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April 21, 2001
Whoa where did easter vacation go... it started and now it's over.. seems like it flew. We only got to one practice... but we did get everyone to learn their parts for Xero, and we played it all the way through. The recording came out awful though, despite what some people might say (AA) and i think we really should just have the emphasis on playing the songs and THEN going to a studio or something... our equipment just isn't advanced enough to handle a whole band. (Either that or we just don't know what we're doing...)
But the point is that Xero is a song that can be played all the way through now, next time i suppose we should play that some more and then go back to something like The State... that song did sort of work.
We have some new decorations in the garage, some homemade posters with things like "Back when it was cool to listen to music that made you think" on them, as well as a Parental Advisory poster on the ceiling. Chris also built a cabinet for all the recording and mixing equipment, which does actually stand up and hold things, just don't hit it too hard...
--The Dan
April 11, 2001
Ah, easter vacation, at last. As i said to some members of 37th Parallel last night, "mad practices next week." We are hoping to get a lot done in this time, including working on songs like Zero and The Black Wheel. Zero (Xero?) is our main one right now. We're not sure at the moment whether to call it Xero or Zero. Whatever it's called, that's the appropriate title for it. I was reluctant to call it that at first because of the Smashing Pumpkins... but then again, it's my song and i'll do whatever i want with it. Anyone who tries to denounce us by using the Pumpkins big merchandising on that song needs to learn to take things like that less seriouisly. Yeah, i'll probably wear the SP Zero shirt while playing the song, i really don't care. It has nothing to do with that song. "Think for yourself."
I've just come up with another riff for a song yesterday, and a few lines here and there that might go with it. Don't ask me what it's called or anything like that, it's really undeveloped. But if it gets any further i'll keep you updates on its progress.
--The Dan
April 6, 2001
Props props props. Most garage bands have little if any scenery for the stage. Too much of it destroyed the Alice Cooper band... it can be a bad thing and it can be good. I have a large drawing i did that i plan to just kinda stick somewhere on an amp or something... it's based on the picture with the skulls in Distorted Images. It's a random thing, not really your conventional stage prop. I don't want to say that we're getting all flashy with props and stuff, cause we're not. I'd like to have an old tire hanging from the ceiling... that's kinda hard to do right now but it would be nice. Props in our band are basically any peice of junk lying around that we felt like sticking on an amp or hanging from something.
For those of you who have seen me play guitar you will know that i hang a string spider from the tuning board (the string spider website will be up someday... when i have time to work on it) and now that i have the string spider senior i use that too. Why? Why not? Any bunch of junk lying around... those are the props. Not to say that the skull drawing doesn't have deep psychological and philosophical meaning to it, but after all it's not your professional prop.
Enough about that... get back to the important stuff, the music. Um and one other thing.. Chris.. the site IS working... see here it is.. you're looking at it... anyway... Yeah it's a good idea to let everyone have their say in a song, but suggestions of course are needed. Personally i think Chris can write the catchy melody, the rhythmic tune much better than i can. My chord pattern tend to follow one rhythm with straight strumming.. gotta work on that. I did come up with a nice little riff for The Black Wheel but his are still better. I have no idea about drumming so i let Tom do whatever he wants and then just follow that for now... unless i want it faster or slower or something. And John plays what we give him or what he think will fit. I think he'll be much better off when we get our own songs with keyboard parts instead of trying to work in a keyboard to Nirvana and Green Day covers.
I should make a Black Wheel prop... that would be so cheesy to have an actual black wheel wouldn't it... so mine is gonna have to have some kind of twisted dimension to it. Art and music, they go great together, just as long as one doesn't drown out the other.. actually since this is a band the music should definately be more prevelant.
--The Dan
April 5, 2001
Hey, cool, a diary. I guess for now Dan and I are the only ones writing in this, until we get this page running and open it to the rest of the band to put their own stuff on...but that will happen soon. I think right now we need to seriously start preforming. We have our 2 and a half drumsets, acess to all the amps we need, a PA system with 3 mics, our guitars and basses and keyboards...now we need to get in the garage and start getting some of our own stuff together. I've got music for Zero, Irl, and then a few other pieces of melodies lying around. Zero and Irl and the stuff we already did, I think was a mistake. If there's one thing I don't want to do, its to make myself everyone else and write their parts out. Irl, it was 2am, I was on a roll...but I greatly encourage the rest of the band to NOT play what I wrote...stick to the basic stuff, but change it drastically. Everyone has to put their own feelings into a song. I'm trying to stick with my scattered melodies because that's where everyone steps in and makes it a song. So...that's what we gotta do. Get in the garage, someone plays an idea, and in a few practice sessions we've got a song. If I'm bored I'll take the time to write it down on staff paper so we remember what to play next time. That's all I gotta say. This summer, we'll find some places to perform, and we're gonna be awesome I think.
--Chris
April 4, 2001
This is the first entry here so don't expect too much. Right now 37th Parallel hasn't practiced together in a while due to massive school work and demanding schedules. Easter break is on the horizon, however, so we hope to get some stuff done then. What we really want to do is get some of our own original songs down. There's a song called Zero (music by Chris and lyrics by Dan) that me and Chris can play that we'd like to play with everyone. It sounds like a single. I'll get back to you when i have time to tell you more about it.
--The Dan
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