4th week then a jam

Hmm.

How wonderful it is to book out and be able to jam with my band at long last since I enlisted (wow four weeks ago?). The biggest surprise is that Ark Analogy has only shown the slightest sign of rust, since our last performance, which was somewhat marred by a poor venue and frayed nerves.

Today's jam exceedingly well, after all I had given Merv and Boon adequate time to warm up, practise etc. I'm very grateful to them for their commitment and for giving me their time on a weekend to practise songs. Most of the songs went flawlessy from a rhythm point of view, but a large portion of the lead work was somewhat messy due to the acquisition of a brand new pedalboard to replace that travesty of a treasure chest my previous effort in making one myself was.

Sometimes I really have to give it to them because they have not asked for anything in return, and respectfully I have turned to them for advice and direction whenever I'm not sure where to turn to when writing a song. After all, as a band we're only as good as our collective output, and as long as the three of us are content with the output, I'm sure it's good enough for an audience which is not too fussy.

I tend to find it hard to pin down what sort of band we are. After all ,thus far we have covered genres ranging from chill-out pop, to jazzy rhythm, hard rock, blues rock and of course rock and roll. My latest contribution to the band has received the remark from Boon, being it sounding rather close to stuff by The Police. Which is kind of interesting, because I've so much music of various genres stuffed into my Ipod such that I'm soaking things in which may not be completely apparent to me.

Since entering tekong, I've listened to John Mayer, Micheal Buble, The Eagles, and so much more, rather than my rock staples namely AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy. I suppose one my have two opposing views of this situation, namely that I've either 1. matured to a point whereby I can incorporate any form of music into the band, and still make it listenable and enjoyable; or 2. somewhat left behind my true rock roots and chosen to "modernise" my sound.

Truth to tell, I personally feel that it is a little bit of both. I feel that yes, I have matured in a certain fashion musically. However, I have not exactly progressed in terms of technical ability, nor perhaps the ability to write better lyrics. Some of better lyrics still remain with older songs such as "Searchaway, Spring In Christchurch", "Healing of Time". I still hope to be able to write good lyrics without resorting to falling back on pain and hurt.

Anyway, by a long shot I'm satisfied with today's jam because the three of us have managed to create a rough version of our new song, and I hope that I will have the opportunity to continue working with them next week.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy