Okay so awhile ago the new Counting Crows and White Stripes albums came out. If you know me you know that Counting Crows are one of my favorite bands as well as the White Stripes. The last couple albums from the Crows have been alright a few gems here and there. The first album August and Everything After is my favorite. So being a true fan I went and bought the new album with no expectations. I opened it up as soon as I got in the car and put it in the old cd player. If you never told me it was the Crows I would have know from the first second of music that's how much I've listened to this band. I did the same thing with the White Stripes new album. Now the White Stripes have been SOLID from the very start. Each album is different yet the same. I've spent a lot of money on White Stripes 45's and other live shows.
There is a point to this I promise and it has to do with writing music. I've listened to the Crows since 1994, so 14 years and the White Stripes since 2002. I started playing guitar around the age of 18 and now at 30 I suck just as bad. So just a little background on me and what I'm about to talk about.
The whole reason I started to play guitar was cause I had this thing inside of me that I needed to get out. You can call it a hunger, a need, a want, a desire, whatever. I just felt that if I didn't do something I'd loose myself in some sort of in between confusion. So I saved my money and bought a Fender Strat. Then a month later went and bought the amp. Just about the time I got the Fender I started to expand my music horizon. I went from Celine Dion, yes Celine fucking Dion, Mariah Carey, Paula Abdul, and country to Tom Petty, Aerosmith, Jimi, and yes by Jimi I mean JIMI, and the Rolling Stones. Do you see a pattern forming. I wanted something more out of my music and guitars were it. I soaked up every bit of music I could afford to buy by those guys plus a few other ones. So here I am thinking "I'm gonna play like Jimi" well that never happened but I was this close. So I learned to strum some chords, then I started putting some together, and then I put some words with the couple chords I knew. Then BAM this thing inside me started to get bigger and bigger. So I practiced till my fingers hurt. Then I started to put pen to paper and things started to progress from there.
Okay so fast forward to this blog.
When listing to the new Crows album I started to think about writing again (it's been about 2 years since I've written a song). The problem is my early music is heavily influenced by them. So now even today my music wants to sound like them and I don't want it to. I want write in a whole different way and I don't know how. The Crows music makes me feel a whole different way then the White Stripes music does. The Crows stuff makes me feel like being on stage wanting to poor my heart out to everyone in the crowd. I've been thru so much heartache and pain with women that it comes out in a form of longing, love, walking away, cold misty nites in Lexington, KY during the winter, sorrow, the late nites at the bar shooting whiskey and smoking cigarettes. Thats how the Crows make me feel and thats what I want to write about. I see myself on stage with my mic in hand just telling my stories.
Now the White Stripes music makes me feel and want to write differently. When I first heard the Stripes music I wanted to instantly grab a guitar and turn the amp up full volume and rock my thing. The Stripes unleash a different beast altogether. There is a darker side of me that lurks just under the skin of my hands. I want to write about sex, sweat, love going alright, long walks in the cold on a tight rope, and the BLUES. Jacks guitar playing is sexy, raw, unnerving, right, the way a guitar should be played. Jacks playing to quote a lyric from Jason Molina is like "mid-nite with the dead moon in it's jaw." When the Stripes are on I see myself on stage sweat dripping off my body, my hair hanging in my face, me and the guitar as one, everything is flowing together....God I wish I had the words to explain it but I can't.
So there you go. If you've made it this far Thank You. I hope that you like this little insight into me.
Okay while we're on the subject of music here are some Bands you should check out...
Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
the whole White Stripes catalog
Kings of Leon - Only by the Night, Aha Shake Heartbreak
Ice Cube - Raw Footage.....ya I'm an O.G. (been listing to Cube for 15 years)
The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
Have fun with those.
Let me know what you think.
There is a point to this I promise and it has to do with writing music. I've listened to the Crows since 1994, so 14 years and the White Stripes since 2002. I started playing guitar around the age of 18 and now at 30 I suck just as bad. So just a little background on me and what I'm about to talk about.
The whole reason I started to play guitar was cause I had this thing inside of me that I needed to get out. You can call it a hunger, a need, a want, a desire, whatever. I just felt that if I didn't do something I'd loose myself in some sort of in between confusion. So I saved my money and bought a Fender Strat. Then a month later went and bought the amp. Just about the time I got the Fender I started to expand my music horizon. I went from Celine Dion, yes Celine fucking Dion, Mariah Carey, Paula Abdul, and country to Tom Petty, Aerosmith, Jimi, and yes by Jimi I mean JIMI, and the Rolling Stones. Do you see a pattern forming. I wanted something more out of my music and guitars were it. I soaked up every bit of music I could afford to buy by those guys plus a few other ones. So here I am thinking "I'm gonna play like Jimi" well that never happened but I was this close. So I learned to strum some chords, then I started putting some together, and then I put some words with the couple chords I knew. Then BAM this thing inside me started to get bigger and bigger. So I practiced till my fingers hurt. Then I started to put pen to paper and things started to progress from there.
Okay so fast forward to this blog.
When listing to the new Crows album I started to think about writing again (it's been about 2 years since I've written a song). The problem is my early music is heavily influenced by them. So now even today my music wants to sound like them and I don't want it to. I want write in a whole different way and I don't know how. The Crows music makes me feel a whole different way then the White Stripes music does. The Crows stuff makes me feel like being on stage wanting to poor my heart out to everyone in the crowd. I've been thru so much heartache and pain with women that it comes out in a form of longing, love, walking away, cold misty nites in Lexington, KY during the winter, sorrow, the late nites at the bar shooting whiskey and smoking cigarettes. Thats how the Crows make me feel and thats what I want to write about. I see myself on stage with my mic in hand just telling my stories.
Now the White Stripes music makes me feel and want to write differently. When I first heard the Stripes music I wanted to instantly grab a guitar and turn the amp up full volume and rock my thing. The Stripes unleash a different beast altogether. There is a darker side of me that lurks just under the skin of my hands. I want to write about sex, sweat, love going alright, long walks in the cold on a tight rope, and the BLUES. Jacks guitar playing is sexy, raw, unnerving, right, the way a guitar should be played. Jacks playing to quote a lyric from Jason Molina is like "mid-nite with the dead moon in it's jaw." When the Stripes are on I see myself on stage sweat dripping off my body, my hair hanging in my face, me and the guitar as one, everything is flowing together....God I wish I had the words to explain it but I can't.
So there you go. If you've made it this far Thank You. I hope that you like this little insight into me.
Okay while we're on the subject of music here are some Bands you should check out...
Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
the whole White Stripes catalog
Kings of Leon - Only by the Night, Aha Shake Heartbreak
Ice Cube - Raw Footage.....ya I'm an O.G. (been listing to Cube for 15 years)
The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
Have fun with those.
Let me know what you think.
melley:
I love that you have such a "hunger" for guitar...wish I could play