Musician, Heal Thyself!

After scratching my finger while on vacation, the cut got infected. Naturally, this finger is the pointer on my left hand, i.e., the one I use to do bar chords on the guitar.

Not a painful situation at all. Ahem.

I found myself in this per-dick-a-mint--again naturally--after I had scheduled myself for nine hours of basically continuous band practice the week I got back in town.

So there I am, walking into the studio with my aching, swollen finger, thinking over the torments of the hours to come. I start playing--ouch. I play some more. I get into it a bit; get the adrenaline going a little. And a few hours later...no more pain.

Examining my finger, I notice that the swelling is gone. A few days later, it seems like my day of playing cured me entirely, enough that I could confidently cancel the doc's appointment I had scheduled for this morning.

Chalk it up to the power of music. Oh, and pressing a bubble of infected flesh against sharp, steel strings for hours on end.

But mostly music....

Out Of The Deep

So, as of last night, my involvement with Deep In Vein has officially come to a close. It was an amicable split; we simply ended up having different ideas of where to take the band.

The downside is that the instrumentals were strong, and were founded on what I consider a very satisfying musical philosophy. I'll miss playing them at unconscionable decibels. The upside is that my main focus has only ever been blues-based rock guitar. I joined Deep In Vein as a bassist because at the time nobody was looking for a lead guitarist (when are they ever?) and I wanted to keep my performing muscles exercised. (That's what he said.) I stuck around because I dug the music.

Lately though, I've been working with another project, a more straight-ahead, hard rock kinda band that I've been writing material and playing honest-to-god lead guitar for. So in a cosmic way, this seems like a fitting time to transition fully into what I was hoping to do in the first place. 'Cause, ya know, the cosmos cares about shit like that. Ahem.

So I wish the peeps in whatever becomes of Deep in Vein the best of luck.

...And I look forward to the reunion tour!

Inferior Stars

Okay, I thought they shot people on the L.A. Freeway for less than this.

Have standards on the west coast fallen so far? Or did the same luck that bought these Jersey Shore clones a tour bus on which to paint their sad imitations of sapienship also spare them a hail of righteous lead?

Their continued existence is either a case for the existence of fortune or one against the existence of an Almighty.

Either way, given their continued existence, no one wins...

I Will ImBieber Your Soul!

A band mate from Deep In Vein points out that the hardcore metal group Cannibal Corpse is pursuing a new and different artistic path.



Scary how accurately Corpse is now capturing the horrors of the modern world, isn't it? Hail our new Justin Bieber led overlords!

Hard Time Killing Floor Blues

I just spent the last day or two learning this song, originally by Skip James and given new, wonderful life by Chris Thomas King. I had to arrange it for myself using only the lower three strings--since the intended DADFAD tuning would play hell on a normal guitar set-up--but the final effect is undiminished.

I desperately want to perform this live, as a surprise mostly. I have no idea where it would fit in a proper set, but the simplicity of it reminds me of early Hebrew writing at its best, and I dare say Erich Auerbach would agree: it's elision at its most expressive, transmitting the profound despair of human existence more in its silence than in its sound.

One note at a time, simply played, just like life. Both disturbing and elating...

Quote Of The Day: Hater Edition

A Facebook commenter watches a video of Stevie Ray Vaughn playing Texas Flood live and coughs:

"the guitar rules but the drum and bass will just put me to sleep. Still numb, player. I feel nothing! Way to masturbate all over the pentatonic scales while the rest of the band takes a nap, Stevie!"

To be fair, Stevie occasionally dribbles a few knuckle children on the Aeolian scale as well, but let's not quibble.

This is probably the most succinct summary of why I came (ahem) to SRV so late in the game, long after I fully appreciated Hendrix, Clapton, et. al. The man wields perfect technique in service of profoundly soulful riffs...and his rhythm section has all the feeling of a click track. I've told every drummer I've jammed with that I have no interest in their "playing dead" as a direct response to the (at first inscrutable) embarrassment I felt when I first heard Stevie's band. Play with me, not for me, I say.

I have less problem with the whole arrangement now, especially after he added in a keys player, but that's mostly because I've dismissed the issue as a flaw of the Texas Blues genre.

So, yeah.

P.S. The odd font size and formatting of this post completely elude me, try to fix it though I have....

A Considered Take On A Cherished American Music Genre

I'm not a fan of country music. To me, it's not country...

...it's flyover country.

(Short burst of mic feedback; nervous coughs in the background.)

So, in other news...

PSA

Writing metal music?

Use half steps.

This has been your latest public service announcement from MetalMarlon.com LLC, EPA.

(Oh, and milk. Snort milk. For strength.)

Sound And Fury...

...Signifying, um, something! Because order from chaos is the alchemy performed by the callused but careful hand of the subgenre known as noise metal.

How do I know this? Because that hand has touched me. But not in a way that made me call for an adult (I have gangsta rap for that).

Using feedback and other sounds Deep In Vein has generated during our various recording sessions for the upcoming new album (more on this soon!)--as well as a few choice samples culled from freesound.org (best evar)--I put together a little something:

Invades Us To The Skin

Letting this play softly in the background while you go about your business is actually rather soothing, it turns out; you can easily concentrate on whatever task is at hand and leave your subconscious to frolic through the peaks and valleys of the arhythmic sonic landscape.

It's kinda like Chet Baker for the tattooed, heavily bearded set...

How To Tickle An Autodidact

Sneak a fingertip between his frets and yell out a chord name.

I have so many musical concoctions whose structures I can't even begin to describe properly. This site promises endless hours of elated "huhs!" and "so that's what I was playing?!"

Woe be the neighbors...

Yippie! (Updated)

This Wednesday, the 22nd, Deep In Vein is headlining the Yippie Museum Cafe lineup!

This means an extra long set--eight songs total--for extra deepness. But which vein will we hit this time? Will it be pulmonary? Systemic? To find out, you'll have to drop on by!

We hit the stage somewhere around 10pm.

Let's do this thing.

DIV Maiden courtesy A. Andrew Gonzalez

Après La Mort: We finished out an evening headed up by two acoustic groups, so the transition was...interesting, to put it mildly. However, Yippie has both an upstairs and a downstairs performing space. The acoustic guys were upstairs, and we chose down. So, for the audience who stayed to check us out, it was much like descending. Which we found thoroughly appropriate.

The set was meaty and the sound was heavy. Plenty of sweat and spit, wild eyes and contortions. It was, indeed, a very good night.

The Thrill...

...is gone.

Also, the Thriller is gone. I do not, however, think B.B. King was anticipating the recent, sad day when that other King--the King of Pop--would shuffle off his silicone coil.

Um, so that just made this one of the most awkward, kinda sad song unveilings evar.

Though, now that I think about it, that's kinda fitting. I mean, the blues is about loss and sadness. And MJ in his later years was, to put it diplomatically, really awkward.

Well bless my stars, I guess y'all can officially consider me a resident of Ms. Kubler-Ross's stage five...

Sir, I Believe You Dropped Your Gauntlet?

Or was it...thrown down?

A challenge has been issued. A colleague and I were sipping on the sugar water that is M.I.A.'s music when I came to a conclusion: the recipe for her songs is so simple--one cup of the watery substance that is Brit Pop; add two spoonfuls of sugary downbeat; stir together while nodding like a Parkinson's sufferer; enjoy! Certainly, he and I could whip up something of the same order with minimal effort?

So this is it: 3 M.I.A.-like songs in 4 weeks.

It's on, bitches! Or, as M.I.A. herself would say...um, something something biscuits, paper planes, something something hussel!

Yeah, I know. The world would be a more sensible, kitten-filled place if British people could speak English...

Check back for updates!

Deep In Vein

The Charleston

174 Bedford Ave
Friday, April 17
10PM-ish
$5

The evening's in honor of 12 Eyes' last night together, a band who gave much love and support to DIV's earliest incarnations.

We're opening the gig but we're gonna play like we're the end of it. Come for the music, stay for the Charleston's $1.75 pizza. Or work it the other way around. We don't mind a'tall.

Cause if the pizza doesn't make your guts rumble, the music sure will.

R-to-the-awk-to-the-!

So Heavy It Made That Vein Pop Out

Well, that went well.

We loaded in, fired up the axes, skins, and vox, respectively, then all took a seat just behind the beat, where we chilled comfortably for the evening.

Later, I got kudos as well as some excellent tips and feedback from several of the fine folk in attendance. So I learned something too! My grade school librarian would have been pleased.

About needing to seek medical attention for her ruptured eardrums, probably less so.

(throws up devil horns to communicate to the deafened marm our full endorsement of teh rawk!)

The Deep In Vein lady, when she's feeling modest.
What can I say? Her wardrobe is limited.

Push The Plunger Deeper! (Updated)

Deeper...In Vein, that is!

That's right. The heavy rides again on its...um, really well constructed conveyance...which can support the burden of all the heavy, um, heaviness. Rawk!

March 21st. Deets to be announced. Bring your struts, i-beams, prestressed concrete girders: whatever you need to use to bear the weight.

~~~~~~~

For those looking for the option that best suits them, such helpful hardware can be found here.

They don't call it rock 'n radial roller bearings for nothin'.

buh-dum-bum-B power chord

The face of Deep In Vein. The breasts probably
won't be making an appearance.

Update: The gravitational collapse is scheduled to happen at Port 41, midnight. Considering that the gig's in Hell's Kitchen, I think we've moved into hot and heavy territory.

buh-dum-bum-sternum rupturing bass tone

...Or As We Say Here In The States, Fucking Booze Sponge!

A little ditty from Deep In Vein practice the other day: Bloody Liver.

I hear the bass player is a real cool cat.

Just saying.

Deeper And Deeper In Vein

Tonight was the first full band rehearsal for me after learning six full numbers. (And I mean full: several songs clock in closer to the ten minute mark than the four.) My fingers hurt a little, but I do believe I'm on track to do my first gig with them for their December 5th show.

I hear we also managed to put a man on the moon.

More details soon (about the moon landing too, if anyone out there is confused), but first I have to go meet a hot girl at a neighborhood bar...