Yesterday night, my friend Vincent, who plays in the local japanese-rock band R.E.I., told me that his rhythm guitarist was MIA. Like totally disappeared from the face of the earth. And they are going to tour China on the 25th of Dec. So he asked me i wanted to play in his band, giving me the lead role while he plays rhythm.

And i'm like "WTF?"

Well, it's definitely an honour to be invited by someone, but er.. i doubt i'm that good enuff to wow the pants off the Chinese. And also, i'm not tt keen into make-up. Damn gross. Lastly, i have to get my degree first. Imagine the response from my Science Dean when i tell him "Sir, can i defer my studies for 1 year because i'm gonna be in Jrock band and tour China next yr?"

Yea it's really quite wtf.

But i guess i might seriously consider if their band is a pop/rock one. Metal maybe abit too technically challenging, jazz is totally no-go. And Jrock have to dress up! Fuck, y does opportunity come with such weird terms and conditions? Either ways, i'm not taking up the offer, gonna pass it to another Guan's bro maybe. Shrug.

One thing i can't really figure out is: What is this particular company really thinking? Signing a band tt's untested and inexperienced, playing a genre which isn't mainstream at all, coupled with the fact tt they dress up in gothic fashion complete with make-up? Give them a studio for them to jam for free, cut an album, send them to China for tour and hook up with major companies like Apple to release their own line of merchandise?

The funny thing is, nobody has ever heard of their band? Sounds too good to be true, but it's true. And i doubt the company is taking them for a ride. It seems serious. Shrug.

I can never comprehend the machinations of the music industry.

Some new/old music i'm listening:

Beat Crusaders - J indie punk rock. Damn solid catchy riffs. But with ENGRISH singing. Still good fun music^^

Black Sabbath - Old school "heavy metal". Iommi's the man for his "devil's note"

Celine Dion - Meh, i tot she was great, but seems that i prefer Mariah over her.

Enya - New age goodness. Great tracks to listen out for their instrumentation works.

Evanescene - Yea, their old songs are still good in my books. My Immortal is one of my favs.

Guthrie Govan - A solid guitarist who's also one of the tutors in Guitar Techniques magazine. He's like the fusion of alot of guitarists, lotsa different styles. Brilliant.

Jaga Jazzist - Jazz fusion band. Very nice, im digging jazz fusion lately.

Jeff Healey - Blind blues guitarist who plays the guitar on his lap. Shreds as fast as anyone u know, with a killer wide vibrato tt puts Malmy to shame.

Joe Bonamassa - New kid on the block in the blues scene. Good technique and feel for his solos, with a little jazzy touch to his playing.

Kylie Minogue - Killer sexy dance tracks. Shld play her music when ur getting it on. Kinky

Massive Attack - Electronic music? Something different from the usual rock n roll. Good stuff, i like the way they drone on and on but with little variations each time.

Porcupine Tree - Recently got hold of some of this good stuff. I dun really know how to classify the music, but it sounds rock and prog-ish, yet alternative sometimes. But it's very interesting music, though there's a tendency to use the "Prog chord" all too often. Prog chord = power chord + 5th as the bass note.

Rodrigo Y Gabriela - Latin acoustic duo with good seriously good chops. And the female player gives rhythm guitar a wicked twist. Catch one of their vids to understand y

Spyro Gyra - Another jazz fusion band. Solid stuff.

Stratovarius - Power metal with Jordan Rudess (or issit Derek Sherindan?) Either ways, the keys shred way more than the guitar :D

Tower of Power - Jazz funk horn-based band. Very very funky grooves. And horns!

Lately i realised that i'm beginning to move away from listening just for the guitar and listening out more for the entire instrumentation of music. Which i find is extremely interesting and challenging. Interesting because of the interaction between the various sounds, and challenging because it's already damn hard to write 1 guitar part. Can u imagine writing for 10 instruments, each playing something different. U have to think of which instrument plays counterpoint, which plays harmony, which just covers the rhythm aspect, and last of all, where to let each instrument stop playing and BREATHE! Tricky tricky.

Ok here ends today's episode. It has effectively killed 1 hour of my time, which is good. ^^

Alright, here's a new tagboard for all you pple who's lazy to type the security password to post a comment. ---->

=.=

Btw "Eden Love Melody" is kinda mixed alittle louder this time, and i did some eq to make the lead guitars sound clearer, cutting back the synths abit. And did some panning stuff to make the delay sound better i guess. Still can be mixed and improved though. Gotta find more time.

If u guys really love this song and want a mp3 copy just tell me and i'll send it to u ;).

Completed a new song. Named "Eden Love Melody", kinda weird name, but yea, since it's an instrumental it has no lyrics for me to name the song. It's just a smooth, slow ballady song, which progresses slowly to the final climax. Was actually thinking along the lines of Neil Zaza when writing it.

This is the first time that i write the entire melody of the song before the chords. Notice that there's no solos at all too. I intended to use the guitar as the "vocal melody" in the song, and as i wrote, the thought of putting in a solo becomes more and more redundant. It's like one long solo anyways, but this time without the wankfest.

Well, so just close your eyes, listen, and enjoy the aural scenery ;)

Eden Love Melody <- (click)

For every good thing in your life:

Basic ingredients to make a decent band:

1) A fucking good drummer. Someone that's steady, knows his songs well, and can adapt to the various shitty drumsets that the venue is capable of throwing at you.

2) A decent singer. Not necessarily have to be really good, but at least can keep in pitch and has a decent vocal quality. Just as long as he/she does not sound like a out-of-tune guitar, it's good enuff.

Optional: It wouldnt hurt if any of the band members looks good/pretty/handsome/cool.

Yea, yesterday's recital at OMS shows how important these factors are. Opening band was by Point Blank. A ensemble of Sri Lankan students ( i presume there were no Indians there lol! Tamil Tigers!), playing an assortment of rock covers. Guitarist was decent, bassist was really groovy, and they had 3 singers to rotate around like a karaoke session. BUT. The drummer girl sucks ass. Yea she's really crap, like worse than anyone i know who plays drums. Even i can play better than her, in terms of time keeping, stick control, fills, crash-ins. She totally ruined the band la basically.

Point to note is that i was the soundman for the night, so the mixer was right beside the drum set. Imagine how much pain i was going thru when she was hammering away at the drums with no inkling tt it sounds crap. I think my ears were ringing already after their 2nd song.

Next up, was a solo acoustic performance by Anderson Quah, who's quite the looker haha. Score points already. But he played some of his own original stuff which can't really connect with the crowd at all. Or at least i can't remember how his songs sound like at all. Can't hear the structure, the chorus or anything at all. Just a mish mash of chords here and there with lyrics layered over it. Ok maybe shall not comment anymore, cos really, i wasn't listening at all. Too busy with my partner in crime, Gang. Chang and Gang, tt rhymes haha.

Third up, was by Temasek Hall's dB! Yea they were the show-stealers that night, belting out 2 great tunes ala Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol and Time is running out by Muse. They are what i call a good band. Solid drummer with plenty of church gig experience, and a good singer who's also into acapella stuff. And the singer guy is Mr NUS too, so yea, plenty of TH chicks there giving him support. The band is tight becos of the consistent drumming and the singer sings well, so yea they're really good. Impressive.

After dB, it's another band by TH, ala Mark and Friends. Yea tt one with Clara on vocals and tt wanky guitarist. Not as good as dB though, cos they introduced another singer called Shumin i think, and she wasnt really good i felt. Or maybe their harmony din go very well. But it's still ok, cos tt Shumin looks damn bloody hot la! Clara's not bad too la. Tip: If ur band is not tt good, INTRODUCE SOME EYE CANDY! At least u get the guys' attn. Mark continues to do his wanky solo, which got the crowd quite "???". Yea, no one appreciates wanky solos. Especially the laymen. Overall still ok performance. Can be better though.

And then, this 2 guys appeared out of nowhere, one drummer and a bass fella with a stingray bass, and they started jamming like RHCP style. Bass fella was good, did a check on him and found out tt he's NUSJAZZ's head. No wonder so power, with all his slap licks and fingers all over the board. But again, the audience is like "???". Yea, quite wtf. No one cares la really.

By then, most of the crowd has left, cos it mainly comprises of the supporters for TH and Point Blank. So yea, quite realistic la, mostly everyone left cept for some poor souls supporting the last band Liminal X. Well well, for Liminal X, i wouldn't say they are good, but they arent that bad either. Funny thing is tt they keep changing instruments ard, which kinda kills the consistency in a band. Esp the drums. And they look like a bunch of nerdy misfits, esp the lead singer who looks way out la. If i wasnt at the gig, i would have never knew he's a lead singer of a band. But anyways he can't really sing la, so yea, nerdy + weak singing powers = GG.

*Just checked the forums and found out tt Liminal X is looking for a new vocalist. Haha... tt guy really GG-ed*

Anyways, i felt tt Weixian (TH band head and my apprentice) has got the formula right this time. Fill the band with pretty/talented people. Now Th band has Mr NUS, Temasek Hall King 06/07, pageant finalists and a good supporting cast. Marketing at it's best.

Now i kinda regret leaving hall. Haha, how come my year the band is filled up with MISFITS!?!?!?!

No fucking idea what happened to Tagboard.com or whatever the url tt is. In other words, my tagboard is utterly fucked, so i decided to scrap this idea all together since not many pple bother to tag, and those tt really have something to say will bother to use the comment function instead. Which pretty much sifts out much of the unnecessary shit in between. A good compromise i'd say. Hmm.

Judgement day is over, ie mid term test of this freaking difficult module is finally over. Yea, when Chang says a module is freaking difficult, IT IS FREAKING DIFFICULT. I would be delighted if i can pass this test seriously. I think this test really stumped the China pple real hard this time round too. GG in dota terms, and PEACE in Nick and Dan's Tekken lingo.

Went back to TH to sit in their band rehearsal. And saw quite a number of my ex-hallmates. Talked abit, caught up abit, but nothing much has been changed. Seriously, if anyone's really that interested to know how i'm doing, just MSN me la. Anyways, yea everyone is fine (i mean how chui can someone become within 1 yr?) and tt's it. Case closed.

Band rehearsal is not bad, and i'm freaking surprised tt Clara Chow is the singer. Yea Chow is like the last person i'd think could sing, but damn she sings well with good delivery i must say. I'm impressed! Especially for someone who curses and swears like a seasoned sailor. Hidden musical talents in my friends. way cool~

So TH band 2006/07 is pretty decent, like way better than during my time. They have a good reliable drummer with pretty good technique, Robin on bass (like wtf?!? but ok i think he wants to slack), Clara on vocals and this wankerish dude on guitar who reminds me of myself 1 yr ago. Yea he's really helluva wanker, but the issue is he can't improvise well!

Now why is tt a big problem: I really dun care if he solos like tt during a freeform improvisational JAM, but the thing is if he plays such redundant random solos for a performance it's just gonna bore the shit hell out of the audience. If he's technically good but wanky, it's still not so bad. Cos at least he can awe the laymen with his speed and techniques, and impress the guitarists in the know. But this dude really has close to zero technique i must say.

What i'm trying to say is: It's not that i look down on him, but pls if u are not that good, dun overdo things and spoil the music. Yes u are keeping up with the spirit of improvisation which is applaudable, but pls: DO IT FOR THE MUSIC. Wanking just gets you nowhere.

Note to readers: I dun ever ever do over the top wanky solos whenever i play SONGS with a band. That's always my policy, cos songs have to be done in a certain way so that it sounds good and tight. But when it comes to free jam, everything is free for all, so everyone is allowed to wank. Or shld i say, must wank. Yea it's my rule. I always force Biao to solo, even though he can't quite do it, but tt's ok. It's to keep up with the spirit of improvisation anyways.

For the uninformed, Jazz music is mostly improvisational. Meaning they have somewhat of a basic chord structure, and then everyone starts to solo. The singer solos, the guitars solos, the brass section solos etc etc. It's ok, becos, THEY ARE GOOD! So even though they are somewhat wanky sometimes, they are still good solos.

So if u are a good musician, and u truly truly know what u are doing, then by all means go ahead. If not, pls just follow the music score note for note and try not to play wrongly!

End rant

It's funny how Shirui suddenly just talked to me about how much she loved "Standstill" and that i should do a proper makeover to really make it a hit on radio or smthing. I'm like WTF? but yea i appreciate her true sincerity and apprecation of "Standstill", even though i must admit that i've sang off key for like abt half the song. Well i wouldn't say i'm done with that song, cos i've been thinking of re-doing it for quite sometime. It's just the collection of good ideas, there's some, but i feel that it's not enuff yet. When i "hear" the song in my head, i will re-record it. And believe me, i will TRY to sing on key this times, using all the mana i have to achieve that. And if it's still not good enuff, TOO BAD.

OT: Biao just sent me his first recording! Amateur-ish stuff, but everybody is gonna start somewhere. Sweet!

Btw my mana is all used up today for my freaking insane test. I need more mana.

Just caught 2 movies "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset" over the weekend with Shirui. Yea they are linked, simple romantic show about this guy and girl whom met on the train and they decided to spend a day with each other, sharing each other's ideas on everything in the world while walking along the beautiful streets of Vienna.

I guess to other pple it will be terribly boring film, cos this movie is all dialogue! No action, no sex scenes, no happenings. Just 2 pple walking and talking. But what i like about this film is about the way they share their ideas and views, just like the stuff me and Shirui talks about. And Jesse is somewhat like me, cynical, skeptical and realistic. While Celine resembles Shirui, the idealist, the dreamer.

Quotes which i really like in the film:

Celine: I believe if there's any kind of God it wouldn't be in any of us, not you or me but just this little space in between.

Jesse: Everybody's parents fucked them up. Rich kids parents gave them too much. Poor kids, not enough. You know, too much attention, not enough attention. They either left them or they stuck around and taught them the wrong things

Celine: Well, who says relationships have to last forever?

Beautiful film.

Disco on a acoustic guitar...

Ok let's record this down before i forget entirely about it:

This noon, a phone call woke me up from my wonderful sleep. The fella on the other end asked, "Is this Best Tech Aircon?" Yea, been getting calls since dunno when from pple asking for aircon service, so i just hung up immediately and went back to sleep. With a mental note tt if tt bugger calls again i'm so gonna mess him up.

So tt twit called back immediately, asking for the same company again. This time, i switched to a more mature voice to act as one of the staff. He said he's a contractor and wanted to know abt the price of this particular Panasonic System III aircon. So i just gave him a random price of $300. And he asked further abt the combined cost with the aircon brackets, and i said 300 for everything. He seemed amused, as if the price is too cheap, but i'm not really in the mood for haggling price u see. So he asked for my name and i said Subah. FYI, Subah is the name of the guy whom all the past callers kept looking for. And also Katherine, and Christina too.

And then, poor contractor said this killer phrase, "Ok Subah, i come down now from Ang Mo Kio to place the order from you ar." I'm like ok... yea u better come down from Ang Mo Kio u bloody ass who woke me up. Yea it cracks me up when he fell for it. Too bad la, he woke me up, he has to pay for it.

Shirui warned me about what comes around goes around, telling me not to be so naughty. And i'm like yea, really... he woke me up, so he deserves to drive down from Ang Mo Kio to wherever this Best Tech Aircon is. He has to pay for FAILING TO DAIL A SIMPLE 8 DIGIT PHONE NUMBER CORRECTLY!!!!! EAT MY KARMA!!!!!

I'm in the Hyper lab right now, waiting for my nxt lecture. Might as well sneak in a blog i thought.

Caught some movies lately, namely Mission Impossible III, Almost Famous, Spawn and Brokeback Mountain. All 3 are pretty good movies, but i realised as i grow older i'd prefer to watch more milder but thinking stuff, compared to ur usual blockbusters. Yea so in comparision, MI3 and Spawn seemed less entertaining compared to the other 2. Guess there's only so much action that Hollywood can cook up. It's like re-hashed ideas over and over again.

Anyways, to me, watching movies is like learning a small lesson on life. Everytime i take away something from each film i've watched, and learn abit more abt myself. Like in Almost Famous, i feel for the lead character so much. So uncool, blur but yet so earnest in doing what he liked. I think i'm turning into a movie buff.

Got pretty careless lately while doing my midterm tests. Hope it doesnt translate to shitty results for me. FYI, i'm pretty anal when it comes to results. Yea, i'm the Kiasu Singaporean guy who's all out to score and outwit the ah tiongs and ah nehs. It's just a social expectation of me to do well in exams and tests. My parents, my brother, my relatives, my girlfriend, my classmates, all expect me to do well. I do not know y, but because of this there's a need for me to fulfill this expectation of pple.

Sometimes i do feel like getting by like Gab. Just do it, get the paper and fuck off. No need for good results, minimal effort is enuff, cos in the end the paper is homogeneous. Spend the time to other things that matter, like friends, hobbies, blah blah. Lead a fulfilling life rather than a results-driven one. Sounds good, but unachievable for me. It's just not gonna happen.

Y do pple like to judge music so much? Like Band A >>> Band B. Ur favourite band sux cos they cant play blistering solos like my favourite band. So much so that we become musical elitists ourselves, often ignoring other genres and other great obscure bands, and thinking that what we listen is the best and everything else is shit. Yea this kind of pple really shld just explode and die.

Alright time to go.