Anyone who has seen us play live has noticed that at times, it seems like there is more than one of me playing guitar. This is all thanks to the Boss RC-20, which is a looping pedal. It records live music on the fly and plays it back, then allows overdubs on top of the original track.
Howie Day really got me into looping in college. He is still one of the most prolific loopers out there, and has a knack for perfectly timing vocal and guitar loops.
Some new guys have come along also - I think Yoav (featured in this video) has a real cool sound going using a Boss DD-20. I've also seen a few other artists take stabs at looping, such as Laura Viers last week here in Louisville, but she proved that you can't just pick it up overnight. It takes a long time to become familiar and confident with the equipment.
Also, the equipment will screw over even the best performers at some point. Imagine having 2,000 watts powering your gig when a small power chord gets pulled, greating a sonic boom that will send the crowd to the ground then out the door. I've seen it happen to Howie Day on numerous occasions. Or, you can be like me last weekend and forget the AC adapter (a custom 18V plug) and have no pedalboard power at all. Straight-up acoustic, baby!
Friday, May 23, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Technology is wearing me out - Social networking
Walking the border line between Generation Y and the Millennials, I’m up for new technology but still tinged with some old-school tendencies when it comes to anything electronic. After reading comedian Aaron Karo’s column, I’ve decided to unleash a few thoughts I’ve been stewing on for awhile.
Why people still get on MySpace (other than music, of course) at all at this point is beyond me. I don’t know who is who on there, because people use names like CutiePie85 and SoccerBuff69. Turns out they’re just some creep-o that sits next to you in class. When I do friend someone I actually know in real life, they turn around and put a “Click here to see who views your profile” comment in on my comments page. Bot or not, what the deuce?
MySpace is also so flooded with ads, making it damn near impossible to view my own pictures and such, much less those of a hot girl…who, by the way, is probably that creep-o from class again.
Look out Facebook. Zombies? Werewolves? All of these “applications” are taking away from the straight-forwardness that drew us to the site in the first place. The day ads merge into the interface, I’m outie, baby.
Once bitten, twice pissed.
Why people still get on MySpace (other than music, of course) at all at this point is beyond me. I don’t know who is who on there, because people use names like CutiePie85 and SoccerBuff69. Turns out they’re just some creep-o that sits next to you in class. When I do friend someone I actually know in real life, they turn around and put a “Click here to see who views your profile” comment in on my comments page. Bot or not, what the deuce?
MySpace is also so flooded with ads, making it damn near impossible to view my own pictures and such, much less those of a hot girl…who, by the way, is probably that creep-o from class again.
Look out Facebook. Zombies? Werewolves? All of these “applications” are taking away from the straight-forwardness that drew us to the site in the first place. The day ads merge into the interface, I’m outie, baby.
Once bitten, twice pissed.
And really, zombies and werewolves? What are these things? The worst part about these things is that it’s usually some loosely connected friend who I questioned accepting in the first place doing the “biting.”
And lastly, I’m convinced that Facebook’s News Feed has some covert way of finding out who we hook up and/or break up with. These people have never shown up before and next thing ya know I’ve got their wall posts, pics, groups, friends, networks, events, notes, relationships, iLikes, Scrubs trivia and ZOMBIE activities just rolling through! Now that’s just messed up.
Bill
And lastly, I’m convinced that Facebook’s News Feed has some covert way of finding out who we hook up and/or break up with. These people have never shown up before and next thing ya know I’ve got their wall posts, pics, groups, friends, networks, events, notes, relationships, iLikes, Scrubs trivia and ZOMBIE activities just rolling through! Now that’s just messed up.
Bill
Keepin it real.
Welcome to the Sixtyfourwest blog - everyone else has one, why shouldn't we?
So, to introduce the group, I'll give you the skinny -
So, to introduce the group, I'll give you the skinny -
Sixtyfourwest is the evolution of the Bill & Aaron Band, which has seen success playing acoustic rock music in Louisville in Lexington, KY. In 2008, Aaron and I decided that we needed to "re-brand" because Louisville hipsters made fun of our name, and thus Sixtyfourwest was born.
Artist statement:
The puropse of this group is to stay real no matter what.
Never forget where we came from.
Not get wrapped up in what people want as much as what we want as muscians.
To never feather our hair before a show.
To treat every performance like it was a packed house, or our last.
To write and perform music about real life, experiences and people.
To be friends with everyone who likes the music we put out there.
We see too many people try way too hard to be someone they're not. They turn out looking (and sounding) like American Idol wannabes. Anyone who has ever truly enjoyed performing music knows that true satisfaction comes when you put your guard down and just be yourself.
That being said, there is wayyyyyy more to life than music - hence the overall purpose of this blog. Aaron watches more NBA dunk videos than anyone I've ever met. I have an obsession everyday minutia and observations. These will all come through in the succeeding posts.
Thanks in advance for the Facebook, MySpace and blogger peeps, yo. Keep it real.
Artist statement:
The puropse of this group is to stay real no matter what.
Never forget where we came from.
Not get wrapped up in what people want as much as what we want as muscians.
To never feather our hair before a show.
To treat every performance like it was a packed house, or our last.
To write and perform music about real life, experiences and people.
To be friends with everyone who likes the music we put out there.
We see too many people try way too hard to be someone they're not. They turn out looking (and sounding) like American Idol wannabes. Anyone who has ever truly enjoyed performing music knows that true satisfaction comes when you put your guard down and just be yourself.
That being said, there is wayyyyyy more to life than music - hence the overall purpose of this blog. Aaron watches more NBA dunk videos than anyone I've ever met. I have an obsession everyday minutia and observations. These will all come through in the succeeding posts.
Thanks in advance for the Facebook, MySpace and blogger peeps, yo. Keep it real.
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