Rock and roll...

And so it is that the more we work on those songs and experiment and discuss, the more our project drifts towards heavier stuff. Since we won't get back home anytime soon, my wife's metal band has been put on indefinite hold, but she needs to let that stuff out somewhere.

And this new direction totally sparks my creativity, I must admit. I've written more material in the last week alone than I had in months. There's a familiar element of course - the classical influence - but as far as metal is concerned, it's been quite a while - must be over twenty years since I'd last written anything in that genre. 
 
And I was thinking that, it's sort of a blessing not to really be aware of what's out there. I don't really have any inhibiting reflexes because I'm not comparing my work to anything that's out there. 


I still write like someone who's learned how to write songs by listening to the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Queen.

Rock and roll is home to me, which means that I tend to become very self-conscious, both as a guitar player and a songwriter. But playing metal - man, that's pure fun! You just dive in.

One of the cool things is that  I finally get to overdub the guitars and create that humongous wall of sound. Unlike rock and roll, I'm not looking for the right little imperfections in all the right places, having a single guitar track naked there all by itself, with the sound breaking in all the right spots. 

As an aspiring engineer/producer, it also simplifies my life a whole lot.

And you know what? At the end of the day, well, it's only rock and roll - which is what I've always wanted.  The song and the performance come first, even though I do bring in all those influences and wish to do something as sonically coherent and as challenging as The Dark Side of the Moon. 

But it all boils down to: what would Jimmy Page do? If you can answer that, you've solved 90% of your problems. ;)


The lovely lady saw me agonizing for hours on that stuff - so she brought this little guy and placed him right between the monitors, to remind me of where I come from and what this really was all about. Fun. And Rock and Roll.  Between Bubblehead Ace and the Elvis snow globe, I'm all set.







How about you guys? Do you avoid listening to your own type of music or do you just listen to whatever or do you feel like you must know everything in the genre you're working on? 


For me the best way to get me in the mood for a songwriting session is to crank up a song by The Who or Dio or or Prince or Alice Cooper or whatever doesn't sound like what I'm about to do...

The only thing I listen to is (ugggh here goes everyone telling me "what rubbish") AI, The Voice and sometimes AGT.

Not because I think they are worthy but it's "one step" above Real Housewives of <EVERYWHERE>

I try to listen to music on the "ray did dee oh" to see what is actually current.

Then I write what I feel and love. If it fits... cool.... if not..... cool. 

It's still fun. 

But it all boils down to: what would Jimmy Page do? If you can answer that, you've solved 90% of your problems. ;)

 
I was watching, by chance, on the net last night those Bass Lessons from John Paul Jones, and he kinda said the same thing.
 
But he also had a nice way to show us how his listening to different things walked into his music and Led Zeppelin.
 
I don't know about you, but when I write another poem, I do not think about "style" or "idea" or "metal" ... I just write what the movie sees in my head as fast as possible and how it comes out ... it comes out.
 
I think that too many folks confuse a "style" of music, with how someone felt and expressed themselves ... which became a "style" ... which, is kinda meaningless ... you need to write for yourself and if it "sounds" like this or that ... fine ... but in the end the difference is ... IT'S YOU!
 
It's the scariest thing for me ... to copy a style or be formulaic ... which I can't do anyway ... I'm too rebellious to even consider it!

I sent that Anemonia demo link to a friend thinking he might like it and he replied "I like Opeth[/[], not Opera."  Though he did admit it kicked butt.  Personally, I like it!