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