The Musical Schizo

So the past month has been hit-or-miss active for me, music-wise. But mostly really fun!

On May 5th the cover band (Roman Holiday) played a Cinco De Mayo show at Pappasito’s and it was really good and fun. Definitely made up for how much we sucked ass last year when we played their event.

Then we didn’t do much for a while, partially because I was in Jacksonville, FL, where on May 14th I played a little acoustic show with my good buddy Dennis and we reunited 3/4ths of our old cover band from there, Slaphappy (Brent joined us as well). It was weird only because I’ve conditioned myself to sing everything 1/2-step down, so a lot of the keys were trickier to find than usual. But overall, it was a BLAST and made me sad that we don’t live closer, because we’d have a killer acoustic duo. Joy!

I came back to town to some drama, but we cleared it up and played a show at Johnny Fin’s on the lake on May 22nd. It was a pretty good show – the sound on stage was great (helped by my resurrected Carvin PM15A speaker), and we played well as a result, even though my voice was all over the place due to an upper respiratory thing. The crowd was pretty typical for the venue – tepid and asking for music we don’t play. One part of the show that was particularly awesome was when I got to play guitar on “Rebel Yell” and “Crazy Train” – I went completely apeshit on those two in the solos and amused myself. We got our biggest crowd reaction from that part of the show, which was weird – they were even cheering me along DURING the song. Another weird point – the song that brought people onto the dance floor was “Semi-Charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind. Seriously. Not “Super Freak”, not “Brick House” or “Play That Funky Music”. Fucking Semi-Charmed. Go figure.

Before that show, I was called to fill in for the missing bass player of a band at Latitude 30 on Thursday the 20th. It was an adventure learning the songs as I played them (well, only in a few cases – I knew most of the songs), and I had fun playing with the drummer. Working out some creative interplay is always sweet – and he’s great because he’s always listening.

I look forward to Roman Holiday’s June shows and the fact that both our Marble Falls venue “The Sports Arena” and our Killeen venue “The Duckhorn Tavern” are coming back on our schedule. Now if we could only find someplace awesome in Austin where all our local friends could come see us play…

Oh, and I’ve decided that I am definitely going to be putting together a set/song list for my acoustic show. At least then I’ll have an established repertoire that I can use when I play those shows (if I ever get around to booking them).

Peace to all!
TMS

Ho-ly crap.

Though we were sloppy and the crowd was mostly sort of occupied with other things, it was pretty fun.

It’s kind of amazing how just a little bit of alcohol can make your fingers not work.
It’s less amazing how a little more than a little bit of alcohol can make your fingers REALLY not work. Yeah, that was me last night.

My bass playing/singing-at-the-same-time skills suffered.

And yet, I played guitar and sang better than I had at any other show. Weird.

Anyway, it was a fun show, I’m not hungover, which is AWESOME (though I am tired), and I think all three of us realized how much fun we have playing together. Just endless silliness.

Thanks to Paula and the Duckhorn staff for being cool to us, our best fan for hanging out all night, and from me to the rest of the fellas – I love you gahz.

And on a completely unrelated note, I give you this, for a little Saturday listening: We Really Just Don’t Care

It’s one of my original songs.
TMS

Okay, not really, but I did find this one amusing:

Someone on the Jacksonville Craigslist asked about Slaphappy (like “whatever happened to…”) It prompted a couple of responses, both complementary, that detailed what we’ve been up to, and one even linked to the Roman Holiday page.

I didn’t think anyone would even remember that band. Anyway…

Haven’t been writing much – I did put together a few musical bits I might turn into songs at some point. Two of them I LOVE – just finding the right melody and vibe for the other parts of the song will be the key.

Things are weird in Roman Holiday land, because Greg’s been busy with the other band and we haven’t been busy at all. Also Ned moved to Bum Fuck Egypt (which is an actual place near Lakeway, TX, apparently). We did play a fraternity gig last weekend that was fun but sort of rough because the party was pretty dead (it was a WEIRD night…)

More to come in the ensuing weeks. Next Friday we’re back in Killeen, so it should be fun. That’s all for now…much love!
TMS

Started spending at least a little time every night tinkering with music – either writing something new or revising something old.

I really need to just pick 15 songs that I want to record, get some proper recordings of them, and put together a digital album I can sell. Finally…

I really really badly want an electronic drum kit now. I have nowhere to put it, but I want it. I just figured I’d share.

Hopefully moving the acoustic drums that aren’t mine up to Ned’s place soon. I’m tired of them being here simply because I haven’t really been able to enjoy having a nice drum kit around (no space, too loud for the boy (who has autism)).

Very few Roman Holiday gigs on the horizon, but the other two thirds of the band is doing a great job at exploring opportunities. I’ve done jack shit except come up with some ideas for new songs.

I really wish I knew of some really good cover band bars that will actually pay so we could have a more consistent schedule.

And I’m dying to play an acoustic show. In fact, I really wish I had a place to go so I could just sing through all the songs in my books. I’m going to go learn some more acoustic songs now.

Later!
TMS

I wrote a new song. The first one for 2010. Hopefully not the last one for 2010!

Anyway, here it is:
To Be Free – Stream MP3 – Get MP3 – About

I hope you enjoy it.
TMS

Self-criticism follows. Do not read if you don’t want to hear me whine.
My apologies for the mix. I had to mix it late at night when everyone was asleep. Actually, the singing would have been better, too, if I really could have belted it out. Actually this is just weak, and I’m only sharing it because I’m thrilled I actually fucking wrote something!

So I was trolling the Craigslist ads yesterday, and I saw an ad for a riff-rock band looking for a bassist. I listened to their music, and it was okay. I didn’t love it. The sound quality was pretty weak.

Then I was watching a Radiohead concert on DirecTV that they did in a studio. It reminded me why I don’t like Radiohead, but sonically it was great. The bass sounds and overall textures were beautiful, even if the songs were repetitive, droning and just flat out boring.

It just made me think about how I haven’t managed to do anything with MY music. No proper studio recordings, certain songs barely even have recorded demos. It got me really wanting to get something together.

Saturday night I went to a show that my friend’s band was playing. They got me up to play a few songs, I met their new drummer (who is awesome, even if he didn’t know all their material), and had fun.

Ned (Roman Holiday guitarist) just moved into a new place up near Lake Travis where he’s going to set up a jam room with PA. I think that will be good, because we can have proper band practices in a place where we don’t have to pay and we can just hang out without being annoyed by the shitty, bitchy customer service at the local rehearsal place where all the out-of-tune metal bands will be playing next door at full volume in tiny rooms.

Bought Sloan’s “B Sides Win” compilation album. I don’t love them as much as I once did (especially in the One Chord->Navy Blues->Between The Bridges era), but I still enjoy hearing new music from them, even if it’s not new music.

Listened to Butch Walker’s new record “I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart”. I enjoyed it immensely. Must buy it when it comes out…you should, too, if you like hooky rocking power pop music. Butch has gotten more into folky americana textures these days than in the past, but it’s still great.

Also – tired of people who lie to themselves to maintain a fictional understanding of the past. Face the truth. Let it set you free.

That is all for now. Peace and love and good happiness stuff…
TMS

Sometimes I just feel off, musically. We played a show in Killeen last Friday and I was really just not right at times – like I was sort of learning how to do things that I already knew how to do and had done tons of times.

It doesn’t exactly create self-confidence to not really know what your limbs or voice are going to do when you give them the same message you’ve given them hundreds of times. It was weird.

I feel better now, but I still don’t get it. Maybe I’m just overly stressed and my neurons aren’t firing as cleanly as before. Either way, we have a weekend off to collect our thoughts, and then we’re going to be doing our first “two night stand” in as long as I can remember with this band up in Marble Falls. I’m going to figure out a way to record the show this time. I just bought an 8GB SD card for my Zoom Q3 video camera, and I’m going to figure out a way to rig it so it captures the stage and you can really see our show.

Once those videos are done, I’ll edit them in Vegas and post them here. Hooray!

For now, I might just record an acoustic song and post it. Hmmm…perhaps the next post will be a link to a YouTube video. We shall see…
TMS

Last night had a great show for the Rockdale Chamber of Commerce’s New Year’s Eve party. It was so much fun playing in a big hall like that. Broke my headset mic, but it happens.

Now for 2010, musically. Ten things. For this year, I plan to:
1. Start using my Zoom Q3 to record videos of me playing my songs solo and acoustic.
2. Start using the same Zoom Q3 to record videos of me playing cover songs solo and acoustic.
3. Start using the now oft-mentioned Zoom Q3 to record videos of the band so we can truly know what sucks and needs to improve in our live show.
4. Write more songs. One a month at the very least.
5. Master MIDI and using virtual instruments in ACID.
6. Start another fun project – one that exists without a profit motive that will just play whatever the fuck it wants to. It will be good because I will be in it.
7. Realize that #6 sounds egotistical, but like Dizzy Dean said, “It ain’t braggin’ if you can back it up.”
8. Realize that even with #7 as justification, I’m not comfortable with that sort of arrogant confidence, and I will retreat from that statement and re-state my intent with the last line of #6: It won’t completely suck because I’m in it.
9. I will take a more active role in getting the main band marketed effectively.
10. I will learn all the words to all the songs we play and be so good at them I won’t even bring my book to shows anymore.

Happy New Year from me, your humble Musical Schizo!
TMS

I had a great time playing with Moving Blues last Sunday (11/29).

I had fun having a little “bass practice” with Ned yesterday (12/6).

This Friday (12/11) Roman Holiday plays up in Killeen at our “home bar”, The Duckhorn Tavern at the Killeen Mall. It should be fun.

As for other aspects of my musical life, well, there haven’t been any. My non-musical life has trumped it all these past few weeks.

Hopefully I can get back to practicing and writing stuff at some point in the future.

That would be nice.

This weekend at Rabbit’s – Sunday night at 9pm I’m filling in on bass with Moving Blues for a benefit show. Come out and check us out – East 6th Street and Chicon.

Roman Holiday had a good show this past weekend, though I think I need to sit down with Mr. Ned and teach him how to play bass better. We aren’t booked very much, but everything coming up is good for us, so here’s hoping we can add to it.

Still going to figure out another musical venture that involves me playing guitar, whether it be the always-talked-about, never-realized acoustic act or another power trio with me on guitar.

We shall see. Come see the blues show – show up early for some really great blues on Sunday, then you can watch me guess my way through a show!