November 2008 Archives

Silence in the Train is a song I wrote about leaving Japan. I had many friends in Japan, and several of them came to see me off at the airport. Naturally, since they didn't drive to the airport, they took the train home. I was later told that it was completely silent in the train. My friends couldn't find any words to say, and they would be missing me sorely.

I've had a lot of people tell me they didn't really understand what this song meant. I feel that the music adequately represents the emotion of the track. Suffice to say, it's a song about entering a new season in life. A new season for me, moving back to Canada, and a new season for my friends, who were about to enter High School and would be missing a close friend.

Download Silence in the Train MIDI (27.0 KB)

Whenever I bring out Hailey (click on the thumbnail to enlarge the image), people often ask me if she's new, but the truth is that I've had her since 2003. She was my primary electric axe for Lightly Toasted Touche, the recording on Shipwrecked... My Sentiments and I've been using her extensively with Angels Breaking Silence. One of the great things about her is that she keeps tune really well because of the double locking (Floyd Rose) bridge. She also has fantastic tone, but it took awhile to find an amplifier that compliments her (my Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier seems to do the trick).

I had a clear plastic pick-guard put on her, to prevent damage to the body. In actuality, it's inevitable, but it will protect the finish from pick scrapes for the time being. I can't say I'm too concerned, because guitars always get dings and scrapes over time. It just adds to the character.

I suspect that Hailey will continue to be my main axe for work to come. Of course, when it comes to recording, it's good to have as many different options as possible so she won't ever be my only guitar. As I continue to learn more about recording and guitar tone, I've figured out that it's rare for most guitarists to use a single guitar on any particular song. People always notice a difference when I switch from Hailey to my Mexi-Strat (a.k.a. R3), if that's any indication of the difference in tone.

Earlier this year I ordered an audio program called The Science of Self-Confidence. I started listening to the CDs yesterday, and I must say I wish we would have studied this program in grade school. I recall spending an inordinate amount of time on math and science, neither of which I enjoyed, and neither of which I use in my day-to-day to any great extent. The principles and ideas contained within this program would have been of more use to me.

I wish we would have spent more time studying budgeting and managing finances as well, but that's another story for another time.

Can you think of things that would have been more useful to you in your education?

While digging through some old stuff I found this photo of Mike, Adam, and I. This picture was taken before we were officially a band, and we were called Takeout Conspiracy at the time (before we became Lightly Toasted Touché). We were contributing a couple of tracks to a Daniel Amos tribute project, and Adam put this graphic together. We're sitting on top of Mike's old bass amp, which of course is not possible because it's significantly smaller than that. Ahh, the wonders of Photoshop.

Yes, it's true; I had my hair bleached at the time (it wasn't the first time, mind you). My hair is significantly longer now, but this isn't the first time I've grown it out either.

If you go to the other works page, you can actually listen to the tracks we contributed to this particular project (look under "Takeout Conspiracy"). It's not the best work we've ever done, so if you choose to listen to those tracks, don't say I didn't warn you.

You may remember that I wrote 365 songs in 2006.

Recently I've started working on MIDI files for these songs. There are several advantages to doing this. Firstly, I end up with a full transcription for the song. This is a wonderful thing to have for posterity, if I ever want to record or perform the song in the future. Secondly, it gives you - my audience - the chance to sample my creations. It may not be real instruments playing the music, but you can still get a sense of what the song would sound like if I were ever to record it.

I'm going to continue working on this project, probably sporadically, so I can showcase some more of my work. It falls in line with several other personal goals with regards to composition and content for my other sites, so with any luck you will be able to sample all 365 songs in the future.

"Blue Room" is a song about the room I wrote all of the songs for Shipwrecked... in. The room is actually a spare bedroom in my house that used to be yellow, but we painted it blue, and since then we've actually been able to rent it out. Surprise, surprise!

Download Blue Room MIDI (20.1 KB)

While I was living in Japan, I learned how to draw mazes from my classmates. Pretty soon I figured out that there were a variety of different methods, but there was one process in particular that really fascinated me. It looked so intricate and visually complex that I had to learn how to do it. I must have been in grade 3 at the time, and because I was learning how to draw mazes from a girl, I was getting teased a lot. However, because I was so determined to learn, I didn't mind too much. I was able to pick it up relatively quickly, and it wasn't long before I was producing many mazes of my own.

Back in those days, drawing was a really big thing for me. I drew Japanese comics (manga), superheros, swords and weapons, fishing lures... Typically whatever fascinated me at that given moment.

Over the years I've adapted this particular maze drawing method to my own style. In summer 2004 I started a new project. I decided to draw mazes and get them published. I've drawn nearly 100 mazes to date, though I have not been actively pursuing the publishing end of things. Still, I wanted to share some of these mazes with you, and I figured the best way to draw attention to this project was to showcase some samples. I hope you enjoy these labors of love. I think you will see why I was drawn (no pun intended!) to this particular style of maze composition in the first place.

If I have the opportunity, I would like to share more of these mazes with you in the future.

Click on the thumbnails to view a larger image.

Recently when I was jamming with my friends Elijah and Emily, photographer Keith Skrastins was there to capture the magic. Keith is a wonderful photographer and I hope to work with him more in the future.

On this particular night when the photos were taken, Elijah, Emily and I were having a free-for-all jam. Every once and awhile it's nice not to have any agenda besides just jamming. No pressure to "perform", as in live situations, and no pressure to "get it right", as in recording sessions. This made for a great environment to capture some candid snapshots.

Presented here are 2 photos that were taken on that particular night (click on the thumbnails for larger images). Yes, my hair has grown a lot since March. That's what tends to happen when you don't get haircuts periodically (although I did get a trim for the band photo shoot). I'm not actually planning on keeping it long, but there are a few things I want to try before I cut it.