Relocation

So it's been quite a while since my last post, almost a year. Alot has happened in the past year, ive been thru serious relationships, travelled our beautiful province many times over, been trained in the art of killing (i'll get to that) and relocated myself to Miramichi for college.

In the summer of 2008, i was sent to CFB Gagetown for my SQ (soldier qualification) course for the army. It was great fun, including short love affiars with the C9 light mchaine gun, C6 general purpose machine gun and the M-13 hand grenade. Many lessons were learned on this course and I made some great (and terrible) memories. For the month of August i spent my days in CFB Shilo, 2 hours outside winnepeg manitoba. THAT SUCKED. It was my DP1 (not sure what that stands for) which basically means i became a qualified gunner in the royal canadian artillery regiment. It was fun......sometimes. I made alot of new friends and a couple enemies while learning a hell load of material. Its one of those things that you hate at the time but look back fondly on.

In september 2008 i relocated from my home town of Saint John 300 some kms north to the small city (1/10th the size of my old one) of Miramichi. Miramichi has almost 100% white irish catholic population and is BORING. I managed to find some trouble that i wont post on here, it's too explicit so if you want to know, just as me and i'll consider telling you haha. I kept it interesting though, on top of all that I had school, remmeber? Im taking a Policing course to lay the foundations for me to enroll in the RCMP or maybe even the APA (atlantic police academy). I recently wrote the RCMP aptitude exam and that was fun and was told I'd hear back in about 6 weeks, i'll keep ya posted.

Now, I'm taking a break from posting, coming soon....a layout of my new apartment and my new life on my own.

Keep your stick on the ice, wilson.

Out of the Blue

Last night was the march Hardston cafe. Myself, Graeme (my drummer) and a couple of our friends Derek and Christian. So we show up and the people that are hosting it ask us if we brought our instruments. Naturally, since we came to just watch, we did not. They apparently had 6 bands lined up to play but 4 of them bailed out. So now we're rushing all over Saint John getting our gear together to play a show at the last minute! Needless to say, it was pretty exciting. So as we were racing about, gathering guitar and amp and cymbals over west, we call our singer and steal him from his girlfriend to come sing. As we all finally pile into Derek's car to race back to the venue, we start to throw around song ideas.

Finally, once we reach the hardstone cafe, we start to run through some of the songs we planned to do. They were American Woman - by the guess who, God of Thunder - by Kiss and Here Comes The Boom - by P.O.D.

After a while of frantic lyric writing on paper and useless rehearsal, we got up on stage and just rocked it out. Graeme had to make up 2/3 songs worth of drumming and he did very very well and I commend him on it. Christian rapped POD well for us as andrew sung his heart out for American Woman and God of Thunder. I supplied the rythm and lead for both songs, only botching the solo for God of Thunder that I had to make up on the spot. The crowd seemed to like the music and we all enjoyed ourselves thouroughly.

This gig was one huge shock out of the blue but we were all happy we got to perform.

6 Speed Coffin

Long Time - No Post

hey anyone who still cares to read this, It's been since like Oct./07 since my last post and for this, I appologize. In this span of time, music has done many things for me (among other parts of life, but this is a music blog) it has opened my eyes up to different ways of thinking, taken me back to times of fun in the past and has gotten me thru some hard patches. So basically what I want to do with this post is talk about why music affects me. How? Why only certain songs? To be honest, I don't have an exact answer. But! I do have an oppinion, and I plan to share it.

Certain moods require a specific sound to either

A) Enhance the mood aka happy music, dance music, makeout music etc
or
B) Change the mood aka metal music to get the anger out, meditation music to calm stress

Depending on what mood I happen to be in, I listen to certain types of music.
Here's a list of mood-music for myself personally

Angry - Metal/Rap EX: (Metallica/Eminem)
Happy - Classic Rock, Up-Beat Indie EX: (Guns n Roses/Johnathn Coulton)
Sad - Calmer/Somber music EX: (Linkin Park, Ne-Yo)
Dance - HipHop/Reggae (club) EX: Dj Khaled/Akon/Pitbull)
Tired - Old Rock EX (Lynard Skynard, Eagles)

Those are just a few of my mood-tunes depending on the situation im in, my mood and even the time of day.

As for what exactly makes a song special to one single person, it must (in my oppinion) come down to a personal connection that person has to the song wether it be the music, the lyrics or even the pure emotion of the song.

Metal Music - Metal Life

For over 30 years, metal has been a very controversial form of music. It has been protested, banned, charged criminally and brutally attacked. It has been celebrated, praised, loved and it has saved. I recently purchased a DVD called "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey". It is a documentary about metal music and the experience one particular man named Sam Dunn had with it. This documentary opens up alot of questions about metal music, but before we get into that, I should tell you why I like metal.

I love metal music. All kinds of it. Heavy metal, Glam metal, Power metal, Death metal, Black metal and my personal favorite, Thrash metal. You might be asking, whats the difference between all of these sub-genre's of metal? Well there is a big difference but all metal music comes from the same abckground, the early-metal bands like Zepplin, Blue Cheer, and Black Sabbath. All the sub-genres (there's 19 i think, not sure) stemmed primarily from these bands, Punk bands, and, believe it or not, Heavy Classical music (yes there was such a thing). So the main reason I love metal music is because of the feeling I get from it. It makes the hairs on my neck stand up. It makes me want to just go berserk, this helps alot when Im gettting pumped up for a hockey game. And its just an intense kind of music that's really fun to listen to.

So metal music has been persecuted for many many years for it's affect on kids. It has been accused of causing teens to murder or commit suicide over the songs. First of all, if you are crazy enough to murder someone, a song is not going to be the decidin factor in your final decision. Same goes for suicide. It got to the point where Tipper Gore (famous for her persecution of metal music in the mid-eighties) called on the front man of Twisted Sister, a member of the Glam sub-genre, to testify before the supreme court to defend metal music and all of it's practitioners. He gave a speech that the coucil was not expecting, shocking everyone with his articulate defense of the music he grew up on. Metal has never been proven to be the cause of violent acts in teens but has been accused of it many times.

When asked about what he thinks makes metal so huge and so important to people, Lemmy of Motorhead said "It gives them something to belong to. Metal heads are one big family, no matter what kidna s%$t you're into, if it's metal, it's metal, ya know?" Wise words from a hardened metal head.

I may not dress all in black, or wear studded silver belts or bracelets, this doesn't validate me as a metal head. I know that the 'uniform' is an important part of meatl culture, but it's just not my thing. Isn't metal music all about being your own person and fuck anyone else who doesn't like it? Well just because I don't dress in black Band-T's and wear studs doesn't mean Im not a metal head and fuck anyone who doesn't like it! I have all (minus 1) of my favorite metal groups records (Metallica, Im missing St Anger but Im not missing much) and I am an avid fan. Metal isn't just a musical taste either, it's a lifestyle. I live it. Metal music in the morning, on the bus, at jams with my band, before a big game, after a hard night at work, when I go to sleep at night. Metal isn't just music, it's a way for people to connect with eachother. Long hair and leather jackets are optional, though I wish I had long hair, I can rock the jacket and fuck anyone who doesn't like it :D.

Human music

I recentlyhad a revelation about music and its effect on people as a whole. Music has such a profound effect on some people, it changes some lives even. I realize now, as a musician, that the music that is written and produced today is not some form of life-changing art but just words. Just words from other human beings. Yet there is something about the words from the souls of others that captures the imagination and emotions of us all. Im saddened a little bit at the realization that every song that had an impact on me wasn't just a message for me and me alone but an anthem put out to the masses. Its a somewhat depressing thought to understand and I hope I don't ruin anyone's musical adventures out there but Im glad I came to this realization because it puts the world into a little bit more fo a focus. I know now that you shouldn't always just take a song at it's face value. When a song is played, the person listening should do more than just 'hear' the song, but really 'listen' to what's being said and the emaning behind it. This isn't to say that a song can't have a personal effect on people's lives but just to bring awareness to some messages that may or may not be in the music you listen to.

As I went through this phase of eye-opening discovery, I came to yet another realization (Im a pretty un-enlightened guy aren't I? lol), another realization that this is what I want my music to accompish. I want people to hear the music me and my friends make and I want it to have an impact on them, but I want them to really grasp the meaning of the songs. To not just understand the words, but to understand WHY those words were chosen and why the artist used them. So next time you hear a song that moves you a little bit, listen closer....you may be surprised of the extent of the message the artist is trying to convey.

Six Speed Coffin - First Gear

Okay, so What is Six Speed Coffin? Well, it is the name of the band I am currently enjoying life with. It consists of my good friend Graeme (drummer) my good italiano friend Guiliano (Lead guitar) Myself (Bass/guitar/vocals) and sometimes this Ian guy (guitar) but I dunno, he's never there. So, I should probably give you a run down on how we got started....

About 3 months ago, a friend of mine, graeme, approached me about being the bassist for a new group he was putting together. I was happy to sign up, since I had played in a band-ish deal with his brother and was looking for another group of people to jam with. This is just where I came into the picture, if you want a prolouge and, I must say, a really good telling of our story so far, visit http//:www.grimhippie.blogspot.com and read the 'Rock the world' blogs.

So, I come in and we jam for a few weeks then I get us a gig at the Picnic in the Park at my high school, those of you that know, know, those that dont.....its a huge picnic in a park with BBQ's and live bands...pretty simple. So we start preparing for the show when all of a sudden, Jay (Guiliano) goes M.I.A for a week. So it's me and graeme (Ian goes to another highschool in another part of town, graeme goes to SJHS right down the hill from my STMHS) and we start to perpare what we can do just the two of us. We had a line up of four songs,
1) I love rock and roll - Joan jett & the Blackhearts
2) N.I.B - Black Sabbath
3) God of Thunder - Kiss (Supergroup version)
4) Six Speed Coffin (Our original)

Though, due to our lack of italians, we had to drop the first two song and go with God of Thunder and 6SC.

Day of the concert comes, we get up on 'stage' (Under the shade of the 2 story fountain in this square) and Rcok the World. drums were stellar, guitar was good on my part, vocals can use work but hey, they could barely hear me anyway. All in all, it went swimingly. We even got a follow up show later on in October.

In the mean time, I have been grounded for reasons Im choosing not to disclose, until October 1st. In my period of incarceration I have managed to write another song and learn 2 more. So, I'll post some more updates as they come in. Who knows, this could be the start of soemthing great...or nothing at all

Music & Me

Music has had a profound effect on my life. From good ole rock n' roll to modern hip hop and rap, its all had its influences on me.

Throughout my life, music has been my escape. From either hard times or immense feelings of love, angry rages or sad mellow-outs i've always had music by my side and playing. Who knows what makes music such a powerful medium for humans to communicate emtions to eachother? Music was first thought to be a gift fromt he Gods....maybe the ancient greeks were right..

Through music, I have grown. I've learned about different cultures and kinds of life I would have never known about. It's helped me through the bad times and been with me through the good times and this blog is dedicted to music as a whole. No matter what kind of music you're into, most people can appreciate all kinds of music. Those who can not, are unfortunatley missing out on some awsome stuff. Some people just like Rap, others Country, others Blues and Jazz, Me?? I love them all.....though good ole rock n' role will have to take my number 1 spot, sorry reggae and opera, you came close but no cigar.

So what Im trying to say is, give other kinds of music a chance, you never know what you may discover!