Tobias Novak/Blame Gustaf

Bio:

Blame Gustaf is currently a band of one-and-a-half people, name inspired by one Persian cat (mine, Gustaf, obviously).

Member 1 is me--Tobias Novak, singer-songwriter-pianist-rock star-owner of too many cats (three) and not enough dogs (zero). Besides being a musician, I am an artist, digital photographer, writer, passionate in-my-home-only chef, future CPA, currently learning web programming, looking for an accounting job so I can BE a future CPA, and an original Seattle-ite who moved to Vermont 6 years ago.

Member 1/2 is Jeremiah of Pretend You're Happy/ formerly of Mantits. He is member Half because he lives out of town; he will be in a show with me on January 10th, 2009 though, and we have been recording together, so stay tuned to see what happens with that.

I am looking for OTHER members--more than half-people, i.e. people in or around Burlington, VT.

..MUSICIANS WANTED:

1.) Lead guitarist--be confident, good at improv-ing, inspired by wide variety of music, and have or have access to both electric and an acoustic guitar(s).

2.) Drummer--again, be confident, good at improv-ing, inspired by wide variety of music. Understand drumming as the backbone of a song--be able to drum well, but don't show off to the expense of overwhelming the song. PLUS: Have an electric drum set! But a good drummer with a normal acoustic set is just fine; I just dream of electronica/industrial-inspired beats on an electric set.

3.) Bassist--be confident, good at improv-ing, inspired by wide variety of music, blues/jazz-experienced a major plus, as I like "soulful" bass-ing.

4.) Cellist--might also be violinist. Not for all songs, but for some. I like strings as a "texture" in a song--like the cello/violin is an "extra harmony." Be confident, and classically-trained is good, along with Irish/blues/jazz-trained, but I don't need the best cellist/violinist ever--I'm aware it's hard to find you stringed-instrument players, and I only need medium-level parts in the songs.

ONE OF THESE MUSICIANS SHOULD BE ABLE TO SING HARMONY! I would probably prefer a male harmony, but the right female voice might be nice, too. I'm not sexist, it's just that I'm looking for a particular sound. Certainly if there are TWO people in the band who sing, a female voice would be great! Gender doesn't matter for the instruments themselves--repeat, I'm not sexist!

Listen to my stuff, but don't think that it's the ONLY kind of music I do--each of my songs is different from one another. I have blues, jazz, semi-classical, folk-esque, quasi-industrial, rock of many persuasions, and miscellaneous don't-call-me-pop-but-I-know-I'm-catchy songs in my repertoire. I've written about 100 songs, so there's a lot to choose from in terms of genres!

Hopefully I'll find the rest of Blame Gustaf soon--and if I don't, I'll be sure to blame Gustaf!

Member Since:

Members:

Tobias Novak

Jeremiah of Pretend You're Happy (out-of-town sometimes member)

Influences:

Everything and nothing, the before and beyond, in between and beside, all around and in the middle.

Favorite musicians: The Cure, Tool, Bowie, Morrissey/The Smiths, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, Nirvana, Radiohead, Modest Mouse, Death Cab For Cutie, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, and many, many more. But I'm not sure that I "sound like" any of them. I just like them. The Cure, Morrissey, and Tool I like obsessively, perhaps to the detriment of my sanity, or the promotion of my insanity.

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