well, folks I have an unfortunate truth to share on this site. The band is unofficially no longer together. I have a new gig going, with some friends, nothing major, but possibly going to be a real good deal in the future. I'm not sure if I will even continue this blog, but if I do the focus will shift from band to more general things, like you know, life.

9/11 I havn't forgotten

September 11, 2001, a day that went down in infamy. It is one of only a handful of days that’s gone on to change the world. America’s sense of invincibility was destroyed, her people terrified. Forever after, the sound of a jet flying too low would strike fear in our hearts. Yet as time has passed American’s seem to have forgotten those who were lost. Local papers write about the high school sports teams, what celebrity got a dui, and the ever important political bull, but not even a small chunk is devoted to 9/11. As an American I feel that there is something wrong with that. I was just a child at the time, and have no family bonds to what happened there, yet I still remember the fear I felt. I still remember the images from that day as if I were watching them on TV today. I can understand if our nation feels that we need to move on, I even agree with that, but I feel it is in humane to forget what happened that September day. Many people lost their lives because of a terrorist organization named Al-Qaida. Millions were terrified by their actions, between the attacks on the Twin Towers, and the Pentagon, and the attempted attack with United Airlines flight 93. Many more lives were lost when we went to war with Al-Qaida. Unfortunately people no longer realize why we are there. In the last nine years we have grown numb to the fact that we were attacked. The heightened security has become a norm for us, and we forget why it is there.

As an American I feel that we should remember what happened that day. It keeps us from getting to secure in our nation again, for once that happens we will be open to attack. It will also keep those who lost their lives, fresh in our memory. In all honesty 9/11 should be made a day of remembrance, similar to Veterans Day, or Memorial Day. It is one of the greatest tragedies to befall our nation, and the only way it could be worse would be if we were to forget it completely.

Random thought

For those of you who don't know, I am not just the drummer for Relent, but I am also active in the high school's marching band. Over the course of this season I have found some interesting things. The first of these makes sense. If people don't enjoy what they are doing, they won't do it well. The start of this season was rough. This was my first season being a Co-Section leader (last year I was the only one). So the start of this season consisted of me trying to not over power the other section leader, yet still hold my ground when necessary. On top of that, we have a new director this season, therefore we have new expectations. And, if that weren't enough, we are playing the hardest show I've ever participated in. With all of these difficulties, keeping the section happy became hard. As the section grew less happy, their work ethic, and quality, dropped. In order to be an effective leader, of any form (teacher, parent, etc.) keeping a good balance between firmness and fun is essential.

Another thing I found is that, leaders rarely mesh with each other. Amazingly, the few leaders I do mesh with are actual leaders in the band. I even get along fairly decently with the other section leader in the drum line, most of the time at least. But in the instances that you don't get along with the other, they still know what they are doing, hence them being in a leadership position (hopefully anyway). Take what they say, and see if there is any validity. If so, then apply it, if no, then just smile and nod.

A third interesting thing I've found is one that all little league coaches, and most teachers discover quickly. Kid's can do no wrong, just ask their parents. In order to prevent tardiness the section leaders came up with a punishment. For every minute they are late, they owe two minutes after practice. Shouldn't be a problem. Well, we had one kid who was five minutes late, and another who was fifteen, which added up to ten and thirty minutes extra respectively. Well, three minutes into their stay one of the parents comes in, and gives myself and the other section leader a good chewing out. He freaked out over the fact that his son had to stay after when he was late. Despite the fact that the kid had not informed his father of the drum lines early start time (we start a half hour earlier than the band), the parent tried to take the blame to himself. While that is noble act, it shows the kid that he can do wrong, and not be punished. The other young man stayed his time, then left with his mother. The next day his dad comes in and sits in the office with our director and chews our director out for about five minutes. The only thing this shows is that parents have not out grown the child like aspect of passing the buck.

A final interesting thing I've found thus far is one that caught me off guard. Now, I'm not sure if this is just for my drum line, or if this is a more universal thing, but when all we focused on was marching band, our quality wasn't that great. Once we added in school, and all that goes with it, the band clicked like I had not seen this year. It was really amazing how much better they got just by adding school. What this teaches me is that if you focus solely on one thing, you will get burned out. But, if you change up the routine, add some other things to focus on, your quality of enthusiasm and therefor work, will sky rocket.

Hopefully, as this season continues, I will be able to keep sharing nifty tips that I learn from being a section leader, as well as being in all the music based courses (instrumental, not choral).

long time, no blog

Sorry it has been so long since I've updated this blog. These last couple weeks have been hectic beyond imagining. Between band camp, preparing for school, keeping up with Relent, and spending as much time with family as possible, this blog has been last on my agenda. Thankfully, I had enough time today to update you all on Relent's progress. Two members of Relent (Zach and myself) have been kept as busy as our new director, Mr. Saint Peter, could keep us. Marching band has been a ton different this year than years past, in the fact that it is much more intense, and far stricter. With this higher level of expectation comes a higher level of success, or so we hope.

Alex has spent the vast majority of his summer in Florida, with his father. Brad has been kept fairly busy as well this summer, but has kept his guitar playing pretty well at par.

Brad and I were able to get together and jam the other day, and we sounded fairly decent, but can't recall what we played (a problem we usually have with our jam sessions). Over all I have high hopes for the band this year, mostly because I know we have a large amount of potential. When more exciting news comes in, or I come across more music tips, I'll fill you in.

Would just like to inform those of you who read this blog that it will be a while before I'll have the time and/or energy to add to this blog. It's not for lack of want, but marching band is soon to kick into high gear, and quite frankly it's hard work. As always feel free to share any comments you have on past entries, or any ideas for future ones, or heck, any experiences you've had.

Presence

One thing I've noticed when watching concerts is that the musicians all have stage presence. Whether it is the constant sexual energy that Kiss delivers, or the dark energy that one recieves from Alice Cooper, or even the psychadelic feeling one could have attained at a Phish concert, stage presence is a must.

So long as you are not going to be a recording studio only type band, you need the stage presence for several reasons. First off, it keeps your act interesting. You can have some of the best music ever, but if you just kinda stand there looking moderatly pleased, no one is going to pay the big bucks to see you live. Stage presence is the thing that makes a concert worth attending. They usually are not cheap to attend, so if you have no stage presence they will just buy your cd instead. I'm sorry for rambling there, but that is the main reason, the one that needed driven home the most.

Another reason for stage presence is that it allows your audience to feel a connection to you. Any one can sing a song, or beat a drum, but if you are up there making sure that they see you do it, they will take notice. It makes you look like you know what you are doing. If it looks like you know what you are doing, the crowd will assume you do. If you look like you are uncertain of what you are doing, the crowd will become automatically far more critical of what you do. Stage presence sells your skill level, and if used properly can even cover up your mistakes, to an extent.

A third reason for stage presence relates to the second. It allows your audience to feel a connection to your music. If you are singing a song thats just dripping with anger, but you look dazed, they won't feel that anger. If your song is extremely sad, but you look pleased, it will kill the effect of the song. You have to sell your song to the audience. If your stage presence doesn't match your song, then not only do you look retarded, your song sounds a little less good.

The fourth, and possibly most important reason for stage presence is it allows you to have fun. The point of being a musician performing in front of crowds is to have fun. If you sit there terrified of making a mistake, your not having fun. On the other hand, if you are dancing around the stage, or showing off behind the kit, your having fun. If your having fun, that energy will flow out to the crowd, and they will have fun, and it will filter back. That is the reason bands tour for so long. That energy fuels performances and gives you an experience you will never be able to match.

Picking a Band

One difficulty I find, is picking the right band to be in. Sometimes you can all be great buds, but the band flounders. Other times you can hate eachother's guts, and it works. How does one find the right combination to succeed? Well, so far I've found that you need to have the same goal. For example, if three out of four just wanna chill and play for fun, but the other dude wants to go big and try to be the next big thing, it makes uncomfortable tension.* Getting along is obviously a great start. If you hate the rest of your band, it will make any kind of forward movement very difficult. But if you guys don't have the same goal, it will be even harder.

Sometimes, you may have to settle on your desires for a specific band. If your a musician with a wide variety of tastes, you may need to find a couple bands. One for each style, because very rarely will you get a group of people who not only enjoy all of your tastes, but you'll rarely get a group of people who can play all of your tastes. An example of this is myself. I am a member of my highschool's marching band, concert band, and jazz band, I occasionally play with the community band, and my church music group, and hope to spread to another band with some of my other highschool friends. Alot of music yes, but it covers the majority of my musical tastes and passions, and for the time being, is more than enough for me. Thankfully, I am able to mesh well with a large variety of people. I'm just one of those likeable guys. But I also approach it professionally. I treat each band as its own band. I do not bring my other bands' business into this one, even if I play with some of the people in another band as well. This allows me to completely give myself over to the music, and overall I am able to be the best at each style I can possibly be.

What does this mean for you. Well, that last bit not much, but it is an example of how you can get your musical needs out. For example, part of you just loves playing Slipknot music, but another part enjoys jamming to Green Day, and yet another part loves the Santana vibe. If you find a group of people who not only want to, but are willing to play that music, then I am extremely jealous. Fact of the matter is, you probably won't. So, if your schedule allows, go out into the world, and try to find more people that play music, to your taste. Chances are, you'll find someone, unless you live in small town America. If you live in small town America, well, I feel your pain. Been there, done that lol. Basically what the point of this whole rambeling speal (I do apologize for the rambling, tis late), is that you should not have to settle, and if you do chances are your not going to be content. On top of that, settling for one style, when you crave diversity, lowers your over all playing ability.

equipment

Now, one thing I am quickly realizing about being a musician is, getting decent equipment is tough. I recently broke through my Pearl drum head, and was in need of a replacement, so I went to Musicians Friend. It is an excellent site, has great deals, and usually high quality equipment. Well, not this time. I ordered a set of heads, picked for one of their specials. It had three tom heads, the Remo Ebony Weatherkings, and a snare head. The toms are amazing, have never had drum heads of that quality on one of my kits. The snare is a different story. It claims to be a weather king as well, but the strength of the head is roughly like two pieces of Saran Wrap. Not quality at all, and is going to break fairly soon.

From my experiences I have learned a lesson that should have been obvious. Read the reviews on the equipment. Some people will go on there, throw down some profanity, and be utterly useless to you, but the majority of people will give honest, meaningful reviews on the equipment. If I had read that review, I would have know to purchase an alternate snare head, or find a different pack of drum heads.

Another lesson I have learned, which should also be obvious, is know what you are buying. If you know that the tom heads are good, but the snare model doesn't sound familiar, look into it. If you have never played on a Hazy Snare, snare head, read into it, and again, check the reviews. Ultimately these two lessons will save you money. Even if the packaged deal 'saves money', buying a craptastic snare head means you will have to buy a New snare head to replace the Packaged head.

Now, if you do those and still end up with poor quality equipment, learn how to improvise. If it is just a practice kit, you don't need studio quality equipment. If your snare head turns out to be bad, use man's greatest invention. That's right, Duct Tape. Figure out where your main strike zone is, and throw some Duct Tape down. Will it sound amazing? No. Will it work? Yes. You can find ways to get around the tuning issue, and if nothing else, remove the internal or external muffler you have, and just let the duct tape be that muffle. It will work similarly to a poor man's Sound Dot snare head. Another fine thing you can do to enhance the sound of your drum, is to take a fairly wide strip of velvet and run it in between your drum head, and your drum rim.

Shoot, while I'm on the subject of fixing stuff, drummers usually burn threw sticks fairly quickly. Now while this is no good on the concert/studio level playing, Duct Tape can save the day again. While electrical tape is a decent option, it stretches. If your stick is cracking, apply pressure on the stick to hold it together, and throw on the duct tape. It isn't a cure, but will hold the stick together for quite a while longer.

A Small Insite to the World of Musicianship

Now I don't know 'bout most of you, but when I would watch them rockers up there doing their thing, I thought, "dang, those guys have the easiest job ever." While I certainly wish that were true, it's not. In order for them to go out and give you a decent show there is a massive amount of work that must go into it.

To start off with, they all have to learn their instrument. That much is obviously a given, but that is easily the hardest part of preperation. For example, a guitarist needs to learn notes, chords, power chords, bar chords, how to tune, and for some, how to use a kapo, among many others. Bass players have a very similar set of things to learn. Drummers have to learn how to make each part of their body work independantly from the other, which according to many is one of the hardest things to learn. Vocalists have to learn how to hit the proper notes with their voices, for some they need to learn how to scream with out tearing their throat apart, as well as strengthening their soft palate, and all sorts of other technical stuff. Some bands have keyboardists, who have to learn both the bass, and treble clefs (fancy things that just change the notes around a little). They also have to learn how to work foot pedals, and many other things. As for all of the other instruments you could add, the harmonica, mandolin, organ, etc., each have a long list of things they have to learn.

Now, once they learn their instruments they have to form a band. That is a difficult process, which involves the need to not only find all of the instruments, but find people who want to play the same kind of music, have the same skill level, and have personalities that work together well. For example, you can't have a band full of leaders. They would butt heads, and the band would fail. That is a difficult combination to find, but once you have it everything else works.

So you have a group of people, who all play an instrument (counting vocals as an instrument), and all want to play the same stuff. You then have to decide if your going to be a cover band, which plays other people's stuff, our be an original band, which writes their own stuff. After that comes the tedious but usually enjoyable task of learning, and/or, writing songs. Writing songs is a difficult feat in many aspects. First off you have to come up with a sound you want to make. We usually have Brad, our guitarist, come up with a lick, then we run with that. Once you have the basic sound, you start adding in the bass and drums. Once you have that, the lyricist, who ever that may be, gets to find lyrics that match the mood, rythem, and notes of the song. Once you have the general formula you have to smooth it out, work out the kinks, and take it from notes to music.

You have a band, you have music, now you have to find a gig. Finding a gig can sometimes be a very difficult task. Thankfully now we have the internet, but before it was alot of hunting for openings, or places that would let you play. After tracking that down you have to make your gig known. Flyers, advertising, whatever, some how you need to make your gig known. Once you do that you are ready for the final bits of difficulty.

When your setting up for a gig, there are alot of things you need to figure out. If your renting the location, you need to find out how much each ticket will need to cost so you can not only pay the rent, but hopefully make some cash as well. After that, you can find some way to do merchandising. For example, make some t-shirts with your band's name on them. Once you have the money down, see if you can find some sort of security. On many occasions, poor security has lead to many injuries, and even deaths in the world of rock n' roll. Get the security, and the cost of that will more than likely play into ticket costs as well. If your playing a very large venue, then maybe contacting some vendors, for things like food and drinks, would be a good idea.

Alright, you have all the technical business stuff done. Now comes the hard part. Each location is going to have different accoustics, and based off of those you'll sound different. One way to get around this is be freaking loud. The louder you are the less the accoustics will affect you. In order to be loud you need good quality sound equipment. Unfortuanately, that is not cheap. If you can afford it get it, otherwise improvise. After you figure that issue out, you need to find balance between each instrument. The only way to do this is play with the mic setup. Use the mixing board you hopefully have, and find that needed balance. For best results find someone who actually knows what they are doing. After getting that figured out, run through your set at least once. If it is your first gig, you will be nervous, and that will help you calm down. It is also an opportunity to figure out what you need to touch up.

Now in order to be able to really get yourself figured out in the last step, you need to get set up. For the drummer this will probably be the lengthiest part of the process. Get your stuff setup how you like it, how it is comfortable, and how you have practiced with it for the entire time. If you change something right before a performance you are spelling disaster for yourself, and incidentally the band. Check your tuning, your amp configurations, footpedal setups, and whatever other neat little gadgets you have. Go 0ver everything multiple times. If you are unsure if everything is right, assume it isn't and check it again. In this instance paranoia is acceptable, and even slightly encouraged.

The last part of this is the most fun, but also the most important. Have fun when your performing. I don't care if you are the most amazing band on the face of the earth, if you are just standing still like statues, and not having fun, the crowd won't enjoy it. Move, jump, dance, whatever it is you do, enjoy yourself. One of the best performers for this is Guitarist Angus Young for AC/DC. That man runs everywhere on stage, and thuroughly enjoys himself. Another important aspect is that you interact with the crowd. Make them feel included in your performance. They came to see you live, when they could have just watched you on TV. Make them feel like the money they spent was worth it.

Alright. You rocked the show. Now you need to get your stuff torn down as fast, yet as neatly and carefully, as possible. You are renting this location. In order to be able to rent it, and others in the future you need to leave it in better condition than you found it. You take care of the stage, and the location's cleaning crew will hopefully take care of the rest. Once you've done that, collect your money, pay your dues, and get some well deserved sleep.

Success?

Well, we had giving it our all. All we could do was wait to see what the judges said. We waited the mandatory week, then had to wait a few more days, because an acapela group had to add music to their act (not accapella any more but hey). Finally judgement day came. Jordan and I went to the office and checked out the list, and we found that our names, were not on the list. Despite the fact that we had clearly rocked the audition, even with my goof, we didn't make it. The feeling of defeat sucked, but we all bounced back, and honestly we were kinda glad we didn't have to listen to that song again for a while. We were also relieved to find that none of the acts that did make it were bands, just singer's and the MHS Colorgaurd (little bit of props to my girl lol). After that we had to really buckle down again, as some of us were getting grounded, again. And that brings us to the present. Currently I am at my father's, which is about three hours from the band, and Cook is on the east coast, which is a few more hours lol. After the summer break we will have a little bit of time to practice, but yet again marching band will take over Zach and I's time. We will still practice and have high hopes for several gigs towards the end of our school year. That includes the talent show, hopefully a music festival (got lots and lots of rehearsal's to go lol) and maybe a few appearances at Montrose's Main in Motion. Will continue to update this blog as interesting things come up, and in the mean time this is Relent's past.

recipe for something

Well, we had the start of something good. We could all tell that, and frankly we loved that idea. The thought that this combination of people could possibly become a worth while rock band was amazing and we all were ready to start. Unfortunatly there was one problem with that. School.

School really put a wrench in our gears. I was in advanced courses, which in this case translates to tons and tons of homework. On top of that Zach and I were in (and are currently in) the schools marching band. That alone was a huge chunk of our time, add to that the need to keep grades up, and we found ourselves in a situation that made practice dang near impossible. Thankfully, two of us being band kids, we had access to the band room. We had the same lunch every other day, and the band room had amps, and a kit.

After a couple practices in there we started really sounding, and kinda acting like a band. But, we didn't get to do it often, and before too long the grades issue came up, and being highschoolers parents still had a huge amount of control on us. In simpler terms, members got grounded. Once that happened we kinda ground to a stop.

Well, second semester came, and the band was all ungrounded, and everyone was in the mood for some rock, so we started practicing again. About half way through that semester a fellow bando, Jordan Will, came up to me with an idea. She had been playing the guitar for a while, and had a particular love for the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by the grunge rock band Nirvanna, for our school's talent show.

Initially it was slightly difficult to get the band together on the idea of playing it, but once we got into it, we went at it. While we only practiced together twice, and one time in the hall before the audition, we felt fairly confident that we could do well.

We got in the band room, I sat down behind the kit, and Jordan kicked in with the guitar solo intro. She was playing lead, with Brad playing rythem behind, solely because she had the solo down after having practiced the song boat loads, and Brad had been brought in on the idea a little later than he probably should have been. After her solo I came in with the hard drum intro, and the StuCo judges kinda opened up their eyes in surprise, almost as if they didn't realize we'd be so loud lol. After the quick intro Zach and Brad came in and just filled up our sound, taking it from real odd and loud, to full and punchy.

Things went great until after the solo. We were supposed to drop back into the verse, or the soft part of the song, but my hearing had kinda been blown by the cymbals, and to me it sounded like the rest of the band had stopped. Not wanting to look like a fool, I stopped. That left everyone else hanging, so they had to stop as well. The only other thing that made this difficult is that Alex didn't have a microphone, so he had to sit there trying to sing so the judges could hear him, over us lol.
All in all, it was a great experience for us as a young band, it gave us an experience of playing in front of a crowd, a small one, but a crowd none the less.This crowd was the drama club. In order to be able to audition we had to use the band room. In order for the drama club to audition, they too had to use the band room. So they took a five minute water break while we played, giving them a much needed break from their director, and a small free concert.

well...heres a blog

Well...seems as how I created this blog site, I should probably write a blog right? Well, this blog may or may not be like a lot of the other blogs you've read. This isn't a rant, well, not this time at least. The idea behind this blog, is to show the creation, and the hopeful uprising of the band, Relent. Now, none of you out there will have heard this band play, unless your a bando in my band lol. So here is a small taste of what you will read in the future.

Summer of 2009, Brad Jonsen, a young guitarist going into his third year of high school, calls me up. He has this idea of getting a band together, seems as how we had jammed on a couple occasions before. I play the drums, and have been playing since fifth grade, started playing the kit in seventh. Originally we had no singer, and our bass player was still learning his instrument. By that I mean he had no clue on how to play the bass. But he was our friend, so we gave him a chance. Now, surprisingly enough, the singer was the hard one to pin down. It ended up taking us a huge chunk of the school year to find him. We found a new bass player, one that could actually play, before we found a singer. The singer we found was Alex Cook. Alex was, and still is, in the choir program, so we knew he could sing. But singing classical music, is a touch different than singing rock music. To give him a real test we brought him over to my place, due to the fact that I wasn't moving my kit anywhere, and we threw down a little of what Brad and I had written. Alex rocked it. He layed down some lyrics right off the top of his head, and after tracking down our bass player the next day, Zach Williams, we had the start to our first original piece. Our first real test as a band was yet to come, and while whether we succeeded or not was important, what was more important would be whether or not we would be able to work together as a band, and make some music.