Folk musica

First off I would like to apologize for the excessive ranting in this post. Digression takes over pretty quick when you have burning thoughts.

Most people are aware that there is yet another folk music revival going on. Like all music there is some shitty stuff, a lot of background music, and a few great acts. Two very inspiring acts to me are good friends of mine, Emily Pate of Embers End, and Autumn Brand of Saints Apollo. Both groups are stupid talented and getting some well deserved attention. We don't see eye-to-eye on some things in the music world but I think it's safe to say that centrally, the three of us are creating music that we believe conveys our thoughts and emotions in the most natural way we know.

I am skeptical of any young artist creating music that sounds like it belongs at a decade that is possibly older than theirs parents but then I have to look in the mirror and realize that I'm doing the same thing. The only difference is that I yell and scream and make my amp blow up. Creating music in any genre can be boiled down to a single moment where a note comes into existence. Down the road in Chapel Hill, NC, people are doing their best to follow those notes and as my ears age, they're digging new types of music. This folk thing has been a love hate relationship (to say the least) for years now and sadly, I'm feeling it.

Dillon and I tried putting together a folk duo and sadly again, it was worked pretty well. It wasn't our greatest venture but definitely not the worst. Both on vocals and guitar but he used a hi-hat and I had a kick drum. We had a nice little sound and put it together very quick. After a while, I know I started to fade away from it but we always play those tunes when get together. There is something about this genre.

There is something to the simplicity that inside of art created through a more oral (or aural) tradition than music that is written down. Obviously, people have taken those musics into the avant-garde but there is a spirit that remains and it escapes traditional language.

It can only be preformed.

Folk music is kin to Jazz and these musics have been beaten and bled over the years. Don't loose track of the greats in any genre. Folk, Jazz, Classical, and Pop music are filled with shit and nothing is sacred.

There are people who still creating great music in this particular genre. That one being Folk music still, and I encourage the average listener to challenge them self to listen to music that is unusual or bizarre. If any musicians see this, do your job. Open your ears to groups you never heard and listen closer to music with long Roman numerals.

Good music should create a conversations that last years. American Folk music is part of a centuries long conversation filled with poets, scholars, sailor mouths, and criminals.

Let's protect it.

Go check out Emily and Embers End and Autumn in Saints Apollo and check out my band and some our music.

Stammerings

Briliant Weeks will have a Dumb Shit Day

So this week has been filled with new music. I've written a few tunes, revamped some old songs, and started a recording project. Kenny brought us one of his tunes that he's been working on and that's where the fun begins.

So one night when us boys got together, Kenny started playing some real groovy riff on bass and it immediately catches my ear. I ask him to show it to me and we start playing it and it's just got a great feel to it and I can already hear a melody behind it. So I ask him if we can use it in the group and the next thing I know I've a rough acoustic version of in my inbox. A few days later Dillon joins us. He missed the previous get together due to the day job so now he gets to throw in his two cents. Everything starts out fine. For those of you who are involved with music or have been to a friends band practice, you know that some days are better than others. This particular day was not going to be ours.

So we start going over the changes and working out transitions and things of that nature we start adding in the lyrics. What I thought was the verse riff turns out to be part of the intro, the chorus was all fucked up on my end, and after that, it growing increasingly evident that I had no idea what was going on. Dillon was just as bad as me. He was calling verses bridges and choruses green and between the two of us and our shovels of disillusion, rehearsal seemed more like a stay in an asylum. Dillon is talking about rearranging the tune and he's singing the different parts to us and we're just sitting there like what in the fuck is going on. Kenny is doing his best to keep us from going under and the whole time this shit is going on, Darious is behind the kit just looking at us like what in the fuck is going on. At some point, we decide on the "Coheed song structure" (ABABCBC) and try the shit out. Some how, it fucking worked and we all just look at each other like what in the fuck is going on. I check the time to see how many more songs we can do and it's five to closing.

Shut that shit down and get the fuck out my house!

I guess it could've been worse. No one's amp blew up, no broken drum heads, no coughing up blood. It wasn't particularly productive but we had fun and no one ended up in the fetal position.

The next night, my dude Kevin comes over. He brings some shitty booze and we get a good kind of drunk going on and at 4am Eastern we gave birth a bouncing baby electronic song.

It was also Dillon's 21st the other night. Another good kind of drunk going on.

Well I guess that's that.

Now shut up and listen to our shit

Stammerings