Rick Jones' Music 'blog

Couple o' new rawish demos....

08/17/2011 19:28:00

'Stolen Mower', 'Damocles' and 'Flights';

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These are just done in front of a nice Beyerdynamic studio mic, with my pickups sent through my oc pedal then D.I.'d.

"Damocles".........

08/09/2011 03:23:00

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"Damocles (anyway)" - Rick Jones

Lyrics;You hang over my head, like a question mark,And I swear I'll cut the thread, Like you you broke my heart,Who'd be king for the day, anyway?I never wanted the crown,I feel you crashing...

Write your post here.

The best advert ever?

08/07/2011 16:42:00

This is Steve Harben......

.....pro skater, owner of Warriors C.I. Skateboards(click it) and generally a guy I'd be happy to be next to in any situation....watch his videos I'll post underneath, the guy has a lions heart and is one seriously committed individual....rare in this flaky Western culture we call ours. So to have his endorsement this way is an honour. Thankyou brother!

Here's Steve in action;

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28 decks later

skate film steve harben

Check out his shop on facebook (click); Warriors C.I.

New recording of a new song....'Simple'....

08/03/2011 18:16:00

Don't worry.....

.....I haven't become a flowery shirted, sensitive 'new age' man just yet, but this sentimental little two and a half minute ray of sunshine was written for my own little ray of sunshine, Abbi, my eldest daughter and biggest critic!!!

The challenge with writing something for her, and she's seven now, so I've had plenty of time to do it, is that everything was coming out too saccharin and not really saying what I meant despite having a ton of words.

I sat down, and told myself 'write her something simple that

feels like her energy

So I wrote 'Simple', and here it is, recorded in one take straight through at Jono's place in St. Ouens in a session that took half an hour including set up!! Not often things like that happen, good vibes today!!

Lyrics;

I'm of the mind that a man is but a creature flawed by nature,

Dumb by design,

I won't exclude my own self from this picture,

I know I'm the worst of my kind,

This rule of thumb was born of careful observation of the world,

Nothing's ever changed my mind.....

....until you.

Oh, it's simple

Yeah but it's true

Nothing I can ever do will ever make me smile like you.

And here is the song;

Simple (for Abbi)

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"Musicians Together" magazine.....

07/01/2011 02:01:00

Musicians Together.....

......I like the sound of that already. When a group of people who love to make music get together, and it's about the music, I mean truly, and not about trying to impress anyone or be 'cool' (impossible for me anyway some would say!).....this is when the real magic can happen. You may think this is odd coming from a seemingly 'loner' solo performer like myself, but the thing is, since I picked up a guitar, anywhere I have ever been, regardless of language or cultural differences or even differences in musical taste.....I have found something in common with someone. Something powerful.

Well this magazine couldn't be more aptly named, as it is pretty much what I described above set to type and published on the internet. It's more than that though....it's a video sharing site with the opportunity to gain constructive criticism from other musicians without an endless tirade of "dOOd tHiS is T3H SuX" from 13 y/o 'internet bad ass'' types.

The mission of it's creator was seemingly to support the unsupported musician, and give them an audience, some advice and something to read that isn't just idolising the famous or advertising products surreptitiously with overly glowing false reviews.

It's pretty cool, if I hadn't implied that already.

Check it out here, and become a member, I am one, and will be adding whatever videos and articles I can (and the editor will have), as I think the concept, and the atmosphere there is exactly what is needed.

<<<<< Click the logo to go there.

My music is now available for download.....

06/29/2011 09:52:00

.........in most of the usual places. You can buy Eden on iTunes, click the logo below, but it should be popping up in Amazon, Deezer, Tesco Mp3 and all those kind of places any day now.

Keep watching the stores (if you actually like what I do!), because I have the intention of being much more prolific with song production, and adding a lot more tracks for download only at these stores.

As a musician, it's a double edged sword....this kind of distribution will never allow someone like me to make a living from music sales, but at the end of the day, no-one makes music unless they want at least

someone

to hear it. This seems like the best way to get heard further afield than my back yard.

By the way, if anyone wants to add a review to iTunes, good or bad, as long as it's fair(!), please carry on.....I would appreciate your time!

Not my usual style.......

06/23/2011 13:10:00

Dance to your Daddy (Trad.)

Live recording....lo-fi!

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I have been listening to a lot of the amazing folk guitar player, Nic Jones, and I found a recording of his version of this, I like it better than the North-Eastern version about drinking etc....it seems positive. It reminded me of my two young sons, so I thought I'd try and play it myself! Learned it as I went really!

Compelled to draw Ravens.....

06/18/2011 03:17:00

For some strange reason....

...lately, I have had the overwhelming urge to draw ravens.....it probably means something, and with my luck, I'd sooner not know!!

But honestly, I've been thinking of concepts for my next recording....I tried to think of what ties each song to it's brethren, lyrically or otherwise on this next session, and there really aren't any fictional stories, it's all thoughts and memories set to music.

Thought and Memory. There, a title.

"What's that got to do with Ravens?", well, the Norse Deity Odin, in the stories and sagas, particularly

Grimnismál,

was described as having two ravens, who flew all over the human realm of Midgard, and reported back to the shoulders and ears of the Allfather.

These birds were named HUGIN (meaning thought) and MUNIN (meaning mind).

Here, read wikipedia;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huginn_and_Muninn

Thus, in my feeble thinky place was spawned a concept that appealed to me, in that most people won't see the link without further investigating, or reading this blog...which is probably boring enough to render info here well hidden!

I wanted to draw my own cover, so I started to practice pencil drawing Ravens.

Here are a few of my early attempts! Click on the pics to see bigger versions and detail;

None of these are like what I want to use, but I'm getting the hand of drawing them, so by the time I have the tracks done, I should have some art. Of course by then I might have completely changed my mind and got someone else to do them!

Let me know what you think of the concept...good?...lame?....too esoteric?.....to VIKING for ya? Not flowery enough?

Writers block or building block?

06/17/2011 22:08:00

Writers block, or building block?

Earlier today I caught up with a friend of mine.She is a music loving, guitar playing girl who I've watched grow in confidence and performing ability solidly over the years I've known her.

I hadn't seen her in a while, as she's been off living on the mainland whilst getting edu-ma-cated in one of those University type places I hear a lot about. As it's been a while since I've seen or heard her play, I asked her if she fancied coming along to the open mic I run at Chambers on Sunday, and playing us a few songs. Her answer was "Not until I have a new set!", and she went on to explain how she was really suffering from writers block, and was tired of her own material, but felt like she couldn't come up with anything 'better'. She also asked me if I had ever had writers block.

This got me thinking, which is no mean feat in itself, well, unless it's about guitars or any of the other stuff I get a bit geeky about (but can get away with 'cos I don't look like your typical nerd.....please say it's true...!).....

Ok, so, yes I have had writers block. More than once. The thing is, I view it as a sign of progress.....if you bear with me, I'll explain why/how I feel this way, but it might get long winded. Shock!

I'm going to use music and singer/songwriting as the subject here, because that's largely what I'm familiar with, but I suppose it could equally apply to other creative outputs. I think.

I imagine, by using myself and a few other musicians I have watched in ascension as a template, that when we start out and have acquired a basic level of competence on an instrument we then look to our favorite musicians as 'the way to go'. This is us 'having influences', and, with each of us being unique and not, I presume, some kind of cell for cell clone of our idols, we tend not to sound identical. This can be frustrating, but it's a blessing really. Singers especially seem to start out trying to emulate other singers they admire. When you don't sound like that person exactly, and realise you probably never will, you start to realise your approximation of them is really just you.

The other thing that happens, is say you learn the chords G, C and D, as most of us do early on....they are bread and butter for us acoustic players and a good starting point.

When you start off, you take these chords, and you write a song. You love it, because you wrote a song. It's the best thing ever, 'cos it's your first song.

Then, you write some more. Maybe you learn another chord, and you throw that in there too. This goes on for a while generally, and if you are blessed with a great capacity for writing lyrics, or a wonderful unique and spell binding voice, or even something odd about you that makes you different somehow, this might be all you ever need.

Someone like me however, is not really remarkable in any of those fields, and had to develop at least one if not all aspects of my playing/writing/singing further if I was to ever take it further than my bedroom.

So you're driven to write something with that something extra.....something special....at this point you could easily write something that's identical to what you have done before, but that isn't enough. Now you bang your head metaphorically on what you already have, rejecting things that may be similar to what you know you can do already, and trying to make it better, trying to make it as good as it could possibly be. Often, when nothing you think of as 'special enough' is coming you start this viscious circle of being too frustrated to think differently...and you deem it as 'writers block'.

I imagine this is the time that those who use drugs or whatever turn to those for a way to think outside the box, if I may steal the cliché......but this is something I know nothing about, as I have stayed completely away from drugs,drink and anything more mind altering than caffeine so far in my life.

But my point is, it would seem 'writers block' is nothing more than setting yourself a new standard to attain. Looking for progress. Whereas in the beginnings of your journey, G, C and D chords and lyrics about "Feeling fine 'cos she's mine, Love from above" and all those kind of things would 'do', and you never got stuck for those things, because they are obvious to you. Exponentially, the more involved you get, the more things seem obvious.....chord progressions, melodies, lyrics and so on. So you either draw a line, and use what is obvious, or you progress past the obvious, sometimes into the surreal as happens to many great musicians who get so good at playing they go off into things that to the average person don't make sense to listen to any more. They are getting away from the obvious, but are at the point where the obvious to themselves includes other peoples 'next level'. These are your Zappas and Vais and to some extent your hardcore bebop jazz guys. The music gets more niche as it gets further away from the obvious. The lines are always moving though, look at how the next generations music is always noise to the generation before.

It's all about finding a balance, knowing what you want, and accepting what you are and aren't in pursuing your own voice creatively.

So when you are 'blocked', view it as a sign that you have progressed, and build on what you know so you can get to the next 'block'. Sooner or later you'll be stood on enough 'blocks' to see your path clearly.

Don't give up.

A couple of raw demos for you;

06/03/2011 03:26:00

A couple of Raw Demo versions;

I decided to make use of the little recording device I've been carrying around for interviewing people for the last few months, and catalog some 'work in progress' songs /ideas I've had. I uploaded some rough demos, these are literally; Guitar-recording device-computer-uploaded.....no effects or mixing of any kind, just one take into the mic and chucked up on line.

I figured it's good to bare yourself every now and then, keeps you real!

Please excuse the 'singing', I was just half assed because I was tracking ideas, the thought of posting them up came later....

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