Follow the yellow donkey

Music and a rant

2005-02-17T00:52:00.000+08:00

Here ya'll go, here's the song I helped Ian record on my MRS-4. I left in a little of the first take that went wrong cos it sounded kinda cool.
IanSong<--click

Just the other day I was shopping around the major guitar shops looking for a delay/looper. Been wanting to get one for some echo effects and also to use as a looper so I can play some riffs and jam over them.

Right now im looking at this:

line6 DL4 Delay modeler

Not sure how much it costs. I think should be able to get at City Music for under $400. Gonna go there next week to try it out first though, see if it has everything I want, and if it's worth buying.

So anyway as I was making my last stop at one of the guitar shops, I saw a kid with his dad I think just finish purchasing a Fender. Urgh.

There are reasons why I don't play Fender or Gibson or Ibanez or ESP.
1) All the rich kids are buying them
2) They are everywhere, so boring
3) They are not value for money. You are spending more $$ on the brand name than anything (usually)
4) This is the main thing: I enjoy being able to pull out good sounds out of something people would consider second rate. I enjoy being different.

Anyway, they were chatting and talking about the kid owning a Gibson too. Wtf does a 16 year old need a Gibson and a Fender for? I would love to watch him play. Maybe he's a really talented kid and needs the different tones from those 2 guitars.
More likely he's just a rich kid who's dad is willing to spend $4k on a guitar so his kid can go on stage and play 3 barre chords. Whoopie!

You see em all the time. People on stage playing Ibanez Jems with a floyd rose bridge and evolution pickups or whatnot and they are playing only barre chords. But I guess thats Singapore for you. Where people buy Ferraris and drive at 110km/h.

Nevermind. Let them splurge on their expensive toys. I'll stick with the school that says its more important to play well on bad equipment than sound like crap on expensive ones.

Oh yeah, sidelining a little, I did this with Macromedia Fireworks recently:

heh its the hall 10 jam band.

Wasn't that tough. I'm starting to have a favourite Fireworks effect heh.

Ok anyway i've run out of thoughts and my brain is cramping up so i'm off to bed.

Unvealing the secret

2005-02-15T14:15:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was Valentine's day. Guess what i've been up to.

Ian was recording 2 songs for his gf.

I gave him a hand.

The face of a sound engineer hard at work.

Also, on my part, I did this:

Hmm can see what it is?

paper roses

I took these shots at night with the table lamp nearby. Nice effect.

I may get around to posting the songs later.

Are you prepared against zombie attacks?

2005-02-07T11:09:00.000+08:00

Well you better be. This is research and information done in America but it would be wise to get one of those zombie protection systems here too.
Zombie warning system

Consider these sobering facts!
1. Ninety-five percent of Americans live within two miles of a cemetery or mortuary.

2. Most Americans use and value their brains -- the natural food of zombies.

3. Ninety percent of zombie related fatalities occur in the home.

4. The only proven defense against zombie attack is an effective early warning system.

NTU Jam Fest 2005

2005-02-03T21:26:00.000+08:00

Nothing is ever perfect is it? But it can come darn close.

The date: February 1st, 2005. The people: Hall 10 Jam band Ruishen (me), Ian, Renquan, Freddy and Daniel. The location: Hall 15 function hall. The event: Jam Fest 2005, organized by hall 15 featuring almost all the Jam Bands in NTU.

So there we were at about 8pm, watching the bands that didn’t turn up the previous day use the performance time to do their sound check. Bah. I set my guitar aside and went to check out the babes.

No wait, scratch that. The last girl wasn’t there.

Ok. So anyway once the show started, IAN AND I (stupid MS Word and its “’me and Ian’-isn’t-correct-I’m-gonna- underline-it-in-GREEN”) planted our butts near the front of the stage. Some bands were great. Some bands sucked. Some had vocalists that sound superb. Some had vocalists that sound like Ashley Simpson on a good day.

We started to notice that most of the bands weren’t playing the supposedly 2 songs per band. Some played 3, one even played 4. So Daniel came along and we all decided fuck it, we’re gonna play our 3 songs too. (Previously we were going to only play 2).

The CAC band was rocking the crowd with their great vocalist with a nice voice and a nicer skirt while we played imaginary guitar lines behind the stage to warm up. Yes we knew the CAC band was good, but I wasn’t bothered. From what we have seen, our band puts out enough energy to rock with some of the best in NTU.

Onstage and plugged in, Ian begun the chords to Zombie. I twiddled my fingers a little and played the first 3 notes I had worked out for the intro. Then I somehow managed to play another 7 notes completely out of tune. I imagined the crowd throwing tomatoes at me and Daniel coming over to choke me with the microphone cable.

Like any other computer engineer I proceeded to pretend that it was the equipment failure. Yeah right, like that ever works. Anyway I finished pretending to tweak the settings, smiled and nodded to Ian and we finished off the song. Not bad, we got through.

We finished off Johnny b. Goode well too, and everything was great. The energy, the crowd, everything. YAY!

Rockin’ in the Free World was, as usual, a superb song to play. If you’ve never been on stage, playing or singing a song, you really should try it. The feeling when you completely lose yourself in the song, when you are totally unaware of the audience, and not even thinking of the song, just letting everything flow through you is, well, GREAT!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot halfway through one of these songs, Freddy’s crash cymbal fell off. It was bloody funny. Check out the pic below.
It was a great night. If anything, we were the loudest band there. Freddy is the bloody loudest drummer in NTU. Renquan’s cool bass lines always manage to sound huge. Ian and I decided to fuck it and turn up our amps above recommended settings. And Daniel’s voice somehow manages to cut through despite all of us being loud. Ahh bliss.

I leave you now with a few more pics. Till next time folks!

CRASH!

...

Me

Ian

Freddy

renquan

And a mix

Slept at 4am

2005-01-29T10:52:00.000+08:00

Went for this thing organised by my hall last night. We left on busses and headed to some place in bukit timah for supper. Then went for a movie. Then for another supper.

I haven't been to such a huge gathering of gossipers in a long LONG time. Sitting at the back of the bus it was like...

didyouhearboutwholikeswhowhatwherewhen
howwhyratatatatatblahblahmachinegun!!

And freddy was...

haha!

Who's freddy? The drummer of my band. We rocked hall 5 and hall 9! Slowly touring NTU and gaining recognition!

You've already seen Cherie, but today I introduce to you the rest of the band:

Ian on guitar!

Freddy the drummer!

Renquan the bass god!

Daniel the invisible! (or I-dun-have-a-picture-of-him)

Saruman on backup guitar!

John Kerry on acoustic!

Kerry King on bagpipes!

And some old lady who wanted to join in!

Do some charity

2005-01-26T01:50:00.000+08:00

Go out there and do some! Like for this poor guy here

.

But anyway.

I've got this performance coming up on the 5th of Feb at Toa Payoh HDB hub. Just get off the MRT at toa payoh and follow all the noise.

Oh its for this charity event called Love Bites, organised by my hall. There are those little cute shops selling everything there. Kinda like a pasar malam. So come down if you free yeah.

Busy Busy Busy!!

2005-01-24T17:28:00.000+08:00

Got lots of work to do!

Rehearsals, peformances, labs to do, tutorials... Argh!

But here are some pics I talked about.

My hall's super cool drummer Cherie. Punk rock chick who's my height!
But check her out in the cheerleading get up hahaha

First up

Cherie the drummer

Cherie with her drumsticks

Cherie the guitarist

can see the mini mohawk?

Erm...

Cherie the questionably sane

...

And now...

Cherie the cheerleader!

haha!

and up to her usual antics

heheh.

Sweet little thing

2005-01-20T01:05:00.000+08:00

I just recorded a little thing i've been working on for quite a bit.

Its probably gonna be a prelude sorta thing to another song.

Have a listen yeah?

Clicky here

Ladies and gentlemen

2005-01-18T01:27:00.000+08:00

Have you read the newspaper?

See there's this great article

About a boy and a lovely girl.

Which reminds me of a story, that would put your head in a whirl.

There once was a man with a desire

To play Jimi's guitar while on fire

He went on the net, and would later regret. For he suffered l337 H4x0r ire.

Of his computer the man would soon tire.

He swallowed a bottle of vodka

And another.

Just when he thought, he couldn't get any higher.

He got some more kicks, from a cheapo hair dryer.

END

Musician Jokes

2005-01-16T22:46:00.000+08:00

How do you get a guitar player to turn it down?
Put sheet music in front of him.
How do you get him to stop playing?
Put notes on it.

A blues band is live, the singer sings the first two verses and realizes that he has forgotten the third. The guitarist sees the problem and starts long solo.
The singer goes the him and asks: "What was the third verse?".
"Don't know man, go ask the keyboardist".
He does, but the guy says: "I thought you should know your lyrics!".
The singer goes to the bassist: "What's the third verse?".
"See man, I'm just doing my scale, ask the drummer".
The singer does, the drummer gives him a black stare for a moment and then says: "Which song are we playing?"

A band is playing. The thoughts of the players:
The Guitarist: "Yeah, scream for me people, this lead if to become a rock history soon."
The Drummer: "See my speed, see my beat? Mike Portnoy, you can learn from me, boy."
The Keyboardist: "I'm the backbone of this band. Without me, these would be just a bunch of guys making noise. Now we're making music."
The Bassist: "A, A, F#, E, A, A..."

A conductor is trying to get his orchestra to play a song right. But a violinist keeps playing some wrong notes.
Frustrated he shouts "When a musician can't play 4 strings properly we give him 2 sticks and get him to play the drums"
In the back the drummer whispers "And when he still can't play properly we take away one of those sticks and make him the conductor."

Safari Jim is walking through deepest, darkest Africa with his trusted quide. Off in the distance they hear the drums 'boom ba-bum, boom ba-bum".
Jim, wildeyed, looks to the guide, who reassures him, "Drums good. Drums stop, bad."
This goes on for hours and hours.Finally, late at night, they hear 'boom ba-bum, boom ba-bum, boom............" silence!
Jim is really stressing. "What do we do? You said 'drums stop, bad"
The guide answers "Yes, drums stop, bad. Now comes bass solo"

Guy buys himself a bass & signs up for lessons. His first lesson is to practice playing the E string up to the fifth fret. His second lesson is to do the same on the A string. Guy calls his instructor the night before his third lesson.
"Sorry, man, I can't make it to my lesson tomorrow."
"Why not? Are you sick?"
"No, man, I got a gig."

Heh those of you not in a band or into this kind of stuff may find you don't get the jokes. But they are bloody funny if you do get them bwahaha.

Bring out the buckets

2005-01-14T01:38:00.000+08:00

Once again, I've been asked to do shitty music. This time is Simple Plan's Addicted to you.

I told them there are 3 options.

1) They can play with me sitting out that song
2) They can put a bucket on stage so I can puke
3) I'll get a cheap amp and a cheap guitar and when they start the song I'll smash both of 'em and throw them into the audience.

Weeeeeeee

On another note, today was my hall's cheerleading competition. Cherie was in there. Cherie the hot drummer from my hall band, the punk gal, the girl with the mohawks, in a cheerleading dress. It was bloody hilarious, I'll post some pics when I have the chance.

That said, Cherie is one awesome and cool gal and was kinda forced into joining the cheerleading thing. Sucks to be too nice sometimes.

Harder than I thought

2005-01-12T23:51:00.000+08:00

Spent the whole day hearing Johnny b goode in my mind. I had a lot of very cool lead lines and riffs in my head.

But when I finally got to my guitar and set there, it was so bloody hard putting what I had imagined into reality.

Every time I played a note, the track in my head would disappear, and I had to stop playing and slowly listen to myself again. Took me a couple of hours before I was satisfied with some stuff. It isn't exactly what I had in my mind, but its cool nonetheless.

Haven't decided which slide I'm gonna use. I've got a couple that I made.

OOoo how about a show and tell. Here's how I made my metal slides.

First you get a pipe or two of your chosen material. Try to get something dense and heavy. Here I'm using copper and stainless steel which isn't ideal. Best to get brass or bronze.

Top: copper pipe. Middle: stainless steal pipe. Bottom: dunlop chrome slide

You'll need a pipe cutter like this one.

Doesn't matter what colour it is

Mark out the length you like. I'm using my dunlop chrome slide for reference, I like its length.

You can use a marker or a gel pen.

Now you place the cutter over the marking, tighten the cutter around the pipe, then start rotating the cutter around the pipe.

After every 2-3 rotations, tighten the cutter a little more.

If the material is fairly maellable don't tighten the thing too fast!

Or something like this may happen. urgh.

After the pipe is cut you may want to smoothen the inside of the slide. Yes its a slide now. Most pipe cutters come with a deburring tool on the inside.

It's the triangle shaped thing.

And you're done. Here are mine.

From left: Dunlop chrome slide, stainless steel slide, copper slide, bottleneck.

The bottleneck was made from the top of a wine bottle. Didn't take any pictures of the process sadly.

Rock n Roll

2005-01-11T01:23:00.000+08:00

Cool, we finally found a genre the whole band is fairly interested in.

We gonna play good old fashioned Rock n Roll! Johnny b good, Hound Dog, Heartbreak Hotel, stuff like that. Which is kinda fun too.

Think its time I took out my slide onto stage. Gotta go try this shit out!

But first, urgh, 3 tutorials tommorrow. So I'm busy busy tonight. URGH!

Recording woes...

2005-01-09T22:40:00.000+08:00

Wanted to record some stuff but getting lots of problems.

Most of my recording stuff is in school now as I'm finding I don't get much chance to do it at home.

So now,

Forgot to my headphones. Going through the computer speakers sounds shitty, I have no idea how it would turn out.

Guitar strings are rusty. They are buzzing and I can't play slide on them at all, too scratchy.

Forgot my card reader. So even if i record anything, I can't upload them into my laptop.

Oh well. Hopefully I'll settle all these problems by next week. Then maybe can share some of my recordings online.

On another note, you people out there should really go sign up for the national library premium membership! Its so cool.

Go to esplanade library and check out their huge collection of DVDs, VCDs, CDs, Tapes etc. Tons and tons of awesome concerts and old movies. Definetely worth the $21 a year membership.

I feel I could just explode

2005-01-07T17:58:00.000+08:00

My hall band's bassist just told me he didn't know those songs I sent him were punk songs. He thinks sum 41 and blink 182 is what punk sounds like.

I feel like someone just told me Bond and Vanessa Mae is classical music and not Mozart and Bach.

I feel like someone just told me Norah Jones and Jamie Cullumn is Jazz and not Miles Davis and Django Reinhardt.

I feel I could just explode.

To keep me from exploding I shall look at this:

Muahahaa

Ok I feel better.

Old school punk

2005-01-06T19:51:00.000+08:00

I rediscovered my love for old school punk all over again.

See there's an upcoming gig and me and the other guitarist in my band were going through some of my CDs to see if there's anything simple and nice that we could play. So I brought my The Misfits CD and a CD compilation of old school punk called Loud Proud and Punk. This I bought when I was in london for like 5 pounds.

Anyway its very sad that lots of the newer generation, including mine, think that bands like blink 182, or sum 41 is punk. Urgh. Pop punk is a commercial piece of shit. I dunno what other name you could call it but its most definetely not punk.

The punk movement was against commercialism, against authority, against sheep mentality. It was to promote freedom of speech and rebellion.

Punk pop is about... Well nothing. Making money, selling records, getting famous.

I recommend so called 'punk lovers' to check out the old bands like The Jam, Sham 69, The Clash, Dead Kennedys, The Misfits and most definetely, The Sex Pistols.

These are the bands that give the middle finger to media, to high tech studio recording, to commercialism. This is punk.

The story of DBG

2005-01-04T23:45:00.000+08:00

Went for my first jog in 6 months. Wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. Guess im still in quite good shape.

How about a story before I go to sleep eh? I've got lots. Have been fucked over by people throughout my life, that's what you get for being honest. Still gonna carry on doing what I feel is right though. Aint gonna do what all the weasels you see in life are doing. But that's a topic for another day.

Let's see. I'll start with the latest addition to my collection of rage-inspiring events. I shall call it,
THE STORY OF DBG.

I shan't explain what DBG stands for, but if you email me I might consider explaining.

Truth be told, I've only known this girl for less than 6 months, about since school started. School was hell at the start, mainly because I had to take this subject called Data Structures. We were supposed to learn data structures using Java, and I had no knowledge of Java. Its like learning to write japanese history books with no knowledge in japanese.

I've had some experience with basic C programming but that wasn't gonna help much. So my first lab was very amusing. I spent the whole hour staring at my empty computer screen.

Like this

Anyway long story short, I managed to catch up on my work after about 3-4 weeks by simultaneosly digesting the basic java textbook while trying to grasp what the fuck data structures is about.

So with my own problems solved, being a nice guy of sorts, I looked to see if anyone needed any help with my stronger subjects. Well DBG was in my class, and was needing some help with some of her work. I begun helping her and another girl with their Java programming (Yes I ended up being quite freakin' good at it).

We would spend a couple of days after school each week sorting out the bugs in their programs and trying to help them understand the flow of my program or why their flow may be wrong. The module was a killer, requiring a program to be handed up each week. So basically this went on for all of the last few weeks of the school term.

Within 1-2 weeks before the exam, lots of people started to panic. Most of them have not even grasped all of the concepts of all the subjects, let alone begun to revise or do the past year papers. Me being me, offered that we form a study group and we could do the past year papers together. If they did not understand anything, or couldn't do the question, I could help them solve it. Why do I offer to do this? Because on one hand I've got a lazy ass that wouldn't study on it's own, and on the other, by teaching them, it helps in my understanding too. Which is what I told them when they asked me why Im so nice too.

The week or two before the exam was bloody hectic. We would study right after school till 8-9pm, da paoing our dinner to our study desk. Then we'd go back to our hall, have a nap or something, then meet again around 10 or 11pm and study till 3-4am. It was madness. I've never studied so bloody hard before. Some of the other girls (did I mention there were other girls?) sometimes don't turn up for the sessions, but usually DBG was always there.

Basically we were totally focusing on the killer subject, electronics principles. I looked through the past year papers and deduced that there were only a couple of types of questions that come out every year. So we spent night after night, hour after hour just doing electronic principles papers. I must have spent 70% of all my study time studying that subject.

Halfway through our study week, we got back our results for our Java lab. The two girls and I had A's and distinctions for most of the labs. I wasn't as happy as I could have been though.

Why?

Throughout the times I have been helping the two girls with their programs, I often have been thanked by the other girl. But not DBG. I thought maybe she would thank me once she gets her results. But no such luck. Oh well, maybe she's too stressed about the coming exams to think about thanking me eh?

So the electronic principles exam begins. BLOODY HELL. The big question we had been preparing night after night after night after hour after hour after hour DID NOT COME OUT. WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK. Instead, we were asked a couple of mundane questions on diodes and such. Which had never came out in the last 6 years. Weird shit.

ANYWAY. After this paper, DBG basically has been giving me the cold shoulder and all. The chatty, fun girl suddenly turned into this cold thing. Maybe it sounds kinda mundane here but to me it was pretty fucked up. You think you're friends with someone, planning outings after our exams, helping her with all her questions, etc. And she pulls this. Argh.

Fuck it. Not like this type of thing hasn't happened before. Nothing new. Have seen her in school again now that the term has started. Bloody hope she's not in my tutorial or lab class. Urgh.

Why the fuck do i help people like her? I guess I believe there are people out there who would actually appreciate what I have done for them. I fucking spent hours after school helping them with work I had already completed. My belief has always been that if I help people out, some way or other, help will come to me. Karma and all that yes?

To the other girl, if you know who you are. I know you're a nice girl, and I know you appreciate my help. If you need more help this term, I still welcome you.

To DBG, you are a spoilt little girl. You think I purposely made you all study those topics for fun? You think it's my fault a stupid shit test came out? You gonna take out your frustration over time wasted studying useless information on me? Well you can piss off then. No help will come to you until you learn to appreciate what the people surrounding you are doing for you. People may not know what is best. People may not know the future. But at least thank them for trying.

This has been longer than I expected. And rereading it I think I kinda look petty. But you ain't in my shoes and I ain't got the prowess in English to put you in 'em. So fuck it, if you understand how I feel, good. Otherwise I don't give a shit anyway.

Gear Pictures

2005-01-03T23:51:00.000+08:00

Time to show off my gear. I managed to get most of my stuff on camera so.

Yamaha acoustic

Yamaha superstrat

another shot of her

nameless strat copy

heh

Yamaha bass

what a beauty

family shot

Vox overdrive

Boss DS-1 distortion

Trace Elliot Brat

This dude is custom shop and out of production. Sweet tones.

Korg Ampworks for amp simulation and direct recording

where i do my recording, Zoom MRS-4

$50 micro micro micro amp for real quiet practice (has awesome tone with headphones)

Hohner Marine Band harmonica

my slide family

Start of a new yeeee ear

2005-01-03T23:49:00.000+08:00

I'd like to share a little thing my good bud Shura the Law wrote to draw closure to 2004. Here goes it, enjoy.

'Tis the end of the year oh'four, when democracy's been fucked like a whore. In which lies and hypocrisy had their field day, and King stupid's here to stay. Put away your books, you fools! Because MTV's here to rule! Heads rolled like balls, you see, at Allah's mighty decree. Children had lead for meals and shrapnel for presents, thanks to Jesus's own president. Don't know how many are dying from starvation, but its good to know that they're feeding corporate ambitions. Oil, bubbling from deep below, has proven to be more precious than blood, you know? Dearer still than truth, truly a commodity of little worth. Heroes died this year, my friends, one whom steel with his hands could bend. Over a tall building with a single bound, outside the screen a wheelchair was found. Another in life fought a criminal nation, a flag upon which the star of David was emblazoned. And to top it off, oh mighty Thor, with your hammer, you smote Asia raw! Oh wait, you exist no more - wonder which god we'll praise this for? A mighty fine year, esteemed and gentle madames and sirs. My testimonial's incomplete, for certain, but I'm only flesh and blood, thy physical brethren. So forgive my ineptitude, one and all, and we'll laugh and be merry at sweet, sweet oh'four!