More interesting discussion on the distribution and payment for music...
06.20.2012 •
Music Industry •
Permalink
Permalink A familiar story of the impact of depression on a creative artist
Back at the start of the 1980's, Haircut One Hundred were, for about a year, one of the biggest bands in the UK. Their debut LP "Pelican West" sold like hot cakes, and they toured and did TV appearances everywhere. Then, suddenly, Nick Heyward, the principal songwriter, quit the band. Absent a strong songwriting presence, Haircut staggered on for a couple more years, then disbanded. Heyward started a solo career, which started promisingly, then stalled out, then he too disappeared for a while, before resuming what is an uneven solo career.
Now, some of the inside story on the Haircut One Hundred split is laid bare in this article. What is clear from the article is that Heyward's decision to leave the band was largely caused by depression, which has been a constant factor in his life.
Interesting collision between composer and student...
This article explains an interesting exchange between a composer and a student who obtained a pirated download of his score for use in a musical audition.
As you can see, this is a classic clash of two worldviews.
04.4.2012 •
Music Industry •
Permalink
Permalink Getting back to guitar playing...
At the start of this year, I made a decision to devote time to actually playing and practising guitar. My guitar playing time had been squeezed out of my life due to all sorts of other stuff going on.
I have been working between 15 and 45 minutes a day (yep, not enough I hear the keen players saying) for 3-4 days a week in the last 2 months.
Most of that time has been spent toughening my fingers again. It's like riding a bicycle, I haven't actually forgotten how to play, but I am appallingly sloppy, and my finger pads had disappeared. I have been working on bringing those back, plus flexibility exercises with different chord shapes. I have small hands, so being able to stretch is more important to me than for players who have quarterback sized hands (but then they may have thicker fingers that give them problems in other areas).
So far I am going OK, but now I am going to push into the area that I never mastered, namely that of scales. I have always been lousy with scales. I need to re-acquaint myself with modes and push into that new area.
I am focussing on acoustic for now, one thing I learned a long time ago is that if you are strong on the acoustic, strength is not an issue with electric guitar, but they are almost two different instruments.
04.2.2012 •
Guitar Stuff •
Permalink
Permalink Quick Notes - 3rd January 2012
I got a shock when I found that one of my guitars is worth so much money that it needs to be separately listed on my home insurance policy (and it may need to be put on lockdown, knowing insurance company paranoia). More on this once we have finished dealing with the insurance company.
A nice article on another remastering of the first Crosby Stills and Nash LP, this time from the original 2-track masters found by Stephen Stills in his home tape collection.
Found another excellent Earthworks concert on the web today and downloaded it. Listening to it, I was struck by the differences in the impact of the tunes when performed live. Some tunes, like "Pilgrims Way" sound as good live (if not better than) the recorded versions, while a tune like "Stromboli Kicks", which is a tight, focussed three and a half minute tune on the original "Dig?" release, comes across here as too long and full of what Joe Zawinul would term "boring shit" - there was simply too much repetition of sections of the form to support interesting improvisation. In part this may reflect the need to play along with sequencer backing for the keyboards at least part of the time to allow Django Bates to play E Flat tenor horn parts and solos.
I also found this interesting interview with Earthworks member Django Bates.