thinking about joining/founding a band [youtube-y thread]

[brinstar]

i responded to a lincoln craigslist ad looking for adventurous experimental musicians for a "theatrical rock" band. one of the things i said in my email was "theatrical? you mean like Sleepytime Gorilla Museum?" and the dude practically e-crapped himself in his response. apparently SGM is one of his favorite bands and is a huge influence on what he's doing and the direction he wants to go in.

anyway here's my favorite SGM song, Phthisis, which was absolutely haunting live (carla kihlstedt is a goddess):




another song: when they do this live, they pull a dead stop mid-thrash and "sleep" on stage for a few minutes, then with superhuman timing they jump right back in on the note they cut off. you can hear it on the album track, though it's only a few seconds. anyway, check it... SLEEP IS WRONG:




and for an (almost) instrumental treat, here's AMBUGATON! it's real pretty for about three minutes before it explodes into major beat-ass, and then ends with a solo on an instrument they invented called a "pedal-action wiggler" (they invent lots of weird instruments, such as the Slide-Piano Log and the Popping Turtle). anyway, here:




he also said he's a huge Magma fan. i'd never heard of them so i looked them up and discovered it was a cutting-edge fusion band from 70s france. they had two drummers and their lead singer made up a language to sing in! here's a (somewhat) recent live performance of "The Last Seven Minutes":




as of right now this project, called Violated Cerebrum, consists of only the two guys-- the guy i talked to plays keyboard and the other dude does guitars. he said they want to stay minimalist, with a max of 4 players. i'm going to try and pitch the idea to my friend lauren who plays electric cello and is into the Secret Chiefs 3 (thanks to me!). if she's into it, i will probably go to the dude and say "i'm in, but she comes with"

i realize most of this stuff is pretty bizarre, but what do you guys think?

[brinstar]

in before

Do it, man. Clearly your solo crap isn't getting you anywhere.

[Ginzburgh]

Ha, wrong. I was the one that voted no. Completely opposite of what you wrote above. Of all the stuff you linked, you're the best part, which means you've been letting lesser talent hold you back. Just do the accoustic thing and write songs and when you want to bring in more people to collaborate, just bring in random musicians. There is no need to "make a band".

You sing well, you play guitar well. You've got all you need. Why not control the whole thing yourself so you can avoid some other pricks fucking everything all up.

And that shit in the youtube link above is complete garbage.

[10sun]

lick.

and you need to retain a large amount of creative control.

Don't provide talent to an assclown who could barely function without you and what you bring to the table.

[brinstar]

Ha, wrong. I was the one that voted no. Completely opposite of what you wrote above. Of all the stuff you linked, you're the best part, which means you've been letting lesser talent hold you back. Just do the accoustic thing and write songs and when you want to bring in more people to collaborate, just bring in random musicians. There is no need to "make a band".

You sing well, you play guitar well. You've got all you need. Why not control the whole thing yourself so you can avoid some other pricks fucking everything all up.

And that shit in the youtube link above is complete garbage.

hah thanks man

i had a feeling the SGM wouldn't go over too well here; i think they are really fascinating, but i realize it's definitely an acquired taste. if i did join this group i'd have to be content with the fact that probably no one will enjoy us except for a few weirdos, but the draw is that it'd be challenging and would help build compositional chops

plus there's no reason i couldn't do both...?

[Ginzburgh]

Hey if you think you'll learn something so profound from your experience with SGM that will greatly help you with your solo stuff, go for it, if not, it's a waste of time. Just my opinion though.

[Drem]

i thought those links were great. downloading now, thanks. magma is obviously a huge sigur ros influence. it's almost the new direction in rock, anyway. genre-blending and shoegazing stuff. i mean, you're a baroness/red sparrowes/isis kinda guy anyway, right? you check the blogrolls, you know what's happening in rock these days outside of the (pathetically disappointing) limelight bands

so.... i'd do it if i were you. not doing it would be stupid. i always want to meet up with musicians that want to play music that's actually planned to a degree and not just a bunch of twits rocking out to circle of fifth progressions in an extremely bored and tired verse/chorus/verse format.... so what if it turns out to be the best band you never played in?

but what if it turns out to be the worst? i had this idea running for a while that i'd want to start a drum and bass duo band. like the anti-two-piece-blues. then i heard a group called "death from above" that was more or less what i'd had in mind and it was basically..... really bad. idea scrapped. band needs guitar

[Trielelvan]

Hey if you think you'll learn something so profound from your experience with SGM that will greatly help you with your solo stuff, go for it, if not, it's a waste of time. Just my opinion though.

This. I basically agree with all the Ginz has said already, except I voted "yes."

Every opportunity to broaden and learn is worth going for IMO.
You're extremely talented, and it'd be a shame to not take the chance to try this out and see how it fits with what you already do, even if it does end up sucking in the end. At least you tried.

DO make sure that anything you contribute is, in fact, credited to you *in writing* from the get go.

[brinstar]

just to clarify, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum is not looking for a drummer... this dude from Lincoln who loves SGM is. for some reason i thought there was an undercurrent of "hell yeah man go join SGM" and if i misread that then i apologize

i thought those links were great. downloading now, thanks. magma is obviously a huge sigur ros influence. it's almost the new direction in rock, anyway. genre-blending and shoegazing stuff. i mean, you're a baroness/red sparrowes/isis kinda guy anyway, right? you check the blogrolls, you know what's happening in rock these days outside of the (pathetically disappointing) limelight bands

so.... i'd do it if i were you. not doing it would be stupid. i always want to meet up with musicians that want to play music that's actually planned to a degree and not just a bunch of twits rocking out to circle of fifth progressions in an extremely bored and tired verse/chorus/verse format.... so what if it turns out to be the best band you never played in?

but what if it turns out to be the worst? i had this idea running for a while that i'd want to start a drum and bass duo band. like the anti-two-piece-blues. then i heard a group called "death from above" that was more or less what i'd had in mind and it was basically..... really bad. idea scrapped. band needs guitar

1. i had a feeling you might enjoy you some SGM, dremmo. keep an eye on them, they tour a lot-- and if they swing up your way (they're from oakland, so it's quite likely) i'd really recommend seeing them live. total mindfuck. plus like i said, carla kihlstedt is a violin-sawing succubus, yummmmm
2. also, surf youtube for some vids of japanese band RUINS, a drum/bass duo that's probably right up your alley. (they too are a huge influence on this dude i'm talking to)


this project might totally suck, i'm well aware! i told leah yesterday that it's quite reasonable to be apprehensive about people who want to do music like this, because to pull it off you have to be really really good musicians (and i'm including myself in that-- who knows if i can pull off that kind of madness???). bottom line, when average people try stuff like this it just ends up sounding like hot mess that missed garbage day

anyway i have a lasagne date with my cellist friend on sunday, i'll pitch the idea to her and see what she says. if she's into it, i can't help but think that adding electric cello to an experimental drums/keys/guitar three-piece will triple its potential for awesomeness

[Jay]

Does she shred the cello?

[Drem]

just to clarify, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum is not looking for a drummer... this dude from Lincoln who loves SGM is. for some reason i thought there was an undercurrent of "hell yeah man go join SGM" and if i misread that then i apologize

i thought those links were great. downloading now, thanks. magma is obviously a huge sigur ros influence. it's almost the new direction in rock, anyway. genre-blending and shoegazing stuff. i mean, you're a baroness/red sparrowes/isis kinda guy anyway, right? you check the blogrolls, you know what's happening in rock these days outside of the (pathetically disappointing) limelight bands

so.... i'd do it if i were you. not doing it would be stupid. i always want to meet up with musicians that want to play music that's actually planned to a degree and not just a bunch of twits rocking out to circle of fifth progressions in an extremely bored and tired verse/chorus/verse format.... so what if it turns out to be the best band you never played in?

but what if it turns out to be the worst? i had this idea running for a while that i'd want to start a drum and bass duo band. like the anti-two-piece-blues. then i heard a group called "death from above" that was more or less what i'd had in mind and it was basically..... really bad. idea scrapped. band needs guitar

1. i had a feeling you might enjoy you some SGM, dremmo. keep an eye on them, they tour a lot-- and if they swing up your way (they're from oakland, so it's quite likely) i'd really recommend seeing them live. total mindfuck. plus like i said, carla kihlstedt is a violin-sawing succubus, yummmmm
2. also, surf youtube for some vids of japanese band RUINS, a drum/bass duo that's probably right up your alley. (they too are a huge influence on this dude i'm talking to)


this project might totally suck, i'm well aware! i told leah yesterday that it's quite reasonable to be apprehensive about people who want to do music like this, because to pull it off you have to be really really good musicians (and i'm including myself in that-- who knows if i can pull off that kind of madness???). bottom line, when average people try stuff like this it just ends up sounding like hot mess that missed garbage day

anyway i have a lasagne date with my cellist friend on sunday, i'll pitch the idea to her and see what she says. if she's into it, i can't help but think that adding electric cello to an experimental drums/keys/guitar three-piece will triple its potential for awesomeness

speaking ofgood japanese bands and violins you should check out Rovo

[Dylan]

So... the band name is going to be Finawin's Inner Thigh?