This goes against my principles regarding noise pollution, but I feel like renting a truck, going around town playing music. People need music now. Having said that, I do have fears of it ending up looking like this.
No offense to the band. The bass is on point. Love the song.
I am not leadership material. But I do have ideas. So my plan was to bring together, a bunch of musicians, explain my ideas to them and then neatly slide away into the darkness while the band began cultivating ideas on its own. I hoped someone would take on the mantle from me. I hoped someone would steer the ship in the right direction. But none of those bitches share my dream. So now I am “captain of the sinking ship” and the only Jack and Rose in this story are me and my vision.
I have a dream, a simple, revolutionary dream. I want to make music. I want to see people become happy when they listen to my music. Unfortunately, I do not have the talent to realize this dream on my own. I need a team(in the words of the great Deadpool, “a super dooper fucking group”). I’ve been trying to put together a team for the past one month. After several auditions, I finally got a bass player and lead guitar player. I explained my dream to them. I narrated it in Morgan Freeman’s voice. I put forth the idea like Steve Jobs explaining a business idea. I did everything I could. Yet those fuckers want to pursue a more “people-friendly” genre rather than taking a chance with me. I respect their musical interests. So now, I travel for an hour every weekend, play drums to fuckin “Foo Fighters” at a recording studio, come back home and eat till the depression fades away(Domino’s wins again).
I met a family who lives inside the studio’s premises. Here they are:
What’s the problem with looking for musicians on the internet?
Well… lets put it this way. It’s just like using Tinder. You never know what you are going to get. This person might say something online and it might be a whole different story offline. Even if they have a video or audio clip in their bio, the reality is going to be very different. Because the recording on their profile is rehearsed. Real life is different. Real life is…I wouldn’t say ‘hell’ because I really like my life right now. Challenging, challenging is the right word. Real life is challenging, and exciting. Plus, people on the internet, you know, could kill you(no offence). Now, since ending up dead is not part of the plan, I stay away from online ‘friends’. I am in no way discouraging people who look for ‘people’ online. There is tons of talent out there on the internet. I hear miracles happen. In fact, so many people have found success this way. Its just that, I have oddly specific interests that I don’t think other people can relate to. The internet is supposed to make it easier, I know, but when it comes to music, its complicated. The internet is awesome. So you do you!
So I set sail tomorrow morning to meet the lord of bass. He was introduced to me by the bassist of my old band. It’s pretty ironic because the bassist of the old band was in a way, responsible for the band’s demise. Well, I guess he made up for his motherfuckery by giving me a bassist. Anyway, I meet the lord of bass tomorrow. He seemed like a nice dude over the phone. Hope it stays that way in real life. Well, I suppose my outgoing nature and general love of social interactions should take care of that(sarcasm).
Side note: I quit Tinder today. Fuck this shit. I don’t know what the moral is here. Real life is more exciting than virtual life? Deadpool will be in theatres 16th of May? I really don’t know. Here’s a sight from Kolkata from the waist-down (because filming people’s faces is a douchebag-move).
The epic quest to find the ultimate guitar god began yesterday. Over the weekend, I made a few calls to a few musician-friends to get some advice on how to go about this whole ‘starting a band’ thing. I got the best advice from a very good friend I met at a guitar-solo competition (read about it here) a while ago. He said, “if you have a clear idea of what exactly you want to do, then you don’t have to be afraid to do it by yourself. You might have to put some time, energy and money into it. But at the end you’ll know if you are on the right track. So if you can’t find people to play ‘with’ you, find people who can play ‘for’ you. Eventually, things will pan out and you’ll meet the right people along the way”. Kids, this is why you need to have friends.
So on Monday, after work, I took a bus to meet up with a friend who I met at a concert a while ago. Dude’s a videographer. I know. Not a guitarist. But I thought he could give me some tips. AND HE DID!!! This is what I learned from the long interaction I had with him. It’s one thing to have the ability to explain your idea to others and create enthusiasm and excite them (like that part in the movie Jobs, where Steve Jobs convinces the CEO of Pepsi to join his company. But it’s a whole other thing to actually show them some of your creations. And believe me when I tell you this. It creates a lasting impression on the person when you actually, physically show them what you are capable of. I realized this when the videographer showed me some of his work. I mean, he hadn’t done a lot of shoots or anything, but the clip he showed me was enough to give me an idea of what he was capable of. I understood that he’s not a big fan of the traditional music-video- camerawork(I am of the same mind-set). So an idea came up and I said, “maybe we should work together on a percussion-based project”. Boom! magic! So basically we talked and talked and talked while his girlfriend kept calling him mercilessly. At the end of the day, it went well. We spent about two hours eating the worst French fries in the world and talking about music, artists, video, cameras, dolly tracks, all that good stuff. So I can safely conclude by saying that yesterday was a success. I dunno. I feel like somewhere along the way I’ll be able to make use of this person’s skills.
winner of 2018 high definition picture award
This is going to be a very negative one. So skedaddle outta here if you don’t want to ruin your day.
A few months ago, I got to live my dream of playing in a professional rock band. Initially it started out great. I was overwhelmed by the amount of talent in the band. People from different walks of life came together to make music.
There was a finance analyst, a school teacher, a videographer, an audio engineer and myself. It was amazing to see how each member of the band added their own personal touch to the music. It was like, there was a little bit of each of our personality in every song. I was enjoying every second of it. The band and their friends were like family to me. More importantly, I could be me for a change. I didn’t have to put on a mask to be socially acceptable anymore. I was free to be my weird self. All that was until today when I got a call saying, the band was dis-banding due to scheduling issues. My heart broke. I’ll be honest. The last time I felt this bad was when I got dumped! I was carrying groceries when I got the news. I felt like throwing it onto the ground and screaming. My dream had faded away.
So that happened. But now, it feels like a wake-up call. Maybe I have to do it myself. Get together a group of musicians with similar interests and make magic happen. But for that, I need to find people with that special spark, that light of creativity and willingness to consider someone else’s opinion. It will be hard but I will not give up. I will rise from the rubble. I will not fade away. Wait a minute…this is turning into a gladiator speech. Besides, I’ve got bigger life-problems to deal with. Like, the light in my bathroom is too bright. It hurts my eyes.
Yesterday, while jamming with the band I got up from the throne(kudos to the person who named the drum-seat), walked up to the mic and announced that I was not gay. Suddenly everything stopped. People stopped talking to each other, the music stopped playing, (oh I almost forgot) the clock stopped ticking. Then a girl burst out laughing. In my mind I went, “Woohoo! This is my calling. Stand-up comedy, here I come”.
I got the ‘gig’. I did it! I did it! The nerd is in a rock band. All I can say now is shit’s about to go down.
I haven’t played in that many bands but I know the feeling you get when a bus bearing your band’s name comes to pick you up for a show. Yes, I do believe in that ‘band is family’ shit. It’s a mysterious musical-interest-based-bond that refuses to go away even after the band breaks up. Enough gay shit.
After the audition was over the lead singer announced that they would be happy to have me play the drums. So naturally my first instinct was to go over to the mic and announce that I was not gay. But I held it in for a better opportunity. It also gave me a brilliant idea. I could do some stand-up when we play live. That would kill time in between songs. Also, I get to humiliate hecklers.
To quote the great poet Nikki Sixx,
“When we started this band
All we needed, needed was a laugh
Years gone by, I’d say we’ve kicked some ass
When I’m enraged Or hittin’ the stage
Adrenaline rushing Through my veins
And I’d say we’re still kickin’ ass“
Sorry kids. This is not the kind of rejection you are thinking about.
I am a huge fan of Freddy Mercury. For those of you who don’t know who this legend is, I highly recommend you keep it that way. He was the lead singer of the band Queen. I am equally inspired by his music and his energy. He worked hard to get to the top. He had the ability to influence people just by talking to them. I wish I had his influencing skills. The rest of this post will explain why.
It was one of those weekends where I was struggling to keep myself busy so that I don’t get bored and fall into an endless pit of depression. I decided to attend a small gig. It turned out to be an arena for beginner bands to showcase their talent to the world. The only problem was that the place was filled with college students and I was the odd 25 year old with no friends. However, all that feeling of embarrassment faded away when one particular band took the stage. These guys were my age. They sounded unbelievably great. They were a trio. One played the acoustic guitar, one played keyboards and one vocalist sat on a chair playing just a bass drum with the foot pedal. They performed few covers and originals. Need less to say, they took me on a musical journey. I could feel that special sparkle in their music.
I am at the moment desperately trying to form a band. So I approached them after the show and thanked them for playing here. They seemed like very nice people. I also hinted that they need a full drum kit rather than just a base drum(I am a drummer). They seemed to pay little attention to me and stressed that they were a “Trio”. However, they thanked me for the feedback and asked me to follow them on Facebook for tour dates. I went back home and did just that. I also sent two of them a friend request(because three friend requests would be like super begging ha ha). I came back home and listened to the original songs that they covered that day. Believe me, their version sounded much better. It was when they covered this song that I realised that they were exceptionally talented:
I soo want to be in this band. They are the whole package! I wouldn’t have to go hunting for individual members. All I have to do is get in!
And then the waiting began. A week passed. None of my friend requests were accepted. Then one day to my surprise I received a notification saying that the vocalist had accepted my request. I did not waste much time with chit chat. I asked if I could come see one of their jamming sessions. To my surprise, he replied that they preferred to keep their jamming sessions private. I told him that I totally respect his decision and thanked him for his time. This is my first time being rejected to my face. So I felt very bad. However, a glimmer of hope shone soon after. He said he’ll speak with the other guys and let me know. Looks like he felt a little bit of my pain! :-). So now I am back to waiting. Hope something good comes out of all this.
Random Thought Beam 