thelevellers

My mate just stumbled this to me, thought you lot on here might find it interesting (if you haven;t already found it yourselves). http://www.toomuchjoy.com/?p=1397

If - Pink Floyd

Don't Start A Band - Reel Big Fish (I was tempted by Cripple Creek - Lady Winwood's Maggot, but I don't think it's them originally, and thought I'd break the Cripple Creek meme... )

Road Rage - Catatonia

I dunno if I, or anuyone else, has posted this before, but I just re-discovered it and it gave me joy all over again... 32 songs in 8 minutes I love the use of the Swedish lyrics to Pokemon, and ending with Power Rangers... Made me all kinds of happy... Rohan

Graham Coxon 14/05/2009 OK, sorry about the huge gaps here, and the missing gigs, but I am poor, and assuming there's no-one as really cares anyways I'm afraid this one is also a bit of an album review as well as gig, for a fairly obvious reason... This gig was too big a chance for me to pass on - probably my favourite famous person, and indeed musician, playing at an awesome (small) venue, playing his entire new album "The Spinning Top". The venue was the Thekla, which I'm sure I waxed lyrical about already, but that had a different feel, it wasn't sold out last time for a start! This gig was acoustic too, so made it feel lots more intimate. The support was pretty cool, I've forgotten the name (and he said he is usually the singer in a band as opposed to usually a singer songwriter), but he played some cool acoustic songs, with nice riffs and a good voice. Graham Had a backing band, a drummer and bassist anyway, the bassist having an electric double bass for most of it - very cool. As the new album is quite folky and acoustic, that was most of the gig, but it was nice to see Graham whip out the electric guitar and rawk away for some of it - it wouldn't be a Coxon album without it! The first few songs are nice acoustic finger picked things, had me wishing I could finger pick better. There's something special about Coxon's voice, a little thin and not too strong sometimes, but it fits his style perfectly, it always makes me smile, whether it's a sad or happy! On board the good ship Thekla, being up close and personal (almost close enough to lick!) really added to the already special feel of the album. Graham seemed to have an odd effect on the crowd, everyone seemed to get very giggly (I'll confess I did too), laughed at all his jokes, indeed, at all his comments, right up to the point he asked 'So, you all going out to a discotheque afterwards?', after we had chuckled away, he seemed a little confused and said 'That wasnot a joke, you know, it was a question!' It was my first listen to any of the new material, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect, and it is certainly different from his last record ("Love Travels At Illegal Speeds") which was very much a punky piece, full of energy. In fact The Spinning Top is more like a return to his first few albums stylewise, but better. His first albums are something of an aquired taste, and certainly don't demonstrate the songwriting skills he has obviously developed in the 10+ years since his first solo work. One example of this is 'In The Morning' 8+ minutes of somewhat perculiar sounding catchy happy. 'If You Want Me' was the first song he brought out the Telecaster, it has a nice, the first half of the song is clean and quiet, and not knowing the song, it was a real kick when he slipped on the overdrive and effects and it all went grungy and nasty (in the good way). The only problem with the song I had was that I had the 'why so serious?' meme from the last Batman film brought to the front of my mind by the chorus 'It's all so ser-ri-ous', which distracted me somewhat! This kinda rawky burble of a song ended and we were told 'This next song is about bunny rabbits and fishes. Trying to make babies on the riverbank. There really are rabbitfish out there, you can google them when you get home'. I regretted doing that - real rarbbitfish are hideous! nothing like the cutesy image I got, especially after listening to the song, as it is an example of Graham's odd skill with getting away with the silliest lyrics, and indeed music. "Out of the tree and into the sea, swam my perfect love for thee" C'mon! But some how, with the fun, happy little guitar riff, and a kickass sax solo (performed by Graham himself - he's something of a multi instrumentalist, having played all the instruments for the recording of all but his latest album), it is just a silly happy summery song. The rest of the set started to get a little confusing as the album progressed, as the last half of the album seems to switch between electric and acoustic pretty much every song, and with 'Caspian Sea' hitting you in the face with an actually somewhat annoying repeatative rawk for a little to long at roughly the halfway point, it felt a little odd. It did make a bit more sense when I listened to the album, and found out that it has a backing concept - it is meant to follow a boys life from birth to death, which somewhat explains the confusion in places - who isn't confused a lot?! The end was reached far too soon for me, and the encore was a little odd, as it was two songs, both excellent. However, the last song on the album has a slightly funeral dirge in the background, and that combined with the last song being dedicated to a musician who had died last year (I'm afraid I didn't know, and don't remember, the name :s), led to a slightly odd elated-yet-sad feeling as I walked away. Overall a great gig, a really special experience. I can't wait for his full electric tour that is apparently coming in the Autumn, as while I love his acoustic side, the punk side of Graham is essential to the mix, and is guarranteed to be a fun gig! Sadly the only upcoming gig now is Blur, and I will not have regular internet access by then, so that review may be a while. It will be an awesome gig though, it can't really fail at that! Providing everything works out well in September with my new job, usual gig levels should hopeful return then!

I don't really warm up, as such, nothing I play; is really difficult enough to need it! At the moment I'm really enjoying the few finger picked songs I know - Beatles - Blackbird, Radiohead - Street Spirit, Tom Mcrae - Hidden Camera Show. That's pretty much all I know though, and I wanna learn more finger picked stuff - indeed, badly enough that I recently arranged an awesome soundig picked acoustic version of Offspring - The Kids Aren't Alright! Anyone got any suggestions for stuff I could learn? I have a problem at the moment that the bands I like that use it don't have any tabs, and those that have lots of tabs don't do finger picking Rohan

I will confess to having pirated a few albums in my time. 70% of which I have since bought, having decided they kicked ass. The other 30% I either dislike, or am awaiting money to fund another CD spree. Some bands I have gone to see live more than once, arguably a better form of support as I also buy t-shirts as souvenirs at gigs, while not owning any CDs (I have since bought them, as they are all awesome). I realise that most pirates don't have this opinion, but realistically they are the same people who would have taped all my CD collection, or recorded of the radio, or whatever. I find that if a band is small, but well loved, they will make sales, I have a friend who had NEVER bought any music (despite a HUGE mp3 collection), but when his favourite ever band came to Britain to tour he went to see them and bought both albums and a hoody to support something he really cared about. I dunno, I may well change my tune if I ever release a CD, but as I am thinking realistically about any such venture at the moment I don't expect to be able to live off music at any point, and would far rather people enjoyed what I created for free and left me working in an engineering work shop for the rest of my life than restrict acess to those with the money to waste on music. I should probably add that I am also a fan of creative commons, as I would take it as quite a compliment to be used in any mix, even one I didn't loke, as at least they saw something they liked it there... And that's coming from someone who not only loves buying CD's, but goes for limited editions where possible! meh. Rohan

Most bands I have seen have been good value for money, the only ones that weren't were Foo Fighters in Hyde Park and Ocean Colour Scene in Birmingham Hard Rock Cafe Foos: OK, I paid the extra £10 to get into the 'Golden Circle' at the front (special front areas are the worst ideas EVER for gigs...) so I was fine, but I had friends who weren't in their and they said the sound was atrocious and the only reiason it was any good was cause the crowd were having fun anyway... Up at the front the crowd was having less fun, but had better sound - like I say, golden circles are bollox! OCS: This was partly my fault, as I didn't realise free food was involved, but at £25 a ticket the venue was rubbish - there's a HUGE concrete pillar in the middle of the audience, so the standing space is severely limited if you wanna actually see the band... Oooh, actually, I just remebered it might have been a charity gig.... All forgiven?! (Except the audience, who didn't cheer for an encore, and then acted all surprised and put out when we didn't get one... FAIL!) Generally speaking though, if the ticket is under £20 it'll be a bargain, unless the band a rubbish, in which case £5 would be a rip off... If it's a big gig, like Hyde Park or Wembeley I would pay up to £60, depending on the band... I have been surprised at the cheapness of a number of bands recently, and am sometimes dissappointed at the price differences that big bands can get away with - going to many bands at the same venue highlights this a lot, I have paid £22 for OCS at Bristol Academy, which would have been worth it if the venue wasn't a failure on friday nights - who the hell has a 9:45 curfew?!?!? But then again I have paid a mere £12 for Presidents of the USA, who were worth at least £30 for that gig! Ahem. Enough babbling from me...

That is the stage I am just embarking on, heavier strings... In fact, I would have done yesterday, had not the order gone wrong - they sent me 6-strings instead of 12-strings! USELESS! I only have a nylon 6-string acoustic, so I can't just use 'em on my other guitar... Tho maybe I could do with a new acoustic 6-string of the steel stringed variety... ;-)

I have recently down-tuned all my guitars one step - D-G-C-F-A-D. It was influenced by learning a song in that tuning (No Distance Left To Run - Blur), which just didn't sound quite right in standard, and as I was on my 6 string accoustic I tried it out, sounded better. Then I tried playing other songs, and pretty soon I also made the association that by lowering the strings I would be able to sing lower in accompaniment. I tried, and I found it was a lot more comfortable singing that bit lower, and I mostly find the songs sound better (or at least 'new'), so I've gone all the way now... I just wondered what you lovely people might have to say about such a change? Is it just lazy (not trying to extend my vocal range), or maybe an idea you wanna try now?! Rohan

Terrible news people... I recieved this email today from The Point in Cardiff bay, my favourite Cardiff venue by far (The Barfly is a nasty little hole, it just gets good bands!): "It is with deep regret that we announce the closure of the venue today. On 27th February 2009 the Director of the Point Cardiff Bay Limited signed the appropriate notices to call a meeting of creditors pursuant to S98 Insolvency Act 1986. A number of factors have contributed to this situation. Many of you will be aware that during 2008 we began receiving noise complaints from one or two neighbours that had moved into the new apartments that have been built next to the venue. After some difficult negotiations with the Cardiff City Council we undertook a huge amount of work to soundproof the venue in an attempt to secure its future. While that has largely been successful, the burden of the debt that we took on, together with greater restrictions in our banking facilities and more difficult trading conditions in the last few months, as well as the loss of revenue whilst the refurbishment works were undertaken, has meant we are unable to meet our current liabilities and have been left with no option but to seek voluntary liquidation. Many people have put their heart and soul in turning the Point into the magical venue that it is and we have received huge and loyal support over the years from fans and bands alike. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for that support. It is a very sad day for us and for the live music scene in Cardiff." I hate it when things like this happen. It's a sad day, I just hope someone else can do something similar with the venue some time in the future. Oh, and yes, this means that, until further notice, The Bluetones with Misty's Big Adventure gig wont be getting a review - I can't afford to travel for a gig featuring two bands I've seen twice in the last year or so! I'm glad I didn't pre-book my tickets, as I wouldn't have used my credit card, and would have probably lost the money!

Streetlight Manifesto 04/12/2008 This was another long looked forward to gig, after their blinding support slot for Reel Big Fish I couldn't wait to see them headline. They were playing at The Croft in Bristol, which I had never been to before. The Croft is a tiny venue, 170 capacity, and felt smaller (that number may be for the bar area as opposed to, or as well as the band room). I missed both support acts, as I was helping my friend find a spare ticket, as he had messed up the booking and had nothing else to do in Bristol. The back room was completely packed by the time Streetlight came on, and everyone was really excited and raring to go. The band played a storming mix of old and new material, all of it going down a treat. The band blazed through a large percentage of their songs, with all the favourites mixed in. 'Better Place, Better Time' was a definite highlight, and I surprised myself with how much of 'One Foot On The Gas, One Foot In The Grave' I knew. The first section of the set was pretty full on - about an hour of nearly non-stop moshing and skanking to the ska-punk legends. Luckily for me, and I imagine a number of others, they did a few acoustic numbers (covers I think, as I didn't really recognise them) which gave us a chance to catch our breath, which even when not dancing was hard work as there is NO air flow in that room! I managed to spot an air conditioning unit to one side, and made my way to within the blissful stream of cold air - that's about the only reason I stayed upright to the end of the gig! After the little interlude they kicked the energy levels back up to full for a few more songs before the 'encore'. As with a lot of bands they didn't really take it seriously, especially as there wasn't any real backstage to hide in! They did another two or three songs for the encore, ending with the anthemic 'Somewhere In The Between' - which is an excellent song, brilliant sing along chorus, that has a great message, and all this is topped off with a really great extended conversation between the saxaphone and trombone. I came out on such a high I didn't come down for a couple of days - I was virtually dancing in the aisles on my next shift! I'm just dissappointed they aren't British, as they are never gonna tour enough for me, living in America! Sadly, no pics as I was far too busy having fun. Upcoming glog (when I find inspiration again): Dodgy Upcoming Gigs: 02/03/09: Bluetones 13th anniversary of 'Expecting to Fly' tour (with Misty's Big Adventure support) 01/04/09: The Rumble Strips in Cardiff - if I miss the Thekla tickets... 06/04/09: The Rumble Strips at the Thekla 03/07/09: Blur at Hyde Park. Oh yeah. That's right. I cannot wait.

Flipron and Misty's Big Adventure 30/11/2008 So! Again, I find myself apologising for a tardy review, which I am, indeed, sorry for. I have no real excuse, except that my life feels more sorted now, so I don't mind 'wasting' time on this (as opposed to applying for jobs, for example). This was a gig I was looking forward to for a long while (it felt that way anyway), as I have loved Flipron since I saw them at Beautiful Days, and Misty's Big Adventure since I saw them doing support for Dodgy. This was the final night of a dual headline tour, which apparently nearly didn't happen due to a vanishing tour manager, or something. To fully appreciate this gig, you need to have an idea of the venue - the Thekla is special. It's a boat, sat on the river in the middle of Bristol! Excellent! It's got a very nice bar upstairs, in which me and my friends enjoyed some mighty fine (of somewhat over priced) cider in comfort and style (as I was in a suit for this, in support of the band's style, this was important to me!). Downstairs in the bowels of the boat is the venue proper. This is small to middling sized at 350 capacity, but there is a balcony over looking the stage, so the dance floor is not much bigger than the Cardiff Barfly. It's really quite cool as a venue, as there's plenty of clues to remind you you're on a boat, which made me smile every time I remembered. Support duties for the night were taken care off in a most excellent manner by the really very good Duckworths. They are friends of Flipron who had asked them especially for the final night of the tour, and I am very glad they did! They reminded me a little of Flipron, but are distinctly more rocky, with a certain something that makes me think of the old American mid west for some (inexplicable as I listen to the album) reason - though I'm not much good with obscure music, so someone else may put their finger on it for me? I would try and describe their sound, but my vocabulary is failing me, and they aren't easy to describe anyway! (I might be thinking salsa influences, but I might have the wrong name...) Just go and listen to their myspace and you'll get the idea! It was a shame that the venue hadn't filled even by the time they had finished their set, as there wasn't anyone dancing for most (all?!) of it, but the audience were pretty vocally approving between songs, so it wasn't a complete miss! I was impressed enough to buy an album - even though it meant one less from Flipron or Misty's later, and I am very glad I did as it's been in heavy rotation ever since! Flipron were next, and happily the venue had filled out a bit with fans (the last Flipron gig I went to started out woefully under attended, though by the end they had crammed the little pub to the gills). They had some funky little bits of hawaiian flower necklaces to spruce up the stage a bit, and a cool 'Gravity Calling' bass drum skin. There was a little difficulty with the bass amp in a couple of places, but they got past it, and pulled off a great gig. There were a number of songs from the new album, which went down very well, including one with their first rock and roll guitar solo, to which Jesse got the crowd to gurn and do the rock/devil fingers to help him get into the spirit and do some gurning ahd flailing himself! There was also a nice one about zombies, continuuing their theme of humanising the most peculiar beasts - Lions, Zombies and Cerberus to name a few things I now have a desire to hug and be nice to... I really think I need to go to some dance lessons soon, as I beleive Flipron (and indeed The Duckworths) would be even more enjoyable if you can do a little more than 'Dad dance'. Especially their funky hawaiian style slide guitar based instrumentals, inspired by such things as Skeletons on Holiday. Though I would have to take care with dance partners, as I think singing 'Big Baboon' could cause some offense if mis-targeted! They got out most of the favourites (there was one or two I would've liked that weren't played, but you can't have everything!), including 'Big Baboon' (most requested of the night) and the only song that requires an accordian - 'Rusty Casino's Casino Rustique'. It was generally just great fun, and everyone enjoyed a good dance about. Finally (and with only an hourish left before the curfew) Misty's Big Adventure arrived on stage. For those that don't know them, they are an 8 piece band which combines a brass section and ska influenced guitar, driving drums and bass, and intentionally 'bored' voccals. I'm not sure it's possible to make it sound like you care less about anything than 'Grandmaster Gareth' manages, which especially when combined with some of the more true to life lyrics makes for a wonderful combination. This is all multiplied by a factor of 10 live, especially by the addition of Erotic Volvo, the dancer. This guy is a legend, dressed in bright red overalls covered in blue hands, he spends 90% of the gig dancing around like mad, complete with some nicely thought through (choreographed sounds all wrong!) moves, like the human (Volvo?) clock for 'I can't Bring The Time Back'. The energy goes up a notch or two from Flipron to Misty's, and with Erotic Volvos excellent example everyone was skanking and dancing away from the start. My knowledge of song names was pretty rusty at the gig, as I didn't have any albums, but I know they played most of the classics, such as 'Night Time Better Than Day Time', 'Never Stops, Never Rests, Never Sleeps', 'Elevator Escalator Stairs' and 'Fashion Parade'. I think they played 'The Wising Up Song' too, which is a personal favourite, mostly for the chorus: "Why must we go to the disco? Why would I want to go there? Everyone's dancing and gets all dressed up, and their only concern is their hair! Why must we go to the nightclub? Why must we go to the nightclub? I don't like the music they play, Everyone's drinking and gets all messed up, and I don't have another word to say!" Sadly, they were caught by the curfew, the managed to squeeze in a two or three song encore before they started packing up. But the crowd weren't happy, and kept up the chanting for more until they got another encore (a real one!) of another two or three songs. A great nights music and dancing was had by all, and I look forward to the next time I see all three bands live! Pictures are available HERE. Sadly I was pretty busy dancong and showing off my 3-piece suit and pocket watch to take many, and those that are there ain't great... Though that's largely the Thekla's (and/or the band's I suppose) fault as it was damn dark, with very little in the way of lighting. Upcoming glogs (when I find inspiration again): Streetlight Manifesto Dodgy Upcoming Gigs: 02/03/09: Bluetones 13th anniversary of 'Expecting to Fly' tour (with Misty's Big Adventure support) 01/04/09: The Rumble Strips in Cardiff - if I miss the Thkla tickets... 06/04/09: The Rumble Strips at the Thekla 03/07/09: Blur at Hyde Park. Oh yeah. That's right. I cannot wait. P.S. If anyone's actually reading these, do you wanna gimme some feedback please? Do I ramble too much, as I suspect? Or is that good? Thanks!

The Offspring inspire me to do music stuff in general, as do Terrorvision. More specifically Tom Morello is a big inspiration guitar-wise, tho not for the soloing, more the fat groovy riffs... (I'm not really a solo guitarist...) Crispian Mills of Kula Shaker is also in there. Bass inspiration would mainly be Tim Com - again it's a lot of fat groovy riffs... I would say Peter McCullough from Streetlight Manifesto, but I'm not even going to get a long way from that kinda skill and style, fast sweet flowing lines all the way... Songwriting (and lyrics mostly) wise I'd have to stick The Beatles in first, then Flipron, Feeder, Presidents of the United States of America, and most of the people already mentioned! I think I should throw in Damon Albarn too... I'm never quite sure what bands and musicians are influencing my sound, and which I just like to listen to... I love Mark Lanegan's voice, but I will NEVER sound like that, and System of a Down are a perennial favourite, but I'd never write music like that. Those are just the easy ones, there's a whole host of bands in between that I'm not sure about... Like Space (listening at the mo) - I almost certainly wouldn't sound very overtly like them, they have more techno type sounds than I would use, but there are times I find myself sliding towards their sound in odd ways...

Feeder 02/11/2008 Well, Apologies for the intermission in gigs, and lack of any review for 7 Seconds Of Love (I screwed up and missed that ) and Beautiful Days (A festival review was a bit much all in one go... Go check out 12 Stone Toddler though as they were AWESOME!). There will be a few more gigs over the next month or two as there is a glut of unmissable gigs coming up... Well, let's begin with a quick word on the venue, as it's a new one to me, the gig was in The Newport Centre, which is the city/town (not sure which(!)) council leisure centre I think. The main hall where the gig was held was a good size, big enough to get the 'big gig' atmosphere, but small enough that even if you were right at the back of the seating area you could probably still see really well. As for the support act, I have a small confession to make... For the first time ever I actually purposefully missed the support act (having been forewarned who it was, and needing time to cook dinner after work!) - FightStar... I arrived pretty perfectly time wise, in time for their final song so I could take advantage of their fans leaving for the toilet to get to a good spot! While watching the roadies setup for Feeder I was reminded how cool the new bass drum skin looks with the crow picture (like the cover of their latest album 'Silent Cry') - I'd learn to drum again so I could get one! The crowd were in good cheer from the word go. In fact, as there were 'Feeder, Feeder' chants going from 5-10 minutes before the gig kicked off, that's not strictly true! There were a few stalwart 'I'm not going to jump around' types, but a few of them gave up by the encore... The general atmosphere from the crowd was really great, as it usually seems to be for Feeder - everyone was joining in and having fun. The gig started with the mini song that is snuck in between the first two tracks on 'Silent Cry', I personally don't like it as it's well cheesy and unnecessary. (The lyrics are something like 'we are one, we are free' etc, makes me think of Bono at his preachiest...) And as it ended the band came on stage and got the gig started with the first song on the new album 'We Are The People'. After that (or maybe another as well) they uncovered and switched on three big screens at the back of the stage which then showed of some really great film clips and general lighting additions for the rest of the show - highlights were the big flying crow (I expect, no idea really, but a crow fits their current theme ) that reached across all three screens for 'Shatter' (along with lots of bright red rockin' out lights) and indeed all the big red rockin' out songs, there's something about red flashing lights that make me wanna jump around like a fool... Set list wise I was disappointed on a couple of fronts, they didn't play ANYTHING but 'High' from their first two albums, last major tour they had 'Descend' in there in a massive extended shreddy old school feeder stylee and everyone I've talked to who saw that loved it. Also, on their mini tour in May Grant mentioned the possibility of adding 'Tangerine' to the set list for the Autumn tour, but when people shouted for it this time around he said 'There's always someone at every gig who requests that..' then played the main riff a little (to roars of approval) before admitting that's all he can remember of it! There were boos at that comment, possibly from me too... Personally I'd prefer Sweet-16, but anything from 'Polythene' or 'Swim' would be great, as there's same real belters on them both... At least they got most of the important songs from the rest of the back catalogue in - 'Insomnia', 'Buck Rodgers', and 'We Can't Rewind' was a nice surprise. I was slightly put out they didn't play 'Miss You' off the new album, but with 'Shatter in there I couldn't complain too much... It was nice to see the new live version of 'Lost and Found' again, but with more thought put in than last time. While last time Grant Started us off on the 'new' lyrics in the middle of it, this time around he just asked everyone to sing along and made the riff gradually more like 'One by One' until everyone had clicked and we all sang the first verse and chorus of it before tearing back into 'Lost and Found'. Sadly there weren't enough people in the crowd who'd seen them before, as during the wait for an encore the attempt to get every one singing the 'Just A Day' riff didn't really take off, which was probably good really as last time it took off I ended up singing it for about 10minutes before the song began! However there was plenty of noise made and we got a three song encore (if I remember right!) First song featured just Grant and Dean (their live second guitarist) for an almost acoustic stripped down song which I can't name as I'm not too good with the names on the new album yet! This was followed by the brilliant live '7 Days in the Sun', complete with a chilled intro with crowd only vocals... Then came the moment we were all looking forward to most, with a little prompting from Grant the crowd began to sing the 'Just a Day' riff and then the band joined in and that is where I last saw (heard?!) my voice last night! after 'singing' (closer to yelling really) my way through that little lot I'm impressed my voice was still present this morning! Overall it was, as expected, yet another great live set from Feeder. Even after seeing them live for the fourth time I can't wait for the next tour I have spare cash to spend on! Hopefully by then they will have re-learnt Tangerine and/or Sweet-16, as I think once I've seen Feeder play them live I could die pretty happy! Look out for the next installment, I'm hoping to get back to somewhat regular gigs, as I've really missed live music... Now go find some live music near you and support the acts you like in the most direct way you can! Photos are HERE! Upcoming gigs: 16/11/2008 - The Zutons (money and ticket availability providing 30/11/2008 - Flipron and Misty's Big Adventure dual headline 04/12/2008 - Streetlight Manifesto 05/12/2008 - Dodgy

http://portermason.com/bassistwanted/2008/09/17/out-of-tune/ :D :D

I'm pretty good at remembering to tune up - playing a 12 string helps with that! You notice more if one or two of 12 are out, as opposed to the same on a 6 string, seems counter intuitive at first... What kind of video do you mean John? Live performance? Or youtube home vids? Cause the latter could well just be take 7, having tuned for the first then forgotten to re-tune... (not much better, but meh! ). Orl if it's live I would assume the performer is lacking a guitar tech! Lol Talking of tunings and my 12-string, I'm experimenting with a new tuning for it - instead of pairs in octaves, I'm dropping one of each pair to be a third... Sounds kickass for some stuff, power chords still work (tho they're now 7ths I think), but most open and barre chords don't work... Soloing is addictive as it sounds like two guitars playing together

Excellent stuff I like the word 'grolies' myself...

Hah! I knew I had forgotten one, shows how long since Audioslave were in my playlist... Maybe time to change that, although that line will start annoying me again (it did for about three months when I first got that album...) Sadly I can't add any more as I've been listening to some REALLY very good lyricists, the kind that don't like to waste a line... The closest I can think of at the moment is the line "You never got poked in the eye with a spork, You never got sick from all that leftover pork", but seeing as it was Presidents of the USA it's cool, and they did get the word 'spork' into a song... That said, they got troglobyte into another song, and it wasn't even forced in! Anyone else with some more?

*want* Dammit, I really wanna buy a new guitar now, I don't 'need' it, per se, but as your sig says a man can NEVER have too many guitars...

Dammit. I tried not to, but I can't help but link to this video... Good Touch/Bad Touch (Me and my girlfriend do this as a duet for new friends sometimes... Works great on homophobes!

Hmmm, wish I'd known this 4 months ago S'all good, I couldn't afford more than a 7600 series, and that was a VAST improvement over the old ATI 9550 I had, especially as now I've gone nvidia Fedora Linux has proper integration with the graphics card (less re-booting to windows just to play a game!). Thanks for the warning, I may be in the market for another card this year...