Category Archives: Guitars

I like guitars. I’ll post about them.

Guitarz 2012 Calendar!

Posted on by Standard 5

Some people who read this blog may, like myself, have an appreciation for guitars.  I like the weird, the odd, the strange, & the rare.

Not Enough Batman
Not Enough Batman

Guitarz is putting together a 2012 calendar of such guitars.

These guys put together a great blog, and I’m looking forward to their calendar.  I might take an artful photo of one of my weird axes, but with only 12 months in the year mine won’t be a slam-dunk… and sadly aren’t the weirdest/rarest out there.

Take some photos of your weird/rare/beautiful guitars and send them in!

They probably won’t take this photo.  So, get your axe in gear!  (Get it?)  Submit a photo of your rare/weird/cool guitar, or take a photo of a friend’s to submit.

\m/ Roger Tullgren \m/

Posted on by Standard 1

Roger Tullgren

Roger Tullgren, Metal Lord

So, have you heard about the dude from Sweden who gets a disability check for addiction to heavy metal?

This dude is awesome.

I’m not sure if he really feels that he’s helplessly addicted to metal, or if he’s yanking the Swedish government’s proverbial crank, or what…  but dude is almost as metal as Lemmy for this insanity.

Is it a way to cheat the government?  A publicity ploy for his bands?  Does he really feel that his compulsion to attend shows, dress like a metal-head, and listen to loud music is more than just his preferred lifestyle?

I call shenanigans in that there are plenty of places to work where you can dress like a metal-head & listen to loud music.  If there was such a thing as a record store any more, I’d suggest there…  but what about a guitar store?  Stoner coffee shop?  A concert venue?  A bar?  On a road crew?  The dish-washing thing reminds me of that Poison video…

That being said, if the government is dumb enough to dole out the money… Roger & his employer would be even dumber in not taking it.  The question of their accommodation/compensation being akin to paying an Oxycontin addict for working in a pharmacy still remains, but oh well.  At least we know for sure that Black Sabbath is a powerful & dangerous gateway drug into the heavy metal lifestyle.

\mm/

Too much metal for one hand?

I’d watch a reality show or documentary about this cat.  Even better, I’d like to see it turned into a movie… somewhere between Anvil! The Story of Anvil and Airheads.  Imagine the hilarity that would ensue in 10-years worth of trying to get an addiction to metal recognized as a serious medical condition?  Not to mention, a killer soundtrack!  Are you paying attention Hollywood?  We need this story before we need a Crow or Last Dragon remake.  Sho’ nuff!  If you need a writer, I’m all about it.  I vote for Robert Downey Jr. or Johnny Depp in the lead role.

Also… can I get my money, Uncle Sam?  I’ve been going to concerts for years, buying merchandise, buying merch from small bands on tour, losing money by playing in local bands, ferociously collecting bootlegs, B-sides, & rarities for my favorite bands to satiate that completest appetite.  (Thanks RoadRunner for that US/Japan/UK bonus track crap where I buy the same album 3 times – and thanks Metallica for putting out 30 singles for each song with 17 demo/live b-sides.)  I wear t-shirts with skulls on them, and used to have blue hair.  I not only suffer form heavy metal addiction, but also a general punk rock addiction, spanning everything from horror punk to pop punk to street punk.  There’s also my hard rock addiction, which I seem to be getting over.  The bands with which I seem to have the biggest problem are…

…and all of their related bands; Guns ‘n’ Wankers, Billy No Mates, Hollywood Rose, Slash’s Snakepit, Velvet Revolver, Loaded, Danzig, Graves, Gotham Road, The Undead, …and I deserve some kind of metal for buying a Kryst The Conqueror album, Chinese Democracy, & St. Anger just to have “complete” collections.

Cover of "Airheads"

Cover of Airheads

I’d love to see Roger’s playlist, CD/Record/Cassette Tape/VHS/8-Track/DVD/MiniDisc/BluRay/LaserDisc/Whatever collection… or his ticket-stub book if he’s got one.  Who are his favorites?  I need to know!  I unfortunately am unable to check out that video linked-to from the Blabbermouth article.  I think it may have crashed their site, or it’s a bad link?

So, what do you think?  Is this guy super-awesome or super-lame?  Is he a genius, or a loser?  Is he some combo of all of the above?

Guitar Blog: The Paradox of Tone

Posted on by Standard 1

DuncanDesigned

Image via Wikipedia

Killer article about tone & the myriad of choices available today:

Guitar Blog: The Paradox of Tone

I don’t know how I missed it, it’s a rather old post… but is a great read.  I’ve gone through bouts of “I don’t care what it sounds like as long as it’s loud and dirty”… mostly to ignorance, and I’m still like that for the most part… but I do know bad tone when I hear it, at least as it stems from my guitars/amps (the rare effect), and any more I’d rather not put out bad tone… I’d like my bad playing to come through as well as possible.  Ha ha.

These are not the droids you’re looking for.

Posted on by Standard Reply

Or, maybe the are.

R2-D2: Guitar Hero
R2-D2: Guitar Hero
C-3PO Rocks
C-3PO Rocks

|-o-| [-o-] |-o-|     ( °)

Envisage Your Ideal Concert

Posted on by Standard 2

Okay.  You just found out that you’re secretly related to Oprah, and since she knows you’re a huge music fan… she’s letting you put together the concert of all concerts to celebrate.  Since you have Oprah money, you pretty much have no limit there, but you are limited to bands that are alive and actively together, or that you believe could be reasonably brought back together with a little grea$ing of the wheels.  Example… you’re probably not going to get Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite or (even the Illusions tour) lineup to get on stage together… but you probably could get Steven Tyler & Joe Perry in the same room.

Put together the whole thing…

  • The Venue: A small club?  A stadium or amphitheater?  Your living room?
  • The Run: Is it a one-night-only deal, or is this a 3-day festival?
  • The Name: Every killer show has to have a killer title.  No “w00t-stock”, please.
  • The Bands: Who’s playing & in what order?  Bonus points for linking to ’em.
  • Added Insanity: Want a 20 minute drum solo with Neil Peart & Lars Ulrich?  Want an unplugged duet with Danzig & Shakira?  Want GWAR to disembowel you on the stage?  A guitar battle between Eric Clapton and Slash?  Want all the bands to do nothing but Black Sabbath covers?  Can’t hurt to throw the idea out there!
  • Micro-Manage: If you really want to get nuts, what do you want to see in each performer’s setlist?  Either highlights or the whole thing.

I’ll think about mine while you post yours in the comments below, and in a few days or so I’ll revisit the whole idea in another blog post.  Links to bands’ websites, videos, and music strongly encouraged!

 

The Satanic Bat – Satanic Brats EP

Posted on by Standard 9

There’s lots of free music out there on the internet.  I decided to start pointing to some of it.

Sadly, bands disband.  For whatever reason, a lot of ridiculously awesome bands just peter out or implode or flat-out fall apart.  One such band is old time local rockers, The Satanic Bat.  I guess they’d be classified as stoner metal in the most generic sense of trying to pin them down.

My old band (Gasoline Dion) shared a practice space and a band member with these dudes.  (Regular readers will know I mention Dave all the time. If you have a band, check to see… Dave’s probably in it.) They even helped us record our album, but probably wouldn’t want their name attached to it.  (Maybe I’ll put that up for free in a later installment.)

These cats could (and individually still can) rock, and they had a sense of humor.  They were asked to play a Ramones tribute show… and they recorded an EP.  The resulting songs sound like Black Sabbath covering the Ramones.  Seriously.  Since I’m a big fan of both, this is one of my absolute favorites.

Mead Rock 2000 | Satanic Brat EP

Satanic Bat - Satanic Brats EP

Satanic Bat - Satanic Brats EP

Click the link or image above to go through to the old Bat blog post for details and the link to download.

TRACKLIST:

  1. Loudmouth
  2. Commando
  3. Beat on the Brat
  4. R.A.M.O.N.E.S.  (Motörhead)

For a weird anecdote… the show was played at Rugger’s with the Atomic Drops, of which Erin “Ernie” Payne was a member.  Now, Dave & Erin are my current partners in crime with Ernie and the Berts.

Other live Satanic Bat stuff is available in their old blog, I urge you to check it out if you dig this EP.  You can also buy their CD: Tales From the Southland, Tales From the Sea.

Steve & Josh went on to form Rogue Vessel.  Dave is in Dethlehem and Ernie and the Berts. Jon ended up quitting music for a while, but I hear he’s back?  Anyone have any info on that band?

At any rate, enjoy the EP… I’d love to hear what you thought of it.

Ernie and the Berts “Toybox” | Official Music Video!

Posted on by Standard 4

This was a project by our friends Jason & Terry.  Luckily, they needed a band and we were up for making a video.  I know I’m pleased with the results!

Ernie and the Berts owes these cats some thanks as well as Jonathan and Naveed for starring along with Jason & the band… and Erin and Lynn for giving up their house for a day.

Almost forgot, Brendan for helping us record this thing & his patience!

Hopefully, you dig the song and the video.  We’re (of course) interested in your thoughts/critique/reviews/compliments/criticisms/etc.!

The Dewey Deceibel FlipOut Guitar

Posted on by Standard 22

FlipOut Guitars

FlipOut Guitars

I have a problem with weird guitars.  I’m drawn to them.  I love the classic Les Paul shape and sound, but something about goofy-looking guitars really speaks to me.  I’ve blogged before about my Galveston B.B. Stone, and drooled over the fanboy/kitsch factor of the Millennium Falcon guitar.  Now, I’d like to blog about my most recent 6-string purchase… the Dewey Decibel FlipOut Guitar.

I was drawn to the goofiness when I saw it somewhere online.  I even saw it hanging in Pittsburgh Guitars once, but I had no play money at the time, and couldn’t justify getting the thing.

I bought it through ebay a while ago, as my last band (Gasoline Dion) was kind of petering itself out of existence.  I hadn’t really gotten the chance to use it on stage until recently.  It always draws out a question or admiration.  I don’t think I’ve drawn ire from anyone yet… except the expressed-yet-repressed hatred that my friend and guitar-guru Dave has toward just the general idea of the thing.

Dewey Decibel FlipOut Models

Dewey Decibel FlipOut Models

Yet despite his disdain for the abomination of an axe, Dave did help me install some GFS pickups to replace the stock ones… since I do like that beefier fat-Strat sound.  They’re some great pickups for the price.  Ernie and the Berts recently recorded a demo, and I’m quite happy with the tone coming from the guitar.  I also like the feel of the frets.  This has become my “it” guitar of the moment.

The weird thing about these guitars other than the backwards body is the color schemes and names.  I oddly enough chose the “Lit Cigarette” color scheme.  I wouldn’t mind  a black pick-guard, but I don’t think you can walk into any guitar shop and just pick one up.

Eric Aixelsyd - Dewey Decibel FlipOut Guitar Lit Cigarette

Fallout Shelter - Oct 30th, 2010

Obviously, I like the whimsical/goofy factor with this thing, and my “stage name” being ERiC AiXeLsyD, I felt that that backwards guitar should certainly fit that quite well.

I’m glad that Dewey Decibel makes this guitar, and I’m glad that I found one… or it found me.  I’d love to see photos of other FlipOuts in action.  I know they even have basses if you want some backwards bottom-end.  They may just be prototypes, their web page hasn’t changed for quite some time… and as it last stands they’re available for pre-order, “to be filled in 2005.”

If you have one of these guitars, or know someone who does… post photos!

The Toybox

Posted on by Standard Reply

So, Ernie and the Berts got a demo done…

Take a listen, and let me know what you think!

(I had to do a little WordPress code cheating to get the player in here, but the preview works… let’s hope it sticks.)

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Camp Song Books

Posted on by Standard 3

I’ve had a task in mind and in progress for a few years now, I need to make new camp song books.  It’s for a church camp where I participate several weekends out of the year as well as a full week during the summer.

I’d like the books to be usable by other groups if they want ’em, and have even thought about scrapping the book idea entirely and just using something to feed the projector that the camp has… but then you deal with the whole song being too much for a screen, and someone’s got to “flip pages”… could turn into a mess.  I’ve also thought about putting them all on an easel… but I’ve amassed a collection of ridiculous proportions.  Also, neither of these are practical at night around a campfire which is my favorite camp song setting.

There’s also the “what to include” trap.  We have a book with a lot of songs that are (to me) traditional, I’d like to add some newer ones, and have even entertained the idea of writing some of my own.  Some of the songs that I like, or that people want to sing, I really don’t have good chord progressions to back them up… and I need to get those.  Some songs, I have 3 or 4 different chord progressions and they all sound off or terrible.  I try to dumb it all down and change the key so I’m playing G, C, D, Am, & Em mostly.  Some songs have the dreaded Bm.  B, Bm, & Bm7, how I hate you.  I’m not a great guitar player by any means, but if you can strum through some chord changes… you should be able to play anything in the book.  Yeah, the songs can be corny or goofy, but I feel that it’s an important group fellowship dynamic to have that sing-along time.  It’s also a memorable part of the whole camp experience.

There’s also the alternate lyrics/verses issue.  People really take liberties with hymns, and it’s always been that way.  With some songs, I have a plethora of verses.  Some songs have alternate melodies or arrangements.  Some songs have lines changed or have been lanced with inclusive language.  (On a side issue, I know I’m UCC and on the whole it’s an incredibly liberal organization as far as Christian Churches go… but I don’t understand who’s so offended by gender-specific pronouns and why they need to change old hymns – Just write new ones and don’t mess with the words people have been singing for decades, or don’t sing the songs that you don’t like.)

I guess I generally like things to be more fluid than final, and I never have a “perfect” book idea in mind… but I need to get one done.  Here are some ideas that I’ve had…

  • A song book with a lo-fi companion CD of how exactly the songs go would be pretty cool.  (Maybe even two tracks each, one w/ vocals, one w/o so you can campfire karaoke.)
  • Mini 3-ring binders?  Would make adding songs awesome… but could get costly, and perhaps it’d make it too easy for pages to fall out?
  • Chord progressions, not just lyrics in the song books.  Lots of campers and counselors can play… so having all of the song books be the “master” would be good.
  • No page numbers.  Just look for the title of the song.  (We’re plagued by 2 or 3 different “editions” of the same song book with songs being on different pages and what-not.)  Then again, a song book without an index would be ridiculous…  maybe.

I’d appreciate the thoughts of any other camp song people, songwriters, guitar players, or any other musicians out there… or anyone who’s interested in becoming one.