What is music?

Let's ignore the obvious. A series of notes, a bunch of melodies and rhythms, what actually makes music music? It makes people feel alive. It literally is the blood in my veins, it's how I express myself, how I enjoy myself, it makes me happy and sad, it comforts me and pisses me off. It takes me on journies and I purposely get lost. It takes me up to the highest peak, no, higher, and leaves me stranded, alone with myself to appreciate it and love it and live it. It is the reason I get up in the morning, what I do to learn and what I do for fun. It's somewhere I can escape; whether I'm onstage or sat on my bed. Without music, we would not laugh at films and we would not cry at films. Music is the reason I feel how I feel, whether it's certain bands I'm listening to or how I'm expressing myself when I'm lost playing drums in the familiar sensation, desperately wanting to be taken away forever, when I want to grit my teeth and squeeze my hands tight into fists and cry, when I'm the only person in a room full of people, when I disappear in front of others, but I know they can still see me. Music taught me how to love, how to dress, how to act; the constant rhythms in my head accompany me as I walk alone, as I wait, as I drift off to sleep. It brings me and others together, it's a universal language we all share that doesn't judge, it doesn't discriminate, it's unaffected by wars and religion and governments and everything that's wrong about this world. I cannot imagine a life without music. It would be a life literally not worth living, because what do we have if we don't have music, and what do I have without an outlet, a way to express myself, to impress others, or for my own satisfaction? It is not something you accomplish and leave be, there is always more to learn, more to discover, more to love. And when the music takes you away, wherever it takes the person that you are, it's an identity, a badge, a middle finger to society and an embrace with the world. Music makes people, it destroys people, it makes people rich and famous and it makes them bankrupt and leaves them at their most vulnerable. I dare you to imagine your life without music; without your eternal soundtrack, without your identity, without what makes you and breaks you, shows you which path to take and makes you happier than you've ever been before. Music means one thing or a million things to every single person; whether it's a lifelong passion or a mere cog in one's menial existence. Music dares me to dream and I want to be surrounded by it until the day I die.

the fiX factor

OK we all need to calm down, including me. In a fit of rage following the X Factor and Simon Cowell's stupid decision, I'm going to tell you exactly what is wrong with it. As a viewer, I find the X Factor mildly entertaining and enjoy debating what happens. As a musician, on a more serious note, I understand that actually, today's modern popstar has no other choice or avenue really within which they are able to break into the music industry without winning these silly talent shows. And even when they do, they're expected to compete with critically-acclaimed artists and make an impact with their very first album, when in fact most of the bands that have survived at least a good 20 years really needed, and were allowed the time given, in their first 2 albums the time to grow and develop, most often hitting it with their third shot.
So, John and bloody Edward. People say they're only 17, doesn't matter. People say they're entertaining, unimportant. It's a singing competition. And if this really is the only way that people can 'make it' these days, for pop artists at least, then surely this makes a mockery of the whole system and Jedward would have been better suited on Britain's Got Talent where it isn't purely about the singing.
I have taken part in many local Battle of the Bands, but have never won. You might think nothing of that statement, but usually these either rely on the popularity of the band in question and how many fans they bring along, or based on a very loose judging criteria by the butcher and the local paper's ents writer. I have stood in the wings and listened to an audience chant the name of my band as the judges read out someone else. I've also lost out to a band who were glued to the stage when mine had the energy of a Red Bull Factory, and the performance was based on stage presence. It's annoying at the time, sure, but you just shrug it off. It's no big deal, no big band has ever shot to fame after winning £500 at their local Salvation Army/Working Man's club/Leisure Centre. In short, there really is no difference between The X Factor and a local BOTB; it's a fix from the bottom to the top and there really is no hope for today's modern popstar if their only chance of breaking into this fickle business is through these stupid shows. My advice is this: if you are a club singer looking to hit the commerical music industry, 2 years ago I would have said get on The X Factor/Idol/Fame Academy whatever, because that's the way to go. As a band, it's all about the live experience you pick up and is as much as who you know as it is where you are at the time in what trend, playing what music, in what scene. So just get out there and play. Gone are the days when you might take your demo to a radio station in the hope that they'd like it enough to play it and that other stations would catch on and people might even request it. When I was in my first and most locally successful band, that was the biggest thing and I had no doubt that we'd go all the way, whatever that meant at the time. I applied for uni reluctantly as a Plan B. Had I not, what with the unforseen circumstances that soon followed, I'd be stuck at the bottom of the ladder again still playing the same little pubs in Somerset and looking for a job. Coming to uni was definitely the best thing I could have done, because I'm now afforded the 3 years of experience, education and advice that I hope will put me in really good stead to make a career in music, ideally with a band I get going with along the way. Nobody ever got a record deal just because they walked into a studio and produced their music degree, granted, but I know now this time for me is all about the experience I can gain and feel more positive about the future than ever. In the meantime, for GOD'S sake what is wrong with this Country; get those twins OUT!

What MORE Bob Dylan?!

Today at uni we had our first real music workshop. We have these once a week and they are seperate from the other stuff I was telling you about before (John Mayer and James Morrison) although we are playing in the same bands. These are workshops where we're given a song each week and we have 2 hours to listen to it, work it out, perfect it, and then perform it to the other 7 bands on the course. It's all good fun, and today we started with Positively 4th Street by Bob Dylan. Now, I'm not the biggest Bob Dylan fan in that I don't own any of his records, but I can totally appreciate his song-writing and the depth of his career. It's just that we spent a very many months performing Bob Dylan songs at College thanks to an avid-Dylan fan who also served as our teacher!
Anyway it was the first chance we had to really see and hear each other play, although it's such a simple song that there's not much room for embellishment. But we nailed it pretty quickly and all went well. Next week is Come As You Are by Beverley Knight which I've just had to Youtube!
So that's uni over with today, as the week goes on my timetable becomes more and more sparse. Next week we are given our assignment briefs so I'll have a real feel of what I'll be doing for the next month or so.
Well the flat needs a clean because the Estate Agents are coming round tomorrow, so I've got an hour of hoovering and polishing with Dylan going round in circles in my head. Not literally of course, that would be mental. Imagine that, on a bike and everything.

Uni Life

Well I'm ashamed to say I have left it almost a month since my last post...but everything has been a bit mental recently what with settling into a new city and starting uni this week. Anyway, I'll hopefully get back into it all properly soon and have some more meaningful posts to talk about. It was Freshers Week last week which was lots of fun, and I am now suffering with the inevitable post-party illness; Fresher's Flu. Tonight is the big grand Freshers Ball with celeb DJs etc which promises to be lots of fun, assuming I can ignore the elephant sat on my chest. I'm not much of a club-music person but have certainly enjoyed the dancing since moving to a city; the gigs I go to are less about 'dancing' and more about tapping your feet, nodding your head, maybe swaying a little but it's great to be on a dance floor with loads of students, beer (or now exotic cocktail) in hand and properly going for it! You probably look stupid, but everyone does and as long as it feels right, that's all that matters!
Anyway I start uni properly this week and attended my first lectures today. I'm quite pedantic and enjoy writing essays so aim to do well on this side of the degree, and the playing part I can't wait to start; we were divided into 8 bands (there are 60 of us on the course) and have been set a gig date of 9th December. In the rehearsals leading up to this, we have to produce a 20 minute set consisting of covers and originals, so today our band decided to take on James Morrison's 'Broken Strings' and John Mayer's 'Waiting on the World to Change'. We will obviously consider lots more but decided on these as a start, and the prospect of playing with new people is exciting. In fact, any playing at all is exciting as it's been far too long since I've been able to sit down at a kit and play!
Anyway, enough of my uni life, this is basically the reason I've been a bit rubbish and not blogging much but once everything settles down and I establish a routine I'll get back to this properly. So stick with me and I'll let you know how it's all going soon :)

Live Review: Arctic Monkeys/Reading

I need to start this 'live review' with a footnote to say that I wasn't actually at the Reading Festival, my review is taken from the live footage of the Monkeys performing, but I think on this occasion, this will prove to be more honest. Taking myself from the crowd itself takes me from any created atmosphere that only an anticpiated festival-headline slot can bring, and I need to remove myself from any atmospheres in order to concentrate on the performance as a whole. And as another footnote, I'm not a Monkeys hater, I am in fact a big fan; I've seen them live and have BOUGHT (not a downloader) their first two albums and thoroughly enjoyed them. So here goes.
I'm afraid that our once dubbed saviours of popular music have jumped on the bandwagon of what it is to be 'cool'. These guys used to be so original; a cheeky four-piece with short hair and witty lyrics. Onstage they were fresh and exciting, and their music was just that. Their melodies were completely original, something that is now so difficult to produce in order to stand out from the crowd. They started the 'accent-singing' for this generation, the drums were outlandish and dared to be different, the entire package of the band was such a breath of much-needed fresh air.
But then I watched the band perform at Reading Festival, and I am scared. I am worried we've lost something that could have been great. Where once stood the short-haired, tight, energetic scamps reaking havoc with witty, dancy pop-rock songs now stood a gormless looking front-man, barely able to see through his mop of hair, strumming his guitar so slowly and painfully like it hurt everytime he moved. Alex Turner was fronting a band of zombies. The new songs were all so slow and depressing, where are the exciting rhythms?! It's not like they've never written a slow song but these guys aren't a ballad band, it's all about the energy and it's all been lost. I'd read reviews of the new album saying the same kind of comments, that the band's once-loved originality had been lost on Alex writing slow songs for his dear Alexa Chung and it seems to be the case. I respect the band for trying something new, but I actually had to turn the television off after fifteen minutes; the set was that slow and gormless and boring. So much for the birth of the saviours of popular music, I guess it's still down to me...

Think Big, Dream Bigger.

So last night, I had my leaving drinks. As I was stood at the bar, I looked through to the 'band room' where I have played many times, and stood and watched other local bands do their thing. It looked surprisingly different in the dark, with tables and chairs and just two weird looking middle-aged woman and a small dog. It's normally brimming with excitement and energy and sparsely populated on the floor with a young band eager to impress. It made me think, in an unintended cliche, that dreams can start here. I've certainly watched two bands play here a few times who are now heading onwards and out of the pub circuit and into the world of music videos, professional recordings and iTunes.
I feel blessed with the talent I've been given, and am more than excited ahead of starting my music course at uni. I just see it as my stepping stone, because four years ago I was adament that my 'then' band would settle for nothing less than everything and it wouldn't be a problem getting there. I grew up, people fell out, and reality hit with a bang. I was just glad for my pedantic side which signed up for uni as a 'Plan B' route. But it's fine now, because uni can only provide me with the necassary contacts and experience and, most importantly, new people to discover and play with to 'make it', however this might be. And I take my dreams with a pinch of salt these days (but only a tiny one) and, who wouldn't want the whole fame package, but I'm not lying when I say that I'd settle for any kind of living that sees me making music and money. I'd be truly grateful for that, and I know also that it will happen, it's just a matter of time.
It was a long chain of thought as I was propped up at the bar, waiting for another drink that I didn't really need, as I peered at the dark shadows looming in the next room and wondered when it would next come to life. How different one room can be. Quite the disguise it was wearing. There is, however, an exception to the dream. If I'm 40, and still playing in that room, I'm out. I can't help but feel bad for the blues guys that are doing it still; who knows if they're just doing it for fun or kidding themselves that it might still happen. I mean, if they are enjoying themselves, then good on them, but when I peer in from the same position that I was in last night and all three of the crowd are tapping their feet, I can't help but think they're feeling a little cheated. Maybe they're touring, so it's OK 'cause they are having fun, but what if they're local. What if they never really got out of this little town in the middle of nowhere. Which had a big influence on my reconsidering of my chosen uni. I decided that now was the time to go a bit further away, to somewhere bigger and more thriving, somewhere I'd feel out of place but somewhere that I could try and touch more people that wasn't still within range of the local weather forecast on the local news channel that I was watching in the same region of the country. OK, so it's not a million miles away, but it's enough. And I can't fucking wait. Top 40, here I come.

The Big Wide World

In just over a week, I shall be embarking on the next big phase of my life; University. My room is beginning to feel more and more empty by the day, with all my possessions slowly finding their way inside the growing mountain of boxes stacked up ambitiously in the corner of my room. It is a week of memories and reminiscence, which began last night as I spent the evening with two very close friends of mine, with whom I spent many many years playing music with in my very first band. It was a great night in which we sunk bottles of wine and chatted and laughed and just had fun. We talked about the band and flicked amorously through a scrap book that I'm so glad I started back in 2003. Posters, setlists, photos, it had everything and was great to look back on and smile. Although short-lived, it was a fantastic legacy to leave, which was proved at our come-back gig a few weeks ago as hoards of ardent old fans relived their spent youths singing along to our Glastonbury anthems. I have never played a more special and enjoyable gig. And I cannot put into words the feeling of the energy and appreciation of the crowd as we burst into our final number, a political masterpiece titled Break Free.
Tomorrow night I'm having leaving drinks with friends at The Riflemans pub in Glastonbury, where I look forward to further exploring old memories and being with the people I love.
I've been in Glastonbury for about ten years now, the longest I've ever lived anywhere and it was a strange feeling walking up the high street yesterday, thinking it might be the last time for a long time. I've done all of my growing up here and so this town holds all of my fondest memories. I will miss it, there's something special about this place, but I can't tell you how excited I am to be moving out, moving up, moving on. But I'm still coming down from the hugest laughing fit in Jake's garden that has ever existed. Guess what we were laughing at, guess what was so funny...yup, absolutely nothing. I love life!

Death of an Icon

Today I bought a newspaper, and I'm getting quite used to seeing Michael Jackson's face splashed across the front page. And then many more inside. Normally when celebrities die, they die two deaths; their actual death, and then their media death. Their media death lives on for a long time past their actual death, and this is the time where they fall victim to a complete overkill of new stories, secrets, illicit love affairs, spiralling debts, alcohol addiction and pretty much everything inbetween.

I feel prompted to write a short piece tonight on the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson. Now everybody has got their own opinion on the guy. So here's mine. I have always thought that the guy was just a misunderstood, naive 10 year old living inside a 50 year old man's body, because he was never allowed the childhood that everyone else his age was. He was too busy in gruelling rehearsals and being beaten by his father. The child molestation allegations made against him were unfair and wrong; the guy was simply living out the childhood he never had. It might have been different if he'd admitted luring children into his dingy flat, but the fact that the guy had his own theme park equipped with everything a 10 year old boy could want surely proves this. He just wanted to play, like he never got to when he should have been. I hate it when people are quick to judge without much of an opinion, other than that of the media's; 'oh he was just a peado' but this is so ignorant. I think the phrase is ignorance is bliss. The reality is, the man was an absolute genius. The word legend is banded around all too easy these days, but MJ was one of the original legends, and his legacy will live on forever.

Blog Lovin

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Hello!

I am a music enthusiast and love nothing more than discussing, playing, appreciating, performing, recording, writing and everything else -ing to do with music. So I've decided to join the blogging ranks and talk about my musical musings. I haven't really thought this one through yet...maybe nobody will follow it. Maybe I'll talk about music I like or describe songs I've written or get excited about Bon Jovi's new album or review drum kits, I guess I'll just see what happens as I go along, it's probably best.

So, a bit about me. Well the title of the blog is a Bon Jovi link, so get used to that, I'm a HUGE fan. I'm a drummer living right now in Glastonbury, UK but moving to Southampton in under 2 weeks (maybe not the best time to start a blog!) where I'll be studying Popular Music Performance at the Solent Uni. I've written songs for years and also sing and play a little guitar, I've loads of gigging and recording experience. OK now it's starting to sound like a CV, I guess you'll learn more as I go along...so for now that's that. I hope you enjoy reading!