Friday, January 22, 2010

A little bit of the old Q & A...

I pulled this question below from the comments section of a previous post. If any of you have more questions leave them in the comments (or email me) and I'll do the same.

What approach are you taking on the new album? Are you going for a more Thrash approach? Or will it be more Speed/Traditional Metal? If it's one or the other, do you think you'll do another style to keep your discography a little diversified?

Those are all good questions. But I don't really approach writing a song or a record like that. It's just not the way I think about it as far whether it's more "thrash" or "traditional", etc. All of that labeling of things makes for very narrow thinking and limits the possibilities when you're in the writing process. You can't really think like that and it never really enters my mind. Some of the songs are a bit faster on this record than on Closing In but the approach hasn't really changed. I write a shit ton of riffs that are then compiled and structured into songs. Some riffs are immediate keepers because I'll get very specific ideas of how they'll work with certain vocal patterns. My main concern when writing a song is whether or not I see a potential hook in it somewhere early on in the process, a hook that I personally like and will be stoked to hear for years on end every time the song is played. That's really the only thing I'm thinking about and to me the most important element in writing a song. I don't think enough song writers pay attention to that in heavy music. If the vocals and the riffs don't have some kind of unique magic happening between them the song is going to be shit no matter how good any of the parts are or the individual playing might be. So rather than looking at things in terms of traditional or thrashy or whatever, I think the key is writing a good song and that's my main concern when approaching a recording. You'll hopefully see what I'm talking about when the record comes out. Hope that answers your question at least somewhat. Later!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Kid, let me tell ya 'bout NAMM...

I went to the NAMM music conference on Saturday. The above pic is from the Jackson Guitars booth where I'm joined by Brian and Chris, the good dudes from team Jackson. They had the actual Randy Rhoads guitar on display (yes, the real one, as in the one he played) in a glass case which was epic. I was only at NAMM for a few hours but I did get to check out a few different new pieces of gear which was really cool and was able to avoid the large contingency of major freaks that lurk around that place for days on end, and believe me there were plenty of them. Okay, gotta run. Later!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Back In Action

Hello world. I hope the new year is treating you all well. The Whiplash blog crashed hard and went offline at some point over the past few weeks and we lost all of our content from the past year which is a bummer. In an attempt to keep things fresh I've decided to switch up the format quite a bit as far as content goes. I had a few different people other than myself writing for the blog over the past year which on one hand was really cool but on the other made it somewhat confusing and the topics were all over the place. So now I'm going to simplify things. From here on out it'll be only yours truly posting. I like to keep a dialogue going with all of the amazing and interesting Early Man fans that I've met throughout the years and will continue to meet in the future. So feel free to contact me through this site or by leaving comments, I'll do my best to reply. Thanks!

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