thatguy431

1. Do you sing, play an instrument or instruments? I'm actually good at my instruments, but I also sing for funsies, though it's reaaaalllyyyy bad. What instruments? Bass, guitar, ukulele When did you start playing? Bass-10 years Guitar 9-years Ukulele-5 years....man I'm getting old, I feel like I just picked up the uke the other day :\ Did you teach yourself? I took lessons for bass, but got nothing out of them. I also have taken music theory classes which factor into my understanding of the instruments....sooo yes and no? 2. Are you in a band or bands? Not at the moment, unless you consider the music I make for fun as "being in a band" What is the name of the band? I just label all my songs with the artist name "Brandon Reinking" ...real creative, I know What do you play? I've played both bass and guitar in various bands What other instruments are in the band? I've played in bands with trumpet, sax, trombone, guitar, drums, ukulele for some songs, piano/keyboard, flute (in high school I played in a ska band who didn't discriminate against any instrument!) Do you have a band website? I have a personal youtube channel, but I'm sure my past bands still have myspaces somewhere....where to find them though, is unknown to me. 3. Do you write songs? Yeppers Do you write lyrics, music or both? Recently I've been trying my hand at the lyrics thing. Mostly just write music. Do you have a writing partner? My girlfriend writes the occasional poem that I put music to. 4. Do you record your music? Yes. Do you use a home studio? If so what gear do you use? I use my lap top with audacity, because I'm classy like that. Do you use a recording studio? I have about 6 dollars to my name....so no. Do you have music available on the web? if so where? youtube! if you really want to find me, my username is thatguy431, just like it is on here. 5. What other roles do you perform in the music business? none, unless letting google run ads on my videos counts? 6. Are you a tech head? I wish 7. What country do you live in? USA 8. What are your ambitions? To be happy 9. Do you draw/paint/write stories/computer art/dance or other creative pursuit? I doodle in classes so I don't go insane. What are your pastimes? Video games! 10. What would you like to get out of Songstuff? Ideas mostly and to hear what other people do with sound.

My suggestion to making "meaningless" lyrics is highly illegal in the U.S. and most countries....but take LSD. You will have an incredible way with words and use them for their sounds rather than their meaning (mostly because meanings of words or things in general become confusing). Some bands like Animal Collective, or some Yes songs, use words based on their sound and how they flow into each other. However, this is not to say the lyrics are completely meaningless, it's really that the meaning is more vague. The way the words sound and flow together is based on some idea they want to portray, even if that idea is simply the sound of it all...that's meaning! Another way of going about it is just writing complete bull shit. A good way to do this is try to get in the mindset of some hopeless romantic and write the worst love song you can imagine. Then come back to your mind and look at it and say, "Man, this means absolutely nothing!" Because it really won't mean anything. At least, it wont have any meaning relevant to the thoughts and feelings of the creator. I do this alot for my songs, because I suck at writing lyrics. I usually write music first and think "this song sounds like it should be about this" then I pretend to care about what it is I'm writing about, and just make stuff up. When it's all said and done, I look at it and think, "What is this nonsense? It LOOKS good, but really, has no meaning to be found, LOL! I'm going to keep it." But my music is a joke in itself soooo......

This is something I used to care about. When I was in high school, I only wrote ska music, for some reason. I enjoyed all sorts of musics, but the only things I wrote were ska tunes (probably because I was in a ska band). Nowadays, I don't think my songs have a genre. They are pure representations of my mind. If there's a genre the song fits into, great. It's really not something to be focused on unless you are trying to make commercial music, like JohnMichaels said. As far as album themes go, it's conceivable, at least to me, to have a cohesive album, thematically, but have each song be a different genre. For instance, the last year or so, every song I write I plan on putting into an album called "One-Mind Band." Clearly, the theme of this album is that all the music came from one mind. Each song is quite different, yet, there's some thread running through each song that is typically "me" ....if that makes sense. Basically, don't worry about genre, unless you are trying to take the money of the masses, and worry about each song as an individual being. Each song is its own entity with its own meaning. The way the song is portrayed should depend on the intent of the creator. Different genres lend themselves, generally, to different meanings. But really, what it should come down to is do what YOU want! It's YOUR music

I always wonder how other people go about creating things. For me, I have no regular method. Some days while staring out the windows in my all too important college classes, I'll have some rhythmic idea, then I get home, record the rhythm and play random stuff on top of it, then write some, more or less, meaningless words that mesh. Other days I'll be bored and pick up my guitar, bass, or ukulele and play whatever my fingers decide, and sometimes there's an interesting idea that could be turned into a song. Other days I'll just be thinking to myself and some words (that are more or less meaningless) will pop into my mind and ill say "how funny, that should be a song" then I put some chords to it find a rhythm and so on. I can't say which method produces better songs, because, I think everything I make is pretty trash, but it's all fun. The one common theme here, though, is that I don't force anything. I let something appear before me and nab it before it goes away again. I've tried to sit down and say "I want to write a song" and that method has never worked for me...though I could see it working if you do it a lot.