Its been 8 months since I last posted a blog. I have attempted many times since then to write something, but I ultimately wound up leaving the posts unfinished and un-posted. Why? Probably because half way through them I felt like I was writing them for selfish reasons when I intended to write them for, I don't know... unselfish reasons? Who even cares? Not what I'm trying to write about.
I intend on finishing this post because I am going into it knowing that I am writing it for selfish reasons. Today, I need this. And to be honest, I don't really give a fuck about anyone other than myself right now.
... Anyway.
I started my last semester of college. It is rather bittersweet. I'll give you all the benefit of the doubt and assume I don't need to spell out why it's bittersweet. I will say that despite taking 18.5 credits, and having an incredibly hard time figuring out what to write for my 3 creative writing courses, this is turning out to be my best semester of college. Finishing on a high note.
Speaking of high notes, I stopped smoking pot... kinda. I don't condemn pot, I just don't think its for me right now. I just can't make it a staple of my escape at the moment; gin suits me just fine.
On to other things that I am "quitting" I think I'm just about done with social media. I am all about expressing yourself, I'm doing it right now, but I actually hate everything everyone posts on the internet. I don't even find anything even slightly amusing anymore. And moments of true spiritual clarity and intelligent insight are essentially extinct. All I see is bland, cliche and redundant attempts to get "likes." And to be honest, I think I'm out of the "getting likes" game. Not to mention that my facebook has basically become a dumpster for event invites. Which is fine, I'm guilty of that myself. But it is the only thing that happens, at least for me, on there anymore. So I'm out, for now. I don't plan on deleting any of my social networking profiles, I'm sure they will prove useful at some point, I just don't feel like seeing everyone post such hackneyed garbage all the time. Which brings me to the "asshole moment" of this post:
Everyone, go get an original voice. Stop posting about how sad you are. Stop posting about the weather. Stop posting about how everyone else is posting about the weather, subsequently making you apart of the very conversation you loathe so very much that you felt it was absolutely necessary to post about. Take those last two sentences and substitute "weather" with "sports." And probably most important, stop posting about why you're single. Start posting about why you shouldn't be single! I think you'll find yourself in a better predicament.
^Now I know that by that I fall into the category of "people who post about people posting," and often times I do fall into that category, but try not to lose sight of the point I'm attempting to make, which is, you all spend so much time trying to be edgy and different that you wind up being the same as everyone else, and you, and probably your life, suck because of that.
Moving on.
I lost around 80 pounds recently. www.drbos.com if you're interested. No, I didn't exercise. No, it wasn't hard. No, it isn't fake food. Yes, it is expensive. Yes, it really works. To break it down for you, you spend 105 days retraining your metabolism to handle real food. They give everyone a free consultation, and they'll tell you how likely you are to see success. So if you're trying to shed some, check it out.
And now that I am not completely repulsive anymore, I think I am ready to date. I would have ended that last sentence with "again," but I don't think I ever really did the whole "dating" thing as defined by my dictionary widget. I have been talking to a few girls, and whether or not they feel like we connect on any sort of romantic level, I at least proved to myself that I still have the capacity to talk to girls in a quasi-intimate tone. I also, hopefully, put an end to a rather destructive relationship that has carried on well past its time. So now that all the pieces are in place, I can finally, and officially move on.
Alright, I guess I'll get to shit people "care" about now. If you bothered reading this far, congrats. Here is the payoff.
In December, Bellwether entered the studio with Vinnie and Brett of I Am The Avalanche. I think I speak for everyone in the band when I say that it was one of the most enriching experiences any of us have ever had musically. Personally, I learned a lot about the process of putting together songs in a way that was foreign to me and felt a sense of camaraderie that I never felt in this type of setting before. I feel like a better musician because of that. I guess I'll start at the beginning.
Prior to this last recording experience, I had dealt with two kinds of producers: the producer who is out for your wallet, and the producer that flat out doesn't give a fuck. Not to discredit these gentlemen, the products came out great (see Valet Parking's "Black Out" and The OverUnder's "First Come, First Served") but I walked away from these experiences relatively similar to the way I walked in, in terms of knowledge and emotion. Maybe Mike Watts taught me a little about recording bass with a pic and cutting the fat out of songs. And Maybe Paul Leavitt let me use the same bass that was used on Thrice's "The Artist in the Ambulance" (or so he claims). But once you look beyond that, all I have to show for those experiences are two EP's that I had relatively no hand in writing and that sound better than anything either band put out before that.
For the first time with this last EP, I felt a real connection with Vinnie and Brett. Walking away from our first pre-pro session (which I consider the first real pre-pro session I've ever been apart of) I knew that we we're in good hands. Not only did they listen to our demos near religiously, they showed up with a plethora of ideas to change and improve the songs. You could tell they actually gave a shit about the music.
Now this post is already long as fuck, so I'm gonna try not to bore you with too many details, but lets be honest, this post is more for me than you.
*DISCLAIMER*
What I am about to write is in no way an attempt to discredit the efforts of anyone in Bellwether. Everyone played a huge and integral role in writing and recording all of these songs. And without the collaboration of everyone in the band, as well as Brett and Vinnie, these songs wouldn't be half of what they are. I am incredibly grateful that I was privileged enough to work with people so in tune with each other, and I think if there was any other combination of people in the studio, these songs would have suffered. Desmond, Harry, Dutch, Nick and Kyle are all as much apart of this as I am.
This is the first EP that I have been apart of where I primarily wrote the music. Out of the 5 songs, I essentially wrote the bulk of the guitar and bass parts for 4 songs with a heavy hand in the arrangement of all of them. Lyrically, I worked incredibly hard on two songs and as far as content goes, I believe they are some of the strongest and most meaningful lyrics I have ever written and I feel that people will really connect with them. So needless to say, I am incredibly invested in this product. These songs are all a culmination of a lot of hard work and they reflect the feelings and attitudes of myself and everyone in the band in regards to a collection of times that made us all who we are individually, and as a group. I feel that these songs all stand out from anything I have ever written before and show a more versatile side of Bellwether that may have gone unnoticed otherwise. I am incredibly proud of these songs, and I am eager to share them with everyone. I hope the excitement is mutual.
There are a handful of standout moments from this whole thing that I will remember for the rest of my life. The first came during one of our last pre-pro sessions.
We were essentially done making changes to most of the songs, and were getting ready to buckle down and get the new ideas locked in. Roots (which is going to be the song that closes the EP) was still in limbo. Vinnie felt that the chorus was too wordy and that the melody didn't stand out, and all of us were so used to hearing the songs the way we had originally written them that we couldn't come up with anything else.
The next time we met, Vinnie took out his phone and played us a recording of him in his apartment playing the song on an acoustic guitar with the melody he came up with...
I am having a staggering time putting how this feels into words...
I guess for this to make any sense, you'd have to know that I really look up to Vinnie. When you think about bands from Long Island that really paved the path, you think of Taking Back Sunday, Brand New, maybe Glassjaw, and The Movielife. Without these bands, I probably wouldn't be playing the type of music I am playing. Lets be honest, without them, who would this generation of Long Island musicians in Pop-Punk look up to? They really set the tone for Long Island, and that is why so many great bands in the genre come from here. That is why Long Island has its kind of sound. That is why the scene here prospers. "Long Island Pop Punk" is a genre all its own that is hard to duplicate if you aren't from here.
So to have one of Long Island's finest come to me and play me a recording of him playing my song, and then to actually pick up a guitar and play my song for me was an experience, that for me, someone so invested in my music and in the scene, is so hard to put into words.
The next moment came after we finished our last session at Westfall Studios. Desmond, Brett and I stood out in the cold talking for a bit, and Brett spoke to us about the importance of passing what we learn down to the next band to use and build on. We are nothing if not a community of people striving for the same thing, and when you reach one plateau, you have the choice to move on up alone, or pass the rope down to those who need it next. If my memory serves me correct, for Brett the band that tossed him the rope was RX Bandits. He told us about what he learned from them, and what he passed on to us. The whole conversation made me think about what I'm doing a little differently. I have an obligation to make music for myself, that will never change. It is who I am, and without it, as cliche as it sounds, I have nothing. But now, I have a responsibility to carry on a legacy, a tradition, of helping those who strive as much as I do grow the same way Brett and Vinnie helped me grow. For me, this makes what I'm doing all the more important. It added a layer of depth to the kind of person I want to be.
The last moment came in Vinnie's kitchen, when we officially finished tracking. We were saying our thank yous and good byes when Vinnie and Brett stopped us and showed a sincere sense of caring toward us. We were about to embark on tour, and they left us with some advice that may have been incredibly obvious, but the fact that it came from both of them was incredibly touching. Not to say that I didn't expect them to be caring people, its just that when someone you look up to so greatly shows compassion like that, it means a lot. I never thought they were just out for money, but if anything proved it, it was this moment.
I will forever have an undying sense of gratitude to Vinnie and Brett. Without them, I wouldn't be where I am or who I am now, and I have to say I am a better person and musician because of them. I'm not sure if they will ever see this, but thank you guys, for everything. I can't wait to get to work on a full length with you guys!
The EP is coming into its final stages and should be out in the near future. We are still working on a title, but if I had to choose one, I'd go with "Ranz des Vaches."
Look it up.
