FinnArild

Cool setup. Couldn't watch the whole video though - took forever to download here ... :/ ...

Note at the local dairy

Re-voted.

They charge £125.00 for a 4 min 30 sec clip on the CD. Worth it do you think? I am unsure ... http://www.melodicrock.com/fireworks/

I am looking at this myself, now. Got any more experience with it John?

I actually host band pages on a CMS system called Plone for €160 a year in you're interested.

The interview I was supposed to be having with Mark Deren on Radio Heemskerk today was postponed due to problems with their radio streaming, so I thought I'd get some blogging done instead. Reviews are coming in and I have set up a new web page linking to those here. Most of them are not in a language I read though - so I've had some good laughs reading what google translate make of them. I'd be happy for any help in translating them. If you want to have a listen to Testament you can request tracks on Progulus Radio if you become a member. It's an online radio station which plays lots of great progrock. If you're into progrock you should definitely check it out. I have hired TSM promotion to do promotion for me now, so I will have more time to get a band starting and maybe writing some more music - there's some ideas brewing again ... Finally - some press photos that my talented photographer-wife took this week: Source

For pop-style songs I think a good "hook" is essensial. It doesn't need to be much, just a little thing that you can repeat that makes the song special and put it apart from other songs. A good example is Chicago "You're the inspiration" - the opening piano there that repeats throughout. Excellent hooks. Some songs are full of it: "Barbie Girl" for example - it's all hooks.

re-voted

... when you eat music and fart in tune ...

... talk of the devil ... Writing - Genesis, obviously. Then Yes, Gabriel, Saga, Pink Floyd, Sting/Police, Queen, Supertramp, Manfred Mann, ELO, Kate Bush, Kansas, 10CC, Marillion, Suzanne Vega, Stravinsky, Korsakow, Steely Dan, Mezzoforte, Level 42, Clapton, Jarre, Zeppelin ... Singing - very influenced by Collins/Gabriel, obviously. Guitar - Steve Hackett, obviously - allthough I never got as good - Steve Howe, Trevor Horn, Segiovia, guitarists in bands above and some jazz guitarists I forget ... Keyboard - Banks, Wakeman - see bands above. Bass - Squire, Rutherford - again ... bands above.

My excuse is that I am not a very method-focused-kind of writer. Most of the time I don't conciously use any other method than sit and play, try out things, recording what sounds cool and throwing away what doesn't. My usual way of getting a lyric started is to holler pseudo-english into a microphone for half an hour and see what cool words I come up with. Might not be what you learn at the academy, but it Shure (sic. & pun intended) works for me.

Honestly, I haven't The Faintest Idea of what it is. Never even heard or read the word, I think. Allthough it kinda reminds me of the millitary, dunno why. I demand an explanation! ...

(I'm not even gonna google it - I'm want to savor the answer I get here ... )

What IS scansion?

It's hard for a creative musician to be a salesman, but it is very fun when interest is stirred and the reviews and radioplay starts coming online - which is starting to happen now. Last week I was featured on Italian "Radio Città" and today I will be featured on Radio Heemskerk - which has a progressive rock show every Sunday 21:00-23:00 hosted by "Mark from Holland". Scream magazine will be reviewing me in their February issue and I got a pretty nice review by Donato Zoppo at Movimentiprog (in Italian). More reviews are on way. Now to some bad news: I have been pirated. Several pirate sites (and sites which claims no responsibility for it's content) links to downloads of Testament - and they even link to my site on the same page they link to the pirated copy. Making an album is really hard work and has cost me loads of time and money, so I have an appeal: If you have downloaded my album and are listening to it - please spend the few quids it is to purchase it. Chances are you'll even get a much better quality copy than the one you have now, and chances are that I then will make another album for you to enjoy. That's all for now folks. Finn Arild. Source

Very good post from John here - I would like to add some general advice: think less, listen and feel more. Read it aloud, record it and play it back - how does it feel? What does it say? If it feels off - try something else. Creativity is not like solving second-grade equations - there are no rules, only conventions which you are free to break. The challenge is to invoke emotion in the receiver. If you can make someone laugh, cry, smile, get angry, ... feel something - you know it is a good lyric. Crying or laughing of your own lyric is usually a good sign - happened to me only a couple of times, but when it does it is great ...

What is the normal wholesale pricing and terms for the US? I have been contacted by a distributor wanting to stock Testament.

That warmed this old atheist heart ...