thelevellers

As soon as I thought of this I got the intro beat for 'Song 2' by Blur, although I'm sure it's used elsewhere, I've not heard it quite that distinctively by anyone else... 'Gone Away' by Offspring is pretty distinctive for me too, and then the intro to 'Longview' had me screaming in joy before everyone else when I saw Green Day... P.S. Wow, I don't remember replying before, but it goes to show what a few months will do to the riffs in your head!

I'll have to confess it's more a psychological thing for me, I just like valves more, I haven't compared tones enough to really say what sound I like more, but I am quite happy to buy into the valves image at least

My first leccy is imaginatively named 'blazer' (its an original (not re-issue) Ibanez Blazer...) And the other leccy is called either 'Joe' or 'satch' as it's a JS100, or Joe Satriani signature model (although the cheap one, as I am, well, cheap! ) My bass is called Wesly, again, it's got it printed on the headstock! I'm toying with the idea of calling the 12-string 'Ash', but I'm not convinced... Sadly, my old nylon acoustic would suit having a name, but I've had it too long to add one in retrospect now... And it might take offense if I try!

Well, I don't have a wealth of experience to call on to help out here, but personally I find that writing quick guitar (or bass, and even drums have a shorthand notation I believe?) tab of any good riffs helps me feel good about not just forgetting a 'fat riff' I just made up. If I find I get the riff recurring and expanding in my head I then crack out the free powertab editor programme (or the considerably less free guitar pro ) and then use that to try and build the different parts together. I am personally mainly a guitarist, my skills with other instruments a a large number of levels lower, so when I write parts for other instruments they are usually with the thought 'I expect to find a skilled *insert instrument* player who will make this better' firmly in my head. If I had a band to throw ideas at then I would do as Joe mentioned - play a riff and say 'is it just me or does that need a kick ass bass line just there?' and see where the idea develops from there. Your last comment sounds good - understanding WHY something sounds good could well help you find more cool sounds/parts etc, and if you're interested learning shouldn't be too hard! I have personally found that using powertab editor has helped me learn the basics (only the basics mind!) of music theory, as it combines the incredibly simple tabulature (which is easy to understand) with the more complicated sheet music, complete with all the musical direction signs and stuff (that stuff is still confusing me, maybe I should focus on it and figure it out soon!). Not sure if I've really added much information in all that, but I tried Good luck getting your head around stuff!

That's a real shame Not sure I can make it if my presence isn;t needed to help boost numbers to make it worth it... :S At the moment money is stretched pretty thin, so it's kinda good for my wallet in a way :S Another year/place or something!

The Raconteurs 29/06/2008 OK, this gig was immense. Largely helped by the venue, which was the Eden Project in Deepest Darkest Cornwall (actually, it's not too far from Devon, but you're already pretty deep 'n' dark there ). This place, for those that don't know, is a big old quarry which has been turned into a huge garden, with two massive 'bio-domes', the bigger of the two being full of 'properly' foreign plants, from the tropics and the like, that would never usually grow in Cornwall, and the smaller being a Mediterranean based one. When you buy a ticket to an Eden Session you get entry for a day to the whole project, so me and my friend turned up early to chill out and check the place out for a while. Well worth doing. [if you want more description of the Eden project then leave me a comment and I'll add to it, I just feel it's somewhat out of place in a gig review to describe a giant garden - there are plenty of pics ] The stage is placed in front of a 'natural' amphitheater - seeing as the whole thing has been majorly landscaped in the last 10-15 years it's natural in the 'it's a banked area covered in grass with no seats' way. It's surprisingly small (5,000) considering the size of the Eden Project, but it's quite nice because you get both the small and slightly more intimate feeling of (most) indoor gigs, but with the scale of the surroundings and outdoor factor making it feel like a huge festival! Another good side of gigs at Eden is that you get to buy the very hard to find outside of Cornwall 'Rattler Cyder' and the Eden Projects own beer to enjoy with the delicious food... It was hard not to buy more than one of the roast pork and Eden Project apple chutney in a bun! The support act was Vampire Weekend - fresh from Glastonbury (as were the Raconteurs) - who had a nice intro from someone from the Eden Project (top bloke maybe? Or possibly the sessions organiser?) about how Eden don't book headliners with support acts, they book a headliner and then another headliner to go with them! This seemed to be proven as they had a good amount of crowd support, everyone (except me) seemed to know and like them! After a couple of songs I found myself really starting to enjoy them too, I couldn't work out if the quality of song was getting better, or if it was just me 'clicking' into their groove, but I've certainly added them to my 'listen to later, and maybe buy a CD' list. After a 30 minute interval (which was needed just to find the toilets, especially after getting a little lost chasing my mate through the willow maze thingy...) The Raconteurs made their way on stage. I've no idea what they started with, but I think it was off the first album, and was cool, but I'm fairly certain they then played one (of a majority) from the new album. This new album was recorded and released quite secretively, and I only found out by accident, when I went to buy the first album, and there were two on the shelf! Because of this I was quite apprehensive of how well the new stuff would go down - I think the new album is the better of the two, but how many people would a) know about it and agree?! Happily for me, either they were happy to hear new material live (it sounded awesome) or they knew it as everything went down a storm. The lights were pretty special, as not only was there a cool silhouette background piece of trees, and funky on stage lighting, but once it got a bit dark they turned on the Eden only special lighting: Yup, the bio-domes look AWESOME with some pretty lighting on! It makes it feel like your at a gig on Mars really very cool... When the lighting is combined with such great music as The Raconteurs were ripping out, you can't really go wrong - from the older classics like 'Steady As She Goes' and 'Level' To the new and more rocky songs like 'Salute Your Solution' and 'Attention' (that song has a really great bass riff for an intro... Great fun to play!) it was incredibly happy making. In fact apparently every time my mate looked at me I had a huge ear to ear grin apparently! The first part of their show was brought to an end with a nice extended version of 'Blue Veins', which we all loved, and somewhat left me wondering how they were gonna top that for a show ender. For the encore (which the crowd were most deserving of, once again, I'm beginning to believe undeserving crowds are dying out finally! ) they brought out yet more new stuff, as well as a couple more oldies (I think it was a 5 song encore). They did also manage to top 'Blue Veins' as an awesome finale - the final song on the new album 'Carolina Drama' is an awesome piece of, well, storytelling (living up to their name), and they extended it in all the right ways, and left us (or at least me) with a really enthused and inspired feeling at the end of the night, especially as we walked back up out of the quarry, and looked back to see both bio-domes (right down at the front of the stage you can only see the small dome, but that's plenty good enough really) glowing, some spotlights playing on the sky, and the thousands of people who had been enjoying it all with us. I would strongly advise going to a Raconteurs gig, and a gig at the Eden project, if the two are combined again, I'll see you there! Photos are now online! There are a number ones from the pre-gig wandering, because I am pleased with them, and it all added the the general atmosphere...

I believe that in reference to the Blues it is the number of baers before the music repeats and loops. So basically the length of the main chord progression.... I could be wrong though. And just to make sure, you know what a 'bar' is in musical terms, right? (don;t worry if you don't, we'll learn yeh! )

That's cool... I could certainly drive others mad with that... Talking of which *plays some guitar*

Oooh, what model?! I am a keen biker myself Have a (in need of maintenance) Dialled Bikes 'Prince Albert' with various wallet hurting parts Good luck with the bid Rohan

Pah, can;t you even spell Steve?! Bideford is North Devon... 9 (long when you have to cycle them) miles away from Barnstaple... Which is 50 odd from Exeter!! lol...

http://www.imeem.com/theoffspring It sounds great so far (I'm only two songs in tho). They have progressed their sound a bit further again, and are rocking out... First song intro sounds like they might have ripped of Muse a bit tho I don't normally do major bands promo for them, but I'm too excited at the prospect of both new material, and the chance to see these guys live again, not too! Seeing as they have been a favourite of mine for the past 13 years or so, I couldn't be much more excited... *jumps around in vague surprise that he's still enjoying this album in all kinds of new ways!!

Wow! I haven't seen that much footage of that before... That's great fun to watch... And also the reason I don't wanna be a civil engineer Too much responsibility!

Heh, my personal favourite find from the Encyclopedia Britannica was one I found in the 1929 edition I found in my school library in Oslo... It had a map of the major roads of Britain. This included the major towns that they ran through... How surprised (and somewhat pleased) was I to find the place I had just moved from (Hartland) marked as a major town! It is now merely a large village, that even some people from the nearest town of Bideford (15 miles away) haven't heard of! How times change eh? Oh, and I like the description

Looks pretty sexy *resists the urge to look for another bass* *nearly fails*

It changes a lot for me, but generally I think these guys make it into my favs list... Jesse of Flipron (I think it's him, I don't have the CD to hand to make sure) "If you pat one head, you have to pat all the rest, Pat them all and Cerberus will Love you the best. When you're a multi headed hell hound with a reputation for rage, The sympathies of those you meet are hard to engage" Tom McRae "In a city that kills by constriction, Throw your streets around me and squeeze" Erm, all the Beatles?! System of a Down - They might not do awesome lyrics in the way some do, but for sheer force of meaning they win out over a lot of bands... "They're trying to build a prison, They're trying to build a prison, They're trying to build a prison, For you and me to live in!" Graham Coxon - I just keep finding little gems of lines in there... Grant from Feeder - Maybe it's just me, but I find his lyrics really connected with me 90% of the time... Ok, that's enough for now, if I keep going I'll have to try writing some lyrics, and my current mood isn't one I want to get down on paper (not just yet anyway :S)

Yup. There is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJSEaxJalco Ok, so that's actually 11, but near enough Also, why no 2 sting option?! HUH?! The Presidents of the USA would be most disappointed... (Incidentally I realise I didn't actually say how many strings my bass has... It's 5 )

Anyone else got an opinion on this?!

Wow! That instrument is great... I want one too now Also, it sounds perfect for dance of the sugar plum fairy...

Never heard of anything like it that I can think of, but it sounds pretty great

Looks good to me, in better nick than my nylon string guitar... Lol, but than mine does have patches on it... :S You enjoying it?

Just think a little on the gynecology theme... You should get there, if not, you probably don't wanna get there

Lol! Loved that last one Steve... And I'm sure I've seen that garage door in Cardiff somewhere... could well be wrong though, my memory is as bad as a stoners... Shame I don't have the excuse

As it happens you can partially translate it to mean eternal/eternally Pint... Although it actually means eternally tormented (or similar)... Find me a quiet pub and I'll join you!

OK, so video wise this isn't amazing, but I'm listening to these guys at the moment and wondered what the newer members think of them... BTW, the right answer is 'Oh my god, they rock so hard!' (joke, I want honest opinions, if any... lol.) EDIT: Ok, so to a different song is actually good, and don't worry about the lyrics, they don't fit the video especially...

Not a sentence I ever thought I would read... !