Category Archives: Music

Music, My Stories

Music And Life

I couldn’t imagine life before the TV much like my kids today can’t imagine life without the internet and everything being available.

Anyone who was around at the beginning of the MTV revolution, would have purchased a guitar or some other instrument. That’s what I did.

I bugged my Dad to buy me a guitar so he got me a classical guitar with the hope I could learn to play classical songs. He paid $15 for a 30 minute lesson with a man called Niccolini, who instead taught me how to play metal and rock songs because I asked him to.

And Niccolini, man he could play. He had the longest fingernails on his right hand and I was in awe at his classical playing. But I was a metal head.

I used to tell Niccolini which songs I would want to learn, he would then go away and learn those songs and then at the next lesson he would show me. But I also took lessons, to get the techniques right. I’m big on foundations. If the foundations are not right, everything else that comes after is not right either.

And I would fool my Dad by playing metal and hard rock songs in a classical way. Like anything from Randy Rhoads or Yngwie Malmsteen.

And music was my everything, something the generation of today doesn’t get. I talked about artists the same way people talk about tech devices today and their social media status.

And my record collection was a source of pride. I played them through and through. They are part of my DNA.

I used to have the collection under lock and key, in an alarmed room because once upon a time, if someone broke in, they would steal part of the collection. I couldn’t have that happen. Today, they’ll walk straight past it and go for the tech.

Music is part of my life. It will always be.

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Music, My Stories

My $80 Score

My last Record Fair review can be found here. It was five years ago and at that time my record music fair score cost me $85.

This one was at Hurstville while the one I went to in 2014 was at Parramatta.

This time I went for Vinyl and came back with a shit load of CD’s instead. Because I was pissed off at how the sellers exploited the metal and hard rock fans when it came to vinyl prices.

Any record from any artist that could be classed in this genre was listed as $30 and above. Seriously these are second hand records. Some of them are in mint condition and others are not so good. But they are second hand. Even bands which could be considered obscure had a large price tag attached to their LP’s. Bands like Shotgun Messiah, Abbatoir, Boss and Tangier are four that come to mind.

And any Maiden, Kiss, Metallica or any band still doing the rounds was $50 plus. If it was a picture vinyl it was $70 plus. If it was a double album, $100 plus and on and on and on it goes. This same exploitation was there five years ago.

One of the sellers had the 7 inch single of “Chainsaw Charlie” from WASP. It didn’t have a price on it and all of the other 7 inch singles in the box were $5 or less.

I asked the seller for a price and he asks me if I’m interested in it. I say I am, depending on the price. He replies back with $50. I reply back, that’s way too much. And he goes to me, how much am I willing to pay for it and I hold up the 7 inch single for Poison’s “Every Rose Has It’s Thorn” which is $5 and go, that much. He replied, “no chance” and that was that.

I think these sellers forget why people go to record fairs. It’s to find music at prices way below retail.

Anyway, here is the list of the of CD score.

AFI – December Underground (I have a burnt copy of this on CD).

Cold Chisel – East (I already own this on LP).

The Black Crowes – Three Snakes and One Charm (I have a burnt copy of this on CD).

The Goo Goo Dolls – Gutterflower (I do not own this on any format).

Powderfinger – Dream Days At The Hotel Existence (I do not own this on any format because Powderfinger is my radio band. In other words, since their singles are constantly on rotation on Australian radio, I never felt the need to buy or listen to the albums. But for $2.50 each, it was a no brainer).

Powderfinger – Vulture Street (same as per the above. Actually I own just one album from Powderfinger and that is “Internationalist” album with the excellent “Passenger” song).

Metallica – Hardwired… To Self- Destruct (I have listened to it on Spotify since it came out and when I saw it for $5 at the Record Fair, it was a no-brainer).

Bruce Springsteen – Chapter and Verse (I do not own this in any format and since I downloaded the book to read, again for $5, it was a no brainer).

Manowar – Fighting The World (I already own this on LP. ).

Aerosmith – Pandora’s Box (I always wanted to have this box set package since I saw it advertised at the start of the 90’s.)

Dead Letter Circus – This Is The Warning (A Spotify band for me, and now I have their music on CD).

Dead Letter Circus – The Catalyst Fire (As per the above).

Trivium – The Crusade (I actually purchased this 5 years ago at the last music fair I went to and I purchased it again at this one because I forgot I purchased it. I also had this on mp3 previously).

The Tea Party – Edges Of Twilight (I had this on CD before and I re-purchased it again at this music fair because I thought I didn’t have it).

Genesis – We Can’t Dance (I do not own this on any format).

Hole – Celebrity Skin (Another radio band and even though I know I can listen to the songs on Spotify, for $2.50, it was a why not).

The Butterfly Effect – Imago (I forgot that I already own this on CD, so now I have two copies).

Dead By Sunrise – Out Of Ashes (I had an mp3 download of this album).

Hellyeah – Hellyeah (I had an mp3 download of this album).

Hellyeah – Band Of Brothers (Like Metallica, I listen to this album on Spotify).

Sevendust – Alpha (I had an mp3 download of this album).

Vertical Horizon – Everything You Want (I do not own this on any format).

Faith No More –  Album Of The Year (I do not own this on any format).

Faith No More – Angel Dust (I have a burnt copy of this on CD).

White Stripes – Elephant (I do not own this on any format).

Rush – Working Men – DVD

Rush – Snakes and Arrows Live – DVD

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A to Z of Making It, Copyright, Music, My Stories, Piracy

Piracy

The debates and arguments never cease. There is no doubt that piracy has grown the fan base of established acts but it hasn’t brought the recorded income with it. For newer artists, look no further than Ed Sheeran, who used peer to peer services to spread his music. Without it, he wouldn’t be the megastar he is.

Researchers also try to quantify how ticket sales equate to people who pirated music. And there is a lot of research out there supporting it. Metallica post Napster started to play stadiums on their own. They rarely did that previously. On top of that, Metallica tested the waters on ticket prices.

Read this interview about how they seized the moment.

I know I became a fan of a lot of bands because of pirated material. Bands like Trivium, Coheed and Cambria, Shinedown, In Flames, Evergrey, Killswitch Engage, The Night Flight Orchestra and Corroded just to name a few. And I had no qualms paying ticket prices if these bands came to town.

High profile bands from the Eighties also had a renaissance in the 2000’s because of pirated material. Motley Crue, Metallica, Guns N Roses, Iron Maiden, Twisted Sister, Megadeth, Judas Priest, Europe and Whitesnake come to mind immediately.

In the same way MTV gave the Seventies bands another chance in the Eighties, piracy gave all the Eighties acts who had some traction another chance in the Two Thousands. Provided they still wanted to work together. Bands like Skid Row, Ratt, Warrant and Dokken unfortunately missed out because key members hated each other.

It’s a pretty simple business model.

Have your music available worldwide for free and people will access it.

All of those bands mentioned above have played cities they’ve never played before and to crowds larger than before. They played these cities without selling any real recorded product in those cities.

But the Copyright holders still complain.

Seriously, is stream ripping really an issue these days. Think about the work/time involved to rip a stream. The people who are doing all of that are not interested to pay for recorded music. Those people will pay via other methods.

I can tell you that in Eastern Europe, I have not come across a legitimate music shop. The few shops I have come across (and I use that term loosely) sell rips of albums. So how do you think the people in Eastern Europe will access music.

In most cases, they will download a copy of the album. But that hasn’t stopped bands from hitting Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Hungary and Russia on tours. And streaming services are fragmented. Spotify is not available in Serbia, Romania and Russia. Apple Music is available in Russia, but not in Serbia and Romania.

And YouTube is always to blame when it comes to stream ripping, but all the service did was to provide a gap that existed in the market, which Napster highlighted and the labels tried to kill.

Seriously if stream ripping us an issue, then video ripping of video clips in the 80s would also have been an issue.

Who knew that my video ripping ways would end up being a $2000 a year music habit.

It happens. People start to invest when they are ready or have the means to. And again if there is no artist to fan relationship, all of these issues the labels find are pointless.

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Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Utopia Records

It had the motto “The Home Of Heavy Metal” and for a long time it was my home.

I first visited the store when it was located in Martin Place, Sydney. It was basically a tiny hole in a wall. Actually the first location in Martin Place was from 1978 to 1980 and the second location in Martin Place was from 1980 to 1990. The second place is the one that I remember.

As mentioned it was tiny, but packed with metal and rock vinyl from every band I could ever imagine and more.

I’d never seen pictured vinyl before, well Utopia had them. I’d never seen 12 inch singles of metal bands before, well Utopia had them as well. And those yellow and black plastic bags with the logo and branding proved to be a badge of honor. It’s like we got patched in to the club the same way bike gangs patch in their members.

I remember the stories about the owner, how he couldn’t get a job at other Sydney record stores and he borrowed some money from his Dad, imported some boxes of vinyl, got himself a business partner and the rest is history.

Then from 1990 to 1995, they moved to Clarence Street, Sydney, not too far from the original shop. Instead of getting off at Martin Place, I would get off at Wynard.

It was bigger but below street level. Actually you walked in at street level and proceeded to go down a few flights of stairs. If I didn’t go up to visit, I ordered via mail. Lynch Mob’s “Wicked Sensation” on LP and Don Dokken’s “Up From The Ashes” on CD are two purchases i distinctly remember via mail.

I waited in line for a Sepultura meet and greet because my cousin Mega was a fan of the band. He took in his battered snare skin for signing. Even Igor the Sepultura drummer was impressed at the brutality of the snare skin.

Hours would be spent here and some big decisions would be made as to what to buy between my cousin and I. Then as soon as we got back to my cousins house I would dub the records he purchased and he would dub the records I purchased.

From 1995 to 2001, they moved to George Street, Sydney next to Hungry Jacks and then from 2001 to 2006 they moved across the road under the cinemas. For these stores I would get off at Town Hall.

Again, another step up in size and a lot of my money went Utopias way.

Between 2001 and 2003 I was working as an Insurance Broker in Sydney, about a 10 minute walk from the George Street store and I got a few of my band mates and some metal friends jobs with the same company.

Even though we had corporate haircuts and wore three piece suits, you couldn’t take the metal out of us metalheads. Twice a week we would venture into the store and of course we would get some funny looks like what the fuck are these guys doing here. But we always purchased something. After about a month it was the norm to be seen there in a suit.

But for some of the stuff I was after, the prices did border on the ridiculous. I remember the John Sykes solo albums listed as Japanese Imports and they had $50 on them. I already had downloaded them via Napster but wanted the originals. I got em eventually via Amazon in 2010.

And for the music I was seeking, the second hand shops, the record fairs and other smaller independent shops started to prove better value. Because the bigger Utopia got, the uniqueness culture it cultivated got lost.

Eventually online and especially Amazon proved to be the place to go and purchase what I needed. That was until Amazon closed their US site recently to us Aussies because they didn’t want to charge GST and the Aussie Amazon site is a total waste of space.

The last time I walked into Utopia was at an address on Broadway in Sydney. I actually drove to this store and parked at The Broadway Shopping Centre.

They occupied this store between 2006 to 2010. By then I felt it was a shadow of itself. Peer to peer downloading was at full swing. I still purchased some albums because that’s what I do but it felt weird being there. It felt barren and totally void of the culture that made Utopia popular.

But during this time they did things differently by having live bands in store and battle of the bands contests. They kept it going. They kept the name in the conversation.

From 2010, they have been at their Kent Street address and I haven’t been.

I either purchase from the bands directly these days those super deluxe box sets or I stream. And on Record Store Day, there is a shop locally called Music Farmers that stock the releases I’m always after.

But I will return, because that’s what us Metal fans do.

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A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

The One You Loved Is Gone

What a solo from Slash! Actually two solos.

But it’s the middle one that hooks me.

It’s one of those moments that brings a smile to my face. You feel the emotion in the phrasing and the note bends. It’s on par with his “Estranged”, “November Rain”, “Sweet Child O Mine”, “Civil War” and “Don’t Cry” solos.

The way Slash starts off the solo in the lower register playing G major pentatonic notes in the open string position, then sliding up to the 5th fret position of the scale and finishing up on the 10th fret position of the scale. It’s a lesson on using the modes of the scale and a lesson in constructing a solo to any wannabe guitarist.

Each time he moves up the neck it’s by sliding and he bends the fuck out of those notes either half a step or a full step.

And this is where Slash is a natural.

He bends the string before he picks it, so when he does pick the string, the listener hears the bent note first and then when Slash eases off the pressure on the string, the listener then hears the natural note. This is a special skill as Slash must know the right pressure to apply to the string to achieve the right pitch for the bent note.

For example, Slash will have his finger on the 7th fret on the G string. This is a D note. But what he will do is to bend the string so the listener hears the E note first. And then he will release the pressure so the listener hears the D note.

Other guitarists will pick the D note and bend up to the E note and back. It’s easier as you hear the D note and your ears can guide the bend to the E note.

But Slash, while he also employs this technique goes a step further and pre bends to the E note and when he picks it, it’s spot on the pitch.

Of course Slash isn’t the first to this. But he is the one we are talking about now.

And that acoustic intro where Slash takes an open C chord shape and plays it on the 10th fret of the 5th string to make a G chord and then he plays an open G chord on the 10th fret of the 6th string. It’s brilliant and again, he’s not the first to play open string chord shapes higher up on the neck but he does it in such an assessable way.

This combination between Slash and Myles is musically excellent. And yeah, it might sound like an Alter Bridge song, but that solo is 100% pure grade Slash.

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Influenced, Music, My Stories

Learning Music In Reverse

We hear a song. We like it and we seek out more songs from the same artist. And the cycle repeats with different artists.

It’s how we get into music.

It happened to me in the 80s.

When i heard Motley Crue, Quiet Riot, Van Halen, Twisted Sister, Iron Maiden, Ozzy, Kiss and Judas Priest, i didn’t think for a second that these bands would have had influences.

I saw it happen in the 90s when people got into music because of Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains. These bands came first for a whole new generation. There was nothing else except these bands.

I never got the debates over Kingdom Come in the 80’s until well into the 90’s when I started seeking out bands from the 70s and started really paying attention to Led Zeppelin.

I remember when Avenged Sevenfold released the “Hail To The King” album and every song was a derivative version of a classic album that came out in the 90s. I heard the influences but kids born in the 2000s were none the wiser. As they get older, they would learn the history of music in reverse.

If you want to listen to Shinedown, do you need to listen to Soundgarden, Nirvana, Guns N Roses, Def Leppard, AC/DC, Bad Religion and Springsteen first, until you work your way to Shinedown.

Of course not.

You hear Shinedown and you get into them. You enjoy them. When I first heard them, my ears told me it’s Audioslave. A colleague at work who at the time had never heard Audioslave, so it was just Shinedown.

Dream Theater came first for me. And many years later, Rush, Marillion, Yes and Pink Floyd would come into my life. All because of Dream Theater. Even the band Muse would come into my life because of Dream Theater.

From Tool, I came to appreciate King Crimson, The Cure and Adrian Belew. Artists I wouldn’t normally listen to.

I remember when I first heard Aerosmith and Whitesnake. It was in 1987 and I had no idea these bands had a long history dating back to the Seventies.

And that’s the beauty of music. We listen, we get moved by the listening and we start to explore.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories, Stupidity

Douche Posts

There are posts on this site from a few years back that I call douche posts.

You see in 2013, a few friends and I were talking about Blabbermouth’s link bait headlines and how in most cases Blabbermouth always picked some content of an interview that could be deemed controversial as their headline.

Anyway I said to my friends I would do a few douche posts like that as an experiment and see what kind of reaction we get.

It’s been over 4 years old and I can confirm those douche posts are the least viewed posts on the site.

You see, these posts are part of an experiment to test a few internet theories.

Theory 1;

With so much information available to us, nothing lasts on the internet. In other words, the post of today is forgotten tomorrow like the album you spent 8 months recording is released this week and forgotten the next week.

Theory 2:

Clickbait always wins. This was based on how Blabbermouth and Loudwire promote their posts.

My posts were designed to be a “not too obvious” click bait post. Maybe a douche post to some people, but in order to prove or disprove experiments, you need real life actors.

Results

In this case click bait doesn’t win.

The experiment is still in the early stages but this experiment has shown to me that clickbait news stories are not really worth it. You might outrage some people, and get some views but it’s not the way forward in the long term or if you want to build something that lasts.

Clickbait brings the wrong audience to the site. For sites to grow, they need users who are engaged with it, creating their own social culture group. And that’s my aim.

The bigger websites like Blabbermouth care about the clicks to the story. That’s how they make ad revenue. All the best to them.

And while these posts are the least viewed they sure have some interesting comments.

Of course, comments need to be taken with a grain of salt here. Insulting ones are ignored, however some comments asking me to check out other things that support the commenters viewpoint are engaging and worthwhile.

What these posts have told me is that people shouldn’t take things too seriously. I sure don’t. We are all imperfect and I don’t mind poking some fun my way. That’s what makes us human after all.

And one more thing, good or bad, everything lasts on the internet. Sometimes it takes time for people to find it. You know that song you released today, it could be forgotten for years, maybe decades. But as long as it’s out there, someone will find it.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

I’m Ready

It’s a track that Oli Herbert (RIP) co-wrote for Dee Snider’s solo album “For The Love Of Metal”. The other writers are Charlie Bellmore, Nicholas Bellmore and Jamey Jasta.

It starts off fast with double kick drumming and kick ass riffing.

Faced with mortality, questioning my sanity
Images that bring me my to knees
The weight of the world on top
Have I given all I’ve got
Just when I thought I’d seen it all

Billboard is reporting that Oli Herbert was found in a pond close to his home. No one knows what actually happened but police are not suspecting any foul play.

When I was young I didn’t think about getting old. Like all of the other youths I felt invincible and I never thought about anything in the future. But time marches forward and suddenly I’m in my forties. And I‘m thinking, have I given all I’ve got so far. Am I happy where I am or just content?

That’s why I like to travel. It’s invigorating and I like being out of my comfort zone and experiencing something new. If I don’t take chances, I will never know what I will encounter.

My cousin died from a heart problem that prevented him playing football just after he turned forty a few years back in Germany. He spent his adult life trying to create a better world for his kids.

A school friend hung himself after a relationship breakdown prevented him getting access to his son. My work friends best mate put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger because he was ostracized from his daughter after a relationship break up.

Mortality and insanity cause big problems when they go to war against each other.

Death leaves a sorrow no one can heal
Love leaves a memory no one can steal

So true.

And everything becomes a memory in the end even our lives.

Maybe we’re just here for the pain
Then I’m ready

The stock market crashes and the next day it rebounds. Some feel pain while some gain. A hurricane or a shooting happens so regularly, people just shrug their shoulders. Again someone dies and a mother cries. It’s like Nikki Sixx said “we are all just doing time on the wild side.” We are just ready for the good and bad that life brings.

Praise those who live their truth
Step forward where they break through
Forge a path with something real to prove

We all got opinions but nobody is listening. So the best advice is to find our own unique path.

Because in this day and age we need to stand for something, otherwise we are waisting our voice. Then again journalists are standing up to corrupt governments and getting killed in the process.

The female reporters in Malta and Bulgaria and the Saudi reported hacked to death are three that come to mind. Never mind the Russian reporters critical of Putin who have died. But they will be praised for living for the truth.

And the solo section is perfect, from the harmony beginning to the shredding that came after.

I guess I’m ready for what needs to come next.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, Unsung Heroes

Oli Herbert – All That Remains

I remember the first time I heard the band. It was in 2008 and the “Overcome” album just dropped. I believe it was their fourth album.

At the time I had no idea how divisive this album was to their existing fan base. I read comments to reviews and YouTube videos that blasted this album.

One fan mentioned how the album is the mass marketed pop washed version of “The Fall of Ideals” (their much loved previous album). And as I type this, I still haven’t listened to the three albums before “Overcome”.

For me, “Overcome” made All That Remains (ATR) accessible and I’ve been a fan since. And ATR had the balls to go with what they believed was right at the point in time.

Because in music when you have public acceptance of your music/certain songs, you start to write similar songs so that the public acceptance remains. Some bands totally change styles while others do it within their style. ATR did it within their style.

Anyway the first track “Before The Damned” started blasting out of my headphones. It’s also by far the most heaviest track.

From 0 to 22 seconds, the snare and palm muted guitar pattern hooks you in straight away. It’s performed by syncopated military precision. Yeah it might sound generic but so did every pedal point riff on albums in the Eighties. And if you go back to the Seventies, a lot of albums had the same blues pedal point boogie going on.

From 22 to 33 seconds, the whole band is now grooving on the intro pattern, however this time the bass drum sounds out the intro riff and the other instruments play something a bit different, like open string melodic leads and what not.

From 34 to 55 seconds the verse rolls around. The riff again is generic but within the context of the song it works and the way the drums and guitars are synchronized is excellent.

But it‘s the Chorus from 56 seconds to 1.07 that seals the deal. I was hooked by how effortlessly ATR changed from the death metal verses to the hard rock arena chorus.

We will still set in motion
Changing of the time
We have not forgotten
We control our lives

Now every review I read blasted Labonte’s clean vocals and how they lacked depth, balls or there was too much auto tune.

Basically they all said that Labonte should not do clean vocals ever in the same way Bruce Dickinson should never attempt screamo/death metal vocals.

Even James Hetfield copped criticism for his vocals on the self titled Metallica album and the Load LP’s. But every artist needs to grow and try new things. These subjective debates is the reason why I love music. You can talk the whole day and night over differing viewpoints.

When I hear a song, I listen to it from a guitar point of view.

Does the song make me want to put down what I am doing and learn it?

And this song does.

Musically it’s excellent.

At 2.04 we get this head banging metal breakdown and the solo begins at 2.09 over that same head banging breakdown riff. The solo is chromatic and diminished, in the same way Randy Rhoads shreds on “Diary Of A Madman”. This concludes at 2.19. It sounds dissonant and atonal.

After two minutes and fifty seconds the song is done. So I listened again and again and again because it’s a lesson on no filler songwriting. It’s also a great lesson in the “Progress Is Derivative” model because the song takes a lot of their influences and puts it all together in an original way.

And the main man behind the guitar is Oli Herbert. A great guitar player, founding member of All That Remains and songwriter who passed away at 44.

Rest In Peace.

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Music, My Stories

Why Music Gives Us Pleasure?

There is a story over at Aeon that talks about studies as to why music gives us pleasure. And after all, science still doesn’t know why. Sure, they have some points but there is nothing objective to reference. Everything in music is subjective.

On Spotify.me, it has the statement “You Are What You Stream”.  My recent listening has Motley Crue as my top artist, “Sometimes” from Candlebox as my top track and 90% of my tracks are high tempo with an average beats per minute of 125 for the songs.

So Spotify.me makes a subjective claim that I am high energy, because it couldn’t find any chill music in my listening history, and Spotify would like to know what it’s like living life at 10.

You see, listening to high energy tracks is my chill music. There is nothing better than laying back, closing your eyes and hearing some of the classic Maiden albums wash over the ear drums, or hearing various playlists I’ve put together like best guitar solos or best live songs or various era’s and whatever else comes to mind.

But an AI algorithm cannot give you that, because it needs objective examples to come up with some form of analysis. So even though these companies buy tech companies to make their Discover playlists and everyday playlists better, they fail to grasp how the brain connects the songs together. I could go from “Hey You” from Pink Floyd to “Hollow Years” from Dream Theater to “Try Me” from UFO all because of the guitar solos.

Or I could go from “Landing In London” by Three Doors Down, to “Wanted Dead Or Alive” by Jovi to “Home Sweet Home” by Motley because of the lyrical theme of being on the road and away from the family.

I would go across genres. There could be a song from a death metal band that I like because musically it blows me away, but it doesn’t mean I like death and black metal. But the algorithms believe I do and hammer my Discover playlist with these kind of bands.

Sometimes it’s a mood I am in. When I want to chill, I don’t put on Enya or whatever these algorithms reference as “Chill”. I put on hard rock and metal music.

In a week’s worth of listening, I would have so many bands and styles in there. And no AI algorithm can come up with those human emotions. Maybe in 20 years’ time or then again maybe never.

If you want to read a long article about why it’s hard to know why music gives us pleasure. Here it is.

I’m just gonna chill with my Dio playlist that covers his Rainbow, Sabbath and solo output. It’s a shame that Spotify Australia doesn’t have the Heaven and Hell release.

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