It's a Feeling

I've been in a couple bands. I grew up in Southern California so that shouldn't come as a shock to you. There's a band in every garage and they're all going to be rock stars one day. There's something about ocean air mixed with smog mixed with... with...

You think too much. It should be more about feeling. Not about being clever. About feeling. Not about gimmicks. About feeling.

Things that last have feeling. By things I mean songs. By feeling I mean I can close my eyes and remember what it felt like when I first held my older sister's copy of Weezer's Blue Album. I can conjure the image of a teenage boy sitting in the back seat of his parents' Honda Civic blaring Helmet's Unsung through his headphones on the way to watch his high school play football. I can smell the sweat soaked shirt after that Ozma show at Chain reaction.

It's a feeling. And you can't always articulate it. Which is what makes it so great. And sad. And frustrating. And amazing.

Sometimes the best thing you can tell yourself is to stop thinking and start feeling.

How Do You Know What You Like?.... Nope... RAMBLE

What is the science behind the brain "liking" something?

Nope. It's going to be impossible to write this post while Meshuggah's Koloss blares in my headphones.

Screw it. RAMBLE!!!

I ran the first official 5K of 2012 this morning. Didn't too horribly considering I didn't train very much for it, especially in the last 2 and a half weeks. About 8:34 a mile. I'm of the belief that if I truly focused on training and gave it a good 10 weeks, I could get down to about 7:50 a mile.

Man, I love running because you can either be completely detail oriented and geeky and mull over split times and personal records and the type of fuel you take in before and after running and the different shoes that you could be wearing and what about minimalist shoes or socks or no socks and would you ever truly want to train for an endurance run of over 100 miles or you can just run for the hell of it and not give a shit about anything but the burn in your lungs and the barriers placed in front of you by your own mind.

2 weeks away from recording. I'm pretty sure I know which songs I'm going to do, but it will probably change about 7 or 8 times before that day. Acoustic recordings!! Can't wait!!!

Been reading a lot of the @AdviceToWriters tweets. Good stuff. But I really just need to drop all that stuff sometimes and remember that above all else, writing is supposed to be fun.

This Meshuggah album is blowing my mind. It reminds me of math class and listening to Helmet on the way to football games and recording at the Wall with Tracey Brown and a whole bunch of other stuff and sometimes my brain hurts because I can't keep up with the time signature changes or the athleticism of the drumming...

Dodgers won again today! 3-0, baby!! Best start in 13 years I read somewhere... Long season, but it's a good start, boys. Keep it going!!

I'm sleepy. And will probably end up staying awake for at least another hour...

Or not...

Inspiration- Drummer- John Stanier

I was a freshman in high school and had played on an actual drumset a handful of times. My brother-in-law had given my sister some CDs of music that he liked. One of these CDs was Helmet's In the Meantime. I listened to that CD on the way to and from every single football game I went to that year. It was a truly awesome year and a turning point in my life.

Unsung is one of the reasons I wanted to become a drummer. John Stanier absolutely kills it in this song. The variations on the ride at the beginning, the kick drum- snare interplay throughout the whole song, the half time feel that complements the guitars, the quick groove between the 1st chorus and 2nd verse... there are so many things I love about this song. And He Feels Bad is a perfect example of not playing too much. And Better with its straight ahead groove underneath the syncopated guitars. Stanier always has that pocket groove.

Then the intro of I Know off of their album Betty... so heavy yet musical and always complementary to the song. And the triplets at 2:15... I always hit rewind and just sit back...

Stanier has gone on to drum in several other bands including Tomahawk with Mike Patton and his current gig with Battles. Drool at the chance to see him on October 16th at the Glasshouse... might have to make that happen...