********

[bionicmark]

 

[bionicmark]

 

[Ventura]

Awesome stuff, but why do you guys all look so serious on the front cover??

It's like you're angry or something.

V.

 

[se7en]

Awesome stuff, but why do you guys all look so serious on the front cover??

It's like you're angry or something.

V.

Maybe the cameraman told them to imagine someone just called them Nickelback wannabes.

 

[Ventura]

Pickleneck, er, Nickelback is quite the phenon here in BC... Being local Vancouver boys, they get their share of "even if we hate their music, we gotta love 'em regardless" glisse. I thought they were "alright" when they first came out, then everything went commercial and as usual, it went downhill. I'm not sure what to make of the music scene today - I think we need another revelation like the days we saw grunge come up out of no where and blow the Top 40 and hairbands outta the water. Sure, grunge is dead - but what else is there? We've got Grohl's new band, looks promising; Tool is always a breath of fresh air but Adam and Maynard are currently having a tizzy; Layne's dead; Corgan is off on another planet; Slash and the boys are in semi-retirement mode; Europe is only now producing non-Malmsteen-like players with some grunt, but it's pretty processed music IMHO; Motorhead needs to get back at 'er; Vai's too artsy, love him, but he's too technical to really get me shaking my leg; Angus and Malcolm are too old; the nu-metal is IMHO crap to my ears anyway; I don't know - I guess this is why I'm trying to make my own music.

I would love a guitarist based band to have the technicality of Vai, Gilbert and Petrucci, mixed with the imagination of Zappa, the ability to create harmonic hooks like Grohl, to be pioneering like Page, to have dazzle like Jimi, and to be able to make a CD that when I listened to it, I wouldn't be able to tell you with 95% accuracy what the next phrase was going to be in each part of each song.

Thanks for the rant...
V.

 

[TheMagicEight]

I would love a guitarist based band to have the technicality of Vai, Gilbert and Petrucci, mixed with the imagination of Zappa, the ability to create harmonic hooks like Grohl, to be pioneering like Page, to have dazzle like Jimi, and to be able to make a CD that when I listened to it, I wouldn't be able to tell you with 95% accuracy what the next phrase was going to be in each part of each song.

Me too; you write it and I'll buy it! But please, use a Bogner!

 

[Ventura]

I would love a guitarist based band to have the technicality of Vai, Gilbert and Petrucci, mixed with the imagination of Zappa, the ability to create harmonic hooks like Grohl, to be pioneering like Page, to have dazzle like Jimi, and to be able to make a CD that when I listened to it, I wouldn't be able to tell you with 95% accuracy what the next phrase was going to be in each part of each song.

Me too; you write it and I'll buy it! But please, use a Bogner!

I believe this will be my life's work once I'm done playing 'the game'... For those of you not sure what is implied by 'the game', I use this term when referring to the world of education to profession to remuneration to consumerism [repeat as so seemingly necessary].

I find it odd that over the last few decades, ever since the industrial revolution really, the things once thought important, such as art, song, dance, and writing are no longer considered quality attributes. In fact, they're getting phased out of the education hierarchy more and more. Oddly enough, it was those very things that were "free" to people to explore and express. Now we reward the sciences, the maths, the chemistries and so forth - all to feed the industrial revolution machine that started decades ago. What's up with that? The only reason we have access (for the most part) to talented people is because 'typically' they sell product - NOT - because they're truly awesome and gifted.

Ah, don't get me started....

V.

 

[TheMagicEight]

I believe this will be my life's work once I'm done playing 'the game'... For those of you not sure what is implied by 'the game', I use this term when referring to the world of education to profession to remuneration to consumerism [repeat as so seemingly necessary].

I find it odd that over the last few decades, ever since the industrial revolution really, the things once thought important, such as art, song, dance, and writing are no longer considered quality attributes. In fact, they're getting phased out of the education hierarchy more and more. Oddly enough, it was those very things that were "free" to people to explore and express. Now we reward the sciences, the maths, the chemistries and so forth - all to feed the industrial revolution machine that started decades ago. What's up with that? The only reason we have access (for the most part) to talented people is because 'typically' they sell product - NOT - because they're truly awesome and gifted.

Ah, don't get me started....

V.

I think a lot of it had to do with the church. Science, math, etc. was practically forbidden when it came even close to contradicting the church, so until these fields could first become fair topic for discussion and then become advanced enough to be of any use, you had dominance in art, music and so forth.

I absolutely hear what you're saying though, and it's truly sad to see how the education system seems to care less and less about the arts. What I do know is that much of it is in response to globalization; the fact that Asia's students score, on average, so much higher than here in the US in science and math is definitely cause for concern. I was lucky enough to go to a high school where there was a prominent arts and music program while maintaining strong math and science departments. The downside is it just can't be realistic for the rest of the country because the area I came from was pretty well off, and if that budget weren't there, there's no way I would have gotten the experience I did.

As for having access to talented people? I'm actually going to take a different stance on that one. Before the industrial revolution - in the US - most people worked on farms. They worked sun-up to sun-down six days a week and on Sunday would go to church. The reason I mention that is because there was very little time to do much of anything that didn't involve survival. Now, if we get an education, in theory, we can get a 9 - 5 job and have the rest of our time to do what we please, and though many people choose not to, many others fill this up with arts, music, etc. where they wouldn't have been able to do so before the industrial revolution.

In the age of technology, it's also become increasingly possible to find other artists and art you appreciate. The simple fact that we can communicate on a discussion board about an amp company that relatively few people know about is incredible; fifteen years ago it was pretty much unthinkable. I feel the internet has been an invaluable resource in my artistic life, and were it not there, I'd probably still be playing out of a Mesa Rectifier!

Anyway, there's certainly a few glaring bugs in the system, but I think there's a lot more to be appreciated in today's system. If you feel I'm wrong in what I've said, or that I've missed a point or something, by all means argue with me!

 

[Ventura]

Aw no man, I won't argue with ya... You're BANG on! I just had a lot of thoughts come through a very narrow opening and with a great deal of compression - so many facets of 'context' were amiss. Agreed - on many fronts - technology is awesome if used correctly. Agreed too - that the day and age of laboring field work, coupled with large families and birth defects and the whole nine yards, has definitely been refined - but has it been refined proportionate to baseline reality (impossible to answer as we don't know what reality is, really) - and that talent is out there and abundant. Agreed. And the church part - whoa - do NOT get me started...

BUT!! And this ain't the start of sumthin' betwixt yooze'n I... When it came to my statement about TALENT, what I find 'en masse' is that, coupled with a lack of arts and appreciation thereof from a very early age onward, what people find "appealing" is actually a product of commercial system sales and processing - bear in mind, I said 'en masse'. We here at RT are all musically inclined, or at least like to think we are, and if people are going to blow $5K on an amp because it sounds good, these typically are NOT the same people that think Nickelback are awesome, or that Miley Cyrus is a true star... Get ma'driff?

I was touching on the fact that, for instance, technology brought us McDonalds, and people think McDonalds is entirely 100% acceptable as "food". Apply that analogy to music and art, and you're right in the same area of ozone that yours truly is...

Peace,
V.

PS - my VH4S is kicking my Uberschall's ass tonight!!!! Oh the beauty of studio

 

[TheMagicEight]

BUT!! And this ain't the start of sumthin' betwixt yooze'n I... When it came to my statement about TALENT, what I find 'en masse' is that, coupled with a lack of arts and appreciation thereof from a very early age onward, what people find "appealing" is actually a product of commercial system sales and processing - bear in mind, I said 'en masse'. We here at RT are all musically inclined, or at least like to think we are, and if people are going to blow $5K on an amp because it sounds good, these typically are NOT the same people that think Nickelback are awesome, or that Miley Cyrus is a true star... Get ma'driff?

I was touching on the fact that, for instance, technology brought us McDonalds, and people think McDonalds is entirely 100% acceptable as "food". Apply that analogy to music and art, and you're right in the same area of ozone that yours truly is...

Peace,
V.

Haha, not a Miley fan I take it? I would be if she kept her mouth closed!

You're absolutely correct though; the fact that we need to share our air with these morons amazes me sometimes.... Who knows; maybe the new decade will bring something better.

 

[Ventura]

Haha, not a Miley fan I take it? I would be if she kept her mouth closed!

You're absolutely correct though; the fact that we need to share our air with these morons amazes me sometimes.... Who knows; maybe the new decade will bring something better.

Well, actually...perhaps the only quality she may have is with her mouth open, ahem 'Now - get on yer knees and smile like a donut!' But no, seriously, I'm just done with shit music...and come on, it's everywhere. It's the NORM nowadays - turn the radio on, hear some crap, watch it climb the charts, next, repeat - garbage. I've even seen some similarity in the death metal arena too - I mean, I've never been one for screamer death metal, I find it repugnant - but there's a LOT of skill and technique in much of the earlier stuff. Now? All the same - double bass kicks, compressed processed sound, some guy in the lower registries howlin' like he's shitting a train, tight stops, more of the same, yada yada, 3 minutes - here's the video - done.

Again, my life's work will revolve around finding something different come out of my head, through my hands, onto my fretboard, and hopefully I'll have the aptitude to work my DAW in a similar fashion, or be able to house my fellow musicians in my home so we can jam on weekends in the studio to make it a reality.

V.