Studio Diary: Today was not the day...

(Despite not feeling it today, lot's of inspiration out there, and was still productive!!)

Ye, today was definitely not the day to be as productive as I would have like to have been. I had some drinks last night, while enjoying the Terminus: Isolation live stream, and was a little tipsy by the end of it... and I woke up today, with quite the hangover and just wasn't feeling it today... Also attempted to do vocals, nope! Just not happening. I have noticed that during this period of self-isolation, that drinking right now, is just not the same... and quite frankly, generally after the evening of drinks... the day after, I generally feel like shit, and unproductive. So, I think while this self-isolation shit is going on, just gotta stay away from the alcohol. Of course, there is one exception to that rule, which is, if I'm performing a live stream... then I'll have a glass of something, as that helps calm the nerves, but outside of that, that's it!

Despite not being as productive as I would have liked, I still got some stuff done, and added some layers to a track that I'm working on! I think tomorrow evening, I'll be able to knock this song off, and get the vocals done, and be able to move to the next song! Once again, I'm very excited about this whole challenge, and I'm definitely doing things and thinking outside the box when it comes to writing this music! Lots of inspiration, and learning a lot of new things, and I will say there's a lot of things I'm realizing about my process, and why a lot of other industrial musicians, or musicians in general do things the way they do... in regards to organizational structures, and setting up your recording environment to get out your ideas as easily as possible!

After this challenge is done, I will likely do some other blogging or vlogging or something like that, getting a little bit into the process, and how my process has changed, and how I went about doing the things I did.

I keep coming back to Wax Trax! Records!

(INVA//ID; modern dark electro-industrial reminiscent of Wax Trax! era bands)

I keep coming back to the Wax Trax! Records back-catalogue. There are modern bands that are inspired by the Wax Trax! roster of bands and ultimately hearing these bands brings me back to the record label's catalog. Once again I will say, for some reason the bands on the Wax Trax! roster, not only do I keep coming back to, but feel inspired by! Out of all honesty, I'm not really sure why, I just really enjoying stuff that has come off that roster, and once again, feeling really inspired by. I guess there is a certain sound to the bands that were on that label, like you can hear the mixing and mastering and just general sound that came off that label for the bands, and at least I find there is a similarity. It may have been the fact that Al Jourgensen played a very important role there. It could also be the fact that almost everything that came off that label, was done in an in house recording studio... and the bands and side-projects, they were all hanging around when other bands on the label were recording their music, so there would be this, cross-pollination between the bands. It's funny cause, it's actually a lot of the modern bands that I'm listening to these days that are actually drawing me back to the Wax Trax! roster. Like, the bands INVA//ID or Cocksure... the style and sound design is very reminiscent of the Wax Trax! sound (granted Cocksure is an obvious one, as Chris Connelly was in the band Revolting Cocks and that influence is definitely there), Malekko is another one (once again, fairly obvious why... Paul Barker is the main songwriter for Malekko, he also was Ministry's bassist for, well a loooong time, as well as vocalist for his other project Lead Into Gold), but I find it interesting that there are these modern bands that when they are writing their albums, the sound design is specifically and intentionally done in a way that is reminiscent of the bands that were on Wax Trax! Records... and quite frankly, I'm glad there are people/bands/artists that are doing that, cause A) I like their music, and B) It reminds me of the Wax Trax! roster and I find it highly inspiring!

(Revolting Cocks)

I just love the history, I love the stories, I love the sound, the bands... all that, and just listening to the music from that time and trying to decipher how they went about in creating those songs, and the sound design... yeah inspiring! And, when hearing modern bands do that, it's like hearing a piece of history, but a modern take on it, which is also inspiring!!

What is keeping you inspired these days?

Studio Diary: The Night Loves You!!

(The night loves you!)

Well, I got done what needed to get done today, the process was still fun... and I'm very productive. I will say though, today I was feeling anxious for some reason, not sure why. Like normally, when I pour my morning coffee... and have the first sip, I feel good and relaxed, but today for some reason, before I poured my coffee, I felt anxious today... not sure why... I couldn't really place my finger on it. I'm thinking maybe I feel a little time starved... (there's a reason for that, and I'll let you know why in the future... right now is not the time)... However, even though I felt time starved... I was still productive, and got everything done that needed to get done today!

Once again, I'm really enjoying the process right now, and it truly reminds me of the early days of Twitch, maybe not sound-wise, but definitely in the sequencing and programming kind of way. There was a part of me that felt, for at least part of the creative process today, that I needed to change things up a little bit today, so I cut up and fucked with a drum loop that I was playing with... it definitely payed off! I will say again, I'm really loving the process... and it's forcing me to think about music differently, and really get my ideas out, as they come out! In the future it is very likely that I'll work in this kind of fashion moving forward... sooo inspired!!

I hope you folks are staying safe and doing well!! I know they are starting to open up things where we live, and I know some of you are worried what this is gonna look like... are we gonna be able to remain safe, or is this whole situation gonna get worse... I'm remaining hopeful and positive... but the numbers, ultimately will tell us the tale.

Whatever the situation, love you!

Studio Diary: Getting this shit as it comes out!!

(Darkness... something that I have lived in my whole life, but through darkness, ultimately, you will find light!)

Well, today... didn't go as planned... thought I would have gotten more done, but that's ok... wasn't really sure where to take this piece, so... tomorrow I can come to it from a fresh perspective and fresh new ideas. Although I will say, there was a lot of messing around and shit... trying things here and there, but could only get so far, I've got the basic structure of what I want, it's just all the details inside! Still fun though, and quite honestly when I shut everything down tonight... and stepped away, already had fresh ideas that I want to use for this particular piece, but that's a tomorrow thing.

Overall feeling: Still learning new stuff, and going about things in a way that, for me is highly inspiring and really getting this shit, as it comes out!! Love this!!

Databomb: Activate

So, I think if I remember correctly, the first song to be written for the album "Databomb" was "Activate". A lot of what I was feeling at the time of writing this song is... I feel like people are forgetting and maybe not realizing that these are things we can do, to make sure our voices are heard... and any person in power or politician, is kind of forced to deal with us. And, I see younger generations, kind of just not being involved politically, cause they think it's all the same shit, and nothing changes despite what they do, so... they essentially do nothing. Whether a person votes or not, well... I mean ultimately it's up to them, but if you do nothing, you can't expect a different result. "Activate" is a protest song, and ultimately the message of the song is, don't sit and do nothing, actually get up and do something, cause if we do nothing, nothing will change, and we will see the erosion of our rights, and the way things are done, and it will be a lot easier for these politicians to do whatever the fuck they want to do, cause they know, no one is gonna do anything about it. As my generation gets older, and maybe this... every generation sees (although, I'm not sure Boomers are on the same page), it seems the younger generations are generally disengaged, and to me that is worrying, cause there truly are politicians that want to be in power cause they truly want some kind of dictator type scenario, they want to push their politics, their hate... because, they feel others aren't equal to them. It also seems this neo-liberal movement has resurfaced and they seem to want to give corporations and the rich more money, and their idea is that... if they give corporations more money, that it'll trickle down into society, but the truth of the matter is, typically when they give corporations more money, and bail them out of whatever crisis, the corporations will cut and run, pulling their investments in whatever endeavor they were meant to create, and give bonuses to their CEO's and shit. The money doesn't trickle down, they basically take it and run... no new jobs created.

We have the tools to change this!

Here is "Activate"!

https://twitch-official.bandcamp.com/track/activate

Databomb: Dystopia For You?

Even though we are getting into a creative space again, we have just released a new album called "Databomb". So, I thought I would touch on a few points about "Databomb". The album took roughly 3 years to make, we started it while we were travelling (which is typically the case when we start albums, we are working on one thing in the studio... then we go travelling and we can't take that current stuff, so we start something new). There were a lot of things that were going on, while this album was being written, first and foremost, the U.S. saw a new President, probably someone who shouldn't be a President, but for some reason the populace voted for him. Within that election cycle, and the campaigning that was going on, Russian hackers exploited social media, in particular Facebook, and used the ads feature, to manipulate the election results, by posting fake news and false ads and statements. There was truly a debate of whether or not the U.S. was going to fall into dystopia. Both potential candidates for the democrats and republicans were highly questionable, and it was either pick, dystopia A or B. Are they truly in a dystopia..? Not sure on that... I don't think they are quite there yet, but it is not looking good for them.

Here is the song "Dystopia For You?"

https://twitch-official.bandcamp.com/track/dystopia-for-you

Studio Diary: Feeling Good About Being Creative!!

(Another excellent evening... inspiration?)

Ye, another evening in the studio, lot's of ideas... making a lot of progress... learning so many things right now! I am feeling good about being creative again! The directions this creativity is going is... well... you'll just have to wait to find out! Doing things this way, I think if I can pull this off, will be the new way of doing things! Exciting!! I'm glad I gave this a bit of time to start, the inspiration is different, and what I thought was gonna go one way, has now changed. Although, it is funny, cause if I had started this sooner, rather than doing it now, things have completely changed... although, I do feel time really is a luxury, so in the future, when something wants to come out, I'll let it, but I am thankful I waited a little bit on this!

A little side note: The other evening I had a dream that the lead singer from Dope Stars Inc. was testing me on my cyberpunk knowledge, cause he figured I was becoming a cyberpunk and I had to pass the test, if I didn't, I wasn't a true cyberpunk. I will tell you, lately I've had various feelings about cyberpunk, and dystopia... but I'm not gonna get into that here (will some of this inspiration bleed into what's coming... we'll see...).