My Music

Recently got my hands on Thomas Lang’s “Creative Control” instructional DVD.

I posted a clip from this tape a while back but felt like sharing this one which is an excerpt of his “free solo” technique.

There’s plenty of conjecture out there that guys like this have no soul, are purely athletes only on the kit, etc etc….while I used to hold true that thinking moons ago, I’ve come around to appreciate the skill and body control it takes to get to this level of physical performance. See for yourself:

In the end, Thomas Lang STILL makes me sick.
In a good way.

I’ve been a distant admirer of John Blackwell for some time.
His work with Prince is awesome (Diamonds and Pearls) and he has played on many records since and with many artists as well.

This clip was taken from a DVD of his called “Hudson Music Master Series”.
With that said, this 2 minutes of amazing phrasing and technique is all you need to see to visually/sonically explain how awesome this cat is.

Enjoy.

Oh, and turn it up VERY VERY LOUD.

Back in November of 2009, my band Bull Boy Jack came up with a cool idea to help market ourselves. We set up at Quiet Life Productions in Vancouver, Washington (owned by our good friend Keith Laurent) and filmed a live rehearsal. Of course we gussied up the studio a bit and vibed it out but the end results are starting to come together.

I’m pleased to share our first video from this session for “My Dog Spike” from our first record “Buttered on the Right Side”.

This video can also be seen on our Reverb Nation page. Credit is also due to JT for putting this clip together with the footage from the shoot, and also to our 4th member Dave Boyle from Studio 212 here in Portland for the live sound and mixing.

Happy New Year to everyone by the way.
And indeed for me, New Years came with many gifts.
Not the least of which was hearing that Soundgarden are coming back in 2010.

A post came out over the Inter-tubes the other day directing traffic and prying eyes to a new website for the band. On the whole, I am very excited for this and it really solidifies my thinking about great bands and the fragility of making music.

If you go back in time to 1997 when they split up, Soundgarden seemingly could do no wrong. Along with Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam, Soundgarden were the owners of the new rock space. Grunge had given way to a whole new sound that (in my opinion) Soundgarden defined. “Down on the Upside” provided a view into where rock was headed. Huge riffs, pounding rhythms, Chris Cornell’s banshee scream, and time signatures a plenty. On top of this, was a layer of melody that was both sophisticated and interesting. Frankly had they continued, I think Soundgarden would have become the biggest hard rock band walking the planet. I was interested to see where they were headed and then…..well, they broke up not being able to agree where they were going.

So now, we get the chance to see where they would have gone.
I hope they take it seriously and deliver a sonic slab worthy of being called “Soundgarden”.
Because frankly, the only redeeming thing any of them has done since is Matt Cameron joining Pearl Jam.
I can’t consider Audioslave music but hey, that’s me.

C’mon guys, deliver the goods.

A week or two ago, I posted about some recent musical activity with Dull Boy Jack, my Portland based blues/funk/twang trio.

We filmed about 6-7 hours of live footage and recorded as well at Quiet Life Productions sound stage in Vancouver, Washington. We’re going to be assembling the footage into a series of promo clips and a DVD.

This is a clip captured from the “drum cam” of us playing “Dimples” by John Lee Hooker.

It’s fun and gives a sample of what it looks like hanging back with the drummer.
There will be more to come for sure.

I’ve been giving a great deal of thought lately to what I am doing these days musically.

My past is filled with incredible memories, records, sessions, videos, pictures and other assorted memorabilia. I’ve definitely accomplished a lot musically in my past. But today, with the projects I am involved in, I feel a sense of greater accomplishment and pride. I think this stems primarily from the fact that every project I am a part of has balance and equity in how they operate.

None of my current projects are dictated by record companies, the desire to be a part of a record company, or fulfilling someone’s expectations of what we are doing. We do what we do, when we want to do it, and how we want to do it. This past weekend, Dull Boy Jack, my funk/blues/country-fried trio set up at our buddy Keith’s Quiet Life Productions facility with the intent to record ourselves in live performance, and, film it as well.

There was minimal concept other than this and the end result was incredibly satisfying. We had played the previous evening up on Mt Hood with our classic rock cover band and had rolled in sometime around 3 AM. We were all tired but really enthused to play our music and see what we could do. We ended the day after 6 hours of playing and filming with a shit ton of great HD video, lots of cool pictures (thanks again Paul Matera) and good energy towards putting this all together. Our good friend Dave Boyle came with his rig and recorded us and gave up his day for our project.

In the end, this was one of the most satisfying projects I have ever been a part of.

I think the look on my face says it all.
Anyway, thanks to my boys Rich and JT.
We’re enjoying ourselves that much is true.

Me be clearly happy.

Me laying it down.

Jeff Beck.
Wait, Jeff Beck AND Rod Stewart!
Wait, Jeff Beck AND Rod Stewart playing “People Get Ready”!

Jesus.

I give you for Friday, the genius of Tony Royster Jr.

His skills are well known and his talent prodigious.
What I like is how happy he looks when he plays.

He seems completely connected to the instrument and brings so much passion to his playing. He gets a lot of flack from some ends of the drumming spectrum for being just another super technical player but I think he has unique energy AND technical supremacy.

Check this clip out with his childhood band ASAP.

Enjoy.

I mean…

I’m glad that Toadies are back together and Vaden Lewis has rediscovered that great band’s power again.

But, his short alliance with Taz (from Reverend Horton Heat) and partners in Burden Brothers was poised for kickassdom. I’m still kind of surprised nobody caught on to them.

Here’s a video for “Shadow” from their first record.

I highly recommend an investigation into both their records if you dig this.
Well worth the coin for some kick ass rock with amazing vocals.

So utterly sad to hear that Les Paul has left this world.

I never had a chance to meet him in person but I did have the opportunity to see him play for Gibson at NAMM in 1995. He was debuting some new Les Paul signature line with guys like Slash and others.

He seemed so genuine and honest in his playing and in his conversation.
Without him, the electric guitar would be a much different beast.

All musician’s owe him a debt of gratitude and respect.
RIP Les.