Music is my religion

At what point did music become my way of life and what I live for?  When did music become my life and my pretty much my wife.  I can remember many of the songs from my early childhood, when I was maybe four years old.  "Zombie" by the Cranberries was really popular back then, I heard that song all the time.  It's like one of my first memories ever possibly.  I remember when I was in second grade, age 7, a friend named Zieke said I should listen to Hanson.  So Nick and I got "Middle of Nowhere" for Christmas that year.  We loved those guys when we were young.  They were very inspirational to us.  I think these were the first jolts of musical inspiration that I ever had without even realizing it.  Later on in fourth grade we were given the opportunity to play in the elementary strings band.  Nick chose cello and I chose violin.  We kept up with practicing for maybe one week if I remember correctly.  We lost interest by fifth grade.  Our friend Kevin also turned us onto the band Limp Biskit, we rocked "Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog Flavored Water" to no end.  Though I'm a little ashamed of that now lol.  It wasn't until sixth grade when I really started venturing into more music.  Linkin Park came out around then when I was age 11 and I didn't know any better.  Me and Nick both listened to the "Hybrid Theory" album alot.  In that same year we got into other bands like The Gorillaz , the song "Clint Eastwood" was very popular on the radio.  Also in that same year Mom and Dad introduced us to Black Sabbath and Jimi Hendrix.  From there that would shape my musical palette for the better, forever.  Around 8th grade when I was 13 I started listening to Nirvana and Rage Against the Machine heavily.  The next year is when I picked up bass guitar.  I started getting into so much music, too many to list really.  That is when every band I listened to became my new favorite band.  I was so receptive to music, especially with learning how to play bass.  Audioslave and Soundgarden were my top bands, and I also started getting to Mile's Davis with the "Kind of Blue" album.  Soon after that I got into Jaco Pastorius, which is when I decided to really be a bass player I'd say, that same year is also when I met a teacher at the National Guitar Workshop named Bill Kratz, who really inspired me to strive to become a professional musician.  I learned so much about music in his class, and I feel that class equipped me with everything I needed to continue to be receptive musically and really be able to understand music to it's core.  That was right when I turned age 16, and from there on I became the musician I am today.  I will forever continue to evolve as a musician/artist/person and I will always grow into the next version of myself.  This blog entry is dedicated to music, my religion.  A universal language, with no wrong sentence.

thanks for reading, and get ready for our album release in March!


-BearKnuckle
facebook.com/BearKnuckle
www.bearknuckle.bandcamp.com

Alive Today

Right here we stand alive today
Right here we stand alive today
From hand to ground you hear us pray
Right here we stand alive today

Just waiting for a new day
With righteous path for no fame
For all that we do pay
I just wanted to say

We plan on passing by your way soon
As soon as I find my way home
No design, or members to folder
There is no reason at all
The one you seek with promise and virtue
Will rid your pain in one call
Open your eyes and you'll see our real
Escaped from life and walls

I've got alot to say, but I don't you're listening
But you want to stray from everything that keeps control of you
This time I can't say that I didn't have a better try
This way let's run for our lives and we'll continue living what we call life

My mouth is sour from the taste of this textured bullshit on your tongue
I have a broken frame with an imagine of your one track mind
The hate you feel for me only comes from deep inside yourself
The that you take up is subject to change without my premise

We can, we see
We can, we see
We can, we see
We can, we're free

  

-BearKnuckle
facebook.com/BearKnuckle
www.bearknuckle.bandcamp.com

The world sucks!

Finding peace within a society that is money hungry, is nearly impossible.  Quality is no longer an attribute in production.  In the case of the Gorilla Music Battle of the Bands, talent, and quality and originality are not factors in which this competition is judged.  In fact this competition is not judged at all.  It is all based on a yell off, which has no justification to the most talented band.  When your time slot is based on ticket sales, that are incredibly over priced and the yell off isn't until midnight, it's a wonder only the last 3 bands to perform make top 3.  They sold the most tickets, so they have a crowd at the end of the night to participate in a yell off to determine who wins battle of the bands.  Also when all of these bands are high schooler's that are age 16 and under, and can invite a whole school and church to their show, then a band like ours who doesn't have the convenience of selling tickets to your school, has no chance in winning a competition that isn't on talent at all.  I don't see how the promoter's of Gorilla Music and proudly present a battle of the bands as if it is a talent competition.  Acting as if it is such a great opportunity to play the Masquerade.  I have played the Masquerade multiple times, it's nothing new or exciting.  This business of promoting a battle of the bands is just a money hungry scam in the end.  It's not fair to judge a competition only with a yell off, when most of these bands have probably only played 5 shows in their lives.  A battle of the bands should be judged, with actual judges who determine if the bands who perform are professional, and well rehearsed.  I would just like to use this blog to discourage anyone from accepting any offer's from Gorilla Music.  They went home with a pocket of cash probably upwards of $6000.00.  Now I know they paid alot of that money to the Masquerade for letting Gorilla Music use the venue.  My point of the whole thing is to show how unfair a so called "talent" competition is.  It's not about talent, its about money and that is the problem!  I just want to express my anger in the utter waste of time that this Battle of the Bands was.  I mean sold a few shirts and made a few fans, and we got to play Heaven, woah bigggg deal.  We could have played a better show that would have been more real to our hearts.  We are happy for the response from peers and our overall performance on Sunday night, but we are angered with the sheer scam that Gorilla Music presents.  SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM.  FUCK YOU

bye guys

-BearKnuckle
facebook.com/BearKnuckle

This year

This year is going to be kicking off for BearKnuckle.  The album is on it's way in March, as well as a mini tour of the southeast.  We plan to book more small tours through out the year.  This is something we are all incredibly excited for.  We cannot wait to go to somewhere unknown to us, where no one has heard us.  There is nothing like rocking a brand new crowd.  The feeling when you see people listening to you and knowing they have never heard or met you before is amazing.  This is why having a high energy and dynamic performance is important.  The music is one part of it all, but putting on a show that people remember is the other half of it.  We are greatful for the fans we have made over the last year and all of the face's we see at every show.  Now the goal is to make more fans outside of Atlanta, that we can continue seeing at those shows aswell.  Our show last weekend at BeAtlanta was incredible.  It had been a while since I'd seen that many people packed into that house.  I don't think I've been so sweaty on stage before either.  We hope BearKnuckle's shows will only continue to get bigger, better and wetter!  We are in the process of booking our album release party and trying to decide a line up.  We know there will be four acts total.  We also know we want it to be free entry, so we can make sure everyone can come!  Once this album is done we are going to start writing and recording our next album.  We already have some material written.  I can see it's going to have some new sounds for BearKnuckle.  The main purpose of all of our music to express clear, true, organic emotions through our sounds.  We have alot of emotions to express so just keep listening.  We are excited for the new year and all that we have planned.

signing out

love
peace
happiness
and
metal


-BearKnuckle
facebook.com/BearKnuckle

Great awakening?

BearKnuckle started our set at midnight and it was explosive!  The whole crowd was moving to every song.  Everyone gave really great feedback.  I say this was a good first show for the new year.  This marks a year completed as BearKnuckle, and it really shows us how much our drive and love for this band has paid off.  I can only imagine this upcoming year will bring us much more success and enjoyment with the band.  I feel like if we continue to associate with the people in this music scene that we genuinely like and are friends with, we will continue to prosper.  Atlanta's underground rock music scene is incredibly diverse and welcoming as an audience.  It saddens me that this scene is not recognized very far in the more mainstream world.  I have had this very strong underlying feeling that I cannot explain for quite a while now.  I feel like its a feeling that convey's something big to me, and I like to think that it is representing the success of this market in Atlanta.  I wonder if maybe this great awakening that many people talk about that was supposed to be happing in 2012, could be maybe that the music in this market will start to come to the surface.  Maybe people are going to wake up and realize that the majority of the music on the radio is just fabricated mashed up bullshit that we are told to like.  I feel like there is another revolution coming.  I hope it means a change in the mainstreams pallet.  I know people are going to have to get tired of hearing disco bubble gum pop all the time.  1's and 0's are going to get old soon.  People want to hear real instruments, playing real live music.  Nothing can replace the feeling of emotion that a person conveys when they play their instrument.  We at BearKnuckle promise our music will have emotion, from anger to love.  Our performance on stage will convey our spirit's.  Keep your head's up in 2013.  BearKnuckle plans to maul this town.  Figuratively speaking of course.

-BearKnuckle
facebook.com/BearKnuckle

Practice makes perfect?

Practice makes perfect right?  What part of practice are we talking about here?  I am referring to rehearsals and band practice, or whatever you like to call it.  I have practice in about an hour, and right now I am awaiting to drive over.  Some of the most important practice for music is actual practice with your band.  There is much that goes into being able to play with a band.  It's funny all of the practicing you do on your own will only reflect so much on how actual band practice goes.  Everyone in the band has to be familiar with the music and have practiced on their own.  I honestly don't do alot of rehearsing on my own outside of band practice, unless I'm not familiar with the music, but that is really only for last minute fill-in gigs.  Recently I had a fill-in gig with a hiphop artist named Micah Brown.  I had to learn 3 songs in less than a week.  That really isn't all that hard to do, but getting tight with the band took every last minute we had to rehearse together before the night of the gig.  I had a very tight drummer to play with named Brandon, he made the practice go quite smooth for me.  If I am able to lock in with the drummer with ease, then practice and playing the music will go well for me.  I learned all 3 of the songs, the night before the first rehearsal, then we had 2 other rehearsal's before the gig.  Luckily with hiphop music, it doesn't have much as far as changes in the bassline, other than not playing at all in some part of the song.  So the songs are fairly "elementary" to learn at the last minute.  The part I like most about learning new songs for a last minute show, is the amount of stimulation my brain feels.  Having to practice and "cram" these new songs in is a very tedious and time consuming process.  In addition to learning these songs, I sort of have to get used to performing them, and being comfortable rocking out on stage with them.  In other words, I don't like to just stand still on stage.  For me now, rehearsing feels like playing a show.  I'm very comfortable on stage, and I rarely get intimidated on stage.  But there are those shows, where you're just like "woahhhhhh".  The show I played with Micah Brown had between 300-400 people, and that was a very nice crowd to see.  The room was full.  It all sort of adds to the high of playing music.  My point that I am trying to make though, is that when rehearsing you need to give it your all, just as much as you would in a live setting.  If you want your shows to feel authentic then you need to make your rehearsals authentic.  I am going to be on my way out of the door soon to go jam out in a mess of psychadelia with Rainbow Bridge.  This has been another look behind the scenes of a musician's world.  Also,  I will try to have more daily blogs, maybe after christmas season is over at my other job in the "real" world at the UPS Store.

<3

-BearKnuckle
facebook.com/BearKnuckle

Manipulating Inspiration

  I was feeling lazy yesterday so I didn't write a blog entry.  Also I didn't really have any inspiration to write.  Inspiration is incredibly crucial to my creative process.  It all comes from a feeling that tells me to create.  I have my good days, and my bad days when finding inspiration.  Part of being any kind of artist is learning to manipulate your inspiration to create a picture from with-in.
  My creative process never really has a method behind it.  When I'm coming up with musical ideas, it's usually all by accident.  Most of the time I will be improvising a solo melody or just a rhythmic pattern, that will turn into the actual chord progression.  Often times I will be at work, or just outside away from my bass and I will suddenly start thinking of a melody in my head, and then come back home and try to figure it out on my bass.  One thing I always usually do, is record a video/audio track so I won't forget how to play it!
  When writing you have to let the music take you to the next part of the song, using your most subtle energy to blindly search for your creation.  It is exactly like an artist painting their painting, or a writer creating a story, or a chef creating their meal.  Using your own intuition you create something totally new.  The only real preparation you have behind creating a musical piece, is the practice you have already put in prior to that point.  All of the practice you have experienced will remain in your subconscious.
  For me part of practicing is not only learning music theory and all of the scales and what not, but actually learning every song you hear.  In my earlier days of practice I would sit and with my Ipod on shuffle, learning every song that came on.  I would spend many hours doing this, which all helps me still today.  I feel like before you can really create the piece you want, you have to learn what other musicians are doing; to fully understand where you're going to go.
  In my musical lifetime i have written probably hundred's of songs, just from sheer vamping and improvising.  Though most of them don't even turn into songs because I forget how to play them haha.  The one's that turn into song's are those of real inspiration, that makes me create this song.  The song's that don't become songs, were more like the proceedings to these fully created ideas.  Sometimes I am unable to pull all of the pieces together, until years later.
  Most of my writing is focused on BearKnuckle right now.  I am giving myself a very large picture to paint.  I don't want to limit myself to something too broad.  BearKnuckle is sure to be very diverse with our music, while still having something familiar and signature about our sound.  From my writing, to the contributions from the rest of BearKnuckle, there is nothing we can't create.  We are one mind, guiding ourselves through inspiration.  Thank you for reading!  This concludes my entry on manipulating inspiration.

-BearKnuckle
facebook.com/BearKnuckle