WV1, Deftones and

Deftones UK and Audioslaved

First of all, I’d like to start off by announcing that I am also now the drummer in another tribute band, Deftones UK, UK tribute to Deftones. Only recently started, we’ve had just the one gig, and along with the epic feedback from this gig, we’ve also got five or six new gigs for this year and a few into early next year. Whey! Aswell as this, I and the bassplayer and guitarist from TMRO have teamed up with one Nick Steven, as a tribute to Audioslave, called Audioslaved. Although it may be in a slight niche in the market, we probably won’t be pressing further with this band after the next gig which is in Burnley. Shout out to the Sanctuary Rock Bar!

Also recently, I’ve played a number of rather large festival gigs with The Machine Rages on! WV1Fest, Boltfest and Festwich! All of which are festivals in tribute to big names, anything from Madness through to Limp Bizkit. And run by the same group, these events are considerably larger gigs than I’ve ever played before. Just a few photos here...

I would absolutely love Deftones UK to play these gigs too. Maybe even alongside TMRO, which would be a proper workout for me, two sets in three hours! Challenge accepted.  Deftones UK are of course gigging elsewhere, Manchester, Burnley and Bradford plus more, our next being Bradford! Let us know what you think!

Gigs and babies.

Parenthood and performance, do they work together?

               After a few months of realising I want to become a dad, it’s dawned on me that maybe my music career would be taking a different direction. After all, how can I keep climbing that musical hill and be a dedicated father to one or maybe more kids at the same time? This is what I want to explore and discuss in this post.

       Obviously, there are many aspects to this topic. Where to start being the main one...

           In my opinion, it can work. I would of course personally make sure that everything is provided for and maintained whichever my working situation, I would always have the child in mind with everything I do, whether I’m working a regular day job or a night shift, whether its evening or early morning work. That said, performing music (in my circumstances) isn’t exactly a regular contracted, guaranteed hours job. It’s more of a challenge to get the gigs in, making it financially viable, and after that, landing a gig or two every week just to make a weekly payday.  Indeed I realised that even before I started gigging, that I couldn’t rely on solely just performance to make ends meet. And at the same time, I knew the challenges of the whole self-employed situation before I became a sole trader, i.e. keeping the next week booked in with enough work to keep going. But, I know that the music industry doesn’t have the same demand regarding venues as plastering or decorating does, as much as it is the same game for finding work.

    I also think that, as much as I want to be gigging, playing and rehearsing as much as possible, it wouldn’t hinder my abilities and time to be with my future kid(s). It’s a definite no-no to keep putting off family time. But it goes without saying that other immediate family should see the child on a regular/irregular basis anyway, such as the grandparents, which could potentially come to the arrangement of weekly visits to their house for a night each, which may well in turn could open up the days of the week id be behind the kit. I have a few friends who have kids and still manage to perform and rehearse around their family life, who encourage the idea of still going out and doing the things for your own self and also as a couple, just to maintain sanity (this I find is a pretty standardised thing even if one of the parents isnt anything about a musician). However, it’s not like I’d be gigging every single weekend of the year as it is, currently it’s more like once or twice every two or three weeks.

I guess it could also depend on how regular, how far and how many days away it would mean. The aspect of “touring”, be it round the world or the UK, kind of means it would be weeks on end of not being home at all. This is of course the extreme end of things, one of which I would not really see myself doing within the next five years. And at the same time, I wouldn’t regard my musical endeavours as a “touring” situation. As I said, it’s more like two or three gigs every two or three weeks, and any of these gigs can be as close as to be able to be back home that same evening.

                        

Another important aspect is the other parent’s view/needs. If it were to be a situation where there was no one else to visit and look after the children, how can the musician expect the other parent to constantly be babysitter while they’re out on a Friday or Saturday playing music? I think it depends on the ability of anyone else to cover for the other parent while they let their hair down too. I personally wouldn’t expect my partner to be at home every time I’m at a gig, if anything, I want them to be with me at the gig anyway.  I wouldn’t have them stressing at the fact that I’m out of the house on any given evening, not if there’s another way around it. But yes, there are so many different scenarios involved that I couldn’t possible cover every angle on that. Thoughts??

My dad’s dad used to be in the CBSO on the French horn, and my mum’s dad used to play gigs on a regular on the double bass in a good few jazz bands. (They say talent skips a generation?!) And my parents have said before that they remember asking mummy where daddy is, although not necessarily overly upset or affected psychologically by the irregular/regular absence of their parent.

All I’m asking is for some kind of input as to whether it’s a good move to be still maintaining a level of dedication to making music with a young family, or is it just selfish in that performing music can be seen as a hobby, more so than a job that is enjoyed?

Tributes

Tribute bands.

 "Why don’t you start a covers/tribute band? Tribute bands always make good money doing shows, playing songs that people already know, yknow, the classics, you can’t complain about being paid for doing what you love doing."

It took me years to give in to that idea of being paid for performing other people’s music.

                          But what are the pros of being in a tribute band? Generally it’s for the money, or being the next best thing for a fraction of the price, or generally getting experience and your own name out there and provide some kind of publicity for your own self as well as your own band’s music. And instead of performing for free in an unknown local band at an empty venue for god knows how long, I realised that performing in a tribute band does that for yourself on an individual musician level too. It allows opportunities to do more gigs or projects outside of a band you’re in because there’s no limiting faithfulness to be constricted by. 

And what about against? Some people would say it’s a bad idea copying other people, no originality, and on a musician level, being physically able to play whichever songs by their favourite band, it could be seen as a big hurdle. As well as experience enough to put their performance as close as possible to the person they’re tributing. Though this is more of your own limitations I guess. I think that acting/looking like someone they’re not might have an awkward or wrong feeling to the player, being uncomfortable on stage is probably the worst thing to feel. Is it pointless? It’s already been done before, keep moving on with new music.

Despite all that... It was sometime through playing in Interrobang that I realised I should be part of a covers/tribute band, Elliot, Interrobang’s bassplayer had started a Rage Against The Machine tribute band called " The Machine Rages On" and proceeded to jam out the debut album tracks instrumentally. On the off chance, Elliot had Facebooked a last minute rehearsal due to his drummer cancelling, and I felt reluctant at first to even go, after a long time of not listening to that particular band. (I know, I’m sorry.) He left thus leaving an opportunity for me to relive and relearn old-school RATM songs on drums. Much fun!

The Machine Rages On; Myself, Kostas Tzimas, Amit Mohan, Elliot Smith.

What’s your views on tribute bands?  Let me know your thoughts! 

IN ALL FAIRNESS...

Interrobang

I need to start off from the start. or at least, where i left off. "Interrobang" were a birmingham heavy funk rock band who I had the ultimate pleasure of writing performing and recording music with. Started off through a small world situation jamming out Sam Rutters intricate yet gnarly guitar demos, through to full e.p. launches and headliner slots, tribute band support sets and honestly very diverse array of songs and feels. Interrobang became the one thing I had been looking for since I started writing music, almost every gig felt right, or at least where we were supposed to be in each our own individual career paths and experience levels. We knew what we were doing. We were gigging and rehearsing regularly enough for me to feel comfortable without playing a kit between them, as I had lost the place I could go and play my kit fully. We knew how to grow through the local scene and make some kind of impact at at least the local venues. And for me, everything was falling into place, so happy yet still challenged and pushed forwards by my band mates and friends. Until we moved in to a lock up, which ultimately became Interrobangs downfall, many things affected our use of this place, money and time being the major issue for all four of us, I was inundated with work pretty much straight from when we got the place, working until late on a daily basis meant i couldnt go and jam with the guys whenever we wanted, which ultimately was the beauty of having a lock up in the first place, unlimited access, was limited. I still feel bitter about how it ended with Interrobang, even now after almost a year  and whenever I think about making original music again.

I do hear every so often that the bands and people we got to know during Interrobangs time want to see a reunion gig, but as much as id be up for that, it just wont happen, you can kick me in the shin if it does.

                    Looking at this photo does still make me smile it does.

Interrobang was; Ellis Wilde, Sam Rutter, Elliot Smith and some guy.

New Post Finally!

The long awaited post.

                Hello!! Its been a good few years since i posted here, in fact, I had even forgot this page even existed. (Not good). This time I intend to keep regular, maybe even weekly updates, just to keep the flow going. In keeping the written part of my musical life up to date, I feel it would benefit me greatly. Since I last entered here a long while back, I have moved on alot in the ways of music and performance as well as recording, promoting and writing music. With many more new contacts and friends it is so much more of a community for me even more so than before.

Call it weird, but it is imperitive for me to now recap since I last posted in an effort to portray what Ive been doing, and how I feel about it, so I guess ill have to write up a short summary of it all! (wish me luck on the short bit)!

Ill be back soon with a proper entry!

CHewD