Iommic Pope wrote:Conk, those pics rule! You guys look like you're kickin ass, takin names!!!
Dig it.
That is the best picture of Des I think I've ever seen. He doesn't even look that enthusiastic about playing, but BEER!!! Fuck yeah!
I do wonder at the logic behind a band with a member who has just been to rehab putting out a beer, though. I'm sure Matt's cool with it.
Hey Boxman, just start with a beat when you get stuck. Good songs are built from the arse up, as I like to say. You gotta have a mad beat to lay a riff over. I find that stuff that was written from the rhythm section's perspective is always tighter and more well formed than guitarists rolling in and saying "alright, riffs a,b,c x4 in a cycle, then a half measure of riff 39b, then alternate between bridges 6 and 9c for a while, then we cycle again but we sub a chug variation of riff x after 2 repeats, got it? Good. And make it sound awesome!"
Which is how I wrote, so don't do that.
"You're not chugging with feeling!!"
Or, "More math-y, but not like math-math."
I'm a douchebag.
That's kinda like how I used to write. It put a lot of pressure on the other two lads: the bassist because he always felt he had to do something unique and different, and the drummer because he generally preferred playing simpler parts. In the end I started hating myself and everything I wrote because of a weird variation of guilt. I began asking them to bring something fresh to the table, and they did; some excellent stuff. But sadly they moved back to the UK before we had a chance to fully move direction.
fallen wrote:CaptainBoxman wrote:Right, we're going back to basics here
I'm trying a fresh start with a new perspective and going in for some very long slow Bongripper or Conan-esque tunes. Since this is a kinda specific niche, and typical guides wont really give me any inspiration, and you guys are all more experience than me in songwriting, how do you guys go about writing your songs/riffs?
Talk me through your own processes and what helps you, hinders you and what I should look at or stay away from PLEASE
Handheld recorder and jam. When a good riff pops up, even if it's random or sloppy just record it. Even better if you don't try to rehearse it and just record your first or second try. Do this a lot and don't be afraid to edit. Throw out 9 for every keeper. If I get inspired sometimes I'll try to improvise a whole song just to see what happens.
This is good advice. Don't be afraid to throw away a lot of riffs. I used to try and work with everything and anything. It was stressful because I couldn't face the thought of dropping something. It wasn't out of arrogance. I was just determined to make shit work, and sometimes it just doesn't. The quicker you accept this the more accommodating you will be as a musician and more at peace with yourself.
LOCOPELAND wrote:Fuuuuuuuck some dude just decapitated himself on the train tracks next to my work. I saw the body. Looks like he just put his head on tracks and splat.
I've been fortunate that I've never seen that kind of thing. I've been very sheltered in that sense. I don't know how I'd take it.
Iommic Pope wrote:I've seen a fatal, it still sticks with me. These things are not cool things to witness, and I just can't understand rubberneckers.
I understand the psychology behind rubbernecking, but I will always teach my future kids the importance of avoiding death as much as possible. Death is a part of life, but don't go hunting for it. It'll find us all eventually in one or another.
Also, I agree regarding your point about Matt Pike. For some people, mostly functional alcoholics, they continue to drink after rehabilitation, but they are fully aware of themselves and what they are doing. Matt needs to be fully aware of what he is doing if he is going to continue to drink. Self-awareness is something you have to learn. We're not all born with it.
Iommic Pope wrote:I guess I'm fairly wussy with that stuff.
How is it I cannot find a clip of the "you guys wanna see a dead body" line form Stand By Me?! Fuck you, Internet!
I will have a beer if there are beers going....just putting that out there.
I love that movie so much. I have to get the Blu-ray and watch it in full HD glory.
Ancient Astronaught wrote:LOCOPELAND wrote:Fuuuuuuuck some dude just decapitated himself on the train tracks next to my work. I saw the body. Looks like he just put his head on tracks and splat.
I can understand needing to move on, but at least do it in private where the only people who have to witness the aftermath are those who clean it up.... In public just aint right...
I get what you're saying, but suicide and self-harming isn't really an entirely rational, selfless act. By definition it's an action all about oneself and ignoring the feelings of others—at least for some. And this is another point, for some people, committing suicide isn't a conscientious, self-aware decision. People self-harm because the physical feelings detract from the emotional feelings, right? It's also something tangible. You can see the blood, you can feel the pain and know why it's happening. Emotional pain is often highly confusing and rarely comes from a discernible source. Physical pain does, and is therefore a relief. Some people kill themselves because they are, for lack of a kinder term, broken. Killing yourself on a train track is as logical to someone with severe mental disabilities, and suicidal tendencies is a mental illness, as falling asleep in the middle of a forest with an overdose of paracetamol.
(not that gory but still...)
I'm so glad that everyone walked away. As I myself am fully aware of what the worse is that can happen in those situations..... or sometimes the best....
the live video just reinforced that observation as well. 
