from my former 'hometown' of Burnaby British Columbia hails my good friend Geoff and his solo project 'I'm Not Sorry'... Geoff' was the bassist and chief anarchist for the 1990's band 'Beverley Soul Crusher' a band that did pretty awesome in their own time.
Now an 'old Metal bastard' like many of us, Geoff isn't content to just sit back and have music blasted at him, he's recording his own album, video's being shot and his latest track 'Menace' is fuckin killer!
I'd say like a mix of Ministry/Fear Factory and maybe some Nine Inch Nails.
Geoff did everything on the track except the mixing.!
Turn this up!
If ya have any head left, read on!
So as I was going through Chris Galbraith's pix from the benefit, I was thinking about this... What's 'this' you might ask... About photo's of musicians and videos.... You don't get into a band not to be heard or seen... Ok, sure, there's some genres and some bands, TOOL comes to mind, that don't 'show themselves'... They hide from the limelight, but for the most part MOST musicians have a bit of ego that needs to be stroked... We all need to be told our songs are awesome or that our set sounded awesome, though I don't know of any who ask, 'How'd I look on stage?' I mean that's a bit much, but I know others are wondering.. We need our ego's stroked.. Sure, sure there's a few band's out there that claim they don't "give a fuck"... But they do.
And I find that seeing pix or video from a performance is really great. I mean, I don't know about other musicians, but when I'm on stage after the set I'll barely remember anything that happened.
In the Dreamkick days, we'd get done a show and the guys would be like, "Holy shit! Did you see that girl flashing us during *whatever song*?" And I'd be like, 'What??? I didn't see no bewbies!'... I never saw shit going on lol.. So, not that the video would show you the boobs (because it was shooting the band, not from the band's perspective).... But watching the vids can help a lot, pinpoint songs which need more 'umph' or tightening up, maybe something you wanted to try during a song and see how it played out, do you need to change stuff? Are the rest of the guys standing there like bags of potato's... And audio of course you can hear how the set went... So, 'ego' aside, there is a lot of value to the pix and vids.
Don't let any singer fool you. We're out there for a reason. We WANT to be seen, we WANT to be heard... We wouldn't be 'lead singers' if we didn't.
For some of us it's a height thing, 'little man syndrome' for other's, you can't miss them, I'm talking lanky fuckers like, Joey Ramone, Josh Homme, Blackie Lawless, Peter Steele of Type 'O' Negative was over 6.5!
And we're all a bit to REALLY egotistical, I know, I know, my 'lead singer' Metal brother's are saying, 'No, not I!'.. But they lie!
We WANT the spotlight, the attention (maybe not offstage)... We got a message, we're eccentric, we're crazy but we all want to be seen.
We all looked at Metal & Rock mags when we were kids and our favorite bands music videos, capturing those 'super cool' photo's or segments of video... This is where Galbraith caters to my ego lol, he knows I'm gonna wanna see how stupid I looked after the show.. But I'm just searching for that shot, the one like my idol in some magazine, where the 16 yr old kid in me goes, 'Damn, that's a wicked cool photo!'...
But also, video and photos can help you refine your image, how you want to come off. Video is great to hear and see how it all looked from the audience perspective; did this work? did that song go over well? What did I do in that solo? 'Man it was all so cool when the crowd was singing along'...
It can be very helpful in that sense, which songs need to be tighter, 'so and so said I was "off key" here, was I?'
We're the show-offs, the show ...erm... persons...
Raised on the breast milk of Iron Maiden, Jesus Christ Superstar, Meatloaf, Alice Cooper, having a 'stage persona' helps you to escape the confines of your mind and to portray a truer version of yourself that is rebelling or being an activist or just a showman an entertainer...
Mark Kilfoil always would say after he saw us play that he just can't get over the 'off-stage Chris' vs the 'on-stage Chris'... And that's just it, I can't control that 'on-stage Chris' - No matter how bad I feel, the music moves me, the adrenaline is harnessed and spent in any spastic motion my body will allow.
As I say, I'm always in pain no matter what, well unless I'm sleeping floating in water is nice... But other than that, when I'm on stage, what happens happens and after I pay the price.
Back in the day, Corey Walton (rest in peace brother) dubbed me as 'Zippy' because of how I would "zip" around the stage (Or when working in the theater, up and down ladders and scaffolding), Terry Daly and Dave Campbell adopted that nickname for when I worked with them and ACE productions, their lighting and sound production company.
I used to be able jump like straight up in the air (as seen in photo above), Terry had a great photo that I never managed to get a copy, but I was levitating, like in the photo Chris Galbraith took.
But now, I'm trying to channel energy into singing, but i've not kept going with my instrument like my musician friends and I'm severely lacking in strength, I can't 'scream' like I used to as it's an art unto itself, a process of ripping your throat raw and almost like building a callous, like guitarists and bassists go through playing... I don't rehearse in a loud setting to really bust that hump and get to the point where i could 'scream' again without irritating my throat and going into a coughing fit... But I try. And I thank people for saying nice things.
I can't wait to record our new songs, especially 'Anubis Rising' as it's my current favorite of our songs.
So, someday, someday I'll 'disappear' and after a while, my neighbors or maybe some friends will break down my door and find this:!
Check Elsa's claws for blood under the nails....
Had this song in my head the last few days.... Never much liked too much 'Seal', but this was an amazing song.
Now an 'old Metal bastard' like many of us, Geoff isn't content to just sit back and have music blasted at him, he's recording his own album, video's being shot and his latest track 'Menace' is fuckin killer!
I'd say like a mix of Ministry/Fear Factory and maybe some Nine Inch Nails.
Geoff did everything on the track except the mixing.!
Turn this up!
If ya have any head left, read on!
So as I was going through Chris Galbraith's pix from the benefit, I was thinking about this... What's 'this' you might ask... About photo's of musicians and videos.... You don't get into a band not to be heard or seen... Ok, sure, there's some genres and some bands, TOOL comes to mind, that don't 'show themselves'... They hide from the limelight, but for the most part MOST musicians have a bit of ego that needs to be stroked... We all need to be told our songs are awesome or that our set sounded awesome, though I don't know of any who ask, 'How'd I look on stage?' I mean that's a bit much, but I know others are wondering.. We need our ego's stroked.. Sure, sure there's a few band's out there that claim they don't "give a fuck"... But they do.
And I find that seeing pix or video from a performance is really great. I mean, I don't know about other musicians, but when I'm on stage after the set I'll barely remember anything that happened.
In the Dreamkick days, we'd get done a show and the guys would be like, "Holy shit! Did you see that girl flashing us during *whatever song*?" And I'd be like, 'What??? I didn't see no bewbies!'... I never saw shit going on lol.. So, not that the video would show you the boobs (because it was shooting the band, not from the band's perspective).... But watching the vids can help a lot, pinpoint songs which need more 'umph' or tightening up, maybe something you wanted to try during a song and see how it played out, do you need to change stuff? Are the rest of the guys standing there like bags of potato's... And audio of course you can hear how the set went... So, 'ego' aside, there is a lot of value to the pix and vids.
Don't let any singer fool you. We're out there for a reason. We WANT to be seen, we WANT to be heard... We wouldn't be 'lead singers' if we didn't.
For some of us it's a height thing, 'little man syndrome' for other's, you can't miss them, I'm talking lanky fuckers like, Joey Ramone, Josh Homme, Blackie Lawless, Peter Steele of Type 'O' Negative was over 6.5!
And we're all a bit to REALLY egotistical, I know, I know, my 'lead singer' Metal brother's are saying, 'No, not I!'.. But they lie!
We WANT the spotlight, the attention (maybe not offstage)... We got a message, we're eccentric, we're crazy but we all want to be seen.
We all looked at Metal & Rock mags when we were kids and our favorite bands music videos, capturing those 'super cool' photo's or segments of video... This is where Galbraith caters to my ego lol, he knows I'm gonna wanna see how stupid I looked after the show.. But I'm just searching for that shot, the one like my idol in some magazine, where the 16 yr old kid in me goes, 'Damn, that's a wicked cool photo!'...
One of my favorite photos taken by Chris Galbraith, from the Social Club at UNB during the 1994 National College Radio Conference (I'm aware it says '1993), wish I could still pull those off today.
But also, video and photos can help you refine your image, how you want to come off. Video is great to hear and see how it all looked from the audience perspective; did this work? did that song go over well? What did I do in that solo? 'Man it was all so cool when the crowd was singing along'...
It can be very helpful in that sense, which songs need to be tighter, 'so and so said I was "off key" here, was I?'
We're the show-offs, the show ...erm... persons...
Raised on the breast milk of Iron Maiden, Jesus Christ Superstar, Meatloaf, Alice Cooper, having a 'stage persona' helps you to escape the confines of your mind and to portray a truer version of yourself that is rebelling or being an activist or just a showman an entertainer...
Mark Kilfoil always would say after he saw us play that he just can't get over the 'off-stage Chris' vs the 'on-stage Chris'... And that's just it, I can't control that 'on-stage Chris' - No matter how bad I feel, the music moves me, the adrenaline is harnessed and spent in any spastic motion my body will allow.
As I say, I'm always in pain no matter what, well unless I'm sleeping floating in water is nice... But other than that, when I'm on stage, what happens happens and after I pay the price.
Back in the day, Corey Walton (rest in peace brother) dubbed me as 'Zippy' because of how I would "zip" around the stage (Or when working in the theater, up and down ladders and scaffolding), Terry Daly and Dave Campbell adopted that nickname for when I worked with them and ACE productions, their lighting and sound production company.
I used to be able jump like straight up in the air (as seen in photo above), Terry had a great photo that I never managed to get a copy, but I was levitating, like in the photo Chris Galbraith took.
But now, I'm trying to channel energy into singing, but i've not kept going with my instrument like my musician friends and I'm severely lacking in strength, I can't 'scream' like I used to as it's an art unto itself, a process of ripping your throat raw and almost like building a callous, like guitarists and bassists go through playing... I don't rehearse in a loud setting to really bust that hump and get to the point where i could 'scream' again without irritating my throat and going into a coughing fit... But I try. And I thank people for saying nice things.
I can't wait to record our new songs, especially 'Anubis Rising' as it's my current favorite of our songs.
So, someday, someday I'll 'disappear' and after a while, my neighbors or maybe some friends will break down my door and find this:!
Check Elsa's claws for blood under the nails....
Had this song in my head the last few days.... Never much liked too much 'Seal', but this was an amazing song.
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