BA$$??

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BA$$??

Postby Scott DeVarenne » Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:12 pm

Ladies,
I am and have been in the midst of a crisis.
The main title of this crisis is Me, Me, Me.
Sub-titles are:
1) Music, what the hell happened?
2) Money, how am I gonna get me some?
3) What are you gonna do with your life? or I don't wanna rock but I am willing to roll (with the punches).
That 3rd one is a work in progress.

What this comes down to is me thinking about taking a stab at making a dolla' holla' as a person who owns
a bass and is willing to play it if there is some coin involved. Simply put- me, playing bass, professionally.
Members of Middle Audio Forum, I am soliciting your advice, encouragement, discouragement, laughter, sympathy, etc.
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Postby Mathieu Benoit » Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:22 pm

Come jam with me! I didn't know you played bass.I like bass players... I can't pay you, but I do want to see whatcha got on the bass. If you are the bees knees then I will form a band around you.

(seriously looking to form a shit-hot band... Just don't tell any of my current bands. )
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Postby Scott DeVarenne » Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:34 pm

I would be into doing some playing. I am not the bees knees. We'll talk soon.
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Postby Mathieu Benoit » Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:38 pm

Scott DeVarenne wrote: I am not the bees knees.

How do you know? Have you ever seen a set? Besides, I'm not very picky when it comes to bass players. They just have to be tight. Also for the purposes of the band I want to start they'd have to be visually engaging on a stage. You're a handsome devil though, so no worries.
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Postby Mathieu Benoit » Sun Mar 08, 2009 3:39 pm

So... Your story checks out. Word on the street is that you're quite the bass player! You've peaked my interest Mr. Distant....
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Postby Scott DeVarenne » Sun Mar 08, 2009 3:49 pm

Word on the street is that your snare hits are like gunshots. This scares me.
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Postby Mathieu Benoit » Sun Mar 08, 2009 3:56 pm

Scott DeVarenne wrote:Word on the street is that your snare hits are like gunshots. This scares me.


This all depends on context. It also depends on the size of your gun...

Come over and you can judge for yourself. I'm capable of dynamics, but when I'm playing a rock show... I play the rock show... Oddly enough when people see me out playing a rock show that's what they get. Go figure, eh.
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Postby Scott DeVarenne » Sun Mar 08, 2009 4:39 pm

I've heard you play a few times, so I'm quite aware of your sensitivity to dynamics. I hope you don't think I was suggesting that you
lack such a sensitivity.
Drumwaiter wrote:This all depends on context... when I'm playing a rock show... I play the rock show... Oddly enough when people see me out playing a rock show that's what they get.

I think I know what you are trying to communicate. Is it that you play with dynamics that you feel are appropriate to the
material that is being performed, while considering the other instruments that are playing and the overall approach to the material
by the group of players? I'm guessing it is something like that and not "this is rock&roll so I'm gonna smack the poop outta these drums".
You mentioned context. In your opinion, what are the factors that determine context?
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Postby Mathieu Benoit » Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:16 pm

That's a really good question!

I take a lot of things in consideration. The first thing is definitely the room I'm playing in. The second is the energy that I'm trying to convey, and the 3rd thing that I think determines how I'm gonna play is how I hear things on stage.

For example, if there are guitar amps cranking next to me I think that I naturally tend to play louder because I lose perspective of the room I'm playing in and that isn't necessarily always right.

It's hard though to know how things sound out front objectively because the damnedest thing is whenever I'm playing, I'm not out front.

It's all so subjective, besides I'm going through a bit of a recession lately, music is starting to get on my nerves. I feel like I want a break from everything music-related. I'm starting to find myself lacking in perspective and it makes me bitter.

I was never a big fan of the drums, I was just better at it than what I really wanted to do. ...and so here I am.
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Postby Mathieu Benoit » Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:17 pm

Sorry, that last post kinda went off topic and turned into me venting.

So to answer your question... I don't even know anymore.
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Postby Scott DeVarenne » Sun Mar 08, 2009 6:59 pm

Drumwaiter wrote:It's all so subjective, besides I'm going through a bit of a recession lately, music is starting to get on my nerves. I feel like I want a break from everything music-related. I'm starting to find myself lacking in perspective and it makes me bitter.

I can really appreciate what you are saying. So much so, in fact, that if I was just a little crazier than I am, I might be wondering
if Malcolm had told you some of the things I've been ranting about lately. For me, this is a period of significant transition.
I don't know where the chips are gonna fall, but one change that is undeniable is my listening habits.
These days, I listen to very little music that could be recognized as being "song-based". Usually any voices that are present
are simple phonetics or are singing in a language I don't recognize and really don't care to. For the most part,
I don't listen passively anymore. I don't listen to music when I'm driving, using the computer or doing work that demands
even a moderate amount of attention. I'll listen when I'm doing dishes or stretching. Other than that, when music is playing
I sit (or lay down) and listen to it.
At times, I feel like I don't want any professional involvement with music. Yet, look at what this thread started out as.
I think I might need to poop or get off the potty: Go to school and get real job, any involvement with music being strictly amateur;
or completely throw myself into music and the industry surrounding it.
I think what irks me are the results of music being an industry combined with our narcissistic culture:
The song being the essential ingredient of the industry, the remarkable similarity of what seems like 99% of modern music,
the hype and shameless marketing which keeps the machine rolling, the focus on the personalities behind the music.
I don't care about so-and-so their important heart-felt stories. I've been hearing songs for over 30 years. I've heard enough. I'm full.
Usually, after seeing a show or listening to a recording of popular music, the feeling I have is something like:
"There was some music in there, little bits of music".
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Postby Mathieu Benoit » Mon Mar 09, 2009 12:01 pm

I feel everything you are talking about. I just want to get away from the business of it. Dealing with other people and their bullshit, hidden agendas and dellusions. The constant pressure of having to live up to this idea that people have of you, whatever the fuck that even is. What's worse is that you're expected to deal with all of that shit while playing mediocre songs that you can't even stomach half the time.

I need a break is all. I need a break from bands that try to extort clients, and from having to sit there and feel like an idiot for even being there in association. I need a break from having to constantly go in to clubs night after fucking night pretending to be sociable so that no one thinks that I'm some asshole that doesn't like them. I like them just fine, but I'm an introvert and I don't want to talk to them. I don't want to hang around in the club after the show (anyone that's ever played with me knows that I'm the first one packed up and out of the club, usually even before the singer). I like people I just don't want to be around them. I get clausterphobic and I hate small talk.

Of all the things that I've come to hate the most though, is the constant feeling of being judged, music is such a spectator sport (that's nothing new) and everyone is there drawing comparisons all the time when all I want to do is play my gig and go home to my cats in peace. I need a break from saying "yes" to everyone that asks of my services. To answer everyone's question forever: "No I really really don't want to play piano for you or your event, or your band, or your new album. Thank you for the compliments now move along." You want piano? My advise is learn to play the fucking thing yourself and leave me out of it. If I wanted to play for you, I just would, if you have to ask the question you should already know the answer.

Ideally I'd like to go back to my piano roots and leave drumming for a while. But not to compose for clients, just to compose for myself. I'd also like to record said compositions instead of always recording everyone else. It just seems that somewhere along the way I've lost my sense of why I even do any of this...

The odd night that I do have off, the last friggin thing I want to do is go to see a band play. No disrespect to all the acts out there in this city, but I've seen most of it before and no one's re-invented the wheel in a while around here. I can remember the last time I actually sat down at a bar and really want the music to continue, it happened once in the past 7 years. It was Roach's first songwriter's night with Clinton Charlton. Clinton really got to me that night, but then being in a bar, that experience was constantly interrupted by drunks being drunk. The last time I'd ever really felt a performance before that was years earlier, Jolene Erb under a tent next to City Market. Now she's AWOL, and if she's happy doing her thing now then that's great, but I'll miss her and as selfish and hypocritifcal as this is, I find her dissappearance frustrating. Then again, it's her gift and she's free to do as she pleases with it.

As far as cover bands go in town, I'll be honest, most are completely interchangeable and redundant. This is very obvious when you consider that most of us have played in each other's bands over the years, and we all have very similar set lists. For example, I played a benefit a few weeks again, where it was planned that going up to do 4 songs with one band. By some strange set of circumstances the other 4 bands scheduled for this event had no drummer, so I never got a chance to leave the stage, so I ended up having to play with all of them. Now they're mostly good musicians and they are all really good people, but there's a reason I could play with all of them. Because it was all the same songs. I played "Gimme One Reason" by Tracey Chapman 3 times that night! I wish I could say that that was the only song that was played more than once that night. I knew every song that every band played (with the rare exceptions) because I'd played them one hundred times before with any number of SJ area cover bands. I want to see something new because the cover band seen is getting awfully boring really quick. No one rehearses anymore, and I get it, we all got stuff to do, some of us have kids and mortgages and so on, I get it. The market however is now flooded with a lot of bands that don't take anything seriously and people wonder why no one comes out to their shows and why bars ain't paying crabs no more. There's only one band right now that's really trying to fight that trend, and it's certainly not the one I'm in. They are doing that by not over exposing themselves and by practicing regularly. However that's just one band out of a sea of other bands that don't see any big picture. That's cool they don't need to see the big picture, and I don't need to see them, so it all works out. I wouldn't even go see my own band if I wasn't in it, what the fuck does that tell ya!? At least we're all making our tax free pocket change...

I guess what I'm saying is that I need a vacation and I'm depressed. I'd also like to admit that I'm likely as much a part of the problem as anyone, that would be the cause of my depression.
"Volume automation takes time. You don't got that kinda time. You could be getting naked with somebody somewhere." -Slipperman

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Postby Scott DeVarenne » Mon Mar 09, 2009 12:32 pm

Drumwaiter wrote:Ideally I'd like to go back to my piano roots and leave drumming for a while. But not to compose for clients, just to compose for myself. I'd also like to record said compositions instead of always recording everyone else. It just seems that somewhere along the way I've lost my sense of why I even do any of this...

I think you have to take care of your own music. If you don't, you will suffer. If you have to withdraw from other projects
and turn down work, well, that's what you gotta do. People will understand, except if they don't, and if they don't
(pardon my Spanish) they can go fuck themselves. You can be very polite about it, but still maintain what is important to you.

As far as going out to hear music- as far as I can tell, there is almost nobody around here playing music
that I want to go out and hear. I found Sleepy Head to be very enjoyable, but they are back in Japan, now.
I wanted to go see the string quartet at the Art Centre two weeks ago but it cost $25 and I didn't have enough $$.
I really like some of the music Owen Gilbride is making, but it's not live music.
I think there are factors which are relevant to this situation as I perceive it, but I can't get into them right now because
I have to go to the bathroom.
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Postby Mathieu Benoit » Mon Mar 09, 2009 12:39 pm

Scott DeVarenne wrote: You can be very polite about it, but still maintain what is important to you.

Do I have to? Because I really don't feel like it.


Scott DeVarenne wrote:they can go fuck themselves

Here we are. This was more where I was coming from! :-D
"Volume automation takes time. You don't got that kinda time. You could be getting naked with somebody somewhere." -Slipperman

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Postby Alain Benoit » Mon Mar 09, 2009 5:29 pm

I just started playing again around Christmas time and fortunately so far I dont seem to have any of the aforementioned symptoms.
I am aware of their cause and am in constant vigil.

It started with one guitar player plus myself, added another guitar player, then added a bass player. The aim for me was mostly for the exercise as I now have a desk job and ass time is a plenty. The aim is still exercise but has recently had the added benefit of thourough enjoyment, weekly events to look forward to, and a pleasant kinship.

Lineup so far is totally bereft of any noticeable egos. Typical scenario is "I wont be ever able to learn that song", yet we give it a try and it takes shape anyways.

We know we will never play live so we are free to pick any covers that we like simply because we like them as we have no audience to please but ourselves. How do I know we'll never play live? Because we'll never find a singer that could carry any of these tunes. I only know of one locally and he's a total bedroom performer.

At the same time although there is generally speaking no pressure towards each other to do homework, playing through a rehearsal and being the lagger is self motivating enough it seems to have someone else in last place the following date.

The best part is that nobody is deluded into thinking that "Oh yeah were we ever tight on that run". The contrary is true, the general consensus is that there will always be room for performance improvement.
At first the gatherings were fairly loose in context and semi social, now it seems as progress is made the excitement is pushing towards less fucking around and more serious harwork all without any pressure form 'bandmates'. It's quite a natural progression. I hope it stays on this trend. Everybody's aim here seems to be just to be a part of something not so pedestrian or mundane.

Dean Roberts asked us the other night if we had a name. We all said no and likely may never have one. He said great I'm naming you guys "B.O.H."
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Postby Scott DeVarenne » Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:12 pm

What is B.O.H.?
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Postby Malcolm Boyce » Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:25 pm

Scott DeVarenne wrote:What is B.O.H.?
+1
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It just fills Forum pages..." --compasspnt

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Postby Mathieu Benoit » Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:55 pm

Malcolm Boyce wrote:
Scott DeVarenne wrote:What is B.O.H.?
+1


Hmm.... Trying to think like a Dean....



Bunch of hosers?
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Postby Malcolm Boyce » Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:59 pm

Drumwaiter wrote:
Hmm.... Trying to think like a Dean....



Bunch of hosers?


dielaugh
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Postby Alain Benoit » Mon Mar 09, 2009 10:06 pm

Close. Real close.
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Postby Scott DeVarenne » Mon Mar 09, 2009 11:42 pm

Bag of Ham?
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Postby Malcolm Boyce » Mon Mar 09, 2009 11:44 pm

Scott DeVarenne wrote:Bag of Ham?
OMFG!!! I need more emoticons, just for this thread!!!

roflmao
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Postby Mathieu Benoit » Mon Mar 09, 2009 11:45 pm

So what does it stand for?
"Volume automation takes time. You don't got that kinda time. You could be getting naked with somebody somewhere." -Slipperman

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Postby Alain Benoit » Mon Mar 09, 2009 11:53 pm

"Bunch of Homos"
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Postby Mathieu Benoit » Tue Mar 10, 2009 8:50 am

That sounds about right for Dean.
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