Post by kevb on Dec 6, 2008 17:12:04 GMT 1
Hi all, my name's Kevin and I'm 31 and live just out side of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk (UK) and i like to write and record some tunes in my free time.
I grew up in a house where music was always a key feature in every day life. I think mainly because my father was a closet rocker and always wanted to play the guitar. He'd always listen to bands like Cream, The Beatles an other 60's and 70's guitar based stuff. He even had an acoustic kicking about the house but he never got round to learning. I remember picking it up from time to time and tried to get a tune out of it, but always got distracted by my SNES!
Anyways when i was 16 my folks up sticks and moved the family 250 odd miles away from where i grew up so i was left sitting in my room in a new small village, with no friends and nothing to do for a few months before i started college. So i picked up my dads guitar, grabbed his "teach yourself guitar" book and went at it.
During my time at college i hooked up with a good friend who was about 2 months more into learning than i was and we just bounced ideas off each other and learned to play songs together and even performed one evening at the college. We dived straight in and started on stuff by Faith No More and other such bands (Diggin a Grave was always a fave)
After college i entered the work force of the UK and music took a back seat for a while. I never really went anywhere with it nor took it too seriously but i still loved it. I've always been a self confessed "lazy player" and i admit my "technical" knowledge is shockingly poor but i just kept going back to the guitar every day. I found it as a good out let for pent up frustration of every day life.
I then met a guy who was just starting up a band and he basically press ganged me into joining. There were 5 of us and we went under the name of Undersided for a short while. But soon after we had to ditch our drummer and after a quick re-group we became Chango Mutney. We mainly did covers of ska/punk/rock songs but we soon got into writing our own stuff.
I admit i've never been a much of a singer but i have tried to get the idea's and feelings across in my songs.
We played a few high school gigs and soon got noticed and were asked to play at a small Green Peace festival which was great.
But soon there was unrest in the band and after a while we went our own ways and that was that.
I hooked up with a few other musicians for a short while, going by the name of Drudge Road but nothing really happened.
Anyway after a while i thought i would at least re-record my songs and write some new ones (Which would become Forgotten Answers) and during this time i found my way on to myspace. There i met The Deceptionist and was soon drafted into joining GLR!!!
After some encouraging responses i thought i'd release Forgotten Answers as an EP. I admit now that i was maybe trying too many ideas with that EP and it sort of went a bit over-produced!
I then went off the scene for a short while but after a short break i thought i'd get back into things. Problem was my old recording set up which i had used for Forgotten Answers went tits up and left me in a sticky situation of not being able to multi-track and i didn't have the funds to sort it out. So i just went all acoustic, which is why there was such a shift in style between Forgotten Answers and what was to follow.
Now don't get me wrong, i enjoyed playing and recording like this but i never had the chance to put down onto tape exactly what i had in mind for the songs. Sort of like doing the Un-plugged versions before anyone had heard the "plugged" which i found frustrating. So after shelling out a bit of cash on a new recording set up i've started to go back over some of my songs and recording them as i would have wanted (sort of like George Lucas and Star Wars, but without hopefully ruining them totally!) and started going to work on For a Second (Too Late) whilst also recording some new stuff for the album.
But then disaster struck, or should i say carpal tunnel syndrome, which has put everything on hold for now until i get it sorted out.
But anyway, really i just enjoy what i do and i don't take myself too seriously. I write about how i feel and i play as best i can, which isn't always that good. So if people listen then great. If you like it then thats cool, if you hate it then thats fine to. Just remember at least i tried!
My current recording set up is as follows...
Guitar wise i use the following:
Fender DG-5CE - Epiphone Les Paul - Epiphone Special II - Fender Starcaster J Bass.
Fx wise i use the following:
Floor Pod Plus and an old Korg AX1G.
Amps are as follows:
VOX V9158 Pathfinder and a Crate FW65.
Recording is done with a Boss BR600 and then i use Kristal Audio Engine to mix.
I also have a Yamaha PSR-160 - Behringer Eurorack UB1202 FX Mixer and Emagic Micrologic AV Sequencer but i don't use them much.
OH!!! If there are any GLR artists who are in my area (Gt Yarmouth/East side of Norfolk) and are lacking recording Eq...feel free to contact me and we can arrange using my gear if you like.
My myspace page is myspace.com/kevb0444
I grew up in a house where music was always a key feature in every day life. I think mainly because my father was a closet rocker and always wanted to play the guitar. He'd always listen to bands like Cream, The Beatles an other 60's and 70's guitar based stuff. He even had an acoustic kicking about the house but he never got round to learning. I remember picking it up from time to time and tried to get a tune out of it, but always got distracted by my SNES!
Anyways when i was 16 my folks up sticks and moved the family 250 odd miles away from where i grew up so i was left sitting in my room in a new small village, with no friends and nothing to do for a few months before i started college. So i picked up my dads guitar, grabbed his "teach yourself guitar" book and went at it.
During my time at college i hooked up with a good friend who was about 2 months more into learning than i was and we just bounced ideas off each other and learned to play songs together and even performed one evening at the college. We dived straight in and started on stuff by Faith No More and other such bands (Diggin a Grave was always a fave)
After college i entered the work force of the UK and music took a back seat for a while. I never really went anywhere with it nor took it too seriously but i still loved it. I've always been a self confessed "lazy player" and i admit my "technical" knowledge is shockingly poor but i just kept going back to the guitar every day. I found it as a good out let for pent up frustration of every day life.
I then met a guy who was just starting up a band and he basically press ganged me into joining. There were 5 of us and we went under the name of Undersided for a short while. But soon after we had to ditch our drummer and after a quick re-group we became Chango Mutney. We mainly did covers of ska/punk/rock songs but we soon got into writing our own stuff.
I admit i've never been a much of a singer but i have tried to get the idea's and feelings across in my songs.
We played a few high school gigs and soon got noticed and were asked to play at a small Green Peace festival which was great.
But soon there was unrest in the band and after a while we went our own ways and that was that.
I hooked up with a few other musicians for a short while, going by the name of Drudge Road but nothing really happened.
Anyway after a while i thought i would at least re-record my songs and write some new ones (Which would become Forgotten Answers) and during this time i found my way on to myspace. There i met The Deceptionist and was soon drafted into joining GLR!!!
After some encouraging responses i thought i'd release Forgotten Answers as an EP. I admit now that i was maybe trying too many ideas with that EP and it sort of went a bit over-produced!
I then went off the scene for a short while but after a short break i thought i'd get back into things. Problem was my old recording set up which i had used for Forgotten Answers went tits up and left me in a sticky situation of not being able to multi-track and i didn't have the funds to sort it out. So i just went all acoustic, which is why there was such a shift in style between Forgotten Answers and what was to follow.
Now don't get me wrong, i enjoyed playing and recording like this but i never had the chance to put down onto tape exactly what i had in mind for the songs. Sort of like doing the Un-plugged versions before anyone had heard the "plugged" which i found frustrating. So after shelling out a bit of cash on a new recording set up i've started to go back over some of my songs and recording them as i would have wanted (sort of like George Lucas and Star Wars, but without hopefully ruining them totally!) and started going to work on For a Second (Too Late) whilst also recording some new stuff for the album.
But then disaster struck, or should i say carpal tunnel syndrome, which has put everything on hold for now until i get it sorted out.
But anyway, really i just enjoy what i do and i don't take myself too seriously. I write about how i feel and i play as best i can, which isn't always that good. So if people listen then great. If you like it then thats cool, if you hate it then thats fine to. Just remember at least i tried!
My current recording set up is as follows...
Guitar wise i use the following:
Fender DG-5CE - Epiphone Les Paul - Epiphone Special II - Fender Starcaster J Bass.
Fx wise i use the following:
Floor Pod Plus and an old Korg AX1G.
Amps are as follows:
VOX V9158 Pathfinder and a Crate FW65.
Recording is done with a Boss BR600 and then i use Kristal Audio Engine to mix.
I also have a Yamaha PSR-160 - Behringer Eurorack UB1202 FX Mixer and Emagic Micrologic AV Sequencer but i don't use them much.
OH!!! If there are any GLR artists who are in my area (Gt Yarmouth/East side of Norfolk) and are lacking recording Eq...feel free to contact me and we can arrange using my gear if you like.
My myspace page is myspace.com/kevb0444