Happy Friday once again! Welcome to the seventh installment of Its the End of the Week as We Know It. So a few weeks ago, a couple of friends and I began reminiscing about our respective bands from high school; we pulled up some recordings via old MySpace accounts and mp3 libraries, and enjoyed explaining the context of our old songs, smirking at their amateur charms. Listening back to these old recordings seemed to trigger some vivid memories for each of us; after listening to a few tracks from my friends brothers high school pop-punk band, he expressed how when he was much younger, he knew those songs inside and outeach riff, each lyricas the band would rehearse them constantly in their garage.
When we listened to my junior year band, I was immediately taken back to long, hot summer days of outdoor practice sessions, which resulted in the semi-decent 8-track recordings to be heard 6 years later. Then there was my senior year bands 5-song EP, which I recorded and produced as part of my senior year project; it was a little more polished and reeked an “indie folk” phase, but hearing where my musical ideas and capabilities were at the time was a pleasant reminder of how Ive progressed musicaly. The real gem was hearing one of the first recordings I ever made: my middle school bands first “demo,” which consisted of us circling around a tape recorder in an acoustically-dead basement, pressing record, and singing our Nirvana-inspired pubescent voices off.
Old recordingsmusical snapshotshave a way of taking you back to a very specific point in time. But unlike looking at a still photograph, youre likely to remember the minor details of the recording sessions because the recording process can be so involved and time consuming: The arguments you may have had with your singer, guitar parts that were difficult to nail, trying to eliminate microphone hiss etc
The home/cheap studio recordings of young musicians seem to go through three phases.
Phase One: Excitement. You are incredibly stoked to hear the results of your efforts; youre amazed when you finally hear your band fully recorded and anxious to get all of your friends to listen to it. And theyre all stoked too because, after all, youre in a band and have a demo, and are therefore cool.
Phase Two: After years pass and you progress as a musician, you grow tired of the underdeveloped songs and come to cringe at the small mistakes and iffy recording quality. You determine that your first band sucked (they usually all do) and those demos collect the digital dust of “0″ play counts on iTunes.
Phase Three: Nostalgic Perspective! After years, you come to love those old recordings after rediscovering them. You hear those old pentatonic licks you used to play all the time and a few riffs you forgot you wrote. Above all, you can remember how fun it was getting together recording with your band mates.
So this week, I encourage you to take a listen to some old recordings of yourself if you have any. No matter what the quality is, youll probably be surprised at how much you remember from your days as a young musician. Now lets get into some news.
Top 3 Stories
Apparently Dave Grohl doesnt take too kindly to moshers at his shows. At an iTunes concert event, Dave chastised an alleged “mosher” for fighting in the crowd. Kudos for Dave for laying down the Foo law; the striped-shirt dude was probably way too drunk and shoving people around who werent anticipating moshing to “Times Like These.”
Moshing seems to be a touchy subject these days; should we push each other around in the energetic spirit of the music, or just jump up and down and enjoy it? Tackle football or two-hand touch? Moshing has the potential to be both fun and annoying. Although most of the metal shows (and even some rock shows) that Ive been to were heavy on the lets-kick-each-others-gonads scale, the mosh level all depends on the band, the crowd, and where you stand. In the Foo Fighters case, it makes sense that Dave wasnt going to rally up and start a wall of death for a taped concert.
In most cases though, you can control if you want to mosh or not. I remember standing in the center of the crowd as a Megadeth show* began and, I swear, not even after they played the first two bars of “Skin O My Teeth,” the crowd rushed forward and I was pinned, laying at a 55 degree angle between some dudes ass and another hefty fellows hock. Fearing suffocation, I managed to back off. Eventually, as the drunken rowdy wannabe UFC fighters became too tired to throw punches, I was able to move up to the front row for the last several songs.
Im sure a lot of guitarists in here prefer to go to shows to actually, you know, listen to the music that they paid to go see and not spend the entire time moshing. Expect an insane pit for a Slayer show, but lets keep it genre appropriatelets not be like the striped-shirt guy and push around 15-year-old girls at an alternative concert.
*That Megadeth show was actually their filmed “Rust in Peace” tour concert at the Hollywood Palladium. I recommend the DVD; however, it doesnt properly capture the rage of the audience.
Finally! A respectable musician doesnt succumb to the monetary and mainstream pull of competitive music primetime television. Bruce didnt even respectfully decline too! Like a true metal legend, he deemed the whole series as “crap” and apparently took great pleasure in saying “no.”
In an age when more and more legitimate rockstars agree to judge and appear on these primetime music shows Zakk Wylde Steven Tyler its refreshing to see someone condemn the practice of having fame-driven competitors sing bad cover songs for millions of viewers around the world. I can understand why a veteran rocker would want to perform on one of these shows (huge exposure), but having rock icons appear on these shows kind of diminishes their image. Overall, these shows encourage a certain shallowness in live music performance and the pursuit of a music career. Do contestants on American Idol and The Voice really think that they will be granted successful music careers if they take the quick way to the top? Even if they manage to win, odds are they will initially sell a decent amount of records (probably more than most hard-working bands) but they will soon fall into obscurity, because in actuality, their only achievement was winning a damn TV contest!!!…Breathe, Zach…okay. Rage subsiding. Bruce Dickinson, you are mighty.
Mark your calendar, because VH1 Classic is deeming November 11, 2011 (11-11-11) to be “National Metal Day,” nodding to Nigel Tufnels preference for turning things “up to eleven.” Despite VH1 Classics ultra-cheesy, yet immensely entertaining quality, National Metal Days programming (rock docs, classic live concerts, and a new “Metal Evolution” series) is sure to be great entertainment. The day is apparently on a Friday tootime for Black Tooth Grins!
Obviously, Im excited. I think the coolest thing about the day though, is that the Spinal Tap reference, which has been around since the early 80s, still has that much pop-culture relevance all these years later. Its quite impressive how the “up to eleven” reference has come to signify anything worthy of that extra push over the edge. For those of you who dont know, Rob Reiners 1984 mockumentary, “This is Spinal Tap” is a satirical, yet celebratory look into the often-absurd nature of heavy metal, complete with entirely-improvised scenes that mock rock and roll clichés, done with a tenderhearted comedic style. If you havent seen Spinal Tap, go to Blockbuster (if it still exists) or rent it on Netflix. You will laugh. Tempted now as I am, I will resist filling the rest of this blog with Tap quotes…
One Last Note:
Ahhh…what could be better: the ocean breeze, warm weather, drinks by the cruise ships swimming pool and seeing Weezer perform for 4 nights in a row? Although Ive never heard of any other bands on the bill, this seems like a sick vacation. Im sold. Wait? Ugh, its how much? Starting at $800?!
The cruise ship tour idea is great (I believe theres an annual metal cruise festival too) but alas, not everyone can afford to go. One of these days Ill save up enough money to see a great band play on a luxury ocean liner but until then, we need a cheaper option. I got it: Ill throw together an Its the End of the Week as We Know It tour off the Santa Monica Pier, reading previous blogs out loud on a rented kayak. Ill only charge $200 for a 4-day package. Meals not included.
On the next Its The End of the Week as We Know It:
After the ever-ambitious Muse get the go-ahead to shoot the first-ever music video in outer space, U2 beat them to the punch with a viral video of Bono moonwalking on the International Space Station.
Yoko Ono, sue-happy after recently threatening to shut down a John Lennon-themed pub, tries to sue Volkswagen and various insect organizations for using names too similar to The Beatles.
Disappointed over Bruce Dickinsons decline to judge Britains version of The Voice, executives offer the spot to none other than Phil Anselmo.
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