Yours TRULY

Musical Balance

Published on March 23, 2009 in My Life. 1 Comment

I spent much of my weekend helping friends and family out with music. Saturday was a rehearsal for an upcoming wedding and the second was a gig for my father, playing in his rock ‘n’ roll band. Neither are paid. I just enjoy music and will take any opportunity I can to fit it in to my life.

One thing I have learned through the years is that not everyone who performs is like this. Some are in it for the money, some for the competition, others just like the attention. My Dad (a musician for over 40 years) put it best when he said, “True musicians either play for lots of money, or no money.” I would add to this by saying they would play to thousands of people, hundreds of people, one person or to no one.

Not many people know this, but I have tried to give up music a few times. In the past I have, more than once, declared to myself “that’s it! I need to concentrate my time on something else“. Shortly after this Music, in a round about way, has always responded with a stern “Na huh!“. The most recent example of this was after my daughter was born. I decided it was time to “grow up”. Following this, I went from 0 upcoming gigs to 5 – in less than a week! You win again, music.

Here is a basic rundown of my relationship with music so far:

» I get severe stage fright and hate being in the spotlight, but continue to do so gig after gig.

» I look forward to rehearsals as well as gigs and I am willing to keep practicing all night if needs be.

» I constantly perform freebies for friends and family, whenever asked. Much to the frustration of my very understanding ~~roadie~~ wife (who often refers to herself as a “musicians widow”) .

» At paid gigs, the last thing I care about is how much I money am making. The first is how I can put on a performance I can be proud of.

» I continue to write songs that barely anyone will hear, as if they will be played for millions.

» I will be recording my next CD this year and I am not worried about how many people buy it.

A work / family balance is presumed to be just that – 2 areas of your life evenly proportioned to ensure you don’t get too much of one and not enough of the other. However, things are much more stable when built on a base with three corners. I choose to selfishly add a third element just for myself. Sure, it would be great to be a singer / songwriter as a career; a dream come true. For now, I just feel fortunate to have music as the counter-weight in my life.

The New New

Published on March 2, 2009 in Baby, Family, Gigs, My Life and My Work. 0 Comments

Song writing has been around for a long time. Probably longer than that! Recently I have noticed an increase in lawsuits in the music industry relating plagiarism of one form or another (ie Red Hot Chili Peppers vs. Tom Petty). As a song writer I have started asking myself, how many more combinations can there be for the 12 available notes in music?

My Dad (another songwriter) often says, “You can’t write anything new any more, everything sounds like something else these days”. In some ways, I believe this to be true. However, if you look at the simple Chord structure the “12 bar blues” and how many songs have been constructed over that form, it is obvious to me that the slightest change in rhythm or melody can make one song seem totally unrelated to the other. Look at it this way: 99% of the words in all the worlds books are contained in the dictionary.

Last year I set myself a huge challenge. For the first time ever, I announced that I was going to write a song – and what it would be about. It was a tribute to my new daughter that I would play at her Christening. Everything was organised and ready to go except for one minor detail – I had no song. Most have my songs come “out of the blue” either from a melody in my head to something I work up on guitar. By pre-planning my song I was effectively timetabling inspiration.

I obsessed over this song for a good couple of weeks trying to find that “new” idea. People talk about a flash of lightning, for me it is more like a spine tingle. I got the sensation whilst buying coffee for my wife and I one Saturday morning. I thought up the title: “Welcome Home”. In an instant I knew this was the exact message I wanted to send to my daughter through her song. I also like the way it directly links to the wedding song I wrote for my wife in which the last words are “With you … I’m home”.

The resulting song came soon after that and I class it as one of my best. I played it for my wife who loved it instantly. I have yet to record it but will do so when I release my new CD (hopefully later this year). I have decided that just because writing brand new and original songs these days is hard, it doesn’t mean we should give up.

Official Weekend

Published on February 20, 2009 in My Life. 1 Comment

TFIF! The weekend is almost here! A lot of people see the two typical days off – Saturday and Sunday – as their weekend. I see it differently, indulge me for one short paragraph:

If you work a typical 40 hour week and your day ends at 5pm, I believe the weekend actually begins 5pm on the Friday night. Sunday night is no different to any other weekday or “work-night” so I classify 5pm Sunday as the official end to the weekend. How many people say on Sunday night “I can’t believe my weekend is over already?”. Hmmm… Interesting. Discuss.

New Shoes

Published on February 15, 2009 in My Life. 0 Comments

New Shoes
Originally uploaded by YTruly

After a good couple of years of service I have decided to decommission my black shoes. I replaced them with a new pair of exactly the same type. Can you tell which is which?

So far

Published on February 5, 2009 in My Life. 1 Comment

Well it’s already month number 2 of 2009. Is it me or are the years going quicker? It felt like the time between my 17th and 18th birthdays was a lot longer than that between my 30th and 31st.

I have already declared this the “Year of Business” for me as I have been spending much of my ‘09 time either in meetings or filling out forms. It’s getting to the stage where my signature is looking the same everytime I sign it!

This is also the year where I have been cracking down on charging for my services. I already lose a lot of my week working so I feel it is only reasonable to expect that, if anyone requires my skills during my time off, they will be charged for it (within reason of course).

Cost cutting has also been a priority for us at home and I have met this on two fronts. First off, all unneccessary expenses are going. The main casualty in this war against bills was Foxtel. We just didn’t watch it enough to warrant the $90 a month expense. We are also looking into removing or reducing other regular costs in response to the question “what do we really need?”.

The second approach invloves “unlocking” the full potential of the things we own. Thanks to Dean for his help with this.

We still have a long way to go before we are anywhere near comfortable financially, but for the first time ~~in a long time~~ … ever, I feel we’re on the right track. Married, a baby, budgeting, resposibilities … when did I get all growed up?

10 ‘09 Resolutions

Published on January 2, 2009 in Baby, Communications, Family, Friends, Gigs, My Life and My Work. 0 Comments

Well the new year is upon us and I, like so many others, have come up with a few goals to achieve. My focus this year is on the direction I want to head in. I feel I’ve spent a lot of 2008 dealing with ground work and I want 2009 to be about taking control and steering my life.

Lets get the obvious out of the way …
1. Lose Weight.
This is on the agenda every year and I can say that so far it has been no more a failure than a success – in that I have neither gained or lost weight for around 5 years now. Let’s hope my new found drive and my newly purchased Wii Fit will make the necessary difference.

2. Be more pro-active.
The operative word being “more”. I am pro-active to a certain degree. I make things happen for me and my family, but there’s more to do. I need to push myself so that I am steering my life in the right direction every single day.

3. Be a better Dad.
People comment on how awesome my daughter is – and I whole heartedly agree. She is awesome. This is 99% my wife’s doing. She is just a fantastic mum. This year I aim to increase my involvement so that my wife can have a break once in a while.

4. Keep in touch with friends.
I have had one hell of a busy 2008 with a brand new baby, 3 different jobs and no holidays to speak of. I work 40 hours or more a week and most of my weekends have been taken up with gigs. This has lead me to be quite exhausted on a daily basis. I feel that I have been neglecting a lot of my friends of late and that needs to change. My friends are awesome and I know they will stand by me no matter what, but I still feel I need to hold up my end of the bargain. I will find the correct balance.

Below are some more specific goals …
5. Better guitarist.
I am no longer satisfied with just ‘getting by’ with my guitar playing. If you ask people, they will tell you I am a great player; but I know I can do better. I plan on both playing and seeing many more gigs this year. I love music, it’s as simple as that. I am lucky enough to be working with some of Melbourne’s top musicians and it’s time to lift my game.

6. Travel.
2009 marks 20 years since I have been overseas. My last trip was to the UK in 1989. I think it’s about time I ventured out again – whether it be on my own or with my family.

7. Record.
My last CD was 11 tracks and was recorded in 2006 and released in 2007. I have no shortage of material and will get back in the studio again this year for another CD. This time I will hire an engineer so that I can concentrate on my playing. I will sell this one exclusively online and don’t really care how many get bought. This will be purely about the process.

365 Challenges …
After the success of my 365day Photo Challenge, I realised my ability to push myself to meet goals. There’s something about doing (or not doing) something for a year that makes me more eager to complete it. Plus, the further through the year you go, the more determined you get. I have named this the “365 Day effect”.

8. One Photo a day of my daughter.
This has been ongoing since she was born. She is now over 5 months old and we are up to around 160 photos. They have been an excellent way of seeing her growth and for marking her milestones. I am not sure how long this will continue but for now my plan is to give her a book on her birthday that portrays one whole year of her life. My hope is that when she is old enough, she will continue this herself.

9. No buying.
Anyone who knows me, knows this is a big one. Our emphasis over the last year has been on saving money. For the first time in our lives, my wife and I have been slowly pulling ahead financially. To accelerate things I have set myself a limit of $100. I am not allowed to purchase anything (or multiple things) for myself worth over that amount per month. So far the 365 effect has worked perfectly! I look at big screen TVs, Music PAs, Guitar Pedals and simply say, “it’ll have to wait until next year”.

10. Be happy.

RED ALERT Website

Published on December 22, 2008 in My Life. 0 Comments

The new look website for my band “Red Alert” is now online. It has been updated for our 2009 marketing.

I have moved away from my usual “centered” page layout (a la this site) and used a design that will fit any screen size. Check it out and let me know what you think!

redalertband.com.au

Christmas 2008

Published on December 16, 2008 in Baby, Day Job, Family, Friends, My Life, My Media and My Work. 1 Comment

The end of the year is fast approaching and for many (not me) holidays are just around the corner. I am trying to save up my leave so I won’t be taking any time off other than the public holidays this year. To be honest I’m kind of over Christmas 2008 and have been since September.

The only thing keeping me vaguely interested is the fact that it will be my daughter’s first. Even though she won’t remember it, it is still nice to share this time with a child in the family. I can’t wait until she becomes excited about Santa and we can read her all the Christmas stories, and sing with her all the Christmas Carols.

If you usually receive a gift from me at Christmas time, please don’t get over excited this year. My wife and I are desperately trying to save money at the moment and aren’t even buying anything for each other. I have a “no gift” agreement with a couple of people which basically means what we will exchange is the saving of both the time and the money that would usually be spent buying a gift. If you want to be included in this, feel free to let me know! I don’t want to do this every year – just to save money this year. Besides, all I am really looking forward to is sharing a meal with friends and family.

Having said that, I wish everyone out there peace and happiness for the festive season and a prosperous New Year!

It is all about the tone.

Published on December 3, 2008 in Gigs, My Life, My Technology and My Work. 2 Comments

Level vs gain, solid state vs valve, analog vs digital, stomp boxes vs multi-effects units, true bypass vs non-true bypass, and ultimately “tone” are things I never needed to worry about during my 15 years playing acoustic guitar.

However, the last few years has seen my full band electric gigs outnumber my solo/duo acoustic performances. As the quantity and quality of shows I was playing increased, it was obvious to me that my rig needed to catch up.

I upgraded my original line-up:

Aria (Gibson Copy) Guitar

Korg AX1G Multi FX Unit

Yamaha PA

To my quick and nasty set-up:

Highway One Fender Stratocaster

Line6 POD XT Live Multi Effects Unit

Fender 212 Frontman Sold-State Amplifier

This was an upgrade from hopeless to crappy. It was at this stage I started to get a thirst for a better quality sound. My playing had once again overtaken my gear and it was time for yet another upgrade. Constantly running at a financial loss, the last couple of years I slowly managed to build up a rig that I am happy with (for now).

Guitars:

John Mayer Artist Series Signature Stratocaster

Blade Levinson Texas Standard Pro (via endorsement)

Pedals:

Jim Dunlop Cry Baby (Wah)

Korg Tuner

Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer (Drive)

T-REX Moller (Drive / Boost)

Amp:

Peavey Valveking 212 100w Twin Valve Amplifier

This lineup is so much fun to play – especially at deafening high volumes. The tone is great, not perfect, but great. If I had the $$$ I would upgrade my amp to the classic Fender Twin Reverb, but for approximately 1/3 of the cost (and about 1/2 the weight) my Peavey Valveking is fantastic.

I researched most of my gear extensively before buying it. YouTube was invaluable. It is filled with videos of people testing the pedals, talking about the pros and cons and demonstrating the resulting sounds.

It helps to have a goal in mind. Who do you want to sound like? With me there was an obvious answer to that question. I want a bluesy strat tone and love the sound of artists such as John Mayer and Stevie Ray Vaughn: hence my choice of stratocaster. It was amazing how many times I said the words “I want a sound like John Mayer’s” before I said “Perhaps I should get the John Mayer Strat“. Don’t overlook the Blade Levinson though. I would be perfectly happy to use either for a gig. If I was looking to buy again in future I would go straight for a Blade. I strongly believe that with them, you pay for quality and not a name.

I still haven’t forgotten my my Maton semi acoustic roots and love playing my EBG808-Artist series whenever I have the chance. But the more electric gigs I do, the more I am falling in love with the dark side of the guitar world. To ensure my gear costs don’t permanently outweigh my music earnings, I will stick with the line-up I have. I am by no means just “getting by”. I love this setup and I get a kick out of the fact that everything I own is of a different brand – Fender, Blade, Maton, Ibanez, T-Rex, Korg, Jim Dunlop, Line 6 and Peavey.

For now, I will continue wandering through websites, magazines, MP3s and DVDs in the never-ending search of the “perfect” sound because remember kids … it is all about the tone!
Amen.