revelations through introspection and drumming
[Recent Entries][Archive][Friends][User Info]
Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "laborious braygorious the magnanimous" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
|
01:49 pm
[Link] | Sucks to Nashville, I'm gonna stay in Athens another year. And I'm leaving for another tour with the Sharks on Saturday.
|
|
03:22 am
[Link] |
Tour with We Versus the Shark
I'm currently in Long Island at Jeff Tobias's parents' place killing time before the show in Brooklyn tonight. Touring with the Sharks has been exactly how I thought it would be: fun and an incredible growing experience. We've played with some bands that have rocked my socks off, and some that made me cringe, but the Sharks have consistently been well-received. My favorite show so far was in Ithica, NY, at this coffee shop/arcade where I set the high score on Ms. Pacman(only like 77000ish). We got our one and only request for an encore there, and they had an awesome party afterwords.
We'll get back to Athens on April 1st. I'll miss nightly shows, but I miss World of Warcraft so much it's killing me, so it's a fair trade-off. Hopping back into the desk job well suck, but of course it's necessary for paying bills until I can perform for a living.
I've pretty much decided that I'm gonna try relocating to Nashville when my lease runs up in August; I need a change of scenery. Just gotta find a place to stay and employment. I really just want to do session work, touring, and maybe teaching, but I'm still up for trying out full-time bands, and I'd definitely be down for touring with the Sharks if they need me in the future, regardless of where I am. And, of course, I still want to see what happens with the Terrordactyl experience when Jace finally has the time.
|
|
09:11 pm
[Link] |
bing-bing!!
I have to admit, it's fun to ring that little bell twice at my DialAmerica job after I get a double sale. Had my best day yet with 24 sales in 6 hours. One interesting Canadian call moment: some guy in Canada gave me my exact phone number(different area code) for a sale. I felt like I was in another dimension or something. All same 7 digits. Crazy.
I have a new favorite foot chop out method: rock out to Lightning Bolt. I made it through the intro of 13 Monsters with each foot only once before the burning kicked in. Man... once upon a star, I was almost in a band that covered Lightning Bolt... still waiting to hear from the man who can make that happen. Damnit.
In other music news:
-Some other metal band wants me to start playing with them in Monroe. They have no vocalist. Where do all the vocalists hide??
-My first practice with We Vs. the Shark was delightful. Tour in March will be like Christmas--with a lot of adrenaline.
-The first Strokes cover band practice has been scheduled for Saturday. Boo-yah.
-Legend Has It will once again rock Last Call on Friday night. Last time people were crowd surfing. A lot. Imagine the commotion!! DO NOT MISS THE DRUNKENESS!!
Current Mood:  calm
Current Music: We Vs. the Shark(over and over)
|
|
12:29 am
[Link] |
Techmollogy... what's hit all about?
So Trusty told me that he got rid of all the spyware on my computer... I think all he accomplished was removing my pop-up add filter, because now I get more pop-ups than ever and my computer has started to give me black screens of death. And it's so slow that I can't get rid of the pop-ups for like an eternity, every time. I have no patience for computers anymore.
Please Kill Me came at a good time, considering I just beat Metroid Prime 2, and I'm now scared of bothering my roommate and his girlfriend by drumming when they're home.
Legend Has It's playing at Last Call Friday night, and I think I'm going to studio with them on Sunday.
Man... deftones covering weezer is really bad... who'd have guessed?
Current Mood:  blah
Current Music: Le Tigre
|
|
12:25 am
[Link] |
Drum Journal: Drum(set) Corps
After slaving away on parts for T-1(possible title: Oaken Tower?), I decided to re-write a good bit to make my parts flow a little better. Writing drum parts in this mathy-metal environment is addictive. It's interesting because the majority of the parts I find myself writing are too hard for me to play at my current skill, which makes me spend hour after hour repeating several measures at a time to make the parts solid(similar to the way I practiced for drum corps). The main problem is that I keep forgetting how fast 180 is... must stick to 16ths, nothing faster, lesson learned from practicing with Jace.
Also, it's going to take longer than I anticipated to get my feet up to par. Building hand chops has proven to be much easier than building feet chops, for me anyway. So maybe I'll have feet 16ths up to 180 by summer; I think that's a reasonable goal considering I maxed out at 155 today, which isn't any faster than last week, but it's definitely getting more solid.
I highly encourage anyone reading this to look into a band called Lightning Bolt, particularly a song called 13 Monsters. Yeah.
|
|
06:26 pm
[Link] |
Drum Journal: The writing of T-1
Terrordactyl's first song(T-1 for short) has consumed my practice routine entirely these days. First, my feet are too slow; I maxed out 16ths at 155, and T-1's tempo averages around 170-190, so I have a LOT of work to do just there. That's just chops being under par. Then there's the actual writing, which consists of singing Jace's part over and over in my head and trying to hear drums over it. I just put the parts I wrote over the past two days on paper to see what it looks like, and it's pretty crazy. (Jace, correct me if I'm wrong:) I counted 6 6/4 bars(or 12 3/4 bars) after the first measure past the math part that connect the finale math part. Of those 6 measures, I've managed to cram 3 completely full of written notes, so I'm only halfway done there. As for the finale... man, T-1 will certainly be an exercise of endurance. Structurally, it's the same as the first math part, which consists of several different 8th note impact groupings which Jace wrote on a sheet of paper to create 2,2,5,4,4,1,1,1,1,1,7(I particularly love the 1's). I just finished working out the systematic filling of the 8th note spaces to 16ths, with double-kick separating each group. In other words, this song has a shit-ton of notes. Hopefully these parts will work, but even if they don't, I bet I could use this whole song as my first-ever structured drum solo(without the band) and make people's heads spin. Well, it would make my head spin if I heard it anyway. With more written notes, however, the likelihood of choking increases, especially with the adrenaline rush of playing for a crowd, so I have SO MUCH practice to do in order to make it work.
Bring it on.
|
|
02:51 am
[Link] |
Band #6 named: TERRORDACTYL
So far there hasn't been one negative reaction to Terrordactyl's first song, which was pretty much finished tonight. Either everyone is being nice, or they have a similar reaction to the song as I do when I listen to the recording we made: "woah." Three practices(only one with Andy) and material is being written faster than any endeavor I've made, and it's fucking good.
Maybe I'm over-excited, but to all the doubters: we aim on playing a 25 minute set by Janurary or February of the most high-calliber energy, so see for yourselves.
Current Mood: creative
Current Music: Radiohead
|
|
02:12 am
[Link] |
A Waltz of sorts
...was half-way written tonight. Jace and Andy are a mean writing combo, and I've never been more pleased with my drum writing as I was tonight. I'm beginning to understand what Jace meant by "unleash."
I don't know how this band won't be a hit.
Current Mood: rejuvenated
Current Music: Meshuggah
|
|
11:03 pm
[Link] |
Band #5 retired, sights set on Band #6
Chris Neil, the guitarist for Rick Brantley and Revival, just left my house an hour ago. We basically concluded that the band has different ideas of what should be going on percussively than I do. Chris mentioned multiple times that I was "too good of a drummer," though when I told him I'd quote him on it, he revised to the effect of "we just want a drummer who won't be bored with our music." I was actually thinking the same thing, especially in light of Project Jace and the other opportunity costs of committing. I'm just glad I didn't have to bring it up. Rick Brantley and Revival have some great ideas and some excellent music, but they're right; I doubt I'm the drummer for them, simply because we have different musical ideals. We're all less willing to compromise than we origionally thought.
So now I once again have an open schedule for spring of 2005, and need shows to be booked for my piece of mind. Project Jace seriously needs to take off... I'm more excited about it every day. Tomorrow night is practice with me, Jace and Andy from Cinemechanica. America. Fuck yeah.
Current Mood: optimistic
Current Music: The Grails
|
|
12:49 pm
[Link] |
Band #6: Project Jace
The past month has been insane. In addition to my new job at Dial America, I've managed to join three bands and quit one, making my current band count 5. I have taken quite a bit of criticism for my choices on all fronts; my musical integrity has once again been called into question, and once again I've had to preform the balancing act of "smart career move" versus "artistic quality." Some would say the two concepts can be grouped together. Please allow me to explain my current (ever-changing)perspective.
Band #1: Full Fathom Five(www.fullfathomfive.com). My first love in a drumset performance setting. A bunch of friends who got together in high school(6 years ago!) to play whatever seemed to please us. FF5 has shaped my musical perspective in the acceptance department because I've never considered it to be my absolute ideal sound, but I've always had incridible fun playing with those guys because of the friendship and the freedom they gave me on stage. I wanted to take FF5 to the end and have the fame of DMB or Phish. Several months ago, however, frontman Chris Currie announced his lack of desire to make the band a life-long career, which rattled me more than any announcement of my life. I gave Chris the job of booking shortly thereafter, and though we have played about 1 show every 3 or 4 weeks, currently there are no shows booked, and we may be done by August.
Band #2: Legend Has It(www.legendhasit.net). The extreme example of career move over musical integrity. It's been that way since I joined the band, and it's been very fun and lucritive. It's fun because I'm challenged--not in any external way(since I usually spend the shows trying to figure out how to unplug my monitor--no offense to the writing, but booze creates unbearable noise and I'd rather hear the way the songs are supposed to sound in my head); but from an internal perspective, I love to see what I can play in that environment that's new and innovative percussively. It's very self-indulgent and always facinating to me. Currently there are no shows booked.
Band #3: That's What She Said(www.thatswhatshesaid.net). Don't ask me about this band, because I'm still confused myself. I've had to call frontman Morgan Parham every day this week to see if we're playing a show at Last Call tonight, and I still don't know. My tolerance for un-professionalism with this band is huge, however, because they are such good guys. Last Call's owner has described Morgan as the only person he knows that's going to Heaven. All I know is they're fun to get wasted with and play music. Again, all internal challenge, as I spend an average of two hours a day practicing rudimentary and fundamental exercises in order to have fresh ideas for my next shows. Currently there are no shows booked.
Band #4: One Second to Sadness. My first metal outlet. Too long of a drive to commit.
Band #5: Rick Brantley and Revival. The most dedicated members I've been involved with, which is attractive to me because I'm used to dealing with the commitment and professional problems of my first three bands. AGAIN, not my ideal sound, but it seems like a good career move as I'd love to go on a legit tour and play at Bonaroo.
Band #6: the unnamed entity of what could be, and the exploration of artistic expression. Last night I got together with Jace for the first time and realized that once again I need to play the role that I'm best suited for: playing off of a creative influence instead of initiating the intangible sound I'd like to go for. I have no idea what my ideal sound is. I think it can be summed up like this: my ideal sound(at least at this point) doesn't really exist. I take so much pleasure just playing music that (musically)I'm probably the world's least-particular drummer. Jace fucking shreds guitar and I'd love to be the drummer that he would need. We discussed so much music last night; it was definitely inspiring. Jace wants to "unleash"(revised from "challenge") me as a drummer, and regardless of what that means, I'm excited about it. Once again, I'll take challenge internally: practice with this new sound in mind, but at the same time, keep practicing fundamentals so I can mesh with ANY sound I need to mesh with. We'll just take project Jace day-by-day and enjoy every step we can.
How rediculous would it be to cover Dillinger Escape Plan?
Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: The Dillinger Escape Plan
|
|
03:56 am
[Link] |
band #4 retired, band #5: project bonaroo
The drive to South Carolina got to me. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. One Second to Sadness is what they decided to call the band. Hopefully they'll still get big; I really did like playing with them.
Band #5: Rick Brantley & Revival. These excellent gentlemen invited me to tour with them. The plan is to play Bonaroo by June and then assess. Honestly, the idea of playing bonaroo excites me just as much as the idea of playing music midtown, warped, or any festival; I think it'd kick ass to be on the inside of such a huge event(mainly just so I can get in free).
On a different note, the Cinemacasa kicks as much ass as I expected. An interesting idea was proposed that I find this legendary fellow by the name of "Jace" and jam with him. 100% of the population at the casa who knew Jace agreed that it was a good idea. Somebody tell him I'm down.
|
|
03:45 am
[Link] |
band #4
I had my first practice today with a hard rock band that is yet to have a name. It is the first band offer of many I've received over the internet that I've seriously followed up on(aside from that Creed rip-off that came to my house to audition me last year; I don't think they exist anymore). I drove out to Aiken, SC for practice; we got through about three songs, and they couldn't be more excited about it. I had fun. I've never drummed for a band with a screamer before. A good scream can certainly add intensity to rock. I got to use all my Mike Portnoy/Dream Theater influence with double-bass. Will this be the band that takes me to stardom? Who knows. My experience has made me skeptical, but I figure joining as many bands in as many environments as I can will only boost my slim odds of making it as a musician, not to mention experience. Besides, I definitely need a change from Athens. I just want an established band to find me; I have wide-open arms.
My problem is probably my shitty playing and technique. Maybe if I practiced 4 hours a day instead of 2...
|
|
03:18 am
[Link] |
Drum Journal: drums drums drums
Drums drums drums. Paradiddle flam drum. Drumi-que ratama-diddle.
Today I finally got my I-don't-knows to 190 felt to sextuplets with left foot lead. I then gridded my slurred flam-five tripple paradiddle-diddled pattyfla-fla inverted muther-fuckered/book-reported Chicago's with hat chics on the e's and dragged open closed diddles flamtastic on right hand...
and got it up to 200000000!!!!!
Tomorrow I will spend the day inventing 7 new rudiments and playing We Vs. the Shark beats BACKWARDS!!!!
(joke)
Current Mood: happy
Current Music: blur-coffee and tv
|
|
06:05 am
[Link] |
Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream...
Another fantastic Halloween to add to the books. I've seen fucked up sights before... but then I'd never been to a Crush Girls party, not to mention on Halloween at Pig Pen.
Suckers.
Current Mood: High
Current Music: Avalanches
|
|
04:41 pm
[Link] |
Drum Journal: See Carolina's Fastest Braygar
Yeah. I finally learned See Carolina's Fastest Trees by We vs. the Shark on the drumset, biyatchch. Why? Because it's a fucking fun part to play. This is my third day of bed-ridden sickness, and I finally have the strength to drum again. I also decided to work my left foot independence by running through some exercises in A Funky Primer where left foot plays the written kick parts on hat chics while right foot plays a latin boom, ba-boom, ba-boom thing. It's a doozie. Limb independence is my new drumming obsession: being able to play all kinds of different things with all four limbs simultaneously. I really suck at it, but we take things day-by-day, yes?
PO TA TOES
|
|
02:26 am
[Link] |
Noise
So I participated in a psych-rock-ish jam tonight at Mercer's. Dualing drumsets with Scott. I convinced Scott to play through You Don't Have To Kick It with me. It kind of blows me away; to be covering a drummer's own written music with that drummer(who just happens to be my brother) is pretty cool.
Noise... who doesn't like to make it, seriously?? Just plug in and thrash. Make the ears bleed! Unleash musical mayhem!! For if there's one thing I've learned, one man's trash is another's treasure. Fuck vice-versa!
Current Mood:  sleepy
Current Music: Microboy- Just a boy. (Check out the studs on that cd!)
|
|
01:31 am
[Link] |
Oh man... I mean, ...man...
Wow. One could say I had somewhat of a religious experience tonight behind my drumset on Wild Wing's stage. One might also add I got paid a good deal to do so. Life is good.
Current Mood:  intimidated
Current Music: Broken Social Scene
|
|
04:15 am
[Link] |
I guess I di-I guess I didn't know
Nintendo + drums = a happy Braygar. I'm going to play the fuck out of Donky Konga. I don't think there was any doubt.
Why do I get more and more pop-up ads every day despite my filter? Damnit.
Current Mood: calm
Current Music: Ratatat
|
|
04:55 pm
[Link] |
Hangover 2004
5pm and I'm still hungover. One of the top 3 hangovers of my life. Fantastic.
Sorry about Everlong, Dudes...
|
|
11:38 pm
[Link] |
Arboreal Frippery
Two nights since the Sharks show and my neck still hurts like hell from rocking out. That hasn't happened in a while.
|
[<< Previous 20 entries] |
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
braygar's journal