Skunk Baxter teaches guitar
- Thread starter P
- Start date
http://www.guitarschool.net/teacher_show.asp?teacher_id=32
Seems Steely Dan have a lot to answer for.
Seems Steely Dan have a lot to answer for.
Ron The Mon
Location: Detroit
P,
Yeah, I'm a guitar fan and player as you know. I actually got sick of seeing Skunk's face for a while as he was prominantly interviewed by many U.S. news shows since 9-11. Sometimes nightly. It's weird thinking, "The guys' credentials are playing guitar for Steely Dan and the Doobies, but he's being asked about U.S. foriegn policy". And yet he's right most of the time, being more on top of things than the Republican and Democrat politicians.
He's spot-on about surf music and metronomes too. I only played the clip, but I'd add that the most difficult part of playing surf music in time is the glissando. Sliding your finger down the fretboard during a song like "Pipeline" in time is very difficult. Especially if not using a Fender reverb as the delay can confuse your timing.
I also think Larry Carlton is radically underrated. His Discovery album that came out after he almost died in an automobile crash is a gem. Every song is perfect. It reminds me a lot of Soda Fountain Suffle. I should probably see if Earl has a "guitarschool" tape.
What does the Dan have to answer for? When I last saw them, I thought they'd have a "stunt" guitarist. But Walter played most of the solos with a Tele and no effects and sounded superb. I went to the show wishing Skunk or Larry would be there and came away wishing Walter did all the solos on the records!!
My first guitar was a never-used Silvertone S10 (the one that had the case with the built-in tube amp). The salesman asked me what kind of music I wanted to play and I walked out with the Three Dog Night and Steppenwolf songbooks. He told me, "If you don't know Born To Be Wild, you ain't shit." I now realize that was a mistake. I would have been much better off learning B. B. King and surf music, which were out of favor at the time.
I also used to jam with people who played the same style of guitar as me as a way of learning. I now play with guys who have totally different styles. It's much better to "bounce" different ideas off someone. You can always refine your particular style later but it's hard to learn a different genre. B. B. King is a great example. I heard him say recently that he tries to come up with one brand new idea every day. Not a song, but an idea. No one goes to see his light shows, or hits, or bands. People have been going to see him live for scores of years and not been disappointed. He keeps audiences entertained with fresh ideas played with the same style.
Listening to Larry play that first B.B. riff made me go, "Whoa, slow that down, add a little fuzz and a lot of reverb, and that's half of Eddie Hazel's solos!!". Maybe Steely Dan do have a lot to answer for.
Ron The Mon
Yeah, I'm a guitar fan and player as you know. I actually got sick of seeing Skunk's face for a while as he was prominantly interviewed by many U.S. news shows since 9-11. Sometimes nightly. It's weird thinking, "The guys' credentials are playing guitar for Steely Dan and the Doobies, but he's being asked about U.S. foriegn policy". And yet he's right most of the time, being more on top of things than the Republican and Democrat politicians.
He's spot-on about surf music and metronomes too. I only played the clip, but I'd add that the most difficult part of playing surf music in time is the glissando. Sliding your finger down the fretboard during a song like "Pipeline" in time is very difficult. Especially if not using a Fender reverb as the delay can confuse your timing.
I also think Larry Carlton is radically underrated. His Discovery album that came out after he almost died in an automobile crash is a gem. Every song is perfect. It reminds me a lot of Soda Fountain Suffle. I should probably see if Earl has a "guitarschool" tape.
What does the Dan have to answer for? When I last saw them, I thought they'd have a "stunt" guitarist. But Walter played most of the solos with a Tele and no effects and sounded superb. I went to the show wishing Skunk or Larry would be there and came away wishing Walter did all the solos on the records!!
My first guitar was a never-used Silvertone S10 (the one that had the case with the built-in tube amp). The salesman asked me what kind of music I wanted to play and I walked out with the Three Dog Night and Steppenwolf songbooks. He told me, "If you don't know Born To Be Wild, you ain't shit." I now realize that was a mistake. I would have been much better off learning B. B. King and surf music, which were out of favor at the time.
I also used to jam with people who played the same style of guitar as me as a way of learning. I now play with guys who have totally different styles. It's much better to "bounce" different ideas off someone. You can always refine your particular style later but it's hard to learn a different genre. B. B. King is a great example. I heard him say recently that he tries to come up with one brand new idea every day. Not a song, but an idea. No one goes to see his light shows, or hits, or bands. People have been going to see him live for scores of years and not been disappointed. He keeps audiences entertained with fresh ideas played with the same style.
Listening to Larry play that first B.B. riff made me go, "Whoa, slow that down, add a little fuzz and a lot of reverb, and that's half of Eddie Hazel's solos!!". Maybe Steely Dan do have a lot to answer for.
Ron The Mon
Tony L
Administrator
Anyone know a good basic blues guitar DVD that doesn’t require any reading music? I’m embarrassingly self-taught on guitar; I can play acoustic guitar in a way that would almost certainly make people run for cover fearing an onslaught of especially shite Christian rock (i.e. strum strum strum strum), I can make a reasonable Sonic Youth-ish racket with an electric given enough fuzz boxes, and can play something approaching a slow kack-handed lead (i.e. a relatively fast bass-line!) on the bottom four strings. I love to learn how to do a bit of slide and basic John Lee Hooker style minimal blues.
Tony.
Tony.
Yowdy Ron. Thanks for chipping in. Always great to read your contributions
Never realised Skunk Baxter is a big political commentator always on the TV in the US.
He's quite entertaining as a guitar teacher though and still a bit cool in my book (though not as cool as Denny Dias who is really ****ing cool - now there's someone I'd like to see explaining the rudiments - as well as FZ - who for obvious reasons....)
Pipeline?
One of my alltime favourite experiences was seeing Johnny Thunders do that 6th string slide down the neck. Great tune Pipeline. I loved the Heartbreakers.
When he wasn't too ****ed up (most of the time) Johnny Thunders could be a really great guitarist. (Wraps an arm around a memory.... I was a Sunday night resident of the Speakeasy in London back in '78 when Johnny had the Living Dead thing going with Peter Perret and others - truly great gigs - I can see/hear Pipeline going on right now )
Larry Carlton is a God. His stuff with the Dan and the Crusaders in the mid seventies are a part of something I found much more interesting from a technical POV compared to the Velvets/Stooges/Dolls thing I'd also been into back then. Great to see Larry C still doing it. He's such a nice bloke as well. Must be really hard not to be a complete asshole when you're that talented.
Class.
BB is just out on his own. Y'know everytime I play an early Fleetwood Mac record and hear Peter Greens guitar parts I just can't help comparing how much he sounds exactly like BB King sometimes.
As far as playing and jamming goes - I wished I lived in the US. Y'know I met some people on holiday over there recently and just about everyone was doing something in a local music scene - harp , guitar, keyboards, drums you name it they were doing it in a live situation. Thought that was great.
Cheers
P
Never realised Skunk Baxter is a big political commentator always on the TV in the US.
He's quite entertaining as a guitar teacher though and still a bit cool in my book (though not as cool as Denny Dias who is really ****ing cool - now there's someone I'd like to see explaining the rudiments - as well as FZ - who for obvious reasons....)
Pipeline?
One of my alltime favourite experiences was seeing Johnny Thunders do that 6th string slide down the neck. Great tune Pipeline. I loved the Heartbreakers.
When he wasn't too ****ed up (most of the time) Johnny Thunders could be a really great guitarist. (Wraps an arm around a memory.... I was a Sunday night resident of the Speakeasy in London back in '78 when Johnny had the Living Dead thing going with Peter Perret and others - truly great gigs - I can see/hear Pipeline going on right now )
Larry Carlton is a God. His stuff with the Dan and the Crusaders in the mid seventies are a part of something I found much more interesting from a technical POV compared to the Velvets/Stooges/Dolls thing I'd also been into back then. Great to see Larry C still doing it. He's such a nice bloke as well. Must be really hard not to be a complete asshole when you're that talented.
Class.
BB is just out on his own. Y'know everytime I play an early Fleetwood Mac record and hear Peter Greens guitar parts I just can't help comparing how much he sounds exactly like BB King sometimes.
As far as playing and jamming goes - I wished I lived in the US. Y'know I met some people on holiday over there recently and just about everyone was doing something in a local music scene - harp , guitar, keyboards, drums you name it they were doing it in a live situation. Thought that was great.
Cheers
P
Ron The Mon
Location: Detroit
"Pipeline", ehh?
I also have fond memories of Johnny playing it. One night he was so drunk, he played it twice in a row for an encore and had used it as an opener. It seems every time he came through Detroit, he played this joint called Traxx on the East Side. I saw the Ramones there every few months or so too in their hey-day. Lots of fond memories.
Johnny really did have that glissando on the sixth string down, too. One thing that amazed me about him, wasn't just that he could play so well, so drunk, but that he never looked at the guitar. I would always be up front and he'd be looking at the crowd with glazed eyes while playing an amazing riff. He even tuned his guitar without looking at it.
Another guitarist in that same vein I think is vastly underrated is Ace Frehley. I've seen him a few times in the 80s and he took off right where Johnny left off. He'd play some covers, some originals, then end the show with "Deuce". Ace would be dead too if he hadn't given up drinking.
You're right about the music scene in the U.S. Most of my friends are musicians and the "in" thing now is "side projects". It isn't just cool to be in a band, but you have to have at least one side project playing a different style of music. I'm kind of ahead of the curve as I've had several side projects and finally just formed a "real" band.
For over a decade I've been occasionally playing guitar Wednesdays and Thursdays at Bakers Keyboard Lounge (the oldest jazz club in the world) which is just five minutes from my house. I used to go up there just for the food (especially the strawberry chocolate cake!) and to check out the music. Then one day the bouncer told me, "You're not welcome here anymore unless you go home and get your guitar. I don't remember ever seeing the dude before and told him he had me confused with someone else. He said, "I know who you are."
Bakers is in a neighborhood worse than mine. I didn't like the idea of parking my car there, let alone carrying a Twin and a guitar around. Let's just say that rolling up your windows and locking the car doors is a good idea when passing through. After playing there the first time, I was hooked. Wednesday and Thursday are "open" nights, so everybody shows up from 16-year-old girls who just learned how to play, to Max Roach.
The kids are the best though. Jazz is hip again which is cool. A Few weeks back, this kid shows up with his sax and had literally written a solo. His Grampa brought him there and he wanted to do good for Gramps. So we play a tune, the kid solos and everyone claps politely, as he was waaaaay too sterile. So he gets ready to go back to his table and I ask him to play another tune. He looks at me with this look that said, "I've got no more material!". So I whisper to the kid, "Just play your written solo backward". I told him we'd play "So What" in the same key. I looked at the drummer and raised my thumb to the ceiling, so he'd juice up the tempo.
I thought this teen, who had probably been playing the sax for maybe five years, was going to kill me when he heard how fast we were playing. When he started soloing, the crowd erupted into applause even before he finished. I looked over at Gramps and he was crying, he was so proud. It's the kind of moment you remember forever; it's what music should really be all about.
Another side project of mine is Christmas and birthday parties. A few years back, I started playing acoustic, and later, classical guitar. It's a challenge because solo performances demand that you not only continue following the tune, but elaborate. I played a few parties for friends and realtives and now have a following. I do this thing I call Uncle Ron And The Magic Grab-Bag. I play a song and whoever raises their hand and guesses the song right gets to reach in the bag and pull out a prize.
In addition, I now ask the kids to whisper a song to me I have to try to play, and if no one else guesses it, they get a bonus prize. (They never stump me!). I have a blast, get paid in advance, and always get good tips. It's great when parents argue that I'm not getting enough cash.
I did a birthday party last month and this four year-old punk keeps interrupting, "So when you gonna sing?". I explain that the deal is it's an instrumental gig, and he repeats, So when you gonna sing?". So I thought I'd teach him a lesson. I played and sang the Ballad Of Dwight Fry and everyone was dead silent, which I thought was bad, but everyone clapped when I was done. The punk kid even said, "Play it again!"
It's a blast. I have parents calling me scheduling for birthdays and next Christmas because their kids want "Uncle Ron". It's a great feeling knowing I'm requested by kids over magicians and ****ing animal-balloon-blowing clowns. I know the reason's not my prizes as they're Silly Putty and junk like that. It's cool that the kids dig the music.
My other side project is called The Young Dudes. None of us are Spring chickens and we don't play any Ian Hunter. An aquaintance came up with the idea that we should have a band where none of us play our regular instruments. The drummer is a guitar player, the singer is a drummer, etc. I play organ. We played this breakfast joint a few Sunday mornings back and my organ started smoking. The crowd thought it was part of the act. I couldn't decide whether to pull the plug or keep playing because it was making this cool, distorted, humming tone.
When I finally yanked the cord, people were laughing and clapping in between eating their omeletes and slurping the day's first beer. I'm glad the guitar player had a tamborine or I may not have gotten paid as I had nothing else to play.
When I first started playing music, I thought all musicians were millionaires. When I started playing music professionally after I got out of high school, I was broke, and joined the Marine Corps. When I got out, I joined the the DOS (Detroit Opera Society) singing tenor. The pay was great but I hated it. Every band I was in cost me money.
Right now I'm totally happy where I am musically and can understand your envy. There's nothing more satisying than someone tapping you on the shoulder after playing and saying, "Hey, I love your guitar tone, etc." Today at the grocery store, this cute chick looks at me, smiles, and says, "I saw you at Bert's a while back. I thought you were cool." No pressure, no deadlines, just people digging you. I'm actually making a few bucks doing it, which is also a bonus.
There's even a place here that's been doing roller derbies the past few weeks. I've yet to check it out, but how can you go wrong; hot chicks roller-skating and tearing each others clothes off with cool rock & roll bands playing?
The UK must seem drab by comparison. At least the REVOLUTION is coming in a few weeks to you. I'm speaking of Little Steven's Underground Garage radio show. When you first hear it, realize that's the music scene here and hope it catches on in your town.
Ron The Mon
I also have fond memories of Johnny playing it. One night he was so drunk, he played it twice in a row for an encore and had used it as an opener. It seems every time he came through Detroit, he played this joint called Traxx on the East Side. I saw the Ramones there every few months or so too in their hey-day. Lots of fond memories.
Johnny really did have that glissando on the sixth string down, too. One thing that amazed me about him, wasn't just that he could play so well, so drunk, but that he never looked at the guitar. I would always be up front and he'd be looking at the crowd with glazed eyes while playing an amazing riff. He even tuned his guitar without looking at it.
Another guitarist in that same vein I think is vastly underrated is Ace Frehley. I've seen him a few times in the 80s and he took off right where Johnny left off. He'd play some covers, some originals, then end the show with "Deuce". Ace would be dead too if he hadn't given up drinking.
You're right about the music scene in the U.S. Most of my friends are musicians and the "in" thing now is "side projects". It isn't just cool to be in a band, but you have to have at least one side project playing a different style of music. I'm kind of ahead of the curve as I've had several side projects and finally just formed a "real" band.
For over a decade I've been occasionally playing guitar Wednesdays and Thursdays at Bakers Keyboard Lounge (the oldest jazz club in the world) which is just five minutes from my house. I used to go up there just for the food (especially the strawberry chocolate cake!) and to check out the music. Then one day the bouncer told me, "You're not welcome here anymore unless you go home and get your guitar. I don't remember ever seeing the dude before and told him he had me confused with someone else. He said, "I know who you are."
Bakers is in a neighborhood worse than mine. I didn't like the idea of parking my car there, let alone carrying a Twin and a guitar around. Let's just say that rolling up your windows and locking the car doors is a good idea when passing through. After playing there the first time, I was hooked. Wednesday and Thursday are "open" nights, so everybody shows up from 16-year-old girls who just learned how to play, to Max Roach.
The kids are the best though. Jazz is hip again which is cool. A Few weeks back, this kid shows up with his sax and had literally written a solo. His Grampa brought him there and he wanted to do good for Gramps. So we play a tune, the kid solos and everyone claps politely, as he was waaaaay too sterile. So he gets ready to go back to his table and I ask him to play another tune. He looks at me with this look that said, "I've got no more material!". So I whisper to the kid, "Just play your written solo backward". I told him we'd play "So What" in the same key. I looked at the drummer and raised my thumb to the ceiling, so he'd juice up the tempo.
I thought this teen, who had probably been playing the sax for maybe five years, was going to kill me when he heard how fast we were playing. When he started soloing, the crowd erupted into applause even before he finished. I looked over at Gramps and he was crying, he was so proud. It's the kind of moment you remember forever; it's what music should really be all about.
Another side project of mine is Christmas and birthday parties. A few years back, I started playing acoustic, and later, classical guitar. It's a challenge because solo performances demand that you not only continue following the tune, but elaborate. I played a few parties for friends and realtives and now have a following. I do this thing I call Uncle Ron And The Magic Grab-Bag. I play a song and whoever raises their hand and guesses the song right gets to reach in the bag and pull out a prize.
In addition, I now ask the kids to whisper a song to me I have to try to play, and if no one else guesses it, they get a bonus prize. (They never stump me!). I have a blast, get paid in advance, and always get good tips. It's great when parents argue that I'm not getting enough cash.
I did a birthday party last month and this four year-old punk keeps interrupting, "So when you gonna sing?". I explain that the deal is it's an instrumental gig, and he repeats, So when you gonna sing?". So I thought I'd teach him a lesson. I played and sang the Ballad Of Dwight Fry and everyone was dead silent, which I thought was bad, but everyone clapped when I was done. The punk kid even said, "Play it again!"
It's a blast. I have parents calling me scheduling for birthdays and next Christmas because their kids want "Uncle Ron". It's a great feeling knowing I'm requested by kids over magicians and ****ing animal-balloon-blowing clowns. I know the reason's not my prizes as they're Silly Putty and junk like that. It's cool that the kids dig the music.
My other side project is called The Young Dudes. None of us are Spring chickens and we don't play any Ian Hunter. An aquaintance came up with the idea that we should have a band where none of us play our regular instruments. The drummer is a guitar player, the singer is a drummer, etc. I play organ. We played this breakfast joint a few Sunday mornings back and my organ started smoking. The crowd thought it was part of the act. I couldn't decide whether to pull the plug or keep playing because it was making this cool, distorted, humming tone.
When I finally yanked the cord, people were laughing and clapping in between eating their omeletes and slurping the day's first beer. I'm glad the guitar player had a tamborine or I may not have gotten paid as I had nothing else to play.
When I first started playing music, I thought all musicians were millionaires. When I started playing music professionally after I got out of high school, I was broke, and joined the Marine Corps. When I got out, I joined the the DOS (Detroit Opera Society) singing tenor. The pay was great but I hated it. Every band I was in cost me money.
Right now I'm totally happy where I am musically and can understand your envy. There's nothing more satisying than someone tapping you on the shoulder after playing and saying, "Hey, I love your guitar tone, etc." Today at the grocery store, this cute chick looks at me, smiles, and says, "I saw you at Bert's a while back. I thought you were cool." No pressure, no deadlines, just people digging you. I'm actually making a few bucks doing it, which is also a bonus.
There's even a place here that's been doing roller derbies the past few weeks. I've yet to check it out, but how can you go wrong; hot chicks roller-skating and tearing each others clothes off with cool rock & roll bands playing?
The UK must seem drab by comparison. At least the REVOLUTION is coming in a few weeks to you. I'm speaking of Little Steven's Underground Garage radio show. When you first hear it, realize that's the music scene here and hope it catches on in your town.
Ron The Mon
Dave J
Übermember
Hey Ron,
Good to see your posts - it looks like you're keeping real busy so I guess that explains why there are simply too few of them.
This whole music playing thing has been a source of frustration for many years. When I was living in the States I used to sit in on drums or percussion most weekends and it seemed that all the guys I knew back then were playing in bands and getting together and jamming - you could hear live music anywhere and everywhere. Coming back to England was a bit of a shock in that there were too few kids interested in playing (half decent bass players simply did not exist) and very few live music venues locally. You really had to work hard to pull a band together but there was little in the way of regular jam sessions and very little chance of earning any money unless you were prepared to work the cabaret scene and working mens clubs (which I did for a while). I was fortunate to play with several exceptionally talented musicians (anyone seen Al Arnold, Macclesfield's answer to Larry Carlton, an amazing guitarist!) and only one of them to my knowledge was able to make a living at it and that was mainly overseas.
You'd expect London to be better but if anything it's worse, or at least it was during the 15 years I lived there. There just doesn't seem to be the same network of musos or, more importantly, the same level of interest in hearing music live at a local level as there is in the States and I just don't get it. We've even got a tragic piece of legislation that means that pub and bars that feature more than 2 musicians playing at once are penalised: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,900793,00.html
On a more positive note, I really like the idea of a band where you play something other than your main instrument, sign me up!
Oh yeah, I didn't know that Larry Carlton had been involved in a car accident. I knew he'd been shot and nearly died back in the late 80's and recall reading somewhere that he started a charity to help victims of random gun violence.
Dave
Good to see your posts - it looks like you're keeping real busy so I guess that explains why there are simply too few of them.
This whole music playing thing has been a source of frustration for many years. When I was living in the States I used to sit in on drums or percussion most weekends and it seemed that all the guys I knew back then were playing in bands and getting together and jamming - you could hear live music anywhere and everywhere. Coming back to England was a bit of a shock in that there were too few kids interested in playing (half decent bass players simply did not exist) and very few live music venues locally. You really had to work hard to pull a band together but there was little in the way of regular jam sessions and very little chance of earning any money unless you were prepared to work the cabaret scene and working mens clubs (which I did for a while). I was fortunate to play with several exceptionally talented musicians (anyone seen Al Arnold, Macclesfield's answer to Larry Carlton, an amazing guitarist!) and only one of them to my knowledge was able to make a living at it and that was mainly overseas.
You'd expect London to be better but if anything it's worse, or at least it was during the 15 years I lived there. There just doesn't seem to be the same network of musos or, more importantly, the same level of interest in hearing music live at a local level as there is in the States and I just don't get it. We've even got a tragic piece of legislation that means that pub and bars that feature more than 2 musicians playing at once are penalised: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,900793,00.html
On a more positive note, I really like the idea of a band where you play something other than your main instrument, sign me up!
Oh yeah, I didn't know that Larry Carlton had been involved in a car accident. I knew he'd been shot and nearly died back in the late 80's and recall reading somewhere that he started a charity to help victims of random gun violence.
Dave
Ron The Mon
Location: Detroit
Dave,
I just Googled Carlton and you're totally right. He was shot, not in a car crash. I bought Discovery because I read an interview with him at the time when he said the near death experience inspired him to do his best work yet. As that was his most recent record, I bought it. All these years I've thought Discovery was the record he was talking about! It is his best record, that I know. Every song on it is great.
I bought a record for you a few weeks ago. Do you remember when I told you about the heaviest band in the world, Aquarius Void? I still have a post-it note somewhere on the side of my computer monitor reminding me to burn you a copy of their four song demo. Well, I got busy, and as it turned out they put all four songs on their web site for free to download at www.aquariusvoid.com . I figured I'd just refer you to the site. Then about two months ago they took the songs off and put out a record for sale.
I went to their "record-release" show in January , which cool enough, was on Friday the 13th. When I saw the back of the record jacket and that it was red clear vinyl, I had to buy you a copy. It's a two song 7-inch; one side's 45, the other 33 because it has a really long monster-jam on it. I think I asked before but do you still play vinyl (w/45 capability)?
Send me your postal address and I'll post it to you along with the CD burn of their other demos. I could maybe throw in a few other cool Detroit 45s if you can play them. Most Detroit bands are only releasing their music on vinyl; 12 and 7-inch. As most stuff is only sold at gigs, this is your chance at a taste of cool. I'll send you a tape of some of my own demos or live stuff too, if you want. Just don't tell me you don't have a cassette deck!?! When you get a chance, just send me something cool in return.
Email me at ronthamon at msn dot com. I promise to send it out immediately. Unless I put it a memo on a post-it note.
You say it's hard to meet other musicians? Have you tried myspace? I first thought myspace was stupid and it's hard to navigate through. However, I answered an ad to play in a Detroit band where "everyone plays different instruments" and the guy was actually an aquaintance. We would have never connected otherwise. Set up your own myspace account and try it yourself.
The Detroit scene is definitely different than the UK regarding government interference. The cites of Detroit and Pontiac (as well as a lot of other smaller communities) are doing everything to attract patrons, not give them a reason not to go out. Can you still busk in the UK? To me, there's still no better music experience than a guy playing solo on a street corner and passers-by tossing money in an open instrument case. It's the kind of thing that brightens my day.
Ron The Mon
I just Googled Carlton and you're totally right. He was shot, not in a car crash. I bought Discovery because I read an interview with him at the time when he said the near death experience inspired him to do his best work yet. As that was his most recent record, I bought it. All these years I've thought Discovery was the record he was talking about! It is his best record, that I know. Every song on it is great.
I bought a record for you a few weeks ago. Do you remember when I told you about the heaviest band in the world, Aquarius Void? I still have a post-it note somewhere on the side of my computer monitor reminding me to burn you a copy of their four song demo. Well, I got busy, and as it turned out they put all four songs on their web site for free to download at www.aquariusvoid.com . I figured I'd just refer you to the site. Then about two months ago they took the songs off and put out a record for sale.
I went to their "record-release" show in January , which cool enough, was on Friday the 13th. When I saw the back of the record jacket and that it was red clear vinyl, I had to buy you a copy. It's a two song 7-inch; one side's 45, the other 33 because it has a really long monster-jam on it. I think I asked before but do you still play vinyl (w/45 capability)?
Send me your postal address and I'll post it to you along with the CD burn of their other demos. I could maybe throw in a few other cool Detroit 45s if you can play them. Most Detroit bands are only releasing their music on vinyl; 12 and 7-inch. As most stuff is only sold at gigs, this is your chance at a taste of cool. I'll send you a tape of some of my own demos or live stuff too, if you want. Just don't tell me you don't have a cassette deck!?! When you get a chance, just send me something cool in return.
Email me at ronthamon at msn dot com. I promise to send it out immediately. Unless I put it a memo on a post-it note.
You say it's hard to meet other musicians? Have you tried myspace? I first thought myspace was stupid and it's hard to navigate through. However, I answered an ad to play in a Detroit band where "everyone plays different instruments" and the guy was actually an aquaintance. We would have never connected otherwise. Set up your own myspace account and try it yourself.
The Detroit scene is definitely different than the UK regarding government interference. The cites of Detroit and Pontiac (as well as a lot of other smaller communities) are doing everything to attract patrons, not give them a reason not to go out. Can you still busk in the UK? To me, there's still no better music experience than a guy playing solo on a street corner and passers-by tossing money in an open instrument case. It's the kind of thing that brightens my day.
Ron The Mon