Unravel

I'm taking some time and learning how to write in a way that is beneficial to my final product.  Lately, as anyone learning to do something well, I've been hitting some walls.  I've gotten some good insight from some talented close friends and I believe I may have found what will help.

As I am taking some time to get familiar with this new way of writing, I have decided to record and post five cover songs.  This to me is a great debut project as it's small and it'll get me to finish something.  No later than February 6th, I'll posting the first song: "Unravel" by Bjork.  If you haven't heard it, take a listen.  The song is a heart string puller about how love can cause false hope with the burden of distance and time.

Reason And Record

Okay I'm shaking off the holidays, got a new job and I've started the flow of income again. Before I can start making musical purchases again, I have to shrink down the pile of bills, sigh. But luckily it isn't too bad - one month ought to do it.

Luckily for me, I have a loving, supportive father with similar musical interests as me. So for the holidays I added to my collection Reason with Record with a MIDI keyboard to go along with it. Wowza was I stoked! I've barely gotten my feet wet with it but man-o-man does it make Garage Band look like child's play.

So I'll be taking some time to convert the songs I've written and enjoy in Garage Band and and give them a whole new makeover in Record. I have so many options and patches it's fantastic. So whilst I take the next week and do this I'll be soon finally releasing what I'm doing for a band because it's starting to come into focus. That's all for now.

The North Wind Blew South

A little while ago I featured my friend Michelle Newman and her photography site in a post I did. I said there would be shows soon and here one is!

"A collection of photographs by Michelle Newman will be on display at Book Fare Cafe located in Village Books, December 1st - December 31st, 2009

Opening reception,

Artwalk Friday

December 4th at 6 - 8pm

Book Fare Cafe, Village Books in Fairhaven

1200 Eleventh ST., Bellingham, WA 98225

360.671.2626

Monday - Saturday 10 am - 9pm

Sunday 11 am - 7 pm"

Check out her site for more details and awesome photographs: www.michellealexisnewman.com

The Ghost And The Grace Holiday EP

Happy Black Friday. I'm not going anywhere!

There is love all around, it's Christmas! So start busting out Charlie Brown Christmas and those weird claymation Rudolph and Frosty The Snowman movies; Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, Home Alone (don't watch past the 2nd one!) and make treats and drinks anytime you can. Don't forget to gain holiday weight and then resolution it all off on January 1st. Oh America...you're so weird. But I do love myself some Christmas!

Anyway, remember the post I had recently about drumming on The Ghost And The Grace Holiday EP(scroll down just a little if you don't)? Well now, we get to literally hand you the fruits of our labor. These are three original holiday songs written by the creative brain of TGATG Daniel Anderson. They're a different view of Christmas that you don't hear a lot with an unmistakable Christmas flavor. Definitely original, but I don't want to give everything away...

So here's the Scoop: These are up for you download and we're asking for a suggested donation of $3 but you get to make that choice and pay whatever amount you'd like for the songs. We are also donating part of the proceeds to the fight against breast cancer.

Click here for the path to download "Holiday Spirit Volume 1" by The Ghost And The Grace. Support local artists and we'll be happy to keep creating for you.

Thank you.

"I Can't Find The Books, They Must Be In Lahoya" *

Saturday night I was privileged enough to witness a fantastic show with The Books. This duo is probably among my top 20 favorite bands. Sadly, I feel they don't quite have the recognition they deserve. But to be fair, they're an acquired taste and usually people ask me who that is when I talk about them. But once you're into them you can really appreciate their fantastic musicianship and crisp production quality. For those of you wanting a new musical experience, they can be heard best on nice speakers and turned up really loud.

The duo consists of two men named Nick and Paul, who live, play mainly a guitar(also bass) and cello along with their music that is largely an eclectic collection of samples mixed in with music. I had never looked up YouTube videos of The Books because I wanted to experience the show with no bias. They both sit and play along to their music with videos of snippets of old handheld camera footage that they largely collect from thrift stores and the like-which they also create. So if you can imagine, you're witnessing a long artistic piece of music and video. When leaving the venue I felt as if I had just watched a fantastic movie. My brows furrowed and my head slightly tilted as I walked out of the venue thinking: "Damn, that was really, really good."

Earlier that day, since they were playing at Western Washington University, they put on a free lecture at the university. Naturally, I was there and curious on what they'd share with us. It took no time at all to see that Nick and Paul were really nice and very knowledgeable guys. They took us through the process of how they wrote a few of their latest pieces of art; both on the musical and visual side. They shared how they came up with the samples they use and how they build songs around them. It really showed me how confident and generous these guys are because they shared tactics and techniques that probably came with lots of trial and error. Valuable tools and tips for anyone looking to make their art their way of living. They then opened it up for questions and even asked us our opinion on whether they should continue like they normally do and master their next album themselves or give it to Bob Ludwig for mastering(who if you don't know, is one of the biggest names out there for mastering). I haven't found many artists that will ask their fans questions. I found the whole experience really inspiring.

I also wanted to mention how excited I was to see Bellingham's very own Pan Pan open for The Books. I've seen them a handful of times and this was by far the best show yet. Having a professional stage set up and an impressive 17ish piece band to march up behind the crowd and make their way to the stage while playing the opening song really made a lasting impression and an impressive way to start the evening. The rest of their set was brilliant and I'm amazed on how solid everything was. Pan Pan rules. Go here to check them out! And here for The Books.

Yay for Pan Pan.

Yay for The Books.

*Title of this post comes from the song: "If Not Now, Whenever" by The Books off their 2005 release Lost And Safe.

Pastiche Archive 1 - Pigeons

I was going through some old videos of the band I used to have called Pastiche and found this little gem called Pigeons off the second EP, Rabbits, that we released. We rushed to get this song down for the show and it shows for the first little attempt there. I left the mess up part in because it really shows a cool side that you don't normally get to see in bands. It's not usually a great moment but we pulled together and showed why we wanted to play the song so bad...cause it rocks. If anyone would like this song or any other that we released, let me know and I'll be happy to send it to you for free. Hope you like it.

TGATG Drum Recording Session

Well as I stated before, I have moved to drums for The Ghost And The Grace. Due to the switch, we're figuring out the live situation. Doesn't mean that we're twiddling our thumbs. Drew Fitchette and Sarah Jerns are keeping their own bands alive and well in Rooftops and Pan Pan. Both bands have great shows coming up. Pan Pan will be opening for The Books on November 21st. So mark your calendar cause that show is going to be great.

This past weekend I went into the Bayside recording studio in Bellingham to record drum tracks for a Christmas album Daniel is releasing for The Ghost And The Grace. But most of the tracking was for the upcoming full length that is in the works.

The first day I spent 12 exhausting hours in the studio and we still needed another day to finish the takes. The second day we spent about 7 hours but we got 10 songs done. All with multiple takes and including one "Keith Moon take" for most of the songs. These entailed that I play along to the song as normal but also to have no fear of playing a ridiculous amount of fills and flash like Keith Moon of The Who. It definitely worked well for the most part and channeled a difference in my creativity.

So 10 songs down and 8 more to go. I'll be updating once I get those songs finished. But for now, enjoy this video of highlights of the two days of drum tracking.

Photographer - Michelle Newman

I'm excited to preview the skills of local Bellingham photographer Michelle Newman. I was fortunate enough to work with her on her 'Scream' project in the spring 2009; which is where I got the picture at the top of my blog. She is currently attending Western Washington University where she studying photography and fine art. She's been in art galleries around Bellingham and later this year she'll be the featured artist at a gallery as one of her final projects at Western.

She has a rather slick site you need to visit and see a lot more of her work in high quality images at www.michellealexisnewman.com. Take a look and be on the look out for her shows around town. Here are a few examples of her work.

Bullet With Butterfly Wings covered by The Ghost And The Grace

Here is a real different cover of Bullet With Butterfly Wings by The Smashing Pumpkins. This cover is by The Ghost And The Grace (TGATG). I usually don't like when artists do covers of the Pumpkins because it always fails to pass even my lowest expectation standards since the Pumpkins are by far my favorite band of all time. I still have yet to purchase or even bother taking for free an album of artists that has done Pumpkins covers. To be honest and fair, it's because I have such a biased love for the original compositions that Billy Corgan put together with the Pumpkins. On the other hand, since I've gotten to work with Daniel Anderson quite a bit playing live in TGATG I've learned there isn't much that I don't like coming from Daniel and even with his other band Idiot Pilot. So when I heard this was posted, you can see why I was so anxious to give it a listen.

I noticed that it was that it's a little shorter than the original and the tempo is slower which gave me a fun project to compare songs back to back to see what was cut out. Only took one listen through each to realize that the guitar and drum solo duet (which was my favorite part of the original) is cut. But since TGATG is more focused on tasteful compositions and not about shredding, it really made sense to not include it.

After a while of listening, my favorite difference is that it really sounds like a TGATG song. With the banjo covering the melodies while the guitars and strings usually covering the background chords and/or tasteful effects. There are also hand claps and of course the infamous crash cymbal that Daniel loves putting in high powered choruses. Personally, I think it's a great accomplishment to cover the song and have it sound like your own 'sound' while still making it undeniably recognizable to the original. He even has a scream in there which both artists are both known bit for among their fans.

This version has a haunting and floaty sound while the original has more of an raw and edgier sound as most of you probably know. On the TGATG website Daniel mentions that he did this because fall is favorite season and that this fit the times and the upcoming holiday Halloween. With that said I think overall, this is job well done. Is this the first Smashing Pumpkins cover that I like? Well let's just say I guess it helps to have good artists cover good artists.

You can listen to it here but you can download it for free at the TGATG website. What are you waiting for? It's free!

How Far You Go Music Video

Here is the latest video from the Ghost and the Grace. It's pretty awesome with the Sifl and Olly theme. Apparently there is a reference of 20 bands in there. I couldn't quite guess them all but apparently if you can, then you could win the album for free. Sweet!

From Guitar to Drums

This has been a very intense month for personal family reasons so that's why I haven't posted too much. Things are getting back to normal now, so here you go:

The Ghost and the Grace has been evolving a bit. Which is great to see. Daniel is in LA working some networking magic and since the two shows we've played, the band has 'gelled' so to speak. Songs are coming together a bit quicker and I think everyone is really enjoying everyone. No stupid drama. Rad.

But I said evolving and what I mean is that I am going to moving to drums after our show at the Nightlight on October 24th. The current drummer is making a life change and moving to Portland. So I stepped up and got the challenge awarded to me. This was a little scary for me to accept at first because the drum parts if you haven't heard them (and if you haven't you should!), are tough and if you're not tight and really well practiced you're just not gonna make it at all. I know when I've been at my best I could handle these parts but I haven't been practicing daily for a long time now. So my goal is hitting the practice pad two hours a day if I can. Sadly I don't have a place to actually set up and play my drums but that hasn't stopped me before. So...I figure I have a little over a month to prepare for this; I'll be ready. Also, as much as I've excelled at the guitar in a short period of time I would definitely benefit this band better sitting on my drum throne (that's what the seat of a drum set is actually called, that usually confuses people).

On another note, this will be freeing up some of my guitar playing time to writing instead of learning. I had to spend a lot of time learning, rearranging and building muscle memory with the guitar. I don't have to do any of that on drums; so after my muscles get back in shape I can work on just getting the parts down. So what that means is I'll be working on my EP more and get some news posted about that soon. I'm stoked!

The Guitar Project 2

For now my guitar modifications are complete. I am very satisfied with the way it all turned out. It stays in tune and after I fixed up the string height and intonation the guitar really sings and stays singing. I also got the pedals so tuning on the fly is now possible as well as getting amazing tone with the Zvex Super Duper 2 in 1. I now understand what guitar players mean by getting rich tones by cranking up their guitar. Next I'll be probably putting in new pick ups. But I am waiting so I can learn a little more about them. I keep reading about people getting mismatched pickups and degrading their sound. Right now mine are fine and in the meantime I am reading how they work with your guitar and all that good stuff. This post is short and sweet. Here are some pics of the completed modifications.

The Guitar Project

So being in this band not only has been a lot of fun but I've learned so much about the guitar. I used to not like it all that much - or was rather indifferent about it. Lately it takes up a lot of my thoughts during the day. I have a Mexican Telecaster Custom which you if you know anything about guitars that's enough to say. But if you don't, then it's a middle class guitar good for practicing and for someone growing up to the next steps of being a guitarist. I already feel growing out of it. What I mean is that the quality of the guitar isn't cutting it anymore. To the extent where I am getting a little embarrassed about it when after a rehearsing a song, my band mates sometimes say something like: 'that was good but someone was out of tune a little...' It's almost always me.

After doing a lot of reading, talking to my dad (an amazing lifetime guitar player) and watching various youtube videos, I've learned what can improve the quality and how to make solid improvements by getting some upgraded parts on the guitar itself. So I've ordered a new bridge and new tuners to get the guitar in tune with it's self all the time. I went about as high quality you can go with these improvements and I've also gone for a very visually appealing makeover as well. Mostly black with white accents. I haven't gotten all the improvements yet but so far it's been looking good. I'll posting some pics as it comes along. But for now here is a stock picture of what the original guitar looks like. Mine looked the exact same.

I also ordered two pedals. A tuner pedal...I mean I had to if I've got two shows coming up next month. Also the pedal that I posted a video of a few posts back called the Super Duper 2 in 1. That is gonna totally transform my sound and I can't wait to get it next week and try it out. So here is a pic of my guitar before any modifications.