All styles of music, from rock to house, indie to pop, each style influences you in its own way, so with more styles to listen to, the more you can bring to the table -- something for everybody.
Berdsownd, also known by the name of Grahame Buchanan has lived in Redcliffe on the North Side of Brisbane all his life. A proud bogan who attended Clontarf Beach State School and became School Captain in his final year, at an early age he was influenced by a range of different music. His mother hails from the North of New Zealand, with Maori blood running through her family. His father came from a hard working family on the South Side of Brisbane, and his brother who was born in the earliest of the 80s was around for 10 odd years before Berdsownd was unleashed onto the world. With a diverse range of musical taste between such a small number of people, he learnt to appreciate all tones of music. Whether it were the Maori hymns or the roots and reggae that his mother listened to while she baked before a big party, or if it was the 70s rock coming out of the garage while his dad worked on his Toyota Landcruiser, as well as the new-at-the-time grunge rock scene of the early 90s from his brother, he loved it all. Every different style portrayed different emotions and feelings, but they were all good.
The first band that he ever got into which still influences his music output to this date was The Presidents Of The United States Of America. It was early on a Saturday morning sometime in 95 when his brother called him into the room to hear this song. Naturally he was more interested in his Pokemon episodes, but fair enough. He strolled in to see three guys playing 2 guitars and a drum kit under a tree, singing about... Peaches ?! It was so rediculous but at the same time you couldn't help but move your feet, tap your fingers and sway your head throughout the melodic verses. He thought to himself, "Wow, this is really cool. It's stupid but I like it", and from that day forward he was going to be a musician.
During Year 4 (1997), he was asked what instrument he wanted to play. Naturally he said he wanted to play guitar, but his school was so shitty at the time that they didn't have one. You know what they did have though? Violins. So he picked it up and started playing it with his horse hair and soon figured out that instead of playing the violin (or viola... whatever it was), he enjoyed tapping beats on the back of it instead. So soon after this discovery (and soon after his neighbours complained about the noise of the cat slaughter in his bedroom), they figured that he'd be better off smacking shit, so they gave him a rubber drum pad and a pair of drum sticks and a red book with the gayest songs ever in there, but he loved it. He could experiment with different patterns, it was easy to improvise and make a song right there on the spot. It was also at this time that he noticed the importance of drums. While a guitar can make your arms move, a drum can make your whole body jump like you just sat down on a burning seat.
Into his first couple of years playing percussion, he was picked to go (with another person in the same grade as him, Nicole Birett) to Cairns with the High School band doing a tour of different schools up there. While on the tour, he made a lot of new friends, ones that would ultimately help him out later in life, but most importantly Darren. Mannn, his laugh was cool.
So he went to Clontarf Beach State High School and kind of did his own thing. He went through the usual teenage phases, and continued to play the drums into high school. Thanks to already playing the drum kit for a year, he joined the bands in the high school music department, but left no more than 2 years later due to the teacher (he had a crush on) leaving, and the new one who came in... Well, she was annoying. He stopped playing drums and instead picked up the bass guitar. This bored him to tears -- he couldn't stand not being the center of attention, because everybody knows that nobody knows the bass players name, he's just that guy who kicks his foot out when the chorus comes in. After a while he and his dad went to some old guys place up the coast to pick up an acoustic guitar that they found in the trading post. It was $50 and came with a carry bag that was slightly worn. They collected it, took it home, put new strings in it and tuned it and made a discovery.
Berdsownd sucks at playing guitar. He learnt some TV show themes (mainly by ear so notes were wrong anyway) and a few basic rock riffs that he thought would impress chicks at the caravan park on Dicky's Beach. This didn't really happen, so he stuck to learning chords and note progression. Some time later, he broke a string and put it away for a while.
A + B (+U +/- E) = X
While Berdsownd's guitar was out of action, he downloaded a single of "What You Waiting For?" by Gwen Stefani and saw an instrumental track. He thought to himself, "That's funny, I just downloaded the Eminem Box Set and it has a bunch of acapellas in it... How funny would it sound if I put the two together?" This is when he realised that through a computer application, he had the power to manipulate music by combining genres and different styles to create a unique blend of music. It was called the mash up.
Far from being a pioneer of the mash up scene, he downloaded as many tracks as he could trying to understand how it was done. With a vast understanding of music and beats, he felt he could grasp it quite easily. He created a CD's worth of mash ups to send to Nova but never got around to sending it... They ruined mash ups anyway, he believes. But that's for another site.
Through out his High School years he dj'd at parties and after formals, as well as weddings and other events. The last party he dj'd at was sooooooo shit that he decided to stop doing it entirely. But recently, after watching the documentary Scratch, he has gained his lust and his enthusiasm towards music again.
This is where Berdsownd came from.
For the fun. If someone comes to this site today and thinks, "Hey I don't mind this at all, I might come back later on to see what's new" then Berdsownd is happy. You wanna make him happy, right? Check back on the last weekend of every month -- with a bit of luck I'll have uploaded a new mix!
Ohh yeah the summer! More fishing! Week has been hectic, my weekend starts next Thursday! Look forward to hearing more tunes............ Have a great week too
HA HA PLAYED UP ALOT ONLY CAUSE U TOLD ME SO,,,LOL , YER ARMIN WAS SO GREAT, HAD ALOT OF FUN, THANKS FOR SAYING HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOL,,TALK LATERS,, HOPE U HAD A GOOD WEEKEND TO
Sup Berdward! Buddy I've got both hands in the air for you,, i'm actually using my uhh talented penis to type this message.. haha.. Talented penis? wtf Neways Hopefuly hear frm u soon, and by hear i mean your Dj tracks that are so good, i think my ears needa get on the pill. xox
