Approaching week 6 of this run.
Some more recent thoughts:
-Inspiration is earned. It’s not just a bolt of lightning that hits you randomly. You need input to have output. I used to think I didn’t need that. Wrong.
-I often times dwell inside of an abstract idea of what something is or should be. I have always had a hard time materializing or verbalizing creative/visual ideas which makes it hard for other people around me to know what the fuck I’m getting at. So I go search the internet and it takes me 3 months to find a reference that I feel like I’m settling for. I think the only solution to actually getting ideas out is to learn how to do everything so I don’t have to explain it, I can just do it. Whatever it is. Idk. Not me googling “how to learn everything fast” type shit
-I cannot do anything productive at all if I am on tour. I am unwilling to give up my time. I have to fix that. I’ve never written one good riff while on tour. I think no one has ever.
-I need to always live somewhere where it is warm. If I become rich I will never experience winter because I’ll have 3 houses in different parts of the world to avoid the cold forever.
Pretty much all photos by @mattguajardo
The first @peureverything song is out now
Link to the music video is in my bio
Mixed by @lanceprenc
Drums tracked by @brodytaylorsmith
Video by @mattguajardo
Artwork by @tiltshift.vis
It’s been over 10 years since I have written and released anything that wasn’t invent and I took this as an opportunity to kinda just let it out. I have never really limited myself when writing invent songs, but I do have an idea of what invent sounds, feels, and looks like. So going into this I just sorta let all of that go and this was one of the first songs that I spit out. I still have to figure out how to not feel like I’m cheating on invent with someone else but I’ll work that out emotionally.
It’s definitely been interesting for me to jump into a different creative setting, start from scratch, pick a name, create a vibe, and make a real band… again.
When @benjaminn4l came to me a while back asking if I wanted to do it again, I was honestly super hesitant because of that process. We have known each other and played shows together since I was literally 13-14 in projects I would never ever let the world see. But here we are again, 15 years later, so old, and still doin it.
Go give it a rip. It’s very stupid, heavy, hard to follow, somewhat pretty, and there’s bug noises on guitar.
News flash:
We’re playing Cloud Cascade on the upcoming Bloom in Heaven tour. Go grab some tickets.
In other news:
I have been trying to remove “uhh..” and “umm..” from my vocabulary and It’s not working
Chopped my hair off
My cholesterol is still a little high and I think it’s from daily espresso… but there’s only one study on it and coffee enjoyers refuse it admit there’s a connection. I will be my own case study. Paper filters apparently reduce the cholesterol raising stuff in coffee to near zero so only filters now.
I’m going on tour for 2 months and I bought a few things I think will improve my life a little:
-large nail clippers so I don’t have to use the
little ones for my toe nails
-a shower caddy so I can hang my shampoo/soap instead of struggling to find somewhere to put it in the venue shower
-shower sandals with holes in the bottoms for water to drain out so my sandals don’t make that squishy sound
-3 pairs of deodorant so that it is available to me at all times
-a new brush because I chopped my hair off and if I don’t brush it back after I shower I look like a european serial killer
-a new toiletry bag, I have had the same one for literally 10 years. the zippers broke a long time ago and I’ve just been dealing with it for some reason
-12 pairs of black socks
-the new OXO rapid brewer for epic (FILTERED) coffee soup
-this segment is sponsored by amazon
If I’m missing anything important please remind me
It’s been a while
Here’s another riff in 3/4 because I straight up cannot write a riff that’s not 3/4 I guess. Excuse my NASTY hunch.
Drop E but the low E is tuned up to a G
@officialibanezguitars as always with some @gorillapickups that I have been really really enjoying
I started working out with the goal of gaining a little bit of weight and not letting my body whither away. I was eating literally anything and everything because if I don’t eat literally 3000 calories I don’t gain weight at all. After doing that for like 3 months I went to the doctor and she told me my cholesterol had gone up a good bit really quickly. Not to dangerous or even “high” levels but it still scared me so now I’m trying to gain weight while also on a relatively low fat diet. It sucks.
I also just turned 29. I have a method of measuring how I’m doing and I call it the backflip method™. Once or year or so I will see if I can still do a backflip as some sort of proof that I’m not actually old and maybe dying or something. I can still do one.
Writing music has been a challenge because I have developed some disorder that thinks everything has to be literally perfect and goated or else we’re cooked. Also it’s probably just because I never want to have to wait tables again and if our album sucks… well… can I interest you in our specials…
I’m feeling pretty good. Maybe…. very good.
We’re taking a big ass tour break after this so I decided I am going to buy an entire new desk for writing. I’m replacing all of it. I need something I’m excited to sit down at and be more creativer than fuck. I want the desk to make me better at guitar somehow and for my new Dell™️ ultra wide monitor to let me see what’s best for me. Or I wanna buy a lamp that lights the room in a way that I accidentally write an indie song and get kicked out for “creative differences”.
This whole thing feels like a desperate attempt to make myself feel better and more attached to music because I don’t feel particularly inspired. But if it’s good and the best songs ever happen, it was the desk. Maybe it was always the desk.
Anyways
@_realmc took all these good pics of me. They’re very sick and gave me a good backdrop to tell you a story about a desk. I don’t know the people in the last slide but it’s funny.
Rock on… lol
There comes a point somewhere towards the middle of whatever run we’re doing where I start to feel simply…okay.
I wouldn’t say that is necessarily good or bad, just remarkably neutral. It’s a battle between enjoying being with my friends, playing fun shows and the want to go home. But neither really wins. So I just kinda drink coffee, float around, play the show, eat, and say some words to people.
There’s definitely a bleak feeling to it. BUT the best way I can describe it is it feels like rainy day, but the good kind where you accept that you can’t really do anything. But it’s fine. Read a book, lay in your bed, watch 7 or 8 videos with no ads on YouTube Premium™, play 6 hours of rocket league, or whatever you feel like you deserve. Do you know what I mean…..
Photos @mattguajardo
Here’s another riff I’ve been sitting on for a little while.
a little back story to how we got here:
Trey and I love to claim we created a particular chug. (probably didn’t) it’s the saddest yet heaviest chug that there is and I’m not even capping. The Invent Chug™️. We initially used it on an old song called Luna, and eventually used it on like 10 other songs. HOWEVER, there are some drawbacks to this chug.
The big “problem” is that the low string rests on the 3rd fret, and if you’re using it like we do, the 0 no longer sounds particularly pleasant. So it sorta locks you into writing a certain way. Everyone knows we love to do riffs with opens between tricky moments and that’s sorta taken away from you if you want to maintain the feel.
So I started messing around and decided I would just move my low string 3 steps up to have auto Invent Chug™️ initiated. After doing this I noticed a lot of the higher strings sounded good as opens, so I abused it and here we are. I’ll probably never use this tuning because I don’t feel like tuning live. That’s it. That’s why.
If you are smart, efficient, talented, and know theory, I’m sorry you had to read this.
If you, like me, don’t know shit about anything at all, I’m glad we can communicate here in this over convoluted way. Maybe it’s the best way.
Hey, quick question:
Do any of you remember going on Reddit and Twitter and YouTube or DMing me or commenting on my posts or maybe coming up to me at shows or running after me in public screaming and threatening me about tabs for the last 2 years? Do you remember that? Do you remember googling our tabs and finding bootleg tabs and going on the internet and playing it wrong but I was too nice to say anything?
I do.
You can get our tabs via @sheethappenspublishing now. The link is in my bio.
Shot by @mattguajardo
So we finally filmed some guitar playthroughs.
Here’s a bit of honesty:
For the longest time, I never saw myself as being a guitar guy or whatever. I love to write music and I love tech-y stuff or whatever, I just did not consume or care too much about guitar related content. The result was a band that sorta required content that I didn’t care to put out lol. I never bought anyone’s tabs or watched anyone’s playthroughs I literally just wanted to write cool songs. None of the other stuff really mattered.
HOWEVER, I do think that has changed a good bit over the last few years. I’m starting to love guitar in the way I assume you fuckin nerds do. So let’s pipe it up do some videos do some tabs do a tappy and baooowww ree pataaoooow.
Couple side notes:
I know this song is relatively boring, but @mattguajardo made it a pleasant viewing experience.
I’m also uploading a reel in a VERY wide format, another no-no for the algorithm. We’ll see how that goes.
28 years old today.
We have an off day in Seattle so we’re going on a small coffee run around the city.
Ubers were 30+ dollars everywhere so we rented a car since it will literally be cheaper.
When I got to the rental counter the lady told me I would be getting a minivan. I was kinda persistent about not getting a minivan and also not paying more money for something else. She told me I was making her eye twitch in frustration. Specifically said “You’re making my eye twitch kid.” Ended up giving us a dodge charger. Hardly an upgrade.
Upcoming:
-write a shit ton of music until something makes sense
-get a dope LOOONNG guitar built
-get a pick up company
-drink coffee
-figure out how to look cool on stage while playing without a whisper live
-play rocket league
-uhhhhhh….
-maybe move out of my home town
-maybe work out probably not
I’ve probably said these things before but it’s a reminder to myself.
Also to explain the last photo me and Brody both finished all of our oatmeal.
Photos by @mattguajardo
I didn’t really have a plan for the caption of this post. But @mattguajardo and @_realmc have gotten some good ass photos of me so I’m gonna figure out something. (Tagged in their respective photos)
So here’s some thoughts from the last few weeks.
I’m almost 28. Feels old but not quite 30 old. I really want tattoos but I feel like it’s almost too late for some reason. Also I like very specific styles that aren’t available to me/cost 1 million per hour, Maybe I’ll never get one.
I have a deep fear of blowing it on the next record. I want to step out of the box in every direction but stay very honest. I’m so inspired by so many artists that have nothing to do with my metal ass band and I really want to find a way to meld it all. My biggest fear is that we write Heavener 2 and I have peaked and my brain is degrading so we’ll never become sicker. Or I’ll try so hard to make it different that it sucks. Can’t tell which is worse.
I’d really love to move out of my home town and be around creative people. I think that is one of my more immediate goals. Also somehow we still do not have a coffee shop in Beaumont that doesn’t serve 4 month old oiled up ass pawpaw coffee. FUCK.
