Image and video info: Some things from the "Long is the Road" music video soon to be released.
Its about time for an update as things are picking up here under the oaks.
Its harvest time.
I have a lot going on under a big moon, let’s start with the racoons. When I arrived at the oaks a few months ago, to my surprise, I found a old 50 gallon water drum with some, what appeared to be, goldfish in it. I had been away from the canyon a while working on the breakers record inside the city and it was refreshing to see some wild animals again and so I started feeding them each day. I’m a creature of patterns and habits. I did the same with a wild cat that was creeping around the woods out back. As the months passed and the vinyl artwork and video post-production nights came and went in my tower, slowly, the fish grew and the cat found it’s way into my studio. I still don’t know if the cat is male or female, but I call it Ke Ke. The fish became quite big, 6 of them all together, a handsome little back of gold and white spotted fish. It later occurred to me that perhaps it was a mix of goldfish and koi fish. One week ago, I awoke in the night to some noises in the yard. Summer had left a few weeks earlier and the cold of autumn had just started to settle in under the oaks. As I reached for the door to my yard, which overlooks the hillsides of the Topanga State Forest… , to what to my wondering eyes should appear, a Racoon was sitting on my 50 gallon water drum eating my fish. It’s an image that I can’t help but shake my head at. Life can be brutal at times. Just imagine a giant fury monster wearing a mask reaching down from the sky, plucking us off one at a time without a care in the world. My poor fish. What a life they had. I was able to scare away the racoon and save 2 of the fish, one of which died during the rescue mission. One survived and is back in the yard waiting for friends as we speak. Anyway, I thought I would start today with a story. Every story is relative to the dreams we pursue.
Breaker Double Vinyl News: I hear rumors that the double vinyl has been pressed and is sitting in boxes somewhere in Europe. The precious artwork I did back in January when I first arrived at the oaks is now wrapped around the discs that house the story of the wolf and the fire. The noises I made in my grief will live forever now on those double discs. No one will ever take that away from me. That helps me sleep at night. But I’m not done yet. I wish I could give you a definitive date, but I can’t yet. What I will say is, everything is going to plan and that the breakers record will be available exactly when it was fated to be available. Ho Ho Ho
Music Video News: Let me touch base on a few things here. A few months ago, when the plan for CD’s and Vinyl came about, I was hard at work on the “Long is the Road” music video. It would have been released a while ago, however, with a label now involved and a physical release date eminent, it made a lot of sense to simply push it all back and release it all together. Personally, for me, more time on the video was a good thing as I tend to spend a lot of time on details. I awoke in what appears to be a throw away world but I’m not really a throw away person. I buy things that are heavy that don’t make sense and I spend a lot of time on things until they “feel” right. What is right? I wish I knew… it’s just a feeling I can’t explain but that I know. The breakers work was done in this way, words, verses and choruses and solos… they all went through some time of contemplation and changes and reflection. In order to edit this LITR video at the oaks, I first had to build a “Noctua based video system that could handle some of the ideas I was having. I suppose the system I had at the “lex” could have handled it, but it would have been pretty choppy work. Anyway, the story of the video is coming together, and I’ve released a few clips but I really need to hold back a little as I want the full piece to have some impact and surprise. There are a few tricks up my sleeve left for the final release. Hope you like it. It truly was a labor of breakers love. And it will continue with the “Ballad of the Dead Rabbit” video which already has a few LA film shoots wrapped up and which I will start editing as soon as the first video and Vinyl gets released.
Singing: More on patterns. Regarding singing. I sing every day still. I still spend hours blending the two voices I have. My full voice and my head voice. I never really blend in perfect harmony, it’s more of a persistent battle, with small gains over long periods of time. I swing and then I lick my wounds. Sleep is important during these long training days. Sometimes I’ll sleep for 12 hours just to heal. One of the reasons I moved back to the canyon was that the distance from Los Angeles opened up a new pattern in my life which facilitated hours of singing each day. I could see that that pattern, much like the singing patterns I had on my mountain before the fires came, would strengthen, and develop my voice each day. I created a pattern in my life that I knew in time, day after day, for months… would start to show some results in the development of my voice. I’ve seen how little life changes and added patterns can effect the development of a voice over time and so I’m always looking for such opportunities. It’s a lot like the stock market. Time is ladder of course. Over the years I've had many singing teachers and mentors and have read many books along the road, but for me… better than any scale or any technique… I find time to be your greatest ally as a singer. Silly scales over long periods of time. Detaching from the instant gratification of daily singing activities seems to be my best advice to someone training their voice. For such a small muscle, it takes a very long time to harness the subtle movements needed to control the flow of air and pitch needed to recreate the things that our dreams are made of, it did for me anyway. Well, time and a very large and scary magic tree.
Proof. Ya know, we are the sum of each day of our lives. I’m a perfect example of that slow process of time. Like rocks on the shore, I too have been sculpted by the crashing waves of my life. I think my music reflects that. I wish I could take credit for it, but really, I was a victim of the surf most of the time. Some of my greatest ideas came from inside the tumble waves. With so many people asking if this breakers record was created using AI, I can’t say I’m not flattered by such a thought. But no, the breakers record is really just a nice product of time and influence. I was never really a virtuoso of anything, my story lies more in the relentless pursuit of individual mediocrity. I like to thing that the sum of all my parts finally equaled something meaningful enough. Like a flash in a pan if you move it just right. Guitar and piano came accidently to me as I was trying to be a singer. I was fired as the singer in my first high school band by the guitarist and so I ran out and bought his exact guitar and started taking lessons. The first song I learned on guitar was “Black Stone Wielder” by Candlemass on a little Peavy amp. True story. I learned music theory almost accidently, just so that I could understand vocal scales. I took a midi class at Ricks Music World in Somerset Massachusetts so I could learn my new Ensonique VFX keyboard, my first real vocal lesson training keyboard. Drums I picked up because I was a drum tech for a rather well know drummer in the rock world as well as other bands around LA. That was my former self to whom I don’t really talk about much as he died in a fire. My midi lessons and seemingly useless understanding of my Akia midi sequencer programming later came in handy for drumming and recording. As you see I’m a perfect mess of little things that somehow equaled something. Hard to predict at the time of all the failed adventures that I set out on.. that I would someday arrive at a place where the breakers were. So to answer that question here today, no, there is no AI music or auto anything on the breakers record. Just a pleasant happy mess of reality, time and old-fashioned persistence. I’m not much of a teacher. Sometimes the best lessons we can give in life are no lessons at all, but rather to simply let that thinks we create speak for themselves. Amen.
Rehearsals: There is a running timeline in my head. It goes something like. LITR music video, Vinyl and CD, stage show and lights programming, Dead Rabbit video #2, rehearsals, tour. How will this play out you ask? I don't know but it will be fun figuring it out. Hope to see you all out there with my sure 58 and some fog. Maybe I'll bring Ke Ke.
Last but not least.
The Novel. With so much going on, I simply can’t get to finishing this yet. It bothers me that I can’t find the time to complete this. I have creatures and characters dancing in my head. The entire universe of BOK is ever moving as a real place and yet I can’t find the time to write the words down and tell the story. I can only assume that when I get a break in the future, I’ll isolate myself somewhere in the woods and complete the novel. We’ll see. For now your welcome to read or watch the first chapters of the novel from Lord Hadders personal “Field Notes” page.
That’s all for now. Sorry for the long winded update today. LITR Video should be out by the time I post my next news story. I also have a new interview in Rock Hard magazine coming out soon, look out for it, some interesting questions they asked. Don’t worry about time my friends. In your own life… just keep your head down and discover the reason you are who you are and chip away at your own dreams. Work in silence. As insignificant as today seems, it will matter later. Stay your own course and enjoy the surf my lord and ladies. I’ll see you in the waves.
Your friendly neighborhood dead rabbit
-j
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