2004-09-16 - 4:43 p.m.
And so the soap opera that is Paying Tuition continues. One minute we have a drummer whom Turtle (rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist) met at a local show last week, the next minute rehearsals with him are cancelled due to bullshit dramatic reasons which Turtle has no time to explain to other members of the band. One minute we're playing a gig at Cricket on the Hill tonight (bar in center city Denver), the next nobody can get in touch with Turtle. And so, I sit here, $2000 Les Paul in hand, wondering why I bought it. Why do I waste my time making cover art for our cd's, working on a new website, or slaving endlessly over my Pro Tools setup? With the exception of writing lyrics, I have done every single task that there is to be done with this band, and I can't figure out why for the life of me. Turtle writes good songs...songs that I have faith could go quite far if applied properly, but he insists on using equipm ent that looks like it was put together by a two-year-old because he thinks he's kurt cobain.
Every real musician knows that the only way to get songs right, figure out what effects work and what don't, where to place leads and rhythm fills, ect., is to play these songs over and over again. Play them to the point where you could hit every single note flawlessly, blindfolded and hanging upside down from a ceiling fan. This is a process Turtle refuses to go through, and the music suffers because of it. Again, why do I bother?
The rest of my band has taken on an "it's good enough" attitude, which everyone who knows anything about the music industry understands is unacceptable. However, for some reason I nod and smile, dreaming of the day that I will find some fellow musicians who appreciate the results of endless hours of labor. I'm beginning to doubt that it will happen....
On a more positive note, last week I met a singer/songwriter named Sheila Kay Miller. She has been performing around Denver and gave me a copy of her CD. It sounds excellent, but given the fact that it consists of only her vocals and one acoustic guitar, it has a lot of room for additional tracks to be added. So, I converted the entire cd to mp3's, imported them into Pro Tools, and have been working relentlessly adding rhythm fills and leads to all of the songs. It's taught me quite a bit about recording and mixing, and I've created some pretty impressive pieces for her. One step closer to that Pro Tools certification......
In any case, once my evil plot to convince X-plicity to move her band to Denver unfurls, I shall have the experience necessary to produce studio-quality recordings and the band to do it with....and then I can blow up Guam. I'm not sure what music or Guam have to do with one another.....or why Guam has suddenly become a target of my world domination plans....but anyway, there it is.
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