Hey, everybody! My name's Christian, and this here's my first post on these forums.
My musical background: I've been playing music off and on for 14-15 years, but you sure wouldn't know it to hear me play :) I started on guitar (my worst instrument - unless you count vocals!), moved on to bass (my best instrument), and somehow got into synths and sequencers (my most used instruments). I can also handle the third highest difficulty on the drums in RockBand, which means I was passable the first time I tried a real kit :P
I tried 'making it' in a band by moving to Calgary in 2000 to play bass with some friends, but we never got out of the basement. At least I can say I tried at some point (hoping that's enough to stave off the mid-life crazies!).
My (now) wife and I played around Saint John as synth-pop duo Kitty Smack from late 2002 to early 2004; our album only ever really got worked on over Christmas breaks, so we called it done in 2007:
http://www.garageband.com/artist/kitty_smack
We have enough material for another album which we'll get to sometime, but no plans on playing live for now.
Ever since 2004, there's been things taking my time away from music, so at the end of 2008, I decided enough was enough, and started a 52 songs in 52 weeks project. I just posted #44 Friday night.
http://52weeksproject.blogspot.com/
The whole point of the project is for 'musical rehabilitation,' to get my 'chops' back up to speed, and to become a better player and writer. Also, just making music again feels incredible, and I love having an excuse each week to just jam on something brand new.
I also joined industrial/punk/whatever band Halo as a synth player a few months back, playing my first show with them in Fredericton two weeks after I did. I'm liking Halo a bunch :) And I really like the feeling of being in a band again.
http://www.myspace.com/halosaintjohn
I emailed Malcolm a few days ago to ask for some criticism on some of my '52' songs, and he reminded me about this here forum. So that's why I'm here - to ask for any help/criticism/feedback/advice on any of my songs. Most of them are left intentionally short, just so I don't knock myself out each week. The last batch (40-44) have been more ambitious than earlier, as I'm getting more serious about using my guitar and synths together. As a result, things can get a bit muddy at times. Any observations are welcome, of course (despite a few regular commenters I have, I'm getting so attention starved that even a 'sorry, i don't like techno' comment would be welcome at this point - and no, I generally don't write techno). There's a few real clunkers, but a few show promise, as well. My goal from feedback is just to learn my lessons each time, but not really go about re-recording or tweaking anything after the fact until at least the project is done.
So, in conclusion: thanks to Malcolm for reminding me about the forum here, and I hope to hear from some of you!