the most studio wankery piece of the Ruiner Severhead project is a tune called "Don't Tase Me, Bro!"
Massive studio trickery, heavy use of samples and all kinds of brutal processing. I think the session easily topped 30 tracks, and had GIGS of raw material - mostly noise made from horrible bass abuse. ;)
I finally figured out how to play it live - by myself. Just as noisy.
Check it out.
grab the original track - for free - to kids - no forms to fill out.
Easily, the most exciting thing for me right now is knowing that no matter how far I push my studio & production vision - I can still find a way to bring it to a live environment in a way that goes beyond mere "backing tracks".
I've been working on building a live rig I can use to perform the ruiner material live.
But it also must allow me to manipulate and loop sound in real time combined with pre-recorded elements & samples.
This video is an overview of the very beginning stages of my experiments.
runtime - 8:41
feedback always welcome!
[UPDATE -5.22.08]
Based on a few comments and emails from you guys on this most recent video about the "direction" my music is taking, I want to address a few things.
It's interesting to know (flattering actually) that some people are concerned I might be giving up on solo bass. I'm not. My taste in music runs pretty wide.
Some time ago, in another post, I mentioned that in addition to solo bass, I wanted to do a hard rock/industrial type project (done: ruiner severhead) a "jeff schmidt band" kind of project, a downtempo electronic project, and some avant garde experimental stuff. Plus remain open to whatever other ideas pop up along the way.
Currently, I'm trying to figure out the technology that will enable me to perform this kind of music in a compelling way as a soloist. That's what you see in the video. This process requires time. Just as getting into altered tunings took a great deal of time to get comfortable with - working with new tools - controllers, software etc... will too.
Because there is a limited amount of time available to me, I have to set priorities.
So, I decided to pause work on another "proper" solo bass CD to make time available to getting some of these other skills "under my hands" - as the jazz cats like to say.
There are other reasons too. Creatively, I want to make sure my solo works evolve and grow. I don't want to make re-statements of things I've already said. Or have my concept remain beholden to old ideas and expectations. I feel the same way with any new ruiner severhead material.
It's just part of who I am. The artists I admire & respect most are the one's who push past what becomes easy for them to find new approaches and ideas.
RANDOM BRAIN FART:
Because I get into moods and shift my focus fairly regularly - I'm thinking of adapting an approach that matches my personality. Instead of looking at any of these projects as "ALBUMS" that require 11-13 tunes thus months of time each, I'll write and release the material as its completed. Tune by tune. Or maybe I'll release demos. Just have to figure out the best way to do that. Maybe through the podcast? Any way - all brain fart thoughts right now.
very rough outline of a new tune I'm trying to flesh out. no speaking - just playing.
this was done down & dirty using youtube's "quick capture" thing right from my laptop web cam & microphone. not hi-fi but it gives you an idea what i'm working on.
• improve my video chops. the more I do it - the better I get
• improve ability to explain my process. even when I'm not entirely sure what the hell I'm doing
• to confront & overcome the fear of being exposed - of not being perfect
• perhaps make some of this weird music a bit more accessible by showing "how the sausage is made"
• to open up a space around my musical effort where conversations can happen, views are exchanged and ideas can be shared.
• it's simultaneously an ego boost & an ego check
most importantly.
• when all this music is done and recorded and available to the world as a complete artistic statement - I want there to be a bread crumb trail of how it all came about.
Since mid Dec I've been playing around with new musical ideas that seem to be heading towards similar territory as Outre. Maybe.
One of the advantages of having been through this whole music creation, practice, perform, record, release thing is that I have more confidence that my ideas will actually see the light of day. So this time around I'm going to do a regular video blog about it.
Rather than create in private, and only let it loose into the world once "it's done", I'm going to do regular video blogs about the process I'm going through to figure out all these ideas.
See - even though I have ideas - I have no clue what form they'll take.
So I'm doing this video blog as a way to document the process of figuring that out. And instead of just keeping it for myself - I'm posting it on youtube and embedding the videos here.
The first vid blog just lays out the concept - and shows a very basic over-view of how I'm working. I'll get into nitty gritty stuff along the way.
Creation is painful for me. I go through terrible bouts of doubt and self judgement. But I also experience those wonderful moments when things click. I want to make sure I have some video rolling for all those moments. Hopefully you guys will find it entertaining & inspiring.
