studio”

Warnings: Angst and fluff.

Word count: +2.0k

Tag list: @warriorteam1924  @runningfortocome​

They love to each other. So much. But also argue a lot. Both have a big pride about their own opinion and that didn't helped at all. Not only in the studio, but also in the intimacy. At least in the last one scenario was always a lot easier to fix the things. Nothing like a special meal or something sexual couldn’t fix.

Record an album always was a challenge for the group. The four of them have different points of view about what to do. But the two of them were usually the worst. Fred always mediating, Roger always mocking to the couple. 

Around 1979, John showed to the group Another one bites the dust. He recorded bass, guitar, synths and claps as a demo. Meanwhile the group was listening it in the studio, Bri and Roger started to feel in disconform, mainly Roger. 

In a whisper, Roger told to Brian “please, if you want to say your disagree, be careful... despite that it’s so funny mocking him, i’m quite tired of both of you arguing”. Brian nodded.

Once the demo ended, Bri said to John with a kind smile "Nice song really, but..."

The youngest one started to feel the anger. Still in his chair, turned to them and he watched right to the hazel eyes of his man. Said sighing “ah shit here we go again ... always but. Nothing that I make likes you!”

Fred, half turned to Brian and John. Trying to calming the atmosphere, said with a cheeky face “You mean musically darling no?”, while winked and made some sexual gestures with his hands.

Brian watched at him pretty disgusting.

"That stuff it's irrelevant here" he said.

"It is Bri. Thanks to the gods that you're happy at bed, hehe." His blonde friend winked an eye. "If not, more hysteria. And the three of you are drama queens. Despite that's quite funny, sometimes it's tiring to see the three of you always discussing" throw Roger.

Bri, pretty done, almost screamed "oh okay, look at you, calling to us drama queens when you made a number for your song of the car some years ago!”

Roger started to be really irritated.

"That's your only argument! Change your cassette Bri!" yelled the blondie.

Fred stand up of his chair and puts between Bri and Rog, separating them with his hands. John just was covering his face trying to not say nothing. "That childish fight again…" he thought.

"Guys, quiet." said so calm.

They still watched to the another pretty upset.

"Relax, guys." continued the singer.

Looking at Roger, he said "the four we're hysterical queens in a some way… But just a real one, ha!" Roger smiled. 

Fred turned his face now to Bri.

"Now you can continue with your opinion about John's song."

Bri started to talk, but Fred interrupted him.

"First, something more Bri". His hands leaved the chest of his friends and walked near John to grab his shoulders, which was on one side watching all the scene. He ducked his head in direction of the face of the bassist.

"And you, darling… don't interrupt to Brian and start to argue again. Let the man speak".

Deaks looked at his friend and sighed deeply.

"Okay, Fred."

Looking at his lover "I'll not yell this time, love." He stand up of his chair. Fred was behind John now. The bassist walked to his man and hugged him with his left arm. Watching to that hazel eyes and caressing the cheeks of the guitarist, continued speaking. "Go ahead." And he kissed him in the cheek. 

Brian watched at the bassist and smiled, slightly blushed.

The environment it's relaxed again.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A couple of months later, The Game album was released. Another One Bites the Dust it's the most selled single. Bri and Roger should to recognize the ability of John there. And that was right  heeding to Michael Jackson that suggested to release that song as a single.

That album gave them tours for common lands to them like Japan, and visit for the very first time places like South America; where the band had an excellent and very warm reception from the fans. Where Another one bites the dust sounded in the discos and a lot of people enjoyed that funky vibe in the dance floor.

Even that song won the prize as Best Pop Single. Deaky and Rog were there to receive the prize. John, very happy. But Roger, pretty deceptioned "we are a rock band and we won a prize for best pop single? For God's sake…" he thoughts while they’re receiving the prize.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flash recording. Releasing. And now another recording, the album that would be named Hot Space. Now have even more argues and problems, the sound of this album its pretty away of the rockish sound of  the band. The experiment with AOBTD was successful, so, the funky and the (slowly dying) disco music took over the album concept. Even of that way, Brian and Roger could insert rockish songs or at least with powerful guitar riffs. Deaky and Fred must accepted that after a lot of argues, for maintain the good environment in the studio. Specifically, Deaky didn't wanted to have problems with his lover. They have already problems pretending being straights, until decide get out of the closet. He often just sighed deeply, pretending that everything's okay. But his patience was reaching it limit.

One night he couldn’t sleep. Changed a lot of time his position in bed. Deep breath didn't worked in him. He have a lot of angry inside. He needed to vent thru a song. 

He get up of the bed so quickly and was to the studio where he write his songs. In that studio he haves books that covered almost an entire wall, having infront a comfy couch. Next, the window and in front the desk. To the right side of the window, lied his Fender Precision Bass 1968, a keyboard and an acoustic guitar.   

In the studio, he grabbed paper, pen and sat in front of the desk to start to write. Isn't that often that him haves a suddenly inspo to write a full song. But that night was one of the examples. Back Chat born. Reading the paper, he though “I love you… but i’m tired of you complaining about my things and talk behind my back, my dear”.

Trying to not make a lot of noise, he grabbed his bass that are there. He connected to an amp and started to play a bassline. Meanwhile, he thought “I’ll be so funky, more than another one bites the dust… and you will not have your solo. If i can’t modify your arrangements, you will can’t modify this. Eat from your own medicine. I’m so patient, i’m so kind with you, but i’m also done.”

Next day at the studio, he came with that paper in one of his pockets. They entered like any day, but he have a little surprise…

Fred asked finally to him “well darling, do you have something to the new album?"

He extended the sheet to the singer. He has read. The face of Fred was a mix between laugh and confusion.

"My dear, who made you that damage?" finally said watching at the greenish eyes of his friend, curious.

He crossed his arms and "posed". That pose. That face. That smile.

"Don't matters" he said with a ironic voice, and his eyes focused in his lover. Bri watched at him so confused.

Roger, watching the scene and drinking a coffee, said "ha! Couple issues. That's fun guys… I love the drama between you! Thanks to God that I always haves some popcorn! That's better that any soup opera…

Despite the joke, the tension came back once again to the studio. And that just was the beginning. Because after that, Deaky specified that he will play also the guitar, keyboards and even a drum machine.

Bri and Roger started to be very upset. 

"Deaky, man, I love you… but trying to replace me? I'm the drummer! Despite all, I must to play that part!" said the blonde.

Bri, of course, reacted even worst. "Really… REALLY? What the actual fuck? Plus… YOU DON'T WANT A GUITAR SOLO? AND YOU WANT TO RECORD ALMOST ALL? Seriously, this isn't the way to speak about our problems!

Deaky watching to his face and yelling, said: "I'm so done of that attitude of you and more when we try to experiment new things… Always guitar riffs it's boring! Not always we should sound like rock music! Really… my patience it's done for today. Don't speak to me, even you Fred. I just want to be alone!!!"

He grab his things and started to leave the recording studio.

"You should to be alone for being so mean with me!" said Bri almost crying.

John sighed and turned back.

"Look Brian… we're a couple no? Learn to accept your part of the responsibility. I have patience, but isn't endless." he said in a serious tone.

He watched to Roger and Freddie.

"Guys, for today I don't want to work. I'll go to drink something perhaps. Don't try to catch me, please."

He sighed. "Sorry Fred."

And leaved the studio slamming the door.

The three of them tried to back to work. Brian couldn't really. He was crying and drinking a lot of beer. After some hours, he fell asleep in a couch, so drunk, so sad.

Similar scene was John. After a lot of drinks in a near bar and avoiding the occasionals fans trying to get an autograph, came back to the home where the four habits when they're recording an album.

Barely could close the door. His head hurts. His throat wanted to vomit. Walked as he could to the bathroom and threw in the toilet.

When he ended, he just wanted to go to bed.

Opened the door of the room… him was already in bed. And he almost started to cry, but he hadn't energies at all. Just gone to sleep, trying to not wake up to him.

---------------------------

Next morning, first in wake up was the guitarist. And he saw to the another one sleeping so deeply, snoring. He kissed him in the forehead and whispered "I still love you, funky man". And leaved the bed and the room. Moments later, John woke up and he find himself alone, with a hard hungover. He rubbed his eyes and said “ugh why I need to get out of this bed, i’m feeling so terrible”.

He took a bath. After choose his outift for that day and dressing, go to the kitchen to have some breakfast. He found the another three having a nice chat while they were taking their breakfast, until he entered to the kitchen to prepare some tea.

The three watched at him in silence preparing everything to his breakfast. When put the kettle to boil some water, he turned to his bandmates and ask “Who’s died that you’re in silence?”

“Are you better, darling?” Finally Fred says to Deacon.

He sighs deeply. “Yes and not. From the anger from yesterday… fine. But i’m still having a hungover and i’m hungry.” he says, touching his forehead and after his tummy.

Silence again.

Roger, after sipping of his cup of tea, look at John and says to his friend “c’mon mate”

He was confused. “What?”

Brian without rise his sight and moving the little spoon inside the cup of tea, said “an apologize, perhaps.” He sighed deeply and rise his head. Turns around still sat in his chair in Johns direction. “ Sorry for being rude with you yesterday.” added the guitarist.

He watched at him with tears in his eyes. The bassist ran to hug him so tightly.

“no, I’m the one that should apologize”. He caressed the curly hair with his left hand. Being near of the right ear of the guitarist, whispered “you will can have your damn solo if you want. You always get your way, haha”. Watched right to the face of his man, both hands holding that smiling face. He’s smiling too. “I love you”. “Me too my grumpy bassist”, added the elder one. And both kissed softly.

Roger and Fred watched the scene so happy to see that two happy again, until Roger watched to the cooker.

“Fred…? I should say it?” asked sipping his tea, quite cold.

Freddie watched to Roger and shaked his head. “Let them be happy for a moment” and giggled a little.

The water from the kettle was boiling intensely since a couple of minutes...

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If you liked this fic, reblogs are highly appreciated! -Lily

[bohrapbachelorette-blog]

Borhap Bachelorette (Part 1)

Word Count: 2,156

Prompt: This is a Borhap boys x reader Bachelorette AU. 

A/N: This was written by @ @wewillfarrokhyou @anuknowha @tooweirdtolivetoogaytodie @freddiesstache  @queen-in-funerland @fatbottomedgwil 

We hope you like it! Also be sure to vote for who gets the first impression rose.

Taglist: @bitemerog @mr-stank-i-dont-feel-so-dank and @rogerinatrash @roger-bang-the-drum (who signal boosted my original post) Message me to be added to the list/follow this blog)

You had just arrived in front of the mansion. You were extremely nervous about being the star of The Bachelorette - you didn’t have too much experience dating before, and being on this show was supposed to be a chance for you to find love. What could you say? You were a true romantic at heart. You were dressed in your best gown, your makeup and hair done by the specialist, and now you sat waiting. You hadn’t met the guys yet, but they were due to arrive in the limo any second.

Chris Harrison came from inside the house and approached you.

“Hello, (y/n), how are you feeling?” He said, with his T.V. smile on.

“Hi Chris! I'm excited, but also quite nervous. Just really hoping to find the love of my life. I know I’m ready,” you smiled brightly and tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. Just then, the limo started to roll into the driveway and you heart began to race.

“Here we go...” you muttered to yourself.

A tall man with gorgeous cheekbones and a straight jawline got out of the limo and walks towards you, holding a pitch black acoustic guitar. Fender, you assumed - you weren't really knowledgeable about guitars. He had clear blue eyes and chestnut brown hair, with perfectly arranged facial hair. He started singing “You’re My Best Friend” as he walked towards you.

“Ooh you make me live, whatever this world can give to me...” As he was singing, people on the sides threw polaroids at you. You caught one - they were all pictures of him in various cute, Instagram-worthy poses. “Ooh you’re all I see..” you were laughing at how silly and sweet it was.

“Hello love, I’m Gwilym Lee. Lovely to meet you.” He says, taking your hand and giving it a kiss.

“That was a wonderful entrance,” you laugh, and he takes a bow.

He walked past you and into the mansion. He seemed like a genuinely sweet guy and you were excited to see who else was going to come.

Out of nowhere, the song “Boss Ass Bitch” began to play. You were incredibly confused until from around the corner you spotted a giant dinosaur dancing its way toward you. You burst out laughing at the ridiculous sight, your hand coming up to cover your mouth.

“Oh my god!” You yelled out, watching the dinosaur shake its hips.

The dino got on its knees and presented you with a rose. He unzipped the top part of the costume, showing ginger hair and bright smile. He roared and you laughed again.

“I’m Joe, Joe Mazzello,” he exclaimed. You took the rose out of his hand.

“Well, you certainly put on a show,” you said, highly amused.

“It’s all in the hips,” he joked.

He smiled and walked past you. You could already tell that Joe was going to be a lot of fun. He had a great sense of humour from the way you nearly cried laughing at his dinosaur dance. You wondered who was going to enter next.

“Remember the Time” by Michael Jackson began to play as a man in full egyptian clothing came out of a limo dressed like a pharaoh. He had tan skin and big blue eyes and his whole look gave a grandiose appearance.

“Hello, your highness,” you bowed at his costume.

“Well I was in Night at the Museum, so I couldn’t resist. I’m Rami Malek,” he beamed, holding out his hand.

“(Y/n),” you grinned, taking his firm handshake.

“I look forward to getting to know you,” he smiled as he walked behind you.

You were impressed by his kingly appearance and beautiful features. Night at the Museum? I only remember Ben Stiller... Who is he?, you thought to yourself. Only one more guy was left to join all of you in the bachelorette house. What kind of a person would he be?

Right on schedule, another limo appeared. It was loudly blaring — “I’m too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt…” The back half of the baby blue limo was a hot tub with an admittedly very cute blond sitting in it, shirtless, arms draped around the sides. His curly blond hair and chiseled abs were almost too much.

“Hey, baby. Care to join me?” His accent made you weak at the knees.

“Ah...I'm good, thanks.” You blushed and gave him a small smile.

“Oh. Um. Okay.” His pecs twitched almost nervously. Confused, he looked down, but it happened again and you started giggling uncontrollably.

“What was that?” Joe asked.

“What was wh-” the blond started, but it happened again. You and the other boys doubled over in laughter.

“I -” Hot Tub Man turned beet red and lifted himself out of the tub, wrapping a towel around his torso. A small laugh also escaped him. “I'm Ben Hardy. Nice to meet you.” Ben said as he walked over to you. He went to hug you but backed up a little when he realized that he was soaking wet. You muttered a quiet, “sorry” to him.

“I’ll save it for later,” he said, maintaining a suave composure as he walked to the mansion to dry further.

That was it. All the guys had already introduced themselves and made quite the impression on you. From the sweet romantic Gwil, to the funny and charming Joe, the royal Rami, and the gorgeous Ben. It was going to be a hard choice to see who gets the final rose. You just hope that the interviews help make it easier.

The guys were all drinking in the lounge of the mansion when you walked in. Chris Harrison walked to the front of the room.

“Well, this is it, enjoy your first night!” he said as he walked away.

All four guys were staring at you. You couldn’t help but to blush.

This was your time to play coy - you wanted them to believe there were things about them that you didn’t know. You wanted them to be completely honest and after you’d seen them on the set of Bohemian Rhapsody together you knew exactly how they would act both on and off set. Even while they were there, you’d watch them on social media and their interviews when they weren't with each other. Hell, you even knew their favorite foods but you wanted to hear it “straight from the horse’s mouth”, as they say. You knew that this was going to be fun, and you just had to let it play out right. You just had to be careful and pretend to be unaware of these guys and their pastimes.

Rami trailed off first. “Ms. (y/n), I’m not sure if you like cats, but I am severely allergic. Thought I’d let you know beforehand.” He grinned.

“Well, I’m a model!” Gwilym stated.

“We’re all models.” the other three sighed in unison.

Ben seemed to keep his eyes on you, making you a little uneasy.

“Your eyes are absolutely gorgeous Y/N. Look at how soft they are and how the light in this lounge absolutely twinkles off of them.”

It took a moment for you to process the information and once your brain finished establishing his words, you had time to notice that he had a shirt on.

“Oh, oh you’re Ben right?”

He held his hand out as the other three watched him and slowly looked over at you as you shook it.

“Great, now she’s going to like you more, and after I dressed like the best thing since sliced bread. I. Feel. Betrayed. Ben.” Joe huffed as he puffed out his cheeks and crossed his arms.

A small smirk appeared on the blonde’s face. He felt confident that he was the first one who made physical contact with you since you guys entered the mansion. His grip was firm but gentle, he wasn’t using too much force and but you could tell he didn’t seem to want to let you go. But he did.

“I love dinosaurs and the prehistoric age, I love history-” Joe stuttered to try to catch your attention.

“Is that what you majored in college, Joe?” You glanced over at him with a smile.

“Actually, I went to college for the cinematic arts, I wanted to make my experience on the big screen.” He grinned, his hands held in front of his face, and he slowly spread them apart as if he was making some kind of invisible rainbow. Almost as if he were about to do jazz hands.

“Well, I’m British darling, have you ever dated a man from another country?” Ben hummed.

“Not yet, but I’m still available,” Gwilym laughed.

Ben sent a glance over at him, one of slight disgust as he squinted his eyes.

You tried to contain your laughter but it was hard, you could tell you were in the room with a bunch of goofballs but you didn’t hate it- in fact, it made them each stand out, it was cute.

Rami caught your attention as he was sitting there, his eyes fixated on something else.

“Something wrong?” You questioned.

“Hmm?” He looked over at you, a bit embarrassed, as if you caught him doing something wrong.

“Nothing. I was just thinking about how beautiful you are,” A small smile formed on his face.

“Don’t mind him, he’s even like this in interviews,” Gwilym said.

“He’s been like this on our dates too,” Joe tried to whisper so Rami couldn’t hear.

“I hope you know, I did hear you, and I do pay attention, just not to your existence or your-” Rami paused and put his hand to his mouth pretending to cough. “Cold.  Isn’t that right, John?”

The room got silent for a second as Joe sent Rami a death stare. But his only response was to return it with a sly smirk.

Soon enough Joe tackled Rami off the couch and was playfully pulling at his suit as the other two burst out into laughter.

You laughed too and watched them all turn to you, momentarily stopping the fight.

Joe’s face lit up some, “Guys, she’s laughing at me. I’m funny.”

“Funny to look at…” Rami whispers.

This time, Joe playfully hit him in the arm and got off of him. And they all tried to gain back their composure. Rami fixed his jacket and straightened his tie.

You were still laughing, but soon tried to gather yourself as well. They were all smiling, you could tell that they were enjoying this talk with you.

“Weird that you’re allergic to cats but here you are playing Freddie Mercury, and being all lovey dovey with the creatures. You love them more than you love us,” said Joe.

“Not true,” Rami said with a small frown. “Not my fault that I was hot enough to play the leader.”

“But bloody hell, I was Roger and everyone loves a sexy drummer,” Ben grinned.

Gwilym let out a small chuckle. “Especially Joe.”

Joe blushed and lifted his white dress shirt to cover his face in embarrassment.

Gwilym turned to you and smirked. “Should I tell her that Joe has a cardboard cutout of Ben?”

You eyes floated over to Joe as he continued to stay flustered and quiet. “Is this true Joe…?” you pondered.

Joe tried not to answer for what seemed like an eternity. Soon he pulled the shirt down and replied with a mumbled “Yes.”

“How do you feel about this, Ben?” you felt a little weirded out but you wanted to find out exactly what was going on.

“I feel honored actually,” he laughed. “He only did it because I was never there for them. They were always touring but I had to go, other things to do.”

You looked at him and than your eyes grew slightly worried. “Does that mean that you won’t be here for me?”

The other three turned to look at Ben, all with faces of questioning.

“N-no of course not!!” Ben stuttered. He seemed surprised that he told on himself, even though you already knew.

“Um, (y/n), could I steal you for a second?” Rami asked, breaking the slight tension in the room and taking his chance to get some alone time with you.

“Not on my watch,” Gwil said pushing him to the side as he grabbed his guitar. “Well, you are a big Queen fan, mind if I play something?” he looked at you so earnestly that you decided to nod.

You all started singing Somebody to Love together, each of you pitching in with different verses. You started to feel at home with these boys. Chris Harrison was surprised when he walked back in to see you all together - the guys were generally more possessive over the bachelorette.

“Well, (y/n), it’s the end of the night. It’s time to give the out the first impression rose. Who will it be?”

                                           ..............................

Who do you think made the best first impression, and who would you give the rose to? Vote here: https://doodle.com/poll/3zupusvkkyepfarn

[aion-rsa]

Aqualung at 50: Jethro Tull’s Half Concept Album Hits Half a Century

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

“In the beginning Man created God,” reads the back cover of Jethro Tull’s Aqualung. “And in the image of Man created he him.” The album came out 7 million days later, on March 19, 1971. We’d only recently been told God was “a concept by which we measure our pain,” by John Lennon.

Aqualung is framed by two halves of a concept. The first songs on the first side tell the stories of the outcasts, those out of sight of the eyes of the man who created god. The B-side explains why organized religion blinds us. In between are songs which have nothing to do with either theme. First off, for those who don’t know, Jethro Tull is not a person, but a band. The songs on Aqualung were written by Ian Anderson, bandleader, singer-songwriter, guitarist, occasional saxophonist, and heaviest metal flutist to make Bach swing. Anderson maintained, throughout numerous interviews, Aqualung was not a concept record. He would go on to mock the very idea of it with the satirical prog masterpiece Thick as a Brick.

The Beatles suffered the same misnomer dilemma. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band wasn’t a concept album. Paul McCartney got the idea the band would play the album as if they were this other band. The concept lasted two songs and a reprieve. The rest of the album is a full immersion into the possibilities of the studio under the steady gaze of George Martin. Aqualung opens with songs inspired by true life candid shots Ian’s wife Jennie Anderson (now filmmaker Jennie Franks) took while studying photography. One was a homeless man, another an under-age prostitute. Other than that, the first side includes a beautiful love song, and hard and soft confessional pieces.

The first concept album is Woody Guthrie’s 1940 album Dust Bowl Ballads, which stuck to one theme: the economic and ecological fallout of the devastating 1930s drought. Frank Sinatra explored loneliness and late nights on a pair of classic concept long-players unified by mood. Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention’s Freak Out!, from 1966, is the first concept album, as well as the first double-album, of rock, although every song on the Beach Boys’ 1963 album Little Deuce Coupe is about a car. The Who’s Tommy, Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Jesus Christ Superstar, and Pink Floyd’s The Wall are rock operas which tell full stories. Bands like the Kinks tried unifying songs with imperceivable segues and tone.

Aqualung delivers a consistent tone. Sometimes the songs fluctuate between soft acoustic and hard rock, other times the individual pieces grow through progressive layering. The harder and more social pieces employ metric modulation, and the religious ones dabble in the chordal modulations of spiritual music. The acoustic songs are less folk than singer-songwriter stylings. The album revels in its contrasts. We get riff-rock ready-made for Madison Square Garden, and intimate nylon string fingerings to burn toast to.

Ian Anderson’s lyrics are filled with rich, detailed imagery, regardless of how pretentious critic Robert Christgau found him. The band mix progressive rock, hard rock, folk music, jazz, classical, and even medieval and pagan music, along with what Anderson would call “ugly changes of time signature and banal instrumental passages” on the Thick as a Brick album notes.

This Was

Jethro Tull formed in 1967, the same year Anderson took up the flute, on a whim. After realizing as a guitarist, he “was never going to be as good as Eric Clapton,” Ian “parted company with my Fender Strat, whose previous owner was Lemmy Kilmister, who was then the rhythm guitar player for the Rockin’ Vickers,” Anderson told Classic Rock. He then “bought a flute, for no good reason. It just looked nice and shiny.” Energized by Pink Floyd’s The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn and The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper, the band was able to drop the twelve-bar blues songs which led to non-pop record deals in London.

Anderson got the name Jethro Tull from the 18th-century agriculturist who invented the seed-drill, which gave birth to modern agriculture. Their first album, This Was, was blues, but the band distinguished itself, especially live. They were the first band to perform at The Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus, though their part was mimed, with Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi on guitar. Martin Barre took over for the band’s original guitarist, blues specialist Mick Abrahams, and on their 1969 album, Stand Up, the band stood out, sounding unlike any other band. It was eclectic, incorporating Western classical, Asian music, English folk, and harder rock. The band continued experimenting melodically and rhythmically through 1970’s Benefit, which just failed to make the U.S. Top 10.

Jethro Tull has become known as a band of ever-changing instrumentalists. Aqualung was the bridge album towards reassembling one of Ian’s first bands. Anderson was 23 when he led Jethro Tull through Aqualung. When he was young, Anderson could be found in Dunfermline, Scotland, where he was born on August 10, 1947. But he was packed off to school in Blackpool, where he sang and played guitar and harmonica for The Blades in 1963. John Evans, who joined on piano, organ, and mellotron, had been a guest musician on Benefit. Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond, who’d been mythologized in the songs “Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square,” “Song for Jeffrey,” and “For Micheal Collins, Jeffrey And Me,” replaced Glenn Cornick on bass. Both had been in the Blades. Barriemore Barlow, also from the early sixties band, would replace Clive Bunker on drums after Aqualung.

Tull mythology says Hammond-Hammond didn’t know the instrument and had to be taught on a note-by-note basis. He may very well have had to have been coached through each specific part he was playing. They are often incredibly intricate runs, and often go against the grain of what is expected from the bass. He had to have been familiar enough with the instrument to click in with both Clive Bunker and Barriemore Barlow, each were virtuosos with vastly different approaches to rhythm. Bunker never met a beat he couldn’t undermine for unexpected force and dynamic. Yet, he could make a 5/4 song danceable.

The ensemble playing is tight, the players moved easily through more intricate arrangements. The orchestrations are done by Dee Palmer, who later joined as a full-time member.  The British press coined the term “progressive rock” to describe bands like Frank Zappa, Yes, King Crimson and Genesis. Tull was prog, but more accessible than classical music enthusiasts Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

Guitar Gods and Flute Solos

Jethro Tull is probably best known as the classic rock band with the lead flute. “Aqualung,” possibly their best-known song, has no flute. Martin Barre’s guitar solo was rated #25 in Guitar World‘s “100 Greatest Guitar Solos” reader’s poll. But it could just as easily have been a whirl of woodwind. “In those days, if you didn’t get a guitar solo in one or two takes, it might become a flute solo. It was, ‘Go in there and do it or else,” Barre told Guitar Player in a 2015 interview.

Aqualung was recorded in a large, cold-sounding studio that Island Records built in a converted church in London. Led Zeppelin were recording their fourth album in the moderate sized basement studio that had been the crypt. “The only thing I can remember about cutting the solo is that Led Zeppelin was recording next door, and as I was playing it, Jimmy Page walked into the control room and waved to me,” Barre remembered for Guitar Player. While there have been countless theories about why the players had the faceoff, both Tull and Zeppelin fans appreciate the dual pressure of the session. “And here was Jimmy, waving like mad – ‘Hey, Martin!’ – and I’m thinking, ‘I can’t wave back or I’m going to blow the solo.’”

The song “Aqualung” opens with one of the most recognizable riffs in rock, in the same league as Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water,” Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love,” and the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” It has been venerated and mocked in equal measure, but in all cases lovingly. It opens the song with the drama of the four-note opening to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, and becomes a motif.

“Aqualung” is “a tortured tangle of chords,” according to Ian, with atonal harmonies, meaning the root is open to interpretation. The chords themselves are a journey to the acoustic segment of the song, which then builds, like most songs on the album, one instrument at a time. The audio effect on the later vocals is called “telephone burbles,” which happens when all audio frequencies are removed except for a narrow band around the 1,000 hertz mark, making the voice sound like it’s coming through a megaphone. The song has a cold ending rather than a fadeout, which makes it perfect for stage performances.

Bad Intent

Ian got the title for the album and song from the TV show Sea Hunt, where the main character, played by Lloyd Bridges, wore an Aqualung for underwater breathing. Aqualung was a brand name, and the Aqualung Corporation of North America took legal action after the album came out. Artist Burton Silverman, who created the cover portrait, also sued, saying the likeness should not be used on merchandising, T-shirts, and promotional materials.

Before the codpiece and the medieval minstrel suits and lutes, Ian performed in an overcoat, which had been stolen after a concert, but has been described as looking ratty. This led to further complications of identity. Because of Tull’s manager, Terry Ellis, Silverman’s cover portrait looks like Anderson, against the singer’s wishes. “I’m not this character,” he told Louder Sound. “I’m not a homeless person. I’m a spotty middle-class English kid. I’ve never had to sleep rough on the street, and I don’t want to be pretending to be that character.”

The character Aqualung, is a homeless man like the character in Pearl Jam’s “Even Flow.” Both characters are blank slates in everyday life and can have any association imposed on them. Besides inspiring the album through her photographs of homeless people living under the railway arches on the Thames Embankment in south London, Anderson’s wife Jennie also co-wrote the lyrics. “I had feelings of guilt about the homeless, as well as fear and insecurity with people like that who seem a little scary,” Anderson told Guitar World in a 1999 interview. The lyrics have more to do with the assumptions people make of Aqualung, like his predilection for little girls or frilly panties. But he also saw the angry man as “a free spirit, who either won’t or can’t join in society’s prescribed formats.”

She’ll Do It For A Song

“Cross-Eyed Mary” didn’t only capture the attention of Aqualung, she was one of the subjects in the photographic collection of the lesser people cast into the void: a child prostitute. The song transforms her into a squinty Mary Magdalene, whose jack-knife barber abortionist drops her off at school. In the lower income neighborhood Highgate, she’s a Robin Hood figure. In wealthy Hampstead Village, which was the site of the St. Mary Magdalene House of Charity in the Victorian era, she’s a business expense. The song opens with flute and mellotron rising in rhythm and pulse until the band kicks in. The interplay between guitar and piano is delicate, and the bass line buzzes with riff-worthy changes. Iron Maiden transformed the flute part into baroque metal guitar when they covered it.

“Cheap Day Return” is the first of three short acoustic songs on the album, each under two minutes. A “cheap day return” is a reduced-price round trip train ticket, and the song was written while Ian was waiting for a connecting train on his way to visiting his father, who was seriously ill in a hospital in Blackpool. In interviews, Anderson has said the song would have been longer, but the train arrived.

“Mother Goose” opens with acoustic folk guitar under Elizabethan madrigal sounding recorders played by Barre and Hammond-Hammond, who also provides harmony vocals. The electric guitar comes in late in the song, kicking the childhood Piccadilly Circus nursery rhymes into the adult playground of Johnny Scarecrow.

“It’s only the giving which makes you what you are,” Ian sings in “Wond’ring Aloud.” The second short acoustic piece is a simple love song made grandly beautiful by the piano and string arrangement. The longer version, “Wond’ring Again,” which appears on Living In The Past (1972), reached the opposite conclusion, but kept the idealistic romance at the center of the piece.  The third acoustic piece, “Slipstream,” from side two, presses Ian’s last dime on God’s waiter to pay the tab. The song is tideless, but the unreasoning strings paddle the way out of the mess.

“Up To Me” opens not with a recognizable riff, nor a classical piano twist, but a whole hearted laugh which is as contagious as the song itself.  

Praying ‘til Next Thursday to All the Gods that You Can Count

Side two, subtitled “My God,” deals with religious hypocrisy, golden cages, and plastic crucifixes. If Jesus saves, then he’d better save himself. The song “My God” had been kicking around since at least the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. The imagery recalls William Blake and the metallic break-in sounds like Black Sabbath, both the band and the dark holiday. Once again, the song uses progressive modulation beginning with a solo acoustic guitar introduction like Evan’s piano on “Locomotive Breath.” But when Barre’s electric guitar takes over for the nylon classical fretwork, the song is full-blown metal.

Ian’s voice drips with as much disdain for organized religion as his songwriting does for musical structure. The song goes through the arpeggios of classical guitar, through hymnal chord changes, a metallic flute lead back by instruments, another flute lead back by a chorus of harmonizing bishops, inverted chromatics, and comes to a dark Pied Piper ending.

“Hymn 43” is a piano-driven soul-stirrer with enough propulsive licks to set the white man free.  Ian’s preaching to the faithless on this one, though. He bears witness in the city, on the moon and on that bloody cross. The guitar and flute interplay works like a gospel call and response, and Ian’s voice stings with insinuation.

If you want to hear Ian play electric guitar, you should give another listen to the rhythm on “Locomotive Breath.” He’s also on the hi-hat and bass drum which he laid out for the basic rhythm, allowing Bunker space for tom-toms and the cymbals. The song opens with Evan giving a jazzy spin to dramatic classical concerto piano. The song, which is about overpopulation, rhythmically careens like a train about to derail. It is a concert favorite and frequent showstopper.

“Wind Up” asks this God a question and learns it’s “not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays.” The song is structured to grow on you, and age well. It begins with acoustic guitar and vocal, which is joined by the rest of the outfit until the climactic solos, and then reminiscences a second time symmetrically with piano grounding the build-up. In a fairly straightforward song, Bunker plays everything but a straight beat.

Anderson concludes, in the liner notes which are cast in liturgical-style Gothic lettering, the Spirit that caused man to create his God lives on, but goes unnoticed. He advises listeners, “for Christ’s sake,” to start looking. The album has been pilloried and praised by people of all faiths and none. The title song gave a face to the homeless and inspired grassroots organizations to create aid. Musically, it is a constant irritation to sitcom characters and an equally steady inspiration to players. In spite of having to explain how flute was a heavy metal instrument after winning the Grammy for 1987 Crest of a Knave, Jethro Tull was a huge influence on heavy metal and hard rock. Even the Sex Pistols’ John Lydon ranks Aqualung among his favorite records.

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It may be dinosaur rock to some, but Aqualung is far from extinct. Tracks like “Aqualung”, “Cross-Eyed Mary, “Hymn #43” and “Locomotive Breath” take up the bulk of Jethro Tull’s playlist on classic rock media outlets. After 50 years, Aqualung can still blow a wheezy breath of fresh air into stale misconceptions, even if he does have snot running down his nose.

The post Aqualung at 50: Jethro Tull’s Half Concept Album Hits Half a Century appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3bXGWyM

[northwesttechgear529-blog]

Tool Kits - Gordon Electric Supply

Hand Tool Sets For Sale - In Stock - Ebay

This tool package permits you an early level of upkeep on your guitar or bass. It is quite basic, but it definitely consists of most tools you are most likely to need for basic maintenance. There are tools for changing modulation and assisting with string changes. You can also examine and tweak the action and string mindsets.

The package consists of a fret rocker and a leveling tool and string organizer. Also, a steel ruler and a further ruler for determining string action height. There are likewise three Allen essential wrenches and 3 guitar different shaped files for the frets and a screwdriver. They are housed in a good storage zipper bag that measures 8 by 6 by 2 inches approximate.

Now Buy Jensen Tool Kits At Techni-tool

There is a string winder for when you alter strings. This will also eliminate the bridge pins on an acoustic guitar without hurting the pin or the body of the guitar. This is a good kit that has a great deal of helpful tools included. The case likewise is big enough for you to include bonus if you wish.

The quality of the tools is on the less expensive side, but with care, they will perform the needed functions. Pros Lots of tools for the upkeep of a variety of instruments. service tech tool kit. Great carrying case with room for extras at an attractive rate. Cons Some will want much better quality tools. Sunflower is a business that doesn't focus on guitars or their accessories.

Ifixit Pro Tech Tool Kit - Uncrate

This maintenance set is a great example of that. It is definitely filled with it tech tool kit a lot of tools and accessories. The majority of the tools and equipment provided will also allow you to work on other instruments. The tools will allow you to carry out standard maintenance functions like changing strings and changing articulation.

There is a string action ruler that is functional on both sides and files in four different shapes. There is a screwdriver with an adjustable length, which works. Another beneficial tool is a wrench that will loosen up or tighten most of the nuts on guitars. Those awkward pieces discovered on the pots and the jack socket that seem to come loose more than they ought to do.

China Pro Tech Tool Kit - Alibaba

If you are dealing with the frets, there are some fingerboard guards to secure the fingerboard from unexpected damage. All this and more are confined in a zipper carry bag that has adequate space for any additional additions. This is a spending plan level toolkit, so the quality of the tools is not the highest.

Pros An inexpensive option for a tool package with plenty consisted of. Nice bring bag with area for additions. Cons Some will desire much better quality for their tools. This toolkit is not what you would describe as the cheapest alternative, however it might be considered as one of the Finest Guitar Tool Kits out there.

Electrician Hand Tool Sets For Sale - In Stock - Ebay

StewMac hasn't consisted of anything that pads out the package to make it look comprehensive. They have actually only consisted of the things you are going to require. The set consists of a deal with plus an extension if required, and 36 bits in different sizes. There are 6 Philip bits and eleven Allen secrets in addition to 11 flat blade heads.

There is also an adapter for jack sockets. For when you may be tidying up an older guitar that may have some deterioration, a small wire brush is included. If you are dealing with an acoustic guitar, there are some start hole bits. These are for pre-threading any additional holes for pickups, etc.

Techsource Tools: Custom Tool Kits

These will tighten or loosen nuts around jack sockets, pots, and fittings on stompboxes, and sockets on amps as well. They are made of plated steel. Premium constructionThe one thing that actually strikes you about this set is the quality of the manages and bits. They are well-made with good materials and going to last.

The 3 wenches though, are separate. An excellent package and one that consists of whatever you will require for setup, articulation, and any changes. It is a bit more pricey than a lot of but well worth the extra. Pros Large range of bits and wrenches to cover every need for guitar maintenance.

Grainger Approved 13-pc Tech School Tool Kit - 7dd74 ...

Cons Some might believe it a little expensiveYou may likewise be trying to find some other terrific items for your guitar. If so, take a look at our reviews of the Finest Guitar Strap Locks, the Finest Electric Guitar Strings, the Best Acoustic Guitar Strings, the Best Electric Guitar Case, and the Finest Guitar Pedalboard presently available.

In truth, the majority of us probably do not want to be. However we ought to still provide a bit of maintenance to our cherished instruments - desert tech armorers tool kit. I should be the last one to say that. When having the ignominy of having a Fender Accuracy drawn from me while I frantically attempted to tune it for a session.

Tools - Edge Of The Night - Obsidian Portal

Looking after your instrument is essential. They can and do use out. There are a few items we have actually looked at that suit the starter, and some for more knowledgeable players. And just about all make fantastic presents. The only thing to be careful of is the quality of the bit heads and fittings.

We also like cases where there suffices space to include your own little bits and pieces. Therefore, if we had to select then, it would need to be the. Some good, well-crafted tools and a good roomy zipper case from an excellent maker.

Ed: Tech Tool Kits - New Future Guide

2020 CruzTOOLS. All Rights Scheduled. CruzTOOLS, RoadTech, SPEEDKIT, DMX, EconoKIT, Wilderness' r, MaxHook, MiniSet, PackWrench, The Pouch, TirePro, and the Fantastic American Tool Kit are hallmarks of CruzTOOLS, Inc. Other trademarks are the home of their particular owners. PRODUCTS AND SPECS UNDERGO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE (tool tech toys tacoma lift kit).

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[niall-is-my-dream]

The Bucket List - Chapter Five

The Lumineers gig was amazing, you'd even met them at the end in the VIP bar. Jeremiah had stayed and talked to you both for ages as he and Niall were good friends. Niall had embarrassed you by telling him that you played the piano to Ophelia, but he thought that was awesome. 

You'd left the venue late and hadn't seen any press which you were pleased about. Basil and Martin drove you back, Niall holding your hand the whole way home. His finger slowly caressing and swirling over your knuckles. You loved how safe you felt with him. Before you knew it you had pulled up to your apartment. Saying your goodbyes to Basil and Martin you'd made your way inside to the lift. You'd pressed the button for the top floor, Niall's hand around your waist as he'd leaned in for the kiss he'd desperately been seeking all night. 

"Can I walk you to your door?" He'd whispered.

"I think you should." You'd whispered back.

Your phone ringing woke you up on the Friday morning. It was your Mam.

"Hey Mam."

"Morning beautiful, did I wake you? Its 9:30."

"Yes, but its ok Mam. I was at a gig till late with Niall last night."

"Oh really?! How was it?"

"Good, the band were amazing."

"You know I meant the date with that gorgeous Irish boy!"

"Ha! Mam, we are just friends ok?!"

"Yeah yeah." She said laughing. "You still ok to help out tonight?"

"Yes of course Mam, what time?"

"From about 5, not sure till when though depends on how busy we are. James and the boys not playing tonight so it shouldn't be too busy."

"That's fine by me Mam."

"Ok get some breakfast baby girl and we will see you later, I'll do you some dinner to. Love you."

"Ok Mam thanks, love you to."

You laid there thinking about Niall, last night had been amazing. He'd walked you to your door, you'd shared an amazing kiss and he'd said good night. Very gentleman like. You were thankful that he hadn't wanted more from you, as much as you had wanted nothing more than to have invited him into your bed, you knew you shouldn't. You didn't want to seem desperate or an easy lay. You'd only met him 6 days ago. 

Had it really only been 6 days. 

Your head just swam with thoughts of him all the time. You were seeing him again today. At 11am to be precise. He'd offered on Sunday to take you to the guitar place to get your guitar and banjo re stringed. You eased yourself out of bed heading straight to the ensuite to shower.

At exactly 11am the doorbell went. You opened it to find him once again looking fucking gorgeous, did this boy ever have a bad dress or hair day? Fucking hell you could just run your hands through his hair again.

"Morning! Sleep well?" You asked.

"Morning! Very good night sleeps actually. You?"

"Yes, until my Mam woke me up! Ha! To be fair it was 9:30am!"

He laughed and walked in instantly gripping his hands on your hips and bringing his face close and nudging his nose against yours.

"Woke up desperate to kiss you again." He whispered before kissing you long and deep. You put your hands up towards his hair stroking your way through it and pulling at it to make the kiss deeper and harder. You broke away gasping your foreheads resting against each other.

"Come on lets go." He said. 

"Shall I drive?" You asked.

"Sure if you want." He replied.

You got down to the car park opening your Porsche Z5 and placing your banjo and guitar in the boot.

"Nice car." He commented. H

"Thanks, I wanted a smaller more nippy one but couldn't fit my cello or my golf clubs in any of them!" You say laughing.

"Ha! Good point!" He said laughing.

He directed you through the city to the guitar shop, finally pointing towards the car park at the back.

When you walked in the shop you gasped, shit - there were some fucking gorgeous guitars in here. The guy who you presumed to be the owner came over and shook Niall's hand greeting him like an old friend. Niall introduced you and told him why you were there. The guy Mike, examined your guitar Gloria as your dad had named her and Betty the banjo, also a favourite of your Dads, commenting how they were in great shape and he'd happily re string them for you. He took down some details and organised a day for collection with you. Niall had wandered off to look at the displays. Mike was a great guy, he reminded you a bit of your Dad actually. Once you were done you walked over to meet Niall at the displays.

"You want to try any of them today Niall?" Mike asked.

"Can I?" He said. 

"Of course, how about you Annie?"

"Yes please." You replied.

Mike set you both up on the large leather sofa in the centre of the shop that had amps set up ready to. You'd selected a 1963 fender acoustic guitar that was beautiful. You instantly played some chords and then started playing some old school Cat Stevens. 

"Great song choice Annie." Said Mike. "Would you both excuse me a moment" he said. 

"Of course." Replied Niall, seeing some people enter the shop. Mike went off to greet the customers. Neither of you spoke to each other while you strummed away at the guitars you'd chosen.

"You look cute playing the guitar by the way." Niall said. "Not seen you play before."

"Ha! Thanks!" You replied. "You to."

You played around for a while before thanking Mike and leaving the shop. "Hey you got any plans for the rest of the day?" Niall asked. 

"Working at the pub tonight but not till 5 so free till then."

"Fancy some lunch then?" He asked grinning.

"Sure, my treat though." You replied.

You'd stopped at a cute cafe on the high street near Mikes guitar shop. Ordering baguettes and chips to have. You were starving having had no breakfast. Niall once again outstretched his legs wrapping them within yours under the table and smiling as he did. 

"So I'm away Sunday night till Thursday night in Germany and Belgium next week. Then I'm in Dublin Friday first thing till the Sunday night for a golf thing. I don't have to leave for Australia and Japan promo till the Wednesday after that though." He said looking at you. I suspected he was trying to gauge my reaction to him being away so much.

"Do you get tired travelling so much? Do you still get awful jetlag?" You asked not letting on that you were gutted you'd hardly see him over the next few weeks.

"Yeah jetlag is the worst, doesn't matter if you're first class or coach, a day or night flight, it's still awful!" He said laughing.

"I need to sort out my travel plans. I've got nothing apart from my trip to Australia in November organised. Really need to get crossing off some things of my list." You said.

"There are a few things I'd like to help you cross off your list!" He replied with that cocky smile of his that drove you crazy.

"Alright tiger! Calm down." You said winking at him. You felt your cheeks blush and you couldn't bring yourself to look at him again.

After you'd eaten your food, you argued over who was paying, however you won and then you both made your way back to the car. 

You invited him in for a coffee when you got back to yours. Standing in your kitchen he looked at you like he wanted to say something but couldn't.

"You ok Ni?" You asked. "You've been quiet since we left the cafe."

"Does it bother you that I'm away a lot with work over the next few months?" He asked.

"Well yeah, I mean we've only just met like 6 days ago so are just getting to know each other and now your going away. But it's your job, which you love so I'm sure we can just click straight back like you do with your other friends." 

"Can I ask you something?" He said.

"Sure." You replied.

"What exactly are we, you know you and me?" He asked, looking you straight in the eye.

"Um well, I like you but I understand you don't want or have time for anything serious so....... um I don't know, balls in your court really to be honest Ni." You said turning around to make the coffee. "You take sugar?" You asked.

"Two please." He replied. 

You heard his footsteps on the wooden floor making their way over to you. His hands once again finding there way to your hips. He spun you around so you were facing him your back pushed up against the kitchen counter top. 

"I don't want to be without you." He whispered, your foreheads touching. "Do you want to see how this works out between us? See if we can make it work?" He asked.

"I'd like that." You whispered back and you knew that was it. 

He had you completely.

Chapter Six

https://niall-is-my-dream.tumblr.com/post/167799381983/the-bucket-list-chapter-six

[straydays7-blog]

My Day6inNYC Experience!

EDIT: I typed this up in word and pasted it into Tumblr. Tumblr kinda make some things look a little weird so excuse that please.

This is super late coming but as soon as I left NYC I had to cram for a ton of exams and now that most of those are over I can take the time to talk about my experience seeing Day6 perform live and even hi-touching them;;;; This post might be a little bit all over the place, but I cant help but to feel SO MANY FEELINGS when I think about this okay. Its still so surreal I cant believe it actually happened it felt like a really good dream okay. Also, I wish my English were better to express myself here I have so many emotions I wish to express but honestly, I dont know how Id even describe these feelings in any other languages I know SO ILL TRY MY BEST WITH ENGLISH. Also, fair warning, thisll probably be really long so prepare yourself.

Okay, first things first. I arrived like 30 mins early to pick up my P2 wristband and apparently had I been a little earlier I could have seen day6 enter the Town Hall! Somehow, even though I was not the first that arrived at the venue to pick up my wristband, I did end up being first in the P2 line. And lord behold. Someone opened the backstage door. Then and there, I caught a glimpse of Sungjin, playing his guitar singing his part in the You Were Beautiful chorus. EVERYONE AROUND ME STARTED SCREAMING LOL. I was in such shock. Sungjin is so beautiful (in present tense) and has one of the best voices Ive ever heard okay. I dont think I really realized until then I was going to see Day6, like the band that inspires me to work hard every day and makes me so happy. Even though I had bought the ticket and everything that brought me to NYC, it felt surreal and then I knew it was R E A L. Theyre real and I was about to watch them perform live and even meet them afterwards like what the heck? After getting my wristband, I picked up a fanproject banner that would later be used to move day6 to tears:) These boys are so wholesome.

I went back to my hotel for a while after that because it was rainy and windy so walking around didnt sound so nice. Around 5:30 I left to get a bite to eat and then head back to the venue. Ended up getting a burger at Five Guys (and okay totally off topic from seeing Day6, but the Five Guys burger I had in NYC was so much better than any Ive had here in VA? Or maybe excitement makes stuff taste better.) I arrived at the venue at like 6:00 and the line was already pretty long! There were some My Days handing out photocards and I bought a Sungjin badge from one girl. (This experience is gonna make me sound so Sungjin biased but omg my bias is definitely Young K)

Once I was in the Town Hall I decided to buy a lightstick to cheer for the band! Id already ordered some of the other merch from the Subkulture Shop, because I was literally only traveling with one backpack and didnt want to buy more than I could fit in to take back home.

I had no idea on which side my seat would be, I only knew I would be 12 rows away from the stage. So, when I found my seat I was beyond happy to see I was on Young K and Wonpils side of the stage omg. With a really clear view of the both of them also! All the MyDays there were so sweet man, I had a great time talking with some while waiting for the concert to begin. Though I do honestly really wish that @mikulinneamew or @reading-river would have been there with me. Day6s instruments were already set on the stage and oh my goodness I fell in love with Sungjins Gibson Les Paul. Its white body with the black pickguard and golden hardware is SO BEAUTIFUL. Makes me want to go out and buy a Les Paul just like it, but going to this concert I used money I was originally saving for a new Fender P-Bass (That aint happening for a while now lol) but I am so not complaining. Sungjins Martin acoustic is also really beautiful, but I still prefer Taylors. Young Ks bass is also super pretty. Really, I was drooling over these instruments while waiting for the concert to begin.

Its two minutes before the concert was set to begin and everyone is already chanting “DAY6! DAY6! DAY6! DAY6!”. Shortly after the lights went dark and the screen behind the stage started to play a video introducing the members (And can I say I love how so many of their songs were mashed up perfectly in that video like wow Id love the audio of just that)! One by one then the members came on stage. First Dowoon, then Wonpil, followed by Young K, Jae and last but not least, leader Sungjin! While the video was finishing playing I could see Young K getting his bass tuned and ready to perform. I started tearing up here already because they were right in front of me? Unreal, but yet so real.

And then, the first song was: I WAIT! One of my favorite songs already ;; (what am I saying, all of their songs are my favorites) Such a high energy song for the first one. It was perfect to get the crowd hyped and pumped for what was to come! Then there was me crying of happiness and singing along though omg. DAY6 IS SO COOL PERFORMING. Sungjin and Jae rocking out on their guitars, Young K thumping on the Bass, Wonpil playing the Synth and Dowoon rocking the drums! I loved how connected the audience was with the band too like out of all the live performances from bands Ive seen, this one was definitely the one with the most chemistry with the audience and music! All of the “I WAIT!” chants were so nice to hear with the music aaaa. THE SONG ENDED SO FAST. All songs went by so quick really, but hey that just means youre having a great time.

The second song was: HUNT! I was NOT prepared for this song so early on in the show already. If I had to summarize this performance in two words: Younghyuns rap (I love it so much). I really love the guitar riffs in this song so I payed a lot of attention to Jae and Sungjin at first but man, as soon as it was rapping time my eyes were focused on Young K. His rapping timbre is soooOOO darn good. And hes such a good performer too when he does it. HE FEELS EVERY WORD HE SAYS. Hunt is such a good song. I loved it. So much.

After the first two songs, lights went back on for a moment and Jae hyped up the audience! Young K shook his head the first time everyone made noise at Jaes request, but the second time Jae asked us to make some noise BOY THAT WAS GOOD VOLUME MYDAYS HAVE GREAT LUNGS.

That was followed by: IM SERIOUS! This song is so fluffy and catchy Im pretty sure everyone was singing along in the “I cant stop loving you” part. I mean, how could anyone stop loving day6 theyre so wholesome and talented and KIND AND SWEET. Wow. Its SO FUN to watch Sungjin play his acoustic guitar he was smiling the whole time. Everyone was smiling during that performance EVEN DOWOON HE WAS SO CUTE. Its such a sweet song how can you not smile playing it or listening to it. During the acapella part Young K was shooting finger hearts and did an AMAZING adlib. I was m e l t i n g. Turning me into a puddle.

The next song was: MAN IN A MOVIE! I REALLY LOVE THIS SONG A LOT. Another really soft and fluffy song, but soOOO musically interesting. Day6 is one of the few groups that not only produces earcandy, but earcandy that is also thinking candy for people who enjoy music theory (a n d I d o) This is the only day6 song Ive actually written out a fingerstyle ukulele arrangement for (totally weird instrument choice, but Im working on rewriting it for guitar LOL). Im EXTREMELY fond of everyones vocals on this song. Especially Sungjins and Young Ks :)

After this song it was game and Q&A time! I cant remember if the preference game or Q&A was first so Im just going to talk about the preference game first.

Firstly though, all the members introduced themselves. They all looked so happy that it made me even happier LOL. For the preference game, all of the audience had to stand up and participate in a game with day6! It was so fun! First up the audience had to guess which one Jae like more, by either raising their left or right arm: The statue of liberty or Brooklyn bridge. The right answer was Brooklyn bridge and the majority of the audience (including me) had guessed it right! The MyDays who guessed wrong, had to take their seat again. Second was Bob (Sungjin). I guessed his wrong already! >3< The question was if he preferred playing Overwatch or Fifa. The correct answer was Fifa. Sadly, most people had guessed this one wrong. Next was Dowoon. We had to guess if he prefers skirts or jeans on girls LOL. His answer was jeans but it got too loud that I couldnt quite hear his reasoning. Then was Young K. Does he prefer sneakers or high heels? His answer was sneakers, because high heels are very uncomfortable (he said hes even tried them on before what a cutie). Wonpil had the most far fetched question in my opinion it was kinda funny! The audience had to guess if he likes Ariel or Snow White more. His answer was Snow White because he feels more sorry for her. Lastly was a question that would decide the faith of a lot of Jae stans hair LOL. Does he like long hair or short hair better on girls? His answer was short hair, because it makes them seem more confident. After all of those guesses only four lucky MyDays out of about 1500 were left standing! They got invited onto the stage and got a bag full of (signed!) tour merch gifted to them by Day6! It was so sweet and kind that the winners even received such a gift from Day6 themselves!

MOVING ON TO THE Q&A! Before they picked their questions to answer, Sungjin said “This! Is! Paradise!” and Dowoon sang the “Oh you are My Daaay” part of their song MY DAY to the NYC MyDays. Wonpil went first to pick his question. While each member would choose their question, the audience would sing the jeopardy theme song. It was hilarious. He chose the question: “Where did your interest in music come from?” Right when he was about to answer the question someone in the audience screamed “I LOVE YOU YOUNG K” but Young K shut her down so fast saying “Its Wonpil time!” Wonpil was flustered for a sec but then resumed to answer his question and said that he listened to a lot of hip hop when he was young and that got him interested. Next up was Young K! He chose the question: “What was the funniest moment in your life?”. He began to say that since Chuseok hes been eating more. And his most funny moment was before he came onto the stage. Apparently his pants didnt fit him anymore and he had to expand them a bit! The way he told this story was utterly hilarious and cute I can highly recommend finding a fancam of this moment omg. After him was Dowoon. His question was: “If you could have a superpower what would it be?” He said he wishes he could talk to animals. When he was in college he had a pet cat which he neglected and now he feels bad for that. He said if he could only communicate with one kind of animal though it would be bear LOL. Sungjin started imitating a bear after that and it was so hilarious omg he puffed himself up and was clawing at him. Next was Sungjin! He was lowkey dancing along to the jeopardy theme omg. His question was: “What is the hardest thing you have ever done?”. He said working towards Day6s debut was the hardest time in his life ;; He shouted out collapsedone who helped them a lot towards their debut and he was actually at the concert right there ;; Jae was the last one to get a question. He chose: “What inspired you to pursue music?”. He said he was getting into a bunch of Youtube musicians and thought he should try it out too. He met Wong Fu Productions Phil who also further inspired him to pursue music. And so Yellowpostitman was born. That concluded the Q&A! Day6 left the stage for a quick moment while the NYC Vlog-like video they made for the tour started playing. This time it was Wonpils cut! It showed the boys having fun at times square (someone in the audience screamed I SEE MYSELF and everyone laughed it was so funny) and Wonpil loosing his phone while dancing on the street LOL. I really love this vlog concept they had to play during intermission its so sweet of them.

Once the vlog was over they came back on stage and started to perform You Were Beautiful. THIS SONG IS SO BEAUTIFUL. Its one of the first songs of theirs I heard that got me into them ;; I was tearing up during this whole performance its such a heartfelt song and you could truly feel the emotions of the song being conveyed in their performance. They all sing it so softly yet powerfully. I really love Young Ks vocal parts in this song and his voice was so stable too (everyones was really) aaa ;;

The next song they performed was their debut song CONGRATULATIONS! Everyone in the audience had received a red sticker to cover their phone flashlight with during this song to create a red ocean. I wasnt in a good seat so see if it was a success or not but the lighting definitely seemed more red :) Everyone was singing along to EVERY BIT of this song it was fantastic. I love this song so much aaa. Young Ks rap makes me feel so many FEELINGS. This song was over way too quick I wish itd last forever.

After Congratulations Jae was saying that the last two songs are coming now and everyone was getting a LIL SAD that the night was coming to an end soon. (Jae didnt count the encore though ;D) Jae also took a moment to tell everyone that they should follow their dreams and not let anyone tell them that they cant make it. Even when it seems impossible to make it to your dreams he believes that we can make the jump and achieve them ;; Hearing those words from him made me a sobbing mess. For a few reasons I think. Even just seeing them perform live was a dream come true. Being in NYC (if even just for two days) was a dream come true. Its a city Id been dreaming of seeing someday since I was a little kid. Probably because music as a career has almost always been my dream. And NYC is one of the worlds music capitals. I used to want to become a concert pianist. Then I wanted to become a music teacher. Right now Im leaning more towards songwriting, production and playing guitar LOL. But as someone whos in the position where I need to decide what I want to do with my future relatively soon, Jaes words helped me so much.

Their next song was LETTING GO! And oh my goodness. I was not prepared for those buttery sweet harmonies in the beginning. I was thinking so much about what Jae had said before during this performance so Im a little blank on what special happened during this performance but I totally remember it being mesmerizing;;

Their last song before encore was I SMILE! The fanchants on this one were so strong! Everyone held their banner up which read “My Day6 which I thought I only met in my dreams is right in front of me”. I could see Young K tear up when he read it. It was so sweet :) I do wish that Wonpils synth had been a tiny bit louder because he has that cool solo part in it, but I could hardly hear it. But the whole performance was so overwhelmingly beautiful that I was crying.

After performing I SMILE they left the stage and everyone started chanting “DAY6! DAY6!” again. Shortly after they came back on stage and THEY PERFORMED DANCE DANCE. This song is so upbeat and happy and makes you forget all the stress so much I love it to bits. I absolutely love Jaes guitar part in this song too so I tried to focus on him until Brians rap distracted me AGAIN (rapper K is my weakness okay). The entire performance was so high energy it was perfect buildup to the next song they performed which was also their last performance for the night. FREE하게! This is my go-to song for escaping from the stress of life and simply basking in how powerful music truly is. So, hearing it live, as the encore really touched me (and I cried more). I felt so many emotions go through me during this performance. It felt like a reminder of why I love music so much, which sometimes is well needed. Its so energetic and uplifting. My highlight of this performance: …Young Ks rap (wow surprise surprise). Also Sungjins high note! And Jae jumping into the crowd and hyping us up even more! (If Jae tells you to jump, you have to jump.) This performance was a perfect end for the concert. I really didnt want it to end though.

After this performance Day6 bowed and thanked the audience. I dont know where to begin describing how I felt after that. I still had the high touch left but the main event was over. I felt (still feel and always will) so extremely blessed to have been able to experience that. Theyre such a wholesome, hardworking and admirable band. I felt such extreme happiness.

The night was nearly over, but the hi-touch was still left for those who had purchased a P2 ticket! Id never done a hi-touch before, so I didnt know what to expect. I only knew itd go by super quick. What I did NOT expect however, is to walk around a corner and BAM there standing is Young K, Mr. Brian Kang, THE KANG YOUNGHYUN, BASSIST RAPPER GODLY VOCALS FULL TIME COLLEGE STUDENT BUT ALSO FULL TIME BANDMEMBER HE WORKS SO HARD OK. It is a lot to take in when you see your ultimate bias being the first in line for the hi-touch. My first thought was how pretty his NOSE is. Like dang, boys got the finest nose Ive ever seen. My second thought was how intimidating he seemed though omg. But as soon as it was my turn for a brief second with him it seemed like he was glowing and flowers were blooming around him? Hes got the sweetest smile and eyes. Instead of high fiving him I held onto his hand for a second and all I could say was “I love you so much” I WAS IN SUCH AWE. He gave my hand a bit of a squeeze and said he loves me back. SUCH A NICE MAN IM CRYING.   Then it was already time to move on though and next was Dowoon! My mind was completely blank from Young K being first (I was hoping hed be last for this reason LOL) I also grabbed onto Dowoons hand for a moment and I mustve not said anything at first, because he was like “Thank you!” first (his Korean accent is adorable) so I said thank you back to him and he then gave a teeny bow like how polite omg. Thats all I had with Dowoon though (Wish I could have said more I wanted to tell him how cool he is!) But next was Jae. First impression: Hes so TALL. Second impression: Hes so NICE. I think Jae made it a thing to keep eye contact with his fans for as much as he could. I told him “Thank you so much Jae” because man especially his speech about following dreams hit me hard as I had mentioned before. Hes honestly the member I was most thankful for that night (Im thankful for them all though please dont misunderstand!) I would have hugged him if I could. His face is so pretty up close too, how can someone manage to look handsome but like a personification of Chicken Little at the same time? Jae can. Next was Wonpil! And I must say I was taken a back a little like “Who is this man?” HE LOOKS SO DIFFERENT IN REAL LIFE. In a good way of course! I held onto his hand for a moment and said “Thanks Wonpil” he nodded and had such a smug look on his face like omg. SUNGJIN WAS NEXT AND BOY THIS WAS MY FAVORITE ENCOUNTER. He was already like pulling his arm back to give a really hard high five so I was BRACING myself, because it looked like it might be painful omg. Hes the only member I actually high fived whoops. BUT his high five was so happy and so energetic! Yet it was aggressively soft? It was definitely a hard high five but it didnt hurt at all LOL. He was like “Ah yeah!” after that and I thanked him for the great show. Then the hi-touch was over for me. Even though I wish I could have had a little more time with them, I was so thankful to have had the experience in the first place.

IN CONCLUSION: This was the best night of my life so far. This definitely is not going to be the last time I see them live. If they come back to NA while Im still here you can count on me doing my best to get that P1 or P2 ticket. They better come to Europe someday too! For their next tour if it works out I might even try to go to more than one of their concerts. I was trying to go to the Toronto concert for this tour too, but my exam schedule wouldnt allow that. But I am so blessed that NYC happened. I will also definitely plan any trip to Asia around their concert schedule!

Tl;dr: I love day6 so much. See them live someday plz. Tell Brian I love him plz.

[jeantue]

SLAIN by guitars

I love guitars! Though as a guy in a band, I usually think of the song first and the guitar second. At least that was the case up from my Pie days through Verst’s last album Starship Crash. But leading into our new album David Slain, that started to change. The songs on this new record are built around riffs and I did stuff with the sounds just to make the guitar louder, more cathartic, and more over the top than ever before. I don’t know why. It’s just the way I felt. Anyway, here are the guitars we used to record Verst's David Slain LP..

Rickenbacker 4003 Bass

Since he bought it a couple years ago, John Parsons has played only this instrument. I've never seen anything else in his hands. He just loves it. 

JP's ricky sounds incredible, and stays in tune like an absolute champ - much better than you'd expect for such a lightweight bass. Like any stock Rickenbacker bass, it hummed quite a bit when he got it, because the single coil pickups do not come with reversed polarity. I have no idea why Rickenbacker doesn't set them up in humbucking mode. Weird. Anyway, I tried to do the polarity mod myself, but realized pretty quickly that there was a possibility that I was going to damage a pickup irreparably. So I backed away from that, and John had Chris Barnett do it. Now it doesn't hum when both pickups are selected. I don't think John ever sets it any other way. The both-pickups sound seems to be his jam and I just love it. 

Speaking of Jam, Bruce Foxton played his Rickenbacker through Marshalls and it sounded like God’s piano.

I just see that bass and famous Ricky players come to mind - Lemmy, Paul Gray, Paul McCartney, Bruce Foxton, Lou Barlow.. the list goes on. I think that in order to play a Ricky you really need to be a BASS GUITAR player, not a low end or clean player. I suppose you could use it as a slap pop machine, but with no gain loading from the amp, it's a pretty thin sound. But run it through a cranked up tube amp, such as John Parsons' 200-watt Hovercraft, and you are on your way to achieving a very rich, thick, punchy, piano-like tone. Now that we have only one guitar in the band, there is a huge amount of space for John's bass to own. His Rickenbacker really does that space justice. You can hear nothing but this bass in the first couple minutes of Secret Sea.

That’s Paul Gray on the right here with The Damned. Gray’s extremely sick Rickenbacker tones and guitarish playing can be heard on The Black Album, Live at Shepperton, and Strawberries.

1993 Gibson Les Paul Custom

This guitar is the living document of just how far my Les Paul obsession has gone. Last time I wrote a blog entry, I said that I was obsessing over a cherry sunburst Custom. Then voila. LOOK at the thing. 

It's gorgeous. And it plays like a big heavy brick of butter. Smooth as hell. Resonant, but not overly midrangey. It is so heavy that the notes it produces are like icebreakers smashing and cutting through a mix like so much glass. I'm pretty much playing this guitar 95% of the time and it pretty much comprises about that much of the guitar on the album, so I guess that makes me a real Les Paul guy. For all the fighting and ergonomic crime involved, it is so addictive and sounds so powerful that I just can't put it down. It’s the best instrument I’ve ever had.

While I was thinking about this album, and wanting the guitars to fucking completely take over, I kept going back to Iggy Pop's Raw Power - the sound of James Williamson's LP custom through a dimed Vox AC30. It’s so huge and in-your-face. I realized pretty quickly that the stock 90s pickups that came on my Custom were too heavily wound, too dark. The key to Williamson's sound is the brightness, the presence. So I got some fantastic pickups for this guitar - some Throbak PAF-style things that give it a holographic, smoky brightness. Man, that hit the spot. Because in a big way, I was tired of polite and pretty sounds. I wanted this record to be an aggressive guitar album. I wanted weaponized guitar. The LP Custom seemed to force all of that to happen anyway. My challenge was just to capture those sounds and mix them in a way that didn't puss out. 

James Williamson wielding a generator of raw power back in the day.

I also changed the tuners on this guitar, from the big fat stock Grovers to Schaller knock-offs that I found on eBay. They're not quite as good as real Schallers, but they're much better than the Grovers. I don't know why people like the Grovers. They're heavy and they have all this unnecessary, undignified lash in the way the gears mate up and move. Now the guitar is incredibly stable. I can often play 4 or 5 songs with string bends and everything and it's still in tune. I love the dependability and stability of it. And that's a change for me, because in the past, one thing I've loved about Jazzmasters was their very unpredictability and the cool pitchy wooziness you can create with them. Now when I want to do that with the Les Paul, it all has to be in my left hand - not in a whammy bar or from waving the neck around. It's a different way of playing and I think it makes me a better, more deliberate player.

Homemade Stigmata Jazzblaster

For the first time since I started playing a Jazzmaster (1992?), my Jazzmaster took a back seat to another guitar - the Les Paul. But I did have to pull out the Stigmata. This is the best Jazzmaster I've ever owned, just incredible. And I made it! (See my old blog post about it). It is a weapons-grade Jazzmaster, with all top shelf bits, and it's black with that anodized aluminum pickguard. It's all business and looks like some kind of weapon. It just so happens that it plays beautifully and has incredible halo of harmonics ringing off the string lengths after the bridge. Somehow all those dimensions lined up perfectly to make that happen. And the light swamp ash isn't too light on this one. I think it's too light on the red Jazzmaster I made, but that's a topic for another post. Sadly, I sold that red guitar. 

Even though I am still more comfortable playing a Jazzmaster than a Les Paul, I only played the Jazzblaster guitar on a handful of songs on this record.. Sick Pretty Pilots, Laid Off For The Summer, and (Nice). There are songs, like those, where the Jazzmaster sounds better, either because you can hear the notes of the chords more clearly, or because a whammy bar is needed to do the parts justice. When we rehearse, sometimes I stick with the Les Paul all the way through, even on those songs. But I don't think I'll ever get away from the Jazzmaster for shows and recording. It's in my bones.

Homemade Telemaster

"Burnt candy grind" is how my brother Matt so vividly describes the incredible and unique sound a Tele can produce with its bridge pickup and the right kind of bright clean amp setting. This is the sound you get just before breakup, when the tubes are loading up some compression, but not breaking up yet, bass is set on 0, treble is on 10. The first three Echo and the Bunnymen albums are rife with that sound (example: Do It Clean). I kept hearing some Will Sergeant style chords over the final ending section of Sick Pretty Pilots. For as long as I've been into EBM you'd think it would have been easy for me to get the sound. But I'd tried several times to get it right, using different guitars or having Mike play it on his Telemaster, and none of that quite worked. 

Will Sergeant doing it right.

I finally got it right myself with my own Telemaster and a 70s silverface Fender Twin Reverb. Right when I hit record and it was sounding perfect, Christine and Eli came home and I was already late making dinner for them. So I just finished my one take, saved the file and that was it. But it was the perfect sound and take. Luckily, finally.

I guess the neck pickup isn’t quite aligned, but it’s still a cool guitar.

2014 Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar

This was not my guitar. I don't like Jaguars very much because of the short scale and the brittle-sounding pickups. But sometimes, that's just what's needed, and Fender did a really sweet job on this model. This guitar belonged to Brian Shultz, but I believe he has sold it by now. Brian is a super cool guy with fabulous taste in guitars. We share rehearsal space with him. I used his Jaguar for the left-channel rhythm guitar in Bath Salts & Me, where I needed a single coil sound that would provide just the barest but still great-sounding sketch of the chords and rhythm. 

Squier Bass VI

This is also Brian Shultz' guitar. I used this to fatten up the power chord refrains in Bath Salts & Me, because it can actually dip down for the low D-flats that are in that part. It's in there sorta subliminally in the left channel, slamming through a Marshall Super Lead with the volumes on about 6.

Not quite sure what one would accomplish with the whammy bar on this thing but it must be fun to try.

"Plastic Hippie Values" - 1977 Yamaha FG-345 Acoustic (wounded)

Poor Plastic Hippie Values! A couple years ago I took it on a Summer camping trip to the Southwest where it was basically roasted in the back of my pickup truck for a week. Stupidly, I tried to adjust the truss rod while the neck was in the throes of warping and swelling. The truss rod snapped. So now the neck is permanently bowed inward and the guitar has painfully high action. This is my only acoustic guitar, unfortunately, so it's all I had to use to double the arpeggio parts in the choruses of Plastic Cow. 

Sometimes I create parts I refer to as "music box" sections, where several layered guitars play the same or interlocking arpeggiative parts together to form a machine-like arrangement. It reminds me of a music box or player piano because of how prescriptive and interlocked the parts are. I don't know if that's how it comes across to other people when they hear the recording. But playing that particular part up around the 12th fret with some strings ringing open on this super high action guitar was really difficult. It's already the kind of part that I have to learn by muscle memory and not think about while I play it, or I'll screw it up. The high action made that all the more difficult to do. 

Here’s a very little Eli back in San Leandro with Plastic Hippie Values and a couple Jazzmasters I don’t have anymore.

I do have an emotional attachment to this guitar, because it is the only acoustic I've owned in my adult life and I've had it since around 1991. But replacing a truss rod is very expensive, certainly costing more money than the guitar is worth. And what I really want for an acoustic guitar is a vintage arch top, like a Gretsch or Gibson. I'm not really an acoustic person anyway, so I don't know what I'm going to do.

[britpop-ism]

get to know me

thanks to @kjaereste for the tag!

1. nickname: uh. uuuhh. call me what you want. i’m not fussy

2. star sign: Sagittarius. The archer. Scared of clowns. Sigh

3. height: just hit 6′ lads feels good feels great

4. time: 19:11. spooky

5. birthday: 9th of December. 

6. favourite bands: Blur, Radiohead, Animal Collective, Sonic Youth, The Breeders, Pavement, Modest Mouse, The Cure, The Postal Service, GY!BE, Boards of Canada, QOTSA, early Interpol, Supergrass, Massive Attack, Slowdive, MBV, blah blah blah forever and ever. Changes daily tho, link to my spotify here

7. favourite solo artists: Machine Girl, Elliott Smith, Nick Drake, Jeffery Lewis, Grimes, Mac Demarco but ofc big respect to his band, Liz Phair, Sufjan Stevens, Simple Kid, Nujabes, Kaki King, Kate Bush, Beck, NIN bc it’s basically the Trent Reznor Show

8.  song stuck in my head: it’s been Impossible Germany by Wilco all day heck

9.  last movie I watched: I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore. Netflix original, great female lead with Melanie Lynskey and Elijah Wood playing one of my favourite roles of his. About being depressed and angry at the world and i loved it, would recommend!

10. last show i watched: Trigun bc it’s on Netflix now. Fuckin awesome show. Smartass insect dude with a revolver. Got that 90′s anime vibe in spades, for fans of stuff like Cowboy Bebop i guess

11. when did i create my blog: Christ, I must have been like 13??? I was dyeitblack back then. Jesus christ. I don’t know if the site was better or worse. Best not to think about it

12. what do i do: Just started a music course cause i’m fuckin done with sixthform. i do music stuff casually as well, check out my clippy covers and originals here

13. last thing i googled: the name of the movie i last watched to make sure i didn’t fuck up the title and make a damn fool of myself on the internet, the WORsT fate that can befall any careless soul

14. do you have any other blogs: Yeah I got a music review blog i don’t fucking use because no one submits their shit to it anymore ((((submit ur music to me let me expose u pls gotta get that writing portfolio))) and i have a private blog for me to shit my feelings into a void that no one will ever see unless they ask me nicely 

15. do you get asks: not unless it’s from @anarchypancake sending me the latest daddy’s cummies cringe memepasta thing. it’s a great friendship we have

16. why did you choose your url: cause i was fuckin balls deep in my britpop phase and all the good relevant ones were taken and now here i am. a hyphen in my url. suffering

17. following: So! Many! People! All of them are beautiful 

18. followers: yes i do have followers that is correct. all of them also being beautiful

19. favourite colours: forest green! vibrant blues! The Whole Colour Palette of Akira and Also Overwatch! 

20. average hours of sleep: wildly inconsistent, what do you take me for, a functioning human being? not on my watch i have drawn on in purple crayon, sonny jim

21. lucky number: this one. it pays off. big time.

22. instrument: guitar, acoustic and electric, and a fender vi so i guess bass also kinda. i also just bought a melodica so?? that’s gonna be fantastic

23. what im wearing: Dodger shirt, like Dodger as in dexbonus dodger, and some new button jeans, and socks with yellow spots on the bottom and block yellow on the heels and toes. And my glasses! And headphones. Bonus: got underwear on as well. I am overdressed 

24. how many blankets: 1 really good one. i got a radiohead blanket at the manchester show. was the last one. i love it. you can’t have it, but i can

25. dream job: Writer, or musician, or something like that. Or both. A real renaissance ‘man’. a renaissance fraud. a real pretentious dick i wanna be one of those but with just a fucking ass dickload of money 

26. dream trip: coffee shop in town thanks i don’t like travelling v much

27. favourite food: dick. uuuuh idk i like a lot of food. the chinese in heworth do great pork batter balls. i just call em pig balls tho. cause i’m a huge child

28. nationality: oi m8 i’m british innit ladd

29. favourite song right now: LCD Soundsystem - Losing My Edge. Gettin me hella pumped for their new record

aight that’s that, i’ll tag fuckinnnn uuuhhhhh @qluq @buddyonacloud @talaesman @nintendovoreboy and any other gosh darn mcdude who wants in on this big old sharing circle of love and respect yo

[mfmagazine]

Happy Hollows

Article by Monica Alvarez

Photo by Timothy Norris

Aside from being one of the best bands to come out of Los Angeles in recent years, the trio known as the Happy Hollows is also a modestly fashionable bunch. Their live performances are not to be missed.  Trust me.  Come and spend an afternoon with us as we share records, take some photos and shoot the breeze about what we can expect from them soon. What do you guys have going on right now?  What’s going on for the rest of the year?

Charlie: We started recording two albums…Sarah’s solo album and our next album. So, is it all newer material? Charlie: Most of it is.  It’s not all but no one’s heard it before.  All the stuff the band’s been working on is on a new parameter and has been written in the past three or four months.   [To Sarah] And what about your stuff? Sarah: Well, some of it is stuff that you saw me play…I’ve only played two or three shows as the Sad Solids…  It’s all very acoustic.  I’ve just been writing so much… for this whole year.  It’s just been all about writing.   So, what has inspired the new material? Charlie: I think the first album was… a lot… like crazy pants… in a good way.   It was a lot of the stuff from when we first started.  It was wild and sort of like spastic… like angular and sort of dissonant in a lot of way.  We sort of liked to shock people.  We’re loud.  But this one is more focused while still maintaining our trueness to our band.  I think it’s focused more on melody and on song construction.  We’re trying to minimize a lot of things.  Less crunchy lead, less sort of bare chord guitar and have a lot more space to open up for synth sounds and more lead or overlapping guitar lines.     [To Chris] Any changes to the rhythm section?  Has there been a progression in sound from the beginning of the band until now? Chris: Hmm…  Well I guess it’s become more stable.  Like he said, it was all spastic before.  This is a lot more, like, controlled and driven.   Charlie: We’re trying to make people dance.  Not dance, like dance at the club [Laughter]…It’s a little bit more like grooving. Sarah: It’s different but it’s strange.  All this stuff has been coming out the last few months and everything just fits together.  It’s like, “Wow, an album is coming!”  It’s kinda when I least expected it.  I was more like, “Well, we’re going to tour on ‘Spells’ and when that’s all over I’m just going to do my solo stuff and we’ll just wait to see when the inspiration hits to do our second record.”  It’s all coming on.  It all makes sense together.  The songs and the style of it…it’s been cool.   The writing process has been really different too.  ‘Cuz I think with ‘Spells,’ most of it was me sitting in my room and I would bring in the bulk of the song and the guys would rearrange it and put their parts to it.  This record has been really neat because all us…we’ve even been playing different instruments.  I’ll get on drums, Chris will get on the bass and Charlie will get on guitar and we’ll all just start jamming and songs are being born just in a much more loose way.  And then we all return back to our instruments and take what the other person did and put our own spin on it.  So it’s completely collaborative.  Nobody is stuck with this firm roll that they used to have.   Charlie: But that’s just for the writing process.  We won’t be switching instruments when we play live.   How have things been for you with all this tour support you’ve recently acquired?  You’ve been able to travel a little bit more and play to different audiences.   Sarah: It’s really, really, really refreshing.  We’ve been loving L.A. and stuff but it’s always really exciting to expand and meet new people.  It’s just been really great.  We’ve bonded with all these bands from all over the country.   We’ve always had band friends…it’s amazing to feel like that has expanded.  We still love our L.A. band friends but now we’ve got our Canadian band friends, our New York band friends. Tell me a little bit about the bands that you’ve been exposed to and have been able to play with within this last year, year and a half.   Charlie: We played with Wavves, Japandroids, Bisnard Lakes, Deerhoof, Silversun (Pickups)…we played with Real Estate. Sarah: Oh, Real Estate!  They’re really great.   Charlie: We’re gonna play with Idlewild (in the fall). What do you guys like to do between shows and recording the new material? Chris: I kind of just watch Top Chef.  Stuff like that.  I like food stuff. Charlie: Chris and I are from DC but the DC season isn’t turning out to be all that great.   Sarah: Yeah.  It’s weak, man. Charlie: The Vegas season was so good and then this one is just such a let down, in terms of like backgrounds and chefs. So what other shows are you guys into? Charlie: Shows like The Wire. Sarah: Entourage is my favorite show.  You look like Sloan!! I WISH I looked like Sloan.   Charlie: Lost.  Big fans.  Like new shows… Sarah: Top Chef and Entourage.  Those are mine.  They were filming (Entourage) right across the street from my house.  And I walked on set [laughing] and I was just like, “Yeah, I’m supposed to be back here…Oh my god, I love you guys!” What kind of films are you guys into? Sarah: David Lynch, of course! Charlie: David Lynch, Terry Gilliam, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen… Sarah: We like Adam McKay’s comedies.  I can’t wait to see The Other Guys.  My favorite thing is to laugh.  I love deep, artsy movies but I also love brainless... you know, I have this inner dude inside of me.  It’s like the weirdest thing because I’m like the biggest feminist ever and I like Entourage and dude comedies.  Yeah!   What are you guys looking forward to the most this year? Sarah: I think recording and continuing to write.  For me, this is my favorite part of the process.  It’s my favorite part of everything about being a musician or an artist… this time right now, is IT.  I mean, I love performing…I feel like that’s where we’ve been our strongest.  But even more than that, I just love being in the studio. I LOVE coming up with new material and writing.  Creating.  For me, I’m just going through such a blissful period.  We’ve just been performing non stop for so many years that it just feels so amazing to just have everything… I feel like because everything stopped, this dam that is holding up all this material and all these songs all come rushing in.  So it’s been very blissful for me Of all of the shows you’ve played in the last year, what’s your favorite? Charlie: We just played Lee’s Palace in Toronto and that was awesome. What did you like about it? Charlie: It was a big crowd…they were really into it.  It’s fun when you can play to a big crowd who doesn’t know you.  They really responded.   Sarah: It felt like we were so in our right niche.  Like everything we did was so completely understood and it felt really wonderful.  It was a surprise.   What are some things that you can’t live without when you go out on tour? Sarah: Clothing wise?  I like to have just a few pieces that I can rotate…I always have to have a pair of shorts, a pair of pants in case it gets cold, boots, socks, maybe like two dresses…just to keep it minimal because we tour in a mini van so it’s crazy small.  As a girl, it’s crazy.  It’s like, “You don’t know what goes into this face!”   Charlie: Books.  I brought a David Foster Wallace, Thomas Frank…I usually have something heavy and something light.  Something light for when I’m exhausted and something heavy before bed or when I wake up.   Sarah: Heavy before bed or when you wake up?  I’m so opposite.  I’m like, “Light before bed, meditation, cleanse my soul…” Charlie: Another thing we do on the road a lot is listen to our long practice jams.  Sometimes when we’re on the road you can put that hour long thing in and just kind of sit back and lot of it is crap but sometimes you can find two or three good minutes of this thing and then turn it into a song.   Chris: My organizer.  I’m like the tour mommy.  Hotels we stay in…all that stuff…I take care of all of it.  My clothing is really simple…just a couple of pairs of pants.  I move a lot so whatever is comfortable.   What kind of gear do you take on the road with you? Sarah: I play a Gibson SG and I have two guitar amps.  A Fender and an Orange amp and I split the signal so that they come out at the same time.   Charlie: My amp is an Aguilar DB750.  My bass is a Music Man.  I just use a clean bass tone and a distorted bass…that’s it.  People who put reverb or echo on bass…I don’t know.  It should basically have a nice, punchy, clean tone and then just an overdrive.  I don’t know.  That’s my position on it.   Chris: I have a Pacific kit.  It’s one from a while back.  It’s great.  But I’m looking into picking up this vintage kit.  I like affordable drum sticks…a 5A standard.  I play soft and hard so whatever feels comfortable.   Are you guys gear-heads?  Do you ever go to NAMM? Charlie: We’re not gear-heads but I try to play out of a lot of different amps and all that.  But I do love old synthesizers.  I have some old drum machines.  I have an old Roland Emu, a Korg Prophecy…and I’m looking for an older, not analog synth but like an older European synth.  I love hardware.   Sarah: You should see our rehearsal space.   How did you guys come together? Sarah: Well, I moved up L.A. from New York.  I had been playing by myself under the name Happy Hollows for about a year.  And I was booking all of these shows.  I had all these songs and things.  Playing rock n roll, you know… playing loud… getting really crazy.  And I was looking for bass and drums and I totally didn’t want to go on Craigslist but I got to the end of my rope.  I went on Craigslist and I saw that Charlie had put up an ad because (Chris and Charlie) had both moved from DC for separate reasons and they were like, “Yeah, let’s play music together.” So they put an ad out for a guitar player.   Charlie: It’s funny because we did a show this week for this like Hollywood thing…it was like kids producing a TV show.  And anyway, they asked us and they seemed so horrified that we met Sarah on Craigslist.  [LAUGHING]  From the time we met to now, Craigslist has become… ugh… a questionable… ugh…   I told the band to bring a record album of their choice to the interview so that we could have something that they would enjoy to listen to.  Charlie brings The Police’s ‘Synchronicity’ Side A begins to play… Sarah: I don’t really own any records so I brought a CD. What did you bring?   Sarah: Besnard Lakes… I would watch hours and hours of like footage of The Who, you know, all my favorites and they would do these rock interviews and I would just be like, “UGH! I want to talk about myself!!” Is this for the interview?   Yeah.  I wanted to see what you guys would bring. Charlie: Chris brought Bill Withers. Which one? Chris: It’s actually his Greatest Hits album.   What’s your favorite song? Chris: “Use Me.” Aw!  Love that track!! We never did get to listen to that Bill Withers album…it saddens me. So, do you guys like to go shopping if and when you do have the time in all of these new cities and states that you’ve been visiting? Sarah: I like thrift stores.  Thrift stores around the country in the middle of nowhere are the best.   Charlie: We do like Wasteland a lot.  Sarah… we did a photo shoot and she had these Prada heels.   Fancy Lil Lady…look at you!  Were they vintage?! Sarah: Yeah, they were!  And they were so comfortable.  And they were like 4 ½ inch heels.  They felt like sneakers.  I was tall and I was running on this like, cobble stone hill in those fucking Prada, 4 ½ inch heels because they were that comfortable.  Hello!  This is why people pay $900 for these shoes.  I get it now.  But I like vintage.  These boots (shown in the photo) were my aunt’s.   Charlie: I have one piece that I found at a store that is a Marc Jacobs jacket.  It’s like a dark red, maroon and this white sheep’s wool sort of thing inside.  I don’t really look at brands.   Sarah:  Marc Jacobs?  Prada?  Who are we?! Charlie: These shoes I have, Generic Surplus… I don’t know what the company’s reputation is like in the fashion world but I really like these.   Chris: Shoes are simple.  I’m flat footed so Chucks are like number one for me.  I’m definitely into like, skinny jeans and then just like t-shirts.   Sarah: I wish I could wear more jewelry on stage.   Do you guys practice any sort of fancy diets?   Sarah: Well, I was vegetarian for like 10 years.  I accidentally ate bacon. Accidentally?  What a happy accident.   Sarah: I KNOW!  I had a sandwich and I lost my freakin’ mind!  I was like, “This is SO fucking good.”  I fell off the wagon.  I started eating it all the time.  I need to go to AA for bacon.   You’re born again bacon.   Sarah: I’m going back, I think… because I don’t feel as well.  And right now I’m going through a really big phase.  I’m doing yoga and some serious meditation practice.  I started out really light.  I could only go about 20 minutes…and this was like 6 months ago… and now I’m going two or three hours at a time.  It’s helping me creatively.  A lot.  I just feel that my Kundalini yoga lifestyle to coincide with my bacon eating lifestyle does not go well.  [laughing]

[halfcupofcoffee-blog]

2)

I actually slept all night. I was sure I would be awake all night again. Well, now I'm gonna tell you about my troubled childhood *dramatic music* I was born December 12, 1997 in Winchester, Virginia. We lived in Martinsburg, West Virginia where Dad's family (and at the moment Mom's) live, but after bad experience with the Doctors there with my older sister, Mom and Dad decided not to go to the hospital there to have me. Two weeks after my birth, we moved to Atlanta, Georgia where my Mother's parents had recently moved. We actually lived in Decatur, GA but it's not really important. I obviously don't remember most of the first two or three years of my life. Somewhere in those years, my younger sister was born. We moved houses twice before I was four. When I was 7, my Dad's job was going to move us to a small Mayberry sort of town called Bristol, Tennessee. So we packed up all our stuff and about a week before we were going to leave, we came home to a house that had been broken into. I'm honestly surprised it took that long. We didn't live in the greatest neighborhood. It wasn't one of those clean sweep robberies. It was actually one of those ones where it looked like they decided our stuff wasn't all that great and only took things we would miss like our TV and a couple DVDs. I remember going inside and all of us stopping in the front hallway at the door. Us kids didn't realize what had happened, but we knew something was wrong. I remember looking into the kitchen and seeing every single cabinet and drawer open. I remember asking mom is she left them like that before they shoved us back in the car and locked the doors while they checked the rest of the house. A couple of people from our church came over and this girl we were friends with cane and sat with us in the car. I remember my older sister crying a lot. The rest of the week we stayed at our grandparents house. Dad still had to get all our stuff out of the house and kept asking if we wanted to go help. We were all to scared to go, but I remember going with him one day. I didn't help at all, I just remember being too scared to go into my own bedroom. Anyway, we moved to Tennessee and I don't remember much until we were completely moved in. The first day I remember is the day we met a girl who lived up the street from us. Her name is Lauren and she became my best friend. We lived there until I was 11. We went to public school, which is the first experience we had with anything but homeschooling. I went through 2nd-5th grade in public school. I liked it quite a bit. I mainly liked riding the bus to and from school. I had my bedroom in the attic and at the time I hated it because it was always too hot or too cold up there but now I wish we hadn't moved. I loved Bristol. It was a whole lot safer than Decatur. And then we moved BACK to Atlanta. We lived in a nice house where I got my own room for exactly 10 months. The walls were sea foam green. We went back to being homeschooled, thus began the loneliest four years of my life. When those ten months were up, we moved to a house that was basically in my grandparents' back yard. That house was where I spent all my time reading books. I read too many books to remember them all. I read all the original Percy Jackson books there. That Place was also where my mom finally let me read Harry Potter. My walls were covered in Harry Potter posters and Taylor Swift posters. I was 12 what can I say? Me and my younger sister spent a lot or our time playing in the half finished basement and in the woods behind the house. And then we moved again after about a year. We moved to a house just down the road and around the corner, on the same street with my grandparents and my Aunt. We lived there the longest so far. It was three years we lived there. There I got into music. I bought my first guitar for $109.93. I paid in cash all the way down to the Penny. I named him Joe Beatle because of a Joke in the TV show from the 60s called The Monkees. I also started writing there. I wrote really bad FanFiction. We didn't have WiFi so I was just saving them into documents on the computer. When we did get a connection finally, I joined a FanFiction website and posted there. I got pretty popular with The Beatle community on there. All this time I didn't have a single person my age for a friend. Just my younger sister who also was writing bad FanFiction. We took turns reading each other's stories. When we got online we had friends there who we talked to for years over skype and messaging but they faded eventually too. Our Dachshund died when we lived there. He was old when we got him and he lived with us until I was 16-ish. We had a mutual hatred for each other. My dad buried him in our grandparents back yard. We also joined a homeschool group where I gained a friend who I only see now because my younger sister is friends with her younger sister. And then we moved again. This time into my grandparents' house where I shared a bedroom with both of my sisters because of lack of space. We lived there for two years and the only good thing about it was there was a pool and a roof we could sit in outside our window. Living there was probably the worst place we ever lived mainly because we were plunged into someone else's life. Before we could do what we liked mainly. Now we had extra chores and we had to hear the constant chatter of news talk radio that my grandad listened too. When I graduated, my grandad gave me a blue Fender stratocaster with an amp. Greatest gift I've ever gotten. I named him Chrysanthemum Cleaver (after a reference to a character in Eragon) or Eric (after Eric Clapton). That same summer was actually the best I'd ever had. I got to see Jimmy, who I hadn't seen in like 6 years, and another guy called Caleb who I hadn't seen in 8 years. I had known them my entire life. I used to see them every summer but things changed and that didn't happen for a long time. Then we got to go to a Twenty one Pilots concert, which was actually the best concert even though I've only been to two in my whole life. The other was Colton Dixon and Building 429 in October but it wasn't as good. TØP was amazing. We moved into the house we live in now in August. I share a bedroom with my younger sister and we share a bookshelf -- where we keep all our books, which is quite a lot -- a record player where we both have quite a few records, and we share that corner to store our instruments. Combined, we have two electric guitars (both mine. The fender and a Gretsch Pro Jet named NEZ), two acoustic guitars (one mine the other is hers), a Fender Bass named Macca, and two ukuleles. In November Caleb and Jimmy came for a visit. That was a really good week. We had a lot of fun and generally drank a lot of hot tea. But that's basically it. My life up until now. Pretty boring and unnecessarily long. No idea what I'll post next. Maybe I'll talk about Dr. Who? Which is on TV right now. Probably not, though...