I’m going to get up on my soapbox a little here. Let’s talk about supporting musicians. I challenge you to take twenty dollars and go buy music from musicians that you’d like to support, that you claim to support. Go out and buy a single download from each of twenty of your MySpace musician friends. Please know that there is a very real and quantifiable validation to know that people truly think enough of one's music to spend a pittance upon it. A very good friend once said to me that the gauge of a good performance, how well one did as a musician on stage, was to ask yourself “Would I have paid to see this?”
So pick twenty or so of your musician friends and buy a song, one song, and leave them a comment on their page telling them (and everyone else that visits their page) that you have done so. Better still, mention the song by name and what you think of it. Pretend, if you must, that your musician friend is performing on a street corner or at a bus stop and you tossed a dollar into their open case as you walk by.
*****
“We say music is important, but we circulate it for free, accord it no significance, fail to listen to it when we are in its presence, and ignore it in a century which, paradoxically, there has never been more of the stuff on tap … Music is now everywhere. Has it no shame? Everywhere you go … there it is, whirring away, hopelessly emasculated, obtrusive in its unobtrusiveness. Like a tart on a slow night, it has lowered its price so much that anyone can have it. It all smacks of desperation … Maybe this sheer profligacy has dulled our senses … No longer an event, it may exist only as background music. It is increasingly moving from foreground to background by dint of the sheer density, the sheer volume of material … Music abounds. Everyone can now make a CD in his bedroom, and the problem is, everyone does. With no quality control, conscience, or suffering, the stuff oozes out from under the bedroom door; a blind slime looking for approval … the entire system is constipated, overfed, and unloved.” – Bill Bruford, The Autobiography
*****
My thanks to RCF of Becca's Biz for turning me on to this video:
QNP FAQ
So if you’re a musician then why do you expend so much energy writing reviews and sending out promotional bulletins for other bands? Why are most of your MySpace contacts bands themselves? Isn’t that self-defeating?
I truly believe that one must first and foremost be a fan, part of the audience. If you don’t love music then you’ve no right to be in this “business” in the first place. As it says in my manifesto on my profile, I’m always looking for like-minded musicians for collaborative projects; everything else just sort of happened incidentally. I simply feel obligated to share what I consider to be great music with my friends. I realized long ago that the successes of others do not diminish my own; it neither reflects upon me nor is it a competition.
What’s with the eclecticism? Can’t you pick a style? What kind of music do you prefer?
I refuse to be shoehorned into any particular genre and avoid labeling. Basically, I like anything that feels “real”; I don’t care if it’s so-called pop, techno, metal, progressive, country, jazz, grunge or if it has modifiers in front of it (e.g. “Christian rock”, “nü-metal”, etc) … I care that it has some sort of harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic interest and lyrical relevance. I refer to my own musical creations, when forced to pigeonhole them, as “distilled prog”; I tend to write relatively complex prog-flavored songs but with a more pop-structured sensibility.
I feel that, regardless of genre, a composer should write no more and no less than what will serve the song. I used to write epics but began feeling that they were epics for the sake of epics, too long and full of unnecessary ornamentation and pointlessly extended instrumental breaks. Sometimes it serves its purpose but more often I find myself getting bored while listening to such from other bands, no matter how great they are as musicians. I really do also write a lot of jazz-inflected rock-flavored funk but I have been concentrating on this arbitrarily-labeled prog thing of mine for the time being. When I finally get around to recording those songs I will likely post them to a separate page rather than here, turd-in-the-punchbowl style.
When can we expect more tunes from you?
Soon, very soon. I know I keep saying that but these things take time and money, both finite resources, and this is not the main focus in my life right now.
Check out some of my other friends while you're here ... like this fine guitarist, Stephane:
I know that I tend to overuse these adjectives when talking about great music but "power, passion, and precision" definitely describes the music of Jaw. Please give them a listen:
Kaura is a band that I admire very much. I am eagerly anticipating release of their full-length album. Go check them out and listen to some of the great music they've made available. Be sure to watch the intense video for "One Becomes Two" while you're there:
A wonderful songwriter and an angel in human form as near as I can tell, please check out Tima:
Inspirational and heavily grooving, Kenneth J. Stelly's music is sure to turn your head:
Another of my personal favorites is Magdalen Graal. I have long been smitten by Magdalen’s expressive voice and I enjoy my copy of her debut album very much. Check out the video of “there’s no end” and prepare to be disturbed by the majestic beauty of her soaring angelic voice wrestling with some very dark subject matter. She and I were prevented from collaborating on “Harlequin Domino” by contractual conflicts with her label but she remains as both an inspiration to me and a very dear friend. Look for Magdalen Graal in my top friends; rather than a badge or banner here, I'll include the aforementioned video:
An incredible musician and a warm and sincere human being, Mathias Holm:
Mathias plays guitar for, among others, another of my long-time favorite singers, Francis Soto:
Mathias has also recorded some epically orchestrated tracks with MindSplit:
A thoroughly rocking addition to my list of contacts, check out The Rise of Science...
...and Wickhead
...and the superlative textures of my friend Jesper:
About "A New Time", I quote another reviewer: "...builds an album that has an almost filmatic touch. He finds soundscapes that capture the imagination and allows you to populate them. It brings about an album that is not only relaxing, but has a life affirming quality to it." I wish I'd said that; it's nearly perfect.
Влияние
We are all products of our influences.
Queensrÿche - If I could only acknowledge one it would have to be them, compositionally speaking. My Muse sings to me in the voice of Geoff Tate
Kamelot - It was strange to me when I "discovered" their music in 2005 that it seemed that I've been writing music for them all along as well.
Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Dream Theater ... the list goes on and on...
"Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark. In the hopeless swamps of the not quite, the not yet, and the not at all, do not let the hero in your soul perish and leave only frustration for the life you deserved, but never have been able to reach. The world you desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours.” - Ayn Rand (1905 - 1982), Atlas Shrugged
“Warning: If you are reading this then this warning is for you. Every word you read of this useless fine print is another second off your life. Don't you have other things to do? Is your life so empty that you honestly can't think of a better way to spend these moments? Or are you so impressed with authority that you give respect and credence to all that claim it? Do you read everything you're supposed to read? Do you think every thing you're supposed to think? Buy what you're told to want? Get out of your apartment. Meet a member of the opposite sex. Stop the excessive shopping and masturbation. Quit your job. Start a fight. Prove you're alive. If you don't claim your humanity you will become a statistic. You have been warned.” – Tyler Durden
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"The artist strives to frame the questions that the philosopher struggles to answer."
The Hourglass
Each grain in the hourglass, swirling 'mongst its brethren
Wonders at the meaning of a seeming-pointless dance
Fails to gain perceptions beyond the event horizon
Grounds faith upon the fables of others' penitence
When the last in line has fallen and silence rules the day
Echoes faint, a thousand whispers shrug and simply fade
Beneath a narrow portal gathered motionless, in wait
For someone to turn it over and begin it all again
- W.C. Russell
The Hunter
The blood sings deep within my soul: dark rhythms, forgotten tongues
My bones ringing gold carillon sounding, resonate as one
My eyes upon the new day’s sun, low and rising in the East
The sky wan, pale reflects the snow, cold and equally pristine
The morning star and moon still shine; pine and birch whisper my name
I stand alone; this world is mine. I have come home once again
My name is Warren Russell but I've been "Chip" my entire life and it's comfortable. I've just retired from the US Army after over 23 years of service, most of that time as a Guitar Player in various US Army bands in several countries. I am a musician by both profession and temperament; my primary instrument is the guitar (although I have played bass on numerous occasions and sometimes dabble with keys and percussion) but my focus for the past few years has been on composition and arranging. I hope to continue and expand upon that. I am now a student at Old Dominion University with the intention of earning a Bachelor's of Music Education. I’m not intent upon “making it big” as a performer; I have a much greater interest in the composition and publication of my original works. I write a lot of progressive rock, somewhat in the mold of Queensrÿche and Kamelot (as well as a fair amount of jazz-inflected funk rock, oddly enough perhaps).
November 25, 2009: “Navigation”, my long-promised collaborative effort with the incomparable Al “Lavaman” Murdoch, is finally ready for your listening pleasure. Please listen, enjoy, and add your “Navigation” comments to our pages. The track is currently available for purchase through my SNOCAP online store above. The track is slated to become the third song on my upcoming “Camera Obscura – Tales of a Life Beyond Me”, hopefully available by the end of this coming summer. Please go “Navigation – Find Your Way Here” for further details and compositional notes.
For those of you that would like to experience more of Lavaman’s guitar wizardry but for some reason are perhaps disinclined to visit his page at the moment … though I can’t imagine why … I share with you here also the video for his “Back to Earth”:
My friend (and producer/engineer/editor) Brian Archer and I completed the first seven tracks in April of 2007 and I’ve made some of those available here. This first batch were professionally mastered by Boroslav Dmitrov of HiZ Productions, “Boro & 5XL” in my top friends. I’ve posted the lyrics of each song in order to invite comment and critique. These lyric blogs also include some compositional notes that you might find of interest.
As I’ve said before, my original intention was to license these and other songs for possible use by other bands (and I certainly wouldn’t object if someone were to show an interest in their use in movies or video games). I have since decided to go ahead and record them anyway and I will eventually have two or three full-length CD’s compiled.
Meanwhile...
“We Are Also the Dreamt” is largely about alienation in today’s society. The song begins with a four-part vocal canon and then segue’s to rock after that. The song takes its title from the final line of the chorus, “We are music makers and the dreamers of dreams” (yes, I’m quoting Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka). That refrain is followed by “We’ve all forgotten that in the minds of our gods we are also the dreamt.” If you’d like, you can open the lyrics blog (preferably in a new tab of course) here: We Are Also the Dreamt - Lyrics
“Presque Vu”, as I understand it, is a French term that literally means “almost seen” and is used to describe the uncanny feeling that one is about to have some kind of epiphany, whether or not the moment actually arrives. I imagine we’ve all felt it. This song makes use of a fair amount of counterpoint but is otherwise straightforward rock. I’ve been told it sounds like Evanescence; I can live with that.If you’d like, you can open the lyrics blog (preferably in a new tab of course) here: Presque Vu - Lyrics
“Good Intentions”is about the immense culture conflict that is currently focused in Iraq and the Middle East. It is not meant as a criticism of our government … although there’s certainly some guilt by association … but rather addresses the underlying disparities in worldview. Lâ ilâha illâ Allâh… If you’d like, you can open the lyrics blog (preferably in a new tab of course) here: Good Intentions - Lyrics
Acknowledgements:
I absolutely could not have done this without Brian. I’d also like to thank his lovely wife Andrea and my friend Ash Roman for their considerable vocal contributions. I would be remiss if I did not include a separate thank you to all my friends and family for their/your support but especially to my wonderful wife Renée. Without her it would all be meaningless.
Some production and legality notes:
Almost every sound that you hear in these tunes that does not belong to a human voice was generated by the conversion of my compositions into midi and then processed with Pro Tools. Each and every note was originally composed in my head and on my guitar and then put in place by mouse click, including the drums and the vocal cues, which Brian then helped me translate into something of a firmer musical reality with his extensive technical and musical knowledge. There are several reasons I chose to do things this way … not the least of which were time constraints and physical limitations … I was recovering from a serious illness that nearly cost me my life, but that’s another story … but the single most important one is that it allows me to accurately express my ideas without compromising my vision. The computer plays the notes exactly as I’ve written them each and every time and prints the score exactly as I want it to. This can and does seem sterile at times but I ask you to remember that I’m operating as a composer more so than as a performer.
I have composed each note and every syllable sung in these songs. They are all copyrighted and registered with ASCAP. These are merely a representative sampling of the 190 songs that I have in various stages of completion at the moment. I will be recording several more over the next few months and I will be making those available once completed. As I stated before, though, I’m trying to interest other performers in the compositions themselves as opposed to exposing prospective audiences to my performance of them. Still, I hope you enjoy them and I welcome your feedback.
My good friend and unswerving supporter Jan has created a badge for me … wanna see?
It's quite simple, really. You can use it to support my music by placing it upon your page ... any page ... and it will redirect whoever happens to click it to my MySpace page here. It's especially helpful to me for you to post it if you don't have room in your top friends (or eschew top friends entirely) but still feel that my musical efforts are worthy of a little area of your page.
I can’t thank Jan enough for her efforts in creating it for me. Go check her page; she’s a HUGE supporter of quality music and musicians (and, for some arcane reason, a supporter of me too). Her circle of friends contains some of the finest musicians, indeed some of the greatest people, that I've ever met on MySpace.
Here’s her badge: See that mischievous glint? She’s plotting world domination ... and she'll most probably succeed ... so I want to be on the winning side when she does!
After decades of earning a comfortable living as a professional musician, I successfully motivated myself to finally bring some of my original compositions to life beyond the written manuscript and the computer screen. There is nothing that serves to realign one’s perceptions and priorities quite like being within a hairsbreadth of dying and knowing it.
So I recorded several of my songs last year with an eye towards interesting other musicians in recording them … I’m really not interested in being in the limelight anymore. I am however intensely interested in creating music with some compositional depth and lyrics that are articulate and relevant, hopefully without seeming too pretentious … but the low-hanging fruit has already been thoroughly handled by the other apes, if you catch my meaning.
There has been no world beating a path to my door to marvel at my “better mousetrap” … and I am unsurprised … but I have begun seeking out like-minded musicians and trying to network in this manner. So now I sit here on MySpace with several hundred contacts, some of whom have become genuine friends, and I intend to use this network as a springboard to launch one or two complete CD’s, hopefully within the next two years.
In the interim I am indeed offering five of my tracks for sale but any minor revenues I earn from that merely legitimize my efforts in the eyes of the IRS … I can write off my losses as business expenses. I’m not here to make money. I am not here to aggressively promote anyone … if I send out some bulletin that serves as my endorsement of some band it’s merely because I truly think that they’re worthy of your time. I’m not here to maximize my exposure or my own sales, at least not yet. I am not a critic, although I will sometimes write a fairly articulate review if I feel led to do so.
I am grateful for everyone’s interest but am seeking no professional advice nor am I soliciting any promotional services at this time. That’s why it seems I’ve fallen into the trap of marketing my music only to other musicians … it’s largely intentional; any “fans” of my music other than musicians have thus far been largely incidental, though entirely welcome.
If you like my music then please share your thoughts via comment on my front page or in my blogs. If I send out a bulletin then please repost it if you appreciate the content and feel it worthy of repost and commentary. Feel free to post your own self-promotional stuff on my page; I won’t be offended nor will I delete you in a fit of pique.
How This Works for Me
1) If you’ve sent me a friend request or if I’ve sent you one, either way, I will try to make at least one meaningful introductory comment. It would be nice if you would return the favor but you won’t hurt my feelings if you don’t.
2) If you post new music, a new blog, new pics, whatever and bulletin about it (and I see it) I will try to check it out if I have a chance and will comment if possible.
3) If you post something new and send me a personalized email then I will make it a point to check it out and respond.
This is all about networking; it’s just that simple. If you want a friend here then be a friend here … just like on planet Earth.
I have a family and a career ... and MySpace isn't it ... so please be patient. I usually spend a lot of time on the weekends trying to play catch-up with all of you fine people and newfound friends.
As long as we're on the subject, let's talk about Top Friends: If you're here in my top friends then it's because, for whatever reason and in whatever capacity, I'm in contact with you and/or like to regularly check-in to see how you're currently faring in the world. Those of you that are MySpace contacts at both my pages will note that the top friends lists are not the same. That merely represents a shift in focus; it has absolutely nothing to do with any sort of relative value. I subscribe to a number of your pages (you'd be surprised) and I watch the bulletins. So if it seems that I am in complete disregard of whatever drama there might be in relation to all this, I am.
Some of you do things differently and some of you have quite legitimate reasons for doing so. Thanks both for respecting the idea that I might possibly be honest, sincere, and in possession of some small measure of intelligence and yet still allowing for the possibility that I might just disagree with you about a few things.
Nothing personal, but I will not:
1) Buy anyone as a "pet" nor check to see what you think I'm worth. I don't think that you're Evil Incarnate for doing so but I just don't play that.
2) Interact in any way with a "truth" box. I speak the truth as I see it and you damn well should if you don't already.
3) Repost senseless bulletins to prove that I actually read yours.
4) Forward pointless, time-consuming, and bandwidth-stealing chains of useless emails and surveys.
...and I reserve the right to refuse to participate in anything else that I might have failed to mention so far.
Addendum March 13th, 2009
You are indeed welcome to put your own self-promotional comments on my page, I don’t mind and in fact encourage it. That’s why my profile allows html.
HOWEVER, I review all comments prior to approval and if you try to post something to my page that will begin playing on its own (i.e. auto-starts … audio) I will simply hit “deny”. I’ve done this with increasing frequency recently but it’s no more effort for me to click “deny” than it is to click “accept” so I don’t care.
It’s simply common courtesy, like waiting one’s turn to speak.
Chip, Navigation is stupendous. Listened to it four times. And I'm blessed you thought of me no matter how long it's been. BTW send me a bass player if you know one who can handle our music, ours had to leave us mid-October. Sold 127 units of "Powered by Light" so far, good reviews. Will send you links if you want to read them. Happy belated Thanksgiving! Mike V.
Thanks a whole lot for that new comment of yours...
I truly appreciate to see that im not alone in this state of mind, And i want to add that i feel the very same way about my work, i do it for myself first of all, and i could never really stop doing it, you know, it's a visceral thing for musicians like us to just keep on making music, there's no such thing as stopping, impossible unless having a dramatic accident and loosing both my arms or something similar...
And like you, i think your latest track is truly an outstanding one, I've listened to it 3 times and the more i do, the more i think you guys have made a truly nice piece of music right there.
You see, I never really spent some Cash to try and record anything of my own in a professional Studio, and i don't intend to unless some "Producer" would really want to invest in me and my work (not likely i Know) because for me, spending any money on something like this would feel like pure craziness and irresponsibility towards my kids that i have to feed.
And you know, im a bit of a "Stirrer" in the sense that i sometimes make very bold statement "MySpace id Dead", "Am i really only worth 4 plays a day" and so on because it's part of my personality to "Sting" people in order to get a reaction from them. It could be called "Provocation in order to get some Feedback" in a sense.
I do that because frankly, I truly enjoy getting some feedback about what i do, coming from a family who for the most part seem to see music as some kind of a background noise that serves as a base ground for the important part, the singer... in other words, my family couldn't care less about the music i do, except for my beloved wife who has always been hyper supportive.
So getting some feedback on here, has given me a lot of needed fuel, and i will probably keep on "Stinging" my friends to get any type of reactions... *LMAO*
Why yes I am lurking! Lurking around your fab music my friend. How goes the weekend for you? You must have esp as I was just listening to "Navigation" on my computer. I hear something new and wonderful in it each time I listen.
This weather has me feeling a bit blah but I know it won't rain forever. What are you up to today? Anything good?
I think I have the same files that you have. Do you still have audio of the lead, specifically the last part that I referred to in an earlier comment? If interested, I would like collaborate on the missing part of the lead, as well as tweaking any errors.
That's great to hear you're going to break into some jazzier stuff too. I've recently recorded some demo material and have sent you an email about it :) I'd love to take a listen to Scripta Manent. I enjoy listening & playing along to other people's music and if it's what they're looking for to use on a recording, great... but if not, it's perfectly fine with me because I still gain experience and enjoy doing it. And yes, one thing at a time... recently wrote two vocal tunes that I'm really excited about and really want to start recording. If I could just get the lyrics together!! I'm sure it'll come to me though (I think!) :)
I OFFER THIS, AND ASK; YOU SAVE IT FOR THE “FRIENDS“, WHO, ACTUALLY, LOOK DISAPPOINTED; WHEN THEY OPEN THE GIFT; MEANT TO, “SAY“: “I AM YOUR FRIEND. I AM #NOT# WEALTHY. IF, I WERE; THIS WOULD BE SOMETHING; YOU DESPERATELY NEEDED! I HAD HOPED; MY FRIENDSHIP WAS IN THIS ‘CATEGORY‘. I FORGIVE YOU; THAT YOU MAY HAVE, JUST FOR NOW, FORGOTTEN.” NO HTMLs? http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s26/tommygeeee/XMAS/MERRYCHRISTMAS.jpg HAPPY HOLIDAYS; MY GLORY! WHO UNDERSTANDS THIS. RtD aka Thomas
Just an update to let you know that during a reinstall of my OS, I lost the project fie for DL. The only good news is that I have exported wav and mp3 versions, which I will use for reference with the project rebuild. Over the course of working with this file, I find myself just short of addicted to the harmonized lead. Thank God I saved the score on another drive!
Still, there is a part missing at the end where you pitch bend, run a scale, and hit some crazy harmonics, all of which persist in my ear. I hear it still, perhaps well enough to digitally recreate the timing and notes, but the epic and tragic failure will be the inability to get the nuance you produced live. J
Hey Chip! Thank you for stopping by! We had a great time at the beach. It was a happy trip for me..but it was the first time I had been back to our coast since Katrina and it was a shock for me..I cried. I wonder if it will ever be the once thriving place it was...so much gone and after 4 years there are still bulldozers and building, so many antebellum homes...no longer there...but anyway, it was very nice to get out on the road with no plan and just go... I am getting ready to spend Christmas in London...very excited about that! I will be there for a few months actually, so I may see snow as well! I hope you and your family have a great, happy, and safe holiday season! take care of you! hugs Scarlett
I can certainly understand why you would conclude that way - but I'm happy to say that's not the case. At all :-)
Lunchtime here soon and that's a REALLY good thing, because I've decided to make Osso Buco next weekend and was going through the recepie in my head. Suddenly I could taste the tender meat, all the spices in the wine sauce, the potato/parsley root mash and gremolata generously sprinkled over the dish. YUM!
"ANCIENT HEBREW 'CHRISTMAS' RAP"? HUH? YO YO OIY I BEEN WRAPPIN, AND THINKIN BOUT SLAPPIN, MY FAT ASS; (<-MULE!} TO GET THIS TO YA FASS. THE BIGGEST COMPLICATION, TO MY CONSTERNATION; IN MY ESTIMATION; IS; FOR THIS DESTINATION, DA MULE‘S TOO FRAIL; SUCH FRUSTRATION! IT MAKES ME "FAKOKATA"! I HOPE; I DON'T DON’T GET KERPLEMPT? ILY! RtD aka THOMAS - “IF, THESE DAYS ARE MARKED WITH HALF THE “SHINE“; YOU HAVE, IN EVERY ASPECT, OH; WHAT LUSTER AND BRILLIANCE; THEY SHALL HAVE!” NO HTMLs PASTE: / http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s26/tommygeeee/XMAS/animatedxmastree.gif
Sorry for the delay. All is well on this end, just unorganized and overwhelmed: Nothing new, right? :) Consider this my personal care package of warm and fuzzy well-wishes for the holidays.
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