Bass players & backing tracks....

Well, it's official! I have now had a twang on a bass guitar for the first time and I really quite enjoyed it! However, I was not expecting the upper arm workout I got on my fretting arm. Wow! I found muscles and tendons I never knew I had. Totally different sensation to playing six string. So, Adrian, respect to you for working so bloody hard on various backing tracks. As I said in the previous blog, backing tracks are needed sometimes and certain people work damn hard to make sure they work and, more importantly, they are musically correct for the rest of a band. You geddit, right? Also, Adrian, the new semi-acoustic you got me just rocks! Thank you, my friend.

OK, this is sort of a continuation from my last blog about how this world seems to be getting more and more in to a world of auto-tune and remixed drum tracks. We need REAL music. Get on to iTunes and download some of the Beatles music. There is a band who innovated, created and worked damn hard. Why do you think they are held in such high regard now? Simple, they are icons of popular (pop) music. They have influenced countless bands; Bon Jovi, Oasis, Tom Petty...the list goes on and on. I mention the Beatles because just after the release (finally) of all their tracks on iTunes last week, my "favourite" show (not), the X-Factor jumped on the Beatles bandwagon with Beatles week.

I will be totally honest. I rarely watch the show. I just watched it because it was there last Saturday night and only one contestant on the X-Factor performed a Beatles song how it should have been and that was Matt Cardle with Come Together. He gets my vote (even if I did bother to vote, eh?). The performance was punchy, current and the guy has a superb, quite unique voice. But that was it for me. Wagner crucified Hey Jude in his usual tuneless fashion. Katie Waissel slowed down Help to a snail's pace and there was none of the joy and laughter that the Beatles gave us. Where was Yellow Submarine? Where was Maxwell's Silver Hammer or Ringo's speciality, Octopus's Garden? I found the whole show lacklustre and plain boring. No Twist and Shout, no I Saw Her Standing There. No rock and roll. No pulse, no soul.

This sums up how Cowell (and like many others, he is not the only one) is dumbing down superb music, even music from the likes of Lennon & McCartney. Another example was when the Jovi were on the show. The contestants made the chorus of Livin' On A Prayer sound like karaoke! (Notice: Wagner's mike was turned off during that performance - thank god).

It all comes down to one thing; real music is where it's at. Here are some examples that I really would like you guys to go and check out......

Haunting Heather - www.hauntingheather.com

Cherry Suede - www.cherrysuede.com

Amanda Couttreau - www.reverbnation.com/amandacottreau

Spaceship Days - www.spaceshipdays.com

Jack Stevens - www.jackstevensrocks.com

Lynn Carey Saylor - www.lynncareysaylor.com

These are just a few of the excellent bands and artists who write their own material, most of the time. Sure, they do a cover once in a while. Check out Lynn's cover of the Pat Benatar classic, We Belong, featuring the legendary Brian May (Queen) on guitar along with Eric Lowen, another class act in music, ably helping out on the track. Spaceship Days do a mean Pink Floyd cover (Comfortably Numb). These are guys (and girls) who rock and most importantly, CREATE. I appreciate Simon Cowell as a businessman. He is very shrewd and good at what he does but what he does is at the expense of good music. It is all dumbed down regurgitation of what was superb music and we all get sucked in. I was listening to Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys being interviewed on the radio last night and he made the comment that there is so much more drama and friction on the X-Factor since he saw it last year. I agree. But how much of it is real, or how much of it is contrived to get us to watch and increase Mr. Cowell's viewing figures? I'll let you decide, but I sure know where I sit on that one.

I want to see some REAL music on UK television. Sure it is there; Kings of Leon and Muse at Glastonbury this year, for example. Real bands, playing live. That is what I want to see. Something with an edge, something that really rocks my world, like the bands/artists I have just mentioned. Bon Jovi always inspire me because they CREATE and they want to create for their fans. Real music by real people. Here's a show you need to check out.....Private Sessions hosted by Lynn Hoffman on A&E TV. I don't think we can get that channel in the UK but I sure wish we could. Bon Jovi, Daughtry, Train...all superb bands playing live in an intimate setting....class. This is the sort of television needed in the UK.

I want you all to think back 20 years and think about music you used to listen to and, perhaps, go and see live. I saw the likes of Bryan Adams, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Magnum and Heart. These bands/artists rocked and still do to this day. Now think forwards to today. How many bands of today can you see lasting that long? Do you see what I am trying to get across here? Longevity, continuity and the ability to maintain a standard that is really hard to match.

Wagner....go watch and listen to the Beatles play Get Back live on the roof of Apple Studios in Saville Row in London in 1969 (click on the link). I was born that year and they are tight.....bit like you should have been when you sang Hey Jude, eh? That's the sort of music I appreciate.

Enough said.

SCB

I love REAL music and REAL musicians!

OK, so a lazy Saturday morning watching the MTV EMA nominees for Best Live Act got me thinking. Scary, huh?

I love some of the nominees; Bon Jovi, Muse, Kings of Leon etc. Still not sure about Lady GaGa though as I am (and always will be) a rocker at heart. I saw the Jovi at the O2 in London in June of this year and nothing can compare to a group of talented rockers getting over 20,000 people bouncing up and down to Livin' On  A Prayer! Probably why they are getting the first MTV Global Icon award! OK, enough hero worship...on to the blog.

I love REAL music. Now when I say real music, I am talking about music that is played...on a guitar, on a bass, on drums, on keyboards, on a harp, whatever it takes. I am not partial to all of this auto-tune out there and remixes, samples and drum machines. To be absolutely honest, I can't stand all that crap. OK, the band I play and sing in use a laptop for drum and bass, but that is because we don't actually have a drummer or a bass player. It is in this case, a necessary evil and other bands we have played with have commented that we need a real drummer. I would love us to have a real drummer and bass player. Any takers? LOL.

I was watching my step-son show me the preview of Rockband 3 on the xBox today also. It has support for a cheap (maybe not so cheap as it is Fender who designed it) plastic guitar that can do "real" chord progressions and has strings. Now my step-son is thinking this is really cool and I really do appreciate that these games are getting our kids in to music. But here's the question....is it getting them in to REAL music? Nothing can replace playing live to a crowd. Whether it is one man and a dog or 60,000 in a stadium. You get a reaction, always. You cannot replace the true mechanism of picking up a REAL guitar and playing it. My left (fretting) hand now always has callouses on the fingers through playing and practice. I can't see that happening on an xBox. When you get up on stage to play live with that strange feeling in the pit of your stomach. You won't get that in front of an xBox.

What I am trying to say here is that REAL music should be shared. Not played in front of a TV screen through a games console. My step-son took a few guitar lessons and I tried to help him but because the right sounds weren't immediately apparent and it took a lot of work to get them right and there were things like technique, posture and practice every night, it just didn't happen. Now I am not blaming my step-son here, I am blaming a whole society who seem to want everything NOW. Playing a real guitar properly can take years and years. I have only been playing for 4 years and it is bloody hard work to get it right. Right down to getting the finger pressure right, avoiding fret buzz and the like. You won't experience any of that on a games console! Take the likes of Santana, Clapton, Sambora and Gilmour. All guitar legends but they have become legends over decades and I bet they will all still say they are STILL learning. 

I would much rather see the young kids get REAL guitars and REAL drum kits and set up in a garage and make loads of noise until they get it right. Bon Jovi started out like that in Sayreville, New Jersey over 25 years ago. It is REAL, and more importantly, has true soul. It builds up friendships and camaraderie that you just don't get on gaming consoles. It involves REAL people doing something REAL.

You have to work damn hard to be a REAL musician. I will never be as famous as the likes of the Jovi and I would be more than happy to get a millionth of their fame and adulation but I am willing to work hard with REAL guitars, REAL vocals and songs I have written. Not samples of other peoples work, nor covers. I love doing covers with the band though. But in that environment, we are celebrating the original artists and having fun playing music we love by REAL artists that we love.

We are at risk of moving in to a musical world of mediocrity where people copy others and plagiarise other people's material. We are also and risk of removing the road that young people need to take to become REAL musicians. The xBox being a prime example. Shows like the X-Factor are also at fault. They work the other way by encouraging people with zero talent to think that they have. I applaud the contestants on these shows who ARE talented, but Wagner? Please, give me a break. I have seen more musical talent in a house brick. Simon Cowell does know talent when he sees it but all he goes for now are viewing figures. Why do you think the likes of Wagner and Jedward get through to the final rounds? So that people watch it on TV! Also, Mr Cowell exploits those poor contestants who are good. you can now download their live performances. The artist gets 0.01p per download. That is just cruel. You can guess where the rest of the money goes right? Isn't it about time Cowell and Walsh put their money in to festivals and live venues that are going down the pan right now due to the economy, instead of lining their pocket's? The public would love it and they would still get to see live acts who they could sign? Surely a better model to work to? I'll let you decide.

Bon Jovi are up for an MTV EMA Best Live Act award and are getting the first MTV Global Icon award. Bon Jovi rarely get awards because they are quite often not the music press favourites for some weird reason. Now after 25 years in the game, it is happening. This is what I mean. It is not a NOW. They have worked bloody hard for a quarter of a century playing LIVE for the majority of that time so that their fans can see and hear them. I know which route to music I prefer. I prefer the one where the band get rewarded for the labour of love, art and dedication they put in. The Bon Jovi road must have been testing at times but they put in the hard work and still do. They didn't have an xBox to give them that sound right here, right now, when they wanted. They evolved, developed and became the global icons they are today. That is why they have been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year and that is why I voted for them, plus David Bryan (keyboards-Bon Jovi) has just won a Tony award for his score in the Broadway show, Memphis. 

The likes of Bon Jovi epitomise what is REAL about music and all that to me is soul, art, whatever you want to call it but it sures kicks the crap out of a games console generation of plastic musicians.

I talk about Bon Jovi alot don't I? That is because they inspired me to be a singer/songwriter. I am sure they inspired many other bands and artists that I also love to listen to; Spaceship Days, Haunting Heather, Jack Stevens, Tombland, Top Hat Alleycat, Rob Holmes Band and Trigga-Boo to name but a few. These are all independent bands working hard to make their mark and I have been privileged to play the same live venues with some of them! They all love their art and work extremely hard. None of them learnt their craft from a games console. None of them rely on auto-tune, samples or remixed drum machines. It is REAL music with REAL musicians!

If you want to invest in your kids musicality this Christmas, buy them a REAL instrument, not a games console, plus get them some lessons in that instrument. 

The best gift you can give them is encouragement and investment in something they love to do. Who knows? Maybe in twenty years time they will be accepting an MTV award, a Grammy, a Tony, or if in the UK, maybe an Ivor (Ivor Novello award from BASCA) for songwriting.

You just never know and if you don't invest in that talent properly, you never will.

Have a great weekend!

SCB