Porchdroid - Ears Wide Open

Where's ya funny bone Harry?

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 04:13:00 +0000

Seems like when it rains it pours, lately i have been kept busy with a number of old time music gigs in nursing homes, Hell you don't get young screamers moshing and running the stage but hell these guys appreciate their hour of entertainment.

Barry and Speedy are guitarists, great blokes, who dress up in Mexican gear and play the oldies their favorite tunes whilst I follow along on the keys. In addition to this, they add a touch of corny humour to the act with jokes and witty interchange between members.

One show last Friday gave me a moment of joy as I saw a elderly lady holding on to her walker, and dancing along to the music. It's so good to see an audience enjoying what you have to offer.

Just before the show, I got a call from an old drummer mate, who was asking whether I was interested in joining a swing / jazz band. The word Jazz always fills me with fear, though I thought it would be a good opportunity to improve my technique and learn some songs that I would otherwise shy away from, we have had one rehearsal since then, and the band made me feel real comfortable, and there was really no problem, I coped well (jazzphobia and all).

Last Saturday night was Johnny O'Keefe night at Fingle Bay RSL on the North Coast of NSW, and I got a call late Friday afternoon as to whether I would be interested in joining the band for the night on Keys, though it was a 4 hour trip there and back, I agreed, and enjoyed a night of playing 50's-60's rock for a appreciative audience, once again it was great to see people dancing and enjoying the music.

I was outside in the beer garden having a drink before the show dressed in full black attire, and one of the patrons asked me if I was part of the band. I replied no, and that I was a member of a cult called the "Connicks" who went around in all black except for our faces. Not sure if she got the joke or thought I was serious.

The year is quickly filling up with gig bookings, as it usually does around this time, so I will be quite busy performing, and probably will not have much time to compose stuff, but then again, I
might just surprise you all.

Cheers

Ecca

Club Silencio

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:02:00 +0000

A few months ago, I was privileged to be invited to a friend's birthday, it was a huge event with great people, food and music. One particular artist that played was a friend of mine, who has a mutual interest in songwriting and recording his original material. He was keen to pull me aside and play me some of his latest songs.

After having played a few of his songs to me in a quiet spare room of the host's house, he began to explain some of the spiritual aspects of his songs. He began by explaining to me that he often felt threatened to expose real meaning of his songs for fear of ridicule, and felt that he had to be somewhat cryptic in his lyrics to hide their true message.

He continued to explain how his belief had changed his life dramatically and how he felt so strongly about this truth he had discovered, yet felt uncomfortable in openly displaying in his songs. Whilst feeling somewhat empathetic to his situation, I also felt somewhat the opposite as often I would try and delve deep into my musical innards to express my beliefs yet all that would come out was dark brooding music.

The reason I mention this at this stage is that I have just had a listen to the new Mountain Goats release "The Life Of The World To Come" which is a collection of songs based on biblical verses. There is no hiding this fact, as each song is titled after the verse which it is inspired by.

Though the Mountain Goats are not a Christian band and have never presented themselves as such in their earlier 13 or so recordings, they have obviously taken a risk with their fan base to release a collection of songs based on biblical verses, yet must have felt the impulse to do so openly and beautifully.

I have provided a download link for the album below which isn't something I normally do in this blog, so if you do download the album and like it , I'd encourage you to go out and buy it.

Cheers,

Ecca.

The Life of the World To Come

Primeval Instinct

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:27:00 +0000

Been a while since I have posted any new tunes to this space, so I thought I would add something recent. When I say recent, I have been steadily getting back into the recording process after a major computer malfunction and restoring my Virtual instruments, This has taken time.

I have been completed a few tunes, one which I cannot post here due to copyright issues using unauthorised sample (hopefully these will be cleared), and the others still in refining stages (which isn't quite like me, I normally won't spent too long on the refining process, more of a spontaneous hit and run with it style so you may actually see it posted here soon).

I have been listening to a long awaited new release and have been inspired by some of the sounds of the new Flaming Lipps CD - Embryonic, so if some of the new stuff sounds rather psychedelic and experimental, that's probably the reason. Having been listening to the Lipps, I am currently experimenting with delay effects on distorted drum loops to get a raw industrial type of rhythm section happening, whilst also playing around with unconventional bass sounds, so ready your ears for some new sounds.

Meanwhile, I have attached below a soundtrack style tune I called "Creature Journey". Reminds me of the birth of some massive prehistoric creature and it's steps toward discovery of its leafy surroundings.

Would love to hear what imagery it concocts in your little twisted minds :)

Creature Journey

Enjoy.
Ecca.

Time Sponges

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 05:48:00 +0000

My, computers are time sponges. My main system started toying with me a few weeks ago doing all sorts of strange stuff acting like it was possessed by some evil code which pulls its heads in on the slightest sniff of a virus scan. First my cd rom began to play up, only writing to a disk if a written disk was previously inserted (what the?), then my secondary hard drive packed it it, my ethernet card decided to start hanging up my system, and then as if to taunt me where it would injure me the most, my audio drivers refused to load on start up intermittently.

Now I'm one for a good puzzle, and a bit of problem solving, otherwise every computer I've ever owned would meet it's timely end traveling through a pane of glass to a resting place outside my window, but alas I am overall a patient man with enough spare time, and a yearning for discovery.

I managed to solve all these issues, but lost track of how much time this has taken. As soon as I tackle another quirk, as soon as the (permanently unscrewed) side panel is removed from the computer case, time seems to accelerate beyond belief. Note that this acceleration is exponentially multiplied during the hours of 9pm and 6am often only to be pulled into reality by the appearance of daylight though the aforementioned window.

Apart from the trouble shooting and quirk eliminating, the amount time spent downloading current software and updates to keep the systems running smoothly ironically devours time which would rather be spent utilizing the very same applications, how much music making time has been spent installing drivers, updating recording software, gathering samples, setting up hardware devices etc. We all need the right tools to work with, though a line needs to be drawn where we say, 'lets work with what we got' otherwise end up spending three days sharpening the axe to chop down a tree.

Cheers.
Ecca.

Bring out yer Dead

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:34:00 +0000

Ahhh Heath, what memories you have conjoured from the dark pit of my musical past As it scrapes against the lid of its coffin awoken by the sounds of the Beasts of Bourbon. I rememebr seeing Tex in my teenage years, larger than life, almost godlike performing at the Commercial Hotel in Paramatta, ahh the memories. Thanks for the brutal reminder of a past life long retired and decaying giving off the stench of moshpits and stale beer. As a momento I here present my own little BOB jewel.

Funk Nut

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:58:00 +0000

Billy loves his funk, and when we got together the other week, he wanted to put down a funky sounding track.

We started off with a knightrider sort of intro sequence, even looked for some knightrider samples to put on top, but decided against it. We then started with recording a funky guitar loop and adding a cool bass line.

We added some horns and some changes to the theme. A lead guitar section and some other bits and pieces.

For me this one is a little too repetitive and need something to keep it interesting though has some nice moments (including my synth solo).

Have a listen and hope you enjoy.

Cheers.

Funkadelic (Shoulders of Giants)

KG comes alive

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:11:00 +0000

Its not often when the boys get together that we know exactly what we want, and how to tackle it, and even less often that when we do, the result is what we were after. Continue on dear reader and you will hear of the rare exception.

Dave arrived with a clear idea in his head for a song genre, it was his mum's birthday on the weekend and he was telling us that whenever he went over his folk's place, that his mum would slap on some Kenny G as background music. He felt it was his obligation as and duty as a respectful son to create a classic KennyGesque style track to impress her with on her birthday.

We started with a smooth enough progression, with a floating / wafting guitar playing a delicate melody over a straight rhythm. We added as close as we could get to a saxophone using a suitable VST instrument and that's when it sank in that we were onto something.. particularly something we were after.

After adding a bridge section which basically flew off on a tangent from the theme we had set, we recorded a delicate meltdown back into the main theme.

That night, I rearranged some sections, added some effects to the guitars and such, and added some drum loops and fills.

We're still waiting to hear what Dave's mum thought of it.

Enjoy,
Cheers.
Ecca

KG's Whale Song

From Parties to Snakes.

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:46:00 +0000

G'day all, just a entry to post up a recording done yesterday by myself and Billy.
We got together mid morning and after some repairs to billy's recording software on his laptop, got straight into creating something new.

Thought we would take a different approach today, well different for Billy maybe it is the usual approach that I take, but I don't think Billy was familiar with the process I use, so he seemed a little skeptical at first.

We put down a few drum and bass loops that we were happy with, and then recorded a few loops to arrange throughout the song, mainly guitar riffs etc. This was our basic structure for the arrangement, and from there we added sections as needed.

As you can hear it is a cross between the soundscapes I would normally create on my own, and what we would normally do as a collective, so... enjoy !

Cheers
Ecca

Path of the Snakeman

More Party

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:15:00 +0000

Last few days have been rather quiet, had been looking forward to a quiet weekend, and in some regards it was. On Saturday, got together with Wayne and the crew at his place for a band jam/rehearsal, looks like the Wayne and Billy's MIDI band may have evolved into a full blown production with no MIDI at all. Which is always a good thing I guess.

The guys wanted to come over during the week to put down a new tune, Jen suggested they did this on holiday Monday as she would be home and be able to experience the whole process. (Normally she is at work when the guys pop over so doesn't really get to see what we get up to).

Billy wasn't feeling too well on the morning and was trying to pike out of the day, but we convinced him to rock up with headache and all.

We played around with another of Wayne's tunes, added a few bits to it, took a few bits out, and soon we had another little ditty to play around with. That night I mixed and rearranged some of the sections, added some keys (which I usually do once the guys leave), and also added a bass guitar part.

The idea for lyrics came fairly easily, the song gave me a old time lounge / jazz feel and reminded me of a Tom Waits style tune. I kept on thinking of his song 'Underground' off the album "Swordfishtrombones", but adapted the theme a little, so I soon got down to writing about how all the insects and vermin play around the house once the humans go to sleep. The lyrics are included below.

I recorded the vocals and may still add some party noises over the instrumental section as this seems to go for a little too long without something to hold it together, but anyway take a listen to it from the link below. Cheers.

Theres a bat wing shadow on my screen door
theres a six legged shuffle on my kitchen floor
the faint sounds of transistor jazz
theres a party when the lights go out.

arachnids all groove in their webs
Jitterbugs jivin under the bed
the night's lights a mirror ball
The house is thier stage
Theres a party when the lights go out.

The rodents are smoking them fat cigars
like their hanging in some mobster club
in their cocktail dresses and ratail suits
swinging from the rafters to a rhythm guitar
or just taking in the moon on a clear dark night
The skylight's a window to million stars

Ferret face freddy shakin on them bones
Frank blowin hard on the saxaphone
the nights not over till the rat lady sings
theres a party when the lights go out

Outside their watching for the crack of dawn
theres an owl on a branch and crow on the lawn
Hootin and crowing when its all over
They only party when the lights go out.

Party when the lights go out

Party on dudes

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:15:00 +0000

have had parties on my mind recently, went to a great one last weekend for Billy's 49th, was a fantastic night, all the usual muso friends were there, was great to see them all and have a jam with many of them.

On Tuesday Billy and Wayne popped over to put some sounds down, and there was a tune Wayne played me some time ago which I was impressed with, so we decided to work on it, we needed to write a chorus and bridge, but the basic verse riff was great and inspiring, so the rest wasn't too hard.

We managed to get the guitar bass and keys down by the arvo, and the song was left with me to add some additional instruments (drums, flute), and to tidy up and produce a little.
4am the next morning this was all done.

Wednesday, morning I started writing some lyrics and the agreed title of the song Afterparty sort of left an impression. I played around with the idea that when you are young and full of energy you tend to party hard not really caring about much but it all affects your later life (the afterparty).

So you can gather what the song is about, no need to give you the lyrics.

Check it out below.

Cheers !

Afterparty

Ecca the slacker

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Wed, 27 May 2009 07:04:00 +0000

I've been accused of being a slacko and not updating this blog.

Well stay tuned...some suprises on their way.

By the way Bryzy, I know who you are and where you live, and the school your children go to.... :)

Musical Lunch

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:52:00 +0000

Recently I have had the pleasure of coming across a sort of audiobook of one of my favorite novels (and movies for that matter) being William S Burroughs' Naked Lunch.

I was desperately hoping that the recording was by Burroughs himself which to my excitement it turned out to be.

The recording ended up being only excerpts from the book, though one of the first things which popped into my head was to use some of the readings for spoken word pieces, so I immediately started working on some tunes to back the legendary Burroughs voice.

I was very tempted to do something weird and abstract but then decided that something melodious and rhythmical would also be nice. I remember hearing a few years back the album that he did with a hip hop band (Disposable Disciples of Hiphopracy I think it was), called Spare Ass Annie, and how it suited his voice well.

The only drawback with the voice recording is the quality, it's not great.

Enjoy the Links below.

Cheers
Ecca

The Black Meat

Meeting of International Conference

Tubby Fear.

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:42:00 +0000

It's amazing how someone's offhanded comment can inspire you when you play them a song before you put lyrics to it, The guys got together and recorded a song last Tuesday and I hadn't recorded the vocals to it yet ( Wayne had written them).

Upon playing it to Jen she shook her head and commented what provoked us to write a kids song and that it should be the new teletubby's theme as it was all jangly and ska like

It inspired me to put alternate lyrics to it (after I recorded Wayne's written ones as to not disappoint him), yet I couldn't resist the temptation to record the alternate version as well. Upon mentioning this to Billy he liked the idea and encouraged me to do the deed, so posted below is a tune called 'Teletubby Nightmare' with the lyrics so you can all sing along....

Just for reference, Ragdoll productions are the Teletubby Production Company, Tele tustard is preferred Teletubby food, and Linda Blair starred in the Exorcist movie for the uninitiated.

Enjoy !

Cheers
Ecca

When I lay myself to sleep
Freddie Kruger he don't bother me
My tormentors come from my TV
Ragdoll productions and the BBC

Teletubby nightmare

Well Alice Cooper welcomed me to his
Now I know just what evil is
Just like he told me, there is no escape
Baby talk and colored suits
Take me to my darkest place.

Watching Linda Blair seems like a comedy
It doesn't seem to strike any fear in me
But when you mention the names of tele crew
It makes me projectile vomit tele tustard spew

Teletubby Nightmare

Have a musical weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 03:46:00 +0000

What a great weekend I've had.
Basically all I did was play music and hang out with Jen, perfect as far as I can tell.

Thursday night was a great night as usual at Jake's Jam, with some regulars and old friends turning up and having a good ole play together. Yes it can get loud and messy at times, but what the hey, we're all having a great time.

Friday night, I was asked to play with a local 50's - 60's rock and roll outfit. Great band, tight, all fine musicians, and as expected I had a ball. First time I had played with them, it felt so natural and after a few apprehensive numbers, I felt totally comfortable. I was actually asked to join them the following night at another gig, but i had a daytime gig to do, so unfortunately had to decline.

Saturday, Jen and I joined a group of musicians offering an afternoon of entertainment for a charity function. We had a great time and were well received.

Sunday Jen and I sang and played at a local market, which went really well, we had a friend of mine with us playing guitar, and banjo, and it sounded great. Looks like it is a regular gig every 6 weeks or so. looking forward to it again in April.

The guys were around again yesterday, we worked on a new song of Wayne's (which I hope we didn't mess around with too much as it ended up sounding quite Ska), i put some vocals on it today from Lyrics Wayne game me, but I thing I will rewrite them to suit the style more, it will be a surprise post in the not too distant future.

Today I will leave you with another tune I did on the new keyboard, it is a Prince style number, take a listen if you want, and feel free to comment.

Cheers.
Ecca

Suzie's Emancipation

Bit of Everything

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:20:00 +0000

Welcome back lovelies... thought I'd post a short entry today to let you know what's been happenin'.

Musically Ive been doing quite a bit of composing, I may have mentioned in an earlier post that I received a great keyboard for Christmas that has some quite impressive sounds and musical accompaniment styles. Basically in an effort to be as varied as possible I'm going through the styles and trying to write something from each genre, it's been getting quite interesting. I've so far covered, Disco, Guitar Rock, Trance and a few others. It's a bit like giving a child all these different ice cream flavours to try out. :). I am currently putting vocals on the Guitar rock track, so expect to see it posted here fairly soon.

It looks like this week is a going to be a busy one for performing, starting on Thursday night at the regular Jam ( If i make it..) , Friday night at a local RSL with a 50-60's rock and roll band, Saturday at a regular Charity Gig Jen and I play at and finally on Sunday at a Blues Gig with a friend of mine at one of the day markets up here on the Central Coast. I think by Sunday afternoon my fingers may need a little rest.

I've been checking out some cool stuff on the web of late.
Managed to find the complete Cremaster Cycle series which I am slowly getting through ( its difficult at times). If you are not aware of Micheal Barney's Cremaster work, do some googling, it's quite interesting stuff. Very artistic and symbolic, and beautifully filmed. Don't try to watch it without some background knowledge as it will come across very disjointed and weird. Winkipedia has some great background material on the project.

I have also come across some Charles Bukowski recordings of him reading his poetry and short stories. A friend of mine introduced me to his work a few years back (gave me a listen to a spoken word recording) and I found it quite interesting. This latest one though still interesting needs some editing, because you can clearly tell he is pretty drunk and it is a little hard to tell where his ranting ends and his poetry recital begins. Also it sounds like it was recorded outside of a studio, because some of the production (especially microphone feedback) is pretty poor.

I have given a provided a link below. Be prepared though if you are unfamiliar with his work, it can be quite hard hitting and brutal. Maybe another googling job for yaz.

The boyz have been getting together to do some more collaborative recordings, and to finish work on some older numbers, we managed to get one of our favoured vocalists to come over and put vocals down to a tune we recorded some time back, it seems to have turned out OK though I had major hassles with my setup, I think I must have had some system tray programs running which seemed to have been interfering with my sound card, anyway we managed to rectify the problem after many false starts.

Link is provided below.

Hope you enjoy your homework if you wish to accept it, and see you next time...

Ecca

Bukowski

Prison

Catch Up

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:16:00 +0000

Wow it's been a while, I haven't posted here since way before the holidays, don't ask me what I have been up to, i cant remember back that far.

I had a good break though, and spent New Year watching the obligatory fireworks, and making a few of my own with some of my nephews. Jen was off work for 8 weeks, so we spent a fair bit of time together and did some handy stuff around the house / yard.

Musically, the end of the year was fairly hectic, though the beginning of 2009 has been rather slow on the gig front, but I'm working on that.

The boys have been around a number of times and we have dabbles around with some new tunes and such. One of which I have posted below, so check it out if you want, if you don't then 'boo to you' who cares...

I got a great new keyboard for Christmas from my folks, one of them auto everything jobs, so I'm using it quite creatively to explore as many music genres as i possibly can. i even whipped up a disco tune the other day which I am in the process of throwing some vocals onto, so listen out for that one soon.

Oh I also managed to pick up a cheap 35mm SLR camera off ebay over the last few weeks, so I will be adding some of my weird shots to the blog posts.

There you go, a quick update. hope the next one doesn't quite take so long.

Cheers.
Ecca

Nothin'

A little Ambience

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:05:00 +0000

Though i enjoy collaborating with my musician friends and creating improvised pieces which usually end up sounding quite rough, I still enjoy sitting back with a nice sounding vsti and layering up a tune. one such piece called 'Sultan's Funeral' which was written a short time ago.

I didn't think too much of it when I wrote it, but listening back to it now, it seems to have a solemn feel and a strange appeal. Anyway I've linked it below so dim the lights or turn them off completely, sit back in your favorite recliner and enjoy the ride. maybe you can let me know where it takes you in the comments.

Cheers
Ecca.

Sultan's Funeral

How do you Feel?

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:49:00 +0000

Been a little quiet on the collaboration front lately, but yesterday my mate Wayne broke the drought by saying he'll pop over and make some music , so after a quick call to Billy, we had a trio set up to lay down some tracks to a new song.

Wayne has a rough demo recording of a song he had come up with which we listened to and thought we could redo with a few more instruments and some solid arrangement, so we got down to it.

Wayne laid down his rhythm guitar track (which was initially done in Acid, though then we changed our mind and decided to record in Audition as a straight recording rather than loops, so we had a bit of a slow start). I then added some bendy steel guitar bits in the intro, whilst Billy added some fancy pants guitar bits in the intro and instrumental sections.

Wayne was ready to add his golden voice, and recorded the first verse, and then decided it would be great if each of us wrote and sang the lyrics to each subsequent verse. Because the song was called 'I Feel', I could be forgiven into thinking I was in the middle of a Music Therapy songwriting session, as I would often do something similar with teenage clients as a songwriting exercise.

Anyways, we each put down our vocals, and we thought of putting down some fretless bass, but then opted for the orchestral feel of a deep cello for verses and strings for refrain. We put these down in a few takes.

We then decided some backing harmonies would be appropriate in certain refrain parts, and huddled around the rodes mic to add these. They turned out nice, though Billy reckons they should be louder (may make some subtle changes later).

Billy then came up with a tail part to end the song on the guitar, and we recorded this on the end of my pedal steel track, and amazingly the echo on the p/s track worked great with this tail run.

There are still some additions to be made, like a phasing on the rhythm guitar, and adding of some piano, but the song stands pretty solidly as it is.

This one's for you Wayne mate, hope you like it.

Take a listen from the link below, and let us know what you think. Enjoy !

I feel

I feel tired.. off to bed.
Cheers Ecca

back for a while

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 03:26:00 +0000

Hey there, remember me, it's been a while.
It's good to post here again after a period of absence, I've had a few minor crisis moments which are a little too personal to share on this otherwise rambling blog, but I'm back.
Unfortunately I cannot say that I'm back with any new music I've written because I've had to put all that aside for the last month or so to sort stuff out.

The next few weeks approaching Christmas are looking quite busy for me at the moment, with a number of corporate gigs booked between Shoal Bay and Sydney (for the New South Wales locals).

I am also involved with a number of charity gigs around this time of year, including one for a fundraiser for a kid that needs an insulin pump and a Christmas party for a disability group that I do music therapy with. I am looking forward to both of them very much as these groups really enjoy having live music at their functions, and if they have fun, it is more fun for the performers.

Jen and I have also been asked to play at the annual Christmas party for the Spencer community. Spencer is a small town between the Central Coast and Sydney, which is basically a country town, they have their Chrtismas party at the community hall, the whole town turns up, so it is quite a night. We normally so some easy listening stuff and dance stuff for the adults, and then do some Christmas songs for the kids. It's a fun time for everyone including ourselves.

Jen and I are still playing every Friday afternoon at Donnisons cafe on Kibble park at Gosford, though we don't get a huge crowd at the cafe, we get regular listeners who sit in the park, and enjoy the entertainment which makes it a pleasant afternoon for all.

Last Friday my mate Wayne asked me to join him for a gig at a local pub at West Gosford which ended up being a farewell party for one of the regulars who was moving up north to Kempsey, most of the locals turned up, and we had a great night playing music for them and watching them kick up their heels.

Other than the music side, Jen and I are still working on the gardens here, removing retaining walls, and putting heaps of plants (and removing a few as well), it seems like there is always something to do in the yard.

I hope to get back into the regular posts as soon as I can fit them in at this stage, until the next one, stay safe and have fun !

Ecca

The Week That's Bean

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:16:00 +0000

Whoa what a hectic time I've had since last posting, it wasn't planned to be but stuff just kept popping up. I'm sorry it's taken so long to post an update, but I have been rather busy (compared to my normal laid back lifestyle).

Firstly I blew a PA speaker at one of the Thursday night Jam sessions. Looks like these muso's are a destructive and loud bunch. Apparently J who normally uses his PA system has also blown a number of PA speakers on Thursday Jam nights, so while I'm not surprised. It was a bit of a shock when I went to use the speaker on Friday night for our usual cafe' elevator music gig, and a strange buzzing sound came through the PA.

Luckily, a good muso friend who lives only a few minutes away was able to lend us a PA speaker for the gig after a desperate phone call.

I later sourced a replacement, removed the blown speaker, and put the new one in, but as sure as the sky is blue, I had to re drill the PA box as the mounting holes didn't line up. I know it doesn't sound like a huge job, but for a dodgy handyman like me, I was sure I was going to stuff it up, but all turned out OK.

I also had a bit of bad luck on Monday night, I normally leave assorted pieces of music gear in my car to save me from carting stuff back and forth, I'm talking keyboard stand, power supply and leads bag, another music therapy bag with percussion instruments in it etc. Upon waking on Tuesday morning, the next door neighbour was at the front door letting me know that someone had broken into my car. Obviously they just wanted the music gear as nothing else was touched, so most of Tuesday was spent replacing the stuff taken and getting a smashed car window replaced.

Luckily I scraped up enough gear to still do the open mic on Thursday night, music therapy session and gig on Friday. One of the items I really miss though and will find it hard to replace was a Tibetan singing bowl, which I simply loved. I used to use it for meditation and also in music therapy for centering the group either at the beginning or end of the session. I am really going to miss it.

The rest of the week was quite uneventful, so I got back to my planned activities. We are in the first few weeks of spring in Australia, so I decided to do some pottering in the garden and enjoy the glorious weather we have been having. Mugsy (the cat) was surprised to see me spending time in the garden rather than spending it behind the computer desk, he hung around me investigating what I was doing to his precious habitat.

I also noticed that the broad beans I had planted earlier in the year were beginning to sprout beans, I was surprised to see this as most of my efforts to grow stuff end up in disaster as I usually look after them for the first few weeks, and then lose interest and they end up experiencing a slow and painful death. But not this time, the beans were coming out and the few that I sampled tasted great ! Yipee.

As far as music goes, I have probably started work on around five pieces of music which I intend to finish at some stage, but at the moment I am practicing for a gig which I have next week. As I don't get asked to do the Karaoke gigs that often (outside of Xmas period), I often have to relearn or refresh all the songs each time I have a gig, and of course they are always adding new songs to the list, so it is an ongoing task so to speak. Meanwhile I am also learning new stuff for our cafe' gig so as to provide some variation rather than playing the same old every week.

Well I hope I have something more interesting to post next time, but for now It's adios...

Cheers Ecca

Welcome to my weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:18:00 +0000

Ah the weekend is over and I'm back to my recording space to stir the musical cauldron. The weekend was an enjoyable run of gigging and relaxing. The gigging actually started on Thursday night at the regular open mic jam, I have some great times here, you just don't know who is going to turn up and offer their musical talents and last Thursday night was a great one.

Jake runs the night ( and has been for the last 6 or so years) , and it was is birthday, so a heap of people rocked up to rock it out and celebrate with him, and that they did, musicians as well as punters.

Unfortunately I couldn't hang around after midnight as I had my Friday morning music therapy session to run, the clients were great, they were in a singing dancing, participating mood, so it was really enjoyable seeing them have such a great time and hopefully (fingers crossed) there is another respite organization interested in employing my services for some midweek sessions which would work out really well at the moment.

Friday afternoon Jennifer and I did our now regular cafe gig, and this time instead of playing to a spattering of clientele, there were two full groups booked plus a few friends which we invited to pop in, so it turned out to be a good night. The highlight was that a friend of ours Col turned up with his fiddle, and played along with us, it really sounded great. so I hope that he decides to join us more often, it was really great to have him there, he is an awesome musician.

On Saturday, Jen and I were asked to play at a charity gig for a cancer group who were organising a fundraiser to buy a transport bus, we weren't too sure what to expect, but it was a good function with a really good audience. There were a few other musicians asked as well so we had a little impromptu band happening, so it worked out real well.

The fundraiser was held in a private backyard with stage, dance area and seating, so it was a good little set up, and the weather was absolutely magnificent. The function was booked ticket sales only, so I was surprised when Dave and Robina (a few muso friends who regularly turn up here for a jam and recording sessions), showed up. Funny thing was they were walking down the side of the house and recognised my keyboard playing... well there you go, they were quite surprised when he saw Jennifer and myself on stage.

After around 5 hours of playing and singing, both Jen and I had pretty well had it, but we still had one more thing to attend to, Jake had his official party at 'the farm' where he lives, so were rocked up there for a few hours, caught up with some friends we had not seen for some time, but unfortunately had to leave early as he were totally buggered.

Jen spent Sunday relaxing whilst I spent it making wall plaques of some of my musician friends from photo's I had taken to put up on the studio wall. I ended up with around 25 plaques, and am now I just need to put the rest of them them up.

Today I had the gang over for a improv session, Wayne, Billy, Dave, Robina and Col all rocked up with instruments in hand, we had a great time, but unfortunately no finished product. We started on a tune Dave and Robina had been working on over the last few days, but got bogged down a bit with the technicalities of it and ran out of time. But it will definitely be an ongoing project.

Well that just about wraps up this interzone report but I am going to leave you with something real special, Dave told me about a TV special that Alice Cooper had filmed back in 1975 for the release of Welcome to my Nightmare, apparently it has never been released on DVD. I Love the Nightmare album, so I searched the web for this TV special, and it was well worth it. The links for the are below... enjoy, I did.

Cheers Ecca.

Part 1: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5T93X2VW
Part 2: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VZ1DQZV5
Part 3: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=G6VL5G75

Merlin's demise

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 09:44:00 +0000

I've had a rather frustrating few days for Merlin my treasured media player looks like he has committed the electronic equivalent of a infant death. I had only held him in my hands for a few short days before the screen went blank and then there was nothing. Im afraid it's everyready heart stopped beating. I may be able to salvage the 120G hard drive and use it as an external (as far as I can see it is just a small laptop hard drive). Overall though I'm quite disappointed as it was a gift from my folks and also as it seemed like a great unit if it had continued to function. Unfortunately I didn't get to know it long enough to give it a proper Eulogy.

My second dealing with material possessions also happened this morning. I do get attached to my toys, instruments, equipment etc. I'm not one that looks after my gear really well I'm afraid. Luckily I have a certificate in electronics and communication and have a go at fixing things, but this mornings proceedings felt like the end of an era.

We were having a Junk collection in a few hours, so I had to make a rash decision, I was ready to sell my old Atari ST computer (2 of them) and assorted peripherals including genuine Atari color monitor, though upon setting the gear up and testing it, the monitor was stuffed, and each of the computers had particular faults ( been in storage for around 10 years ). These were my first real music computers, initially I had a trs80 but sound capabilities were a squeaky old buzzer, a stranger to the meaning of hi-fi.

The Atari's had MIDI ports (the Amiga 500 probably it's nearest rival didn't) and they made some great sounds, so I bought one, as I was working in the service department of a retailer who sold them, I was later able to purchase a second unit for a very low price. These computers were my training wheels into computer music, I struggled for years with Stienberg12 sequencing software.

The PC of course has improved on the Atari's performance by leaps and bounds, but they were dear to my heart. I solemnly carried them out to the front yard and placed them tenderly upon the pile of old timber furniture, a sink and numerous boxes of junk. A few McDonalds happy meal toys had spilled over and were playing merrily on the grass.

I myself was a little saddened I was, as I started to walk away but eventually turned around and took one last look at my musical beginnings and said a soft goodbye.

I am still working on my new song, it still need vocals, and I'm struggling with it, so be patient it will arrive soon.

Cheers Ecca

There's a kinda hush...

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:52:00 +0000

It's been a pretty quiet week on the Studio front this week, so I've been spending some time sitting in my fat controller's chair updating this and installing that and fiddling with a new GPS I purchased through EBAY. I definitely need to be told where to go and how to get there, a poor stumbling, wandering being such as myself often needs a little clear concise direction.

I also received a new hi tech gadget from my parents who just returned from their overseas holiday. They brought me back a Merlin which is a media player/recorder with an internal 120g hard drive, awesome little gadget, they managed to pick this up in Dubai, so I have been sorting through some of my favorite movies, and dumping them onto the media player. I had to include Naked Lunch, The man who wasn't there, Blade Runner and I am considering transferring my David Lynch and Woody Allen collection to the device as well, after that I will probably start on my favorite albums.

It was also a week of good news, I received confirmation this week that J and I have a permanent weekly gig at a local restaurant, we did our first one last Friday, and it went well, though could have been a few more diners to hear us. The management were quite impressed and I believe there could be additional work if they have a booked function. J and I haven't had the duo going since my medical problems about a year back, so it was good to be a musical team again.

I also played a gig last night with a few musician friends (some I had never played with before) for an organization called merry makers, who are a social group for adults with disabilities. It was a fun night, they really knew how to kick up their heels and get into the spirit of things. We played mainly standard country and rock songs, and they (and we) absolutely had a ball. It was so great to see an audience enjoying themselves that much. I even spotted a few of my music therapy clients, they were quite surprised to see me on stage with a band.

In the next few days I hope to finish off a song I've been working on, and we might even see something new from the collaborative group ( I think Dave will be back from interstate this week ). So keep your ears wide open.

Ecca.

Lost Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 14:17:00 +0000

I've been toying about this next entry over the last few days, but each time I poise my eager fingers over an awaiting keyboard, something screws up or comes up, one of the two.

On Thursday I was frustrated to discover that this computer had suffered a virus attack ( the one where your wallpaper gets changed to a fake spy ware detected warning message). I actually had the same virus some months ago and managed to get rid of it with a little research on the net, so this time, I simply took the same action (or what I could remember I did last time) and it seemed to have disappeared but basically just pulled it's head in to reveal itself with greater impact a few hours later ( I think they call them Trojans because they disguise themselves but maybe they should be called turtles).

I spent most of Friday in town in the rain, doing music therapy, visiting the library, and spending 2 1/2 hours at the doctor (that not waiting, that's actually seeing the doctor). Nothing major, just getting some paperwork filled so as I can complete my music therapy degree.
At the library I was reading a book about the making of the Pink Floyd movie 'The Wall', one of my favorite albums. I was surprised to discover that when Bob Geldof was offered the lead role by his manager in the back of a cab, he turned it down because he was never into Floyd, and thought they sucked badly. Little did he know that the cab driver was up being Roger Water's brother, so this soon got back to him. Well he got the part anyway. Freaky stuff.

Later in the afternoon, I was to play at a cafe in Gosford with one of my good mates, though the owner pulled the pin on the night when they didn't have any patrons ( as I was packing up, group of fifteen arrived ).

Later on Friday evening when I got home, my partner reported that the computer locked up, so I rebooted and ran my antivirus software. I left this running overnight as you do, and the next morning I could tell something wasn't right, the antivirus software had locked up. This time after rebooting I was locked in a logging on logging off cycle without actually getting to my desktop to do anything (even in safe mode), so I saw this as a perfect opportunity to reinstall windows on a different partition, and copy important data to the non windows hard drive, and then zap the windows hard drive (format), and reinstall windows.

After the above process I was presented with an unusual blank desktop, where I am used to icons everywhere, so I had a big task ahead of me getting my most used programs back up and running. Come Saturday afternoon I was adequately functional again.

Fortunately, I run three computers here, with only this one connected to the net, both my main music computers are Internet free to prevent this very scenario, so no music or musical utilities were lost or harmed in this process.

On Saturday evening I had a dinner appointment with my old band members at a restaurant we frequently visited in our glory days (maybe glory hours), which ended up being a very pleasant evening. I caught up with all the Zubrick gossip, my partner J also enjoyed some intelligent conversation (which she definately doesn't really get too much of from me).

Tools (our aptly named bass player), J and I enjoyed a few hours at the local club testing out the payout capabilities of the pokies ( not the best results I'm afraid, but an entertaining few hours ). The selection process was all in J's hands so we obviously played the cutest, noisiest machines to be found. J is into all the bells and whistles even if the payout is minuscule as long as the machine sings and the animation is good, she's happy. A payout is just an unexpected bonus.

Sunday morning was spent sleeping, sitting lazily with J, rebuilding my email address book, installing a few additional applications, and finally going over to J's folks place for Father's Day. I spent a few hours there watching 'Down Periscope', and parts of various war DVDs whilst enjoying J's mum's delicious rock cakes.

My folks are still on their Mediterranean escape, probably in Dubai now doing some major shopping deals with the Arabs. They are back later this week, and I am sure they will have some great stories to tell. I would like to do some more overseas travel myself soon , I'd like to visit Thailand, maybe do a spiritual quest in India or something along those lines.

I'll probably spend this coming week tweaking this computer back it's former self and going through some material for some upcoming gigs. The next few weekends are booked with a country gig, a charity gig, and a corporate gig a few weeks after that with a fair bit of new material.

I may get a chance to do some recording with the guys this week, so if anything new gets finished you'll be able to hear it here first.

That should bring you all pretty well up to date, so enjoy your week ahead, and stay happy !

Ecca

Everything but the sync

noreply@blogger.com (Ecca) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:00:00 +0000

It is always interesting talking to other musicians and learning how they approach their music. Yesterday I spent most of the day with the guitarist from my covers band going over our live material.

After some time, the subject got onto sequencing and such, as we both are into using computer technology to record and produce music. He was explaining to me methods of syncing computers and sequencers and effects units so as they all share the same timing source. Now this was something I have toyed with, though due to my unconventional nature of doing things, have decided to stay right away from.

My approach always has been to play my VST instruments live. In fact, none of my works are sequenced using a sequencer program, rather I just load them into a VST host software as needed, and record them live layer upon layer. I guess the results of this approach are that I am getting a human feel to my recording rather than a sequenced machine feel. I know sometimes the timing can be out, but working with loop recording software this can be easily rectified if it is too much of an issue, and as mentioned in previous posts, plugins such as melodyne are great for setting major timing issues straight (even if Acid does tend to crash on contact with melodyne).

If I need to use a instrument which is rhythmical in nature, ( such as an evolving sound or beat based sound ), setting the tempo of the VST host to the recording software tempo usually brings them into sync well enough (even though these are two different computers).

I have also been studying scale structures and jazz chords lately, so some of my new work may seem more inclined to using strange chord shapes . This is an area I have looked into a number of times, but was overwhelmed by the vast possibilities, though this time I think some valuable and usable information has sunk in (even though I may have used these chords and scales previously, now I can actually figure out what I am doing, and hopefully embellish it).

I don't think I'm going to instantly turn Zappaesque, but I might actually achieve some of the strangeness and odd feel that I am looking for in my composing, so lets hope it all works out. Meanwhile I will keep delving into this most interesting area.

Well that's enough rambling for now, I hope I should be able to leave you with something new on my next post.

Ecca