About Artist
Foreword
Hello, all!
For those of you who have arrived here accidentally, this is my 'Unsigned.com' page!
For those of you who have arrived here on purpose... um...
...this is my 'Unsigned.com' page! =D
Right now it's pretty empty, but within the next week you shall see a finished demo track of mine.
If I should describe the music I would be producing, I'd say it shall demonstrate a sonic evaluation of diversity, expression and a wide array of symphonically enriched pieces. A lot of them will be about real-life personal experiences, others will be about experiences that have not or nay not happen to me, and some will even be about the lives of others elsewhere.
Basically, I want to infuse every atom of myself into the music you shall hear. Of course, it's all fine and well for me to be saying this NOW with nothing to show you yet, so I hope I won't be eventually eating the words of said statement...
All that I ask of you is your patience in my somewhat slow productivity leading up to my eventually-finished self-produced debut album.
Right! Time to fill in some more space on here! =D
About Myself
Well, I'm 23, born and raised in County Durham which is nestled in the North-East of England, and after moving around all over the Tyne and Wear area, I've finally settled down with my mother in Jarrow.
I come from a very musical background - both of my parents have been involved with countless productions and establishments, from well-renowned operatic societies to choirs and brass bands, and pretty much everything in between. I have other relatives and many friends who have dabbled with the likes of groups and bands, so some inspiration is always around the corner!
I have an obscure yet good sense of humour, I keep up with some of the news, and I even try to educate myself with the fundamentals of science and nature among other things.
Other than guitar-playing, I'm also an avid gamer and exerciser - but I also crave my lie-ins on the odd morning...
I'm currently unemployed, but a job prospect can turn up at any time, and it just involves me to keep searching. I just want to be focussed on my music.
A Bit of History
In 1999, an adolescent 11-year-old boy inquisitively tried out his uncle's guitar... and right there, a chemical reaction was born. That reaction spread like wildfire, transforming from a pastime to a hobby... and eventually, a passion.
I imagine that's how an author would put it anyway... =)
Yes, I've been playing and exploring the depths of guitar for about 12 years now... and amongst the years I've experienced many things that have extended a hand to the way I evaluate my life at present.
I picked up my GCSE Music grade back in August 2004 - the 26th. The grade was a B and it was the only school grade above C that I left with. At the time I was feeling pretty down about it, because as a lot of people know: to earn a decent amount of money, you need a decent job; to get a decent job, you need a decent amount of grades.
So I got home that day at about two in the afternoon, sat down with the entirety of my school grades in my hand (even the ones below C), and just stared blankly at them, thinking "NOW what"... when there was a desperate knock at the front door. I promptly answered it, and my uncle was at the other side. He told me to grab my coat as he was taking me to hospital where my dad was. I did so without thinking, and prepared for the worst...
I was too late... and I was greeted by a grief-stricken family in a small room that I was led to. The day quickly became the worst one of my life. But it also became, in some ways, one of the most important ones.
Living a life without the most important man in the world to you really does take its toll on you from time to time, but... it's something I've had to bare...
The next day I woke up with a light head and a heavy heart, and with the helpful input of my mother and uncle I decided to take the music experience I gained from school even further and enrolled at New College in Durham.
A few live shows and three years later in the music course, I emerged with a grade 8 in practical guitar and a grade 6 in music theory in 2007. It's only now that I get to put what I've learned to use.
To this day I thank my mother, father, friends and family for making me the musician I am today. I know I sounded corny just there but it's the 100% truth.
Apologies for the grim story, but it's something that needs to be taken into account. I'm not just a musician by choice. Music is practically the bloodline of my heritage. For me to one-day wake up and stop chasing the dream would be an insult to my family and my life.
I want to make this happen, no matter what.
Musical Interests
I like to listen to a wide palette of music, with genres ranging from subtle classical piano to wall-of-sound distorted guitars, and any niche in between!
I'd describe my playing style as 'virtuosic'. I like my music to be quite symphonic, but not so complicated that the listener is lost.
My basic 'rule of thumb' when it comes to music - regardless of genre - is that if it takes 'some doing', then there's a good chance that it'll earn a rightful place among my iTunes archive!
Here's a list of the artists I'm really into:
Alien Ant Farm
Andy Timmons
Bumblefoot (A.K.A. Ron Thal)
Claude DeBussy (19th-Century classical pianist/composer)
David Lee Roth
Dream Theater
Eric Johnson
Extreme
Frank Zappa
Guns 'N' Roses
Guthrie Govan
Iron Maiden
Michael Jackson
Jason Becker
Joe Satriani
Judas Priest
Limp Bizkit
Mattias Ia Eklundh
Metallica
Mr. Big
Nickelback
Ozzy Osbourne
Paul Gilbert
Racer X
Rage Against the Machine
Steve Vai
System of a Down
Van Halen
and Yngwie Malmsteen.
The list above should paint a vague yet decent-enough picture of what I'm 'about' with music. If you've heard at least one of these artists, you'll know that they are regarded within themselves as one of the best at what they do.
And at the risk of sounding self-centred, that's the way I'd like to be perceived as one day; an artist among a list, compiled by a future hopeful musician demonstrating their sonic evaluation through their interest of artists. At least that would be enough for me, if not for absolute fame and fortune.
My Current Gear
I'm in love with Ibanez guitars! My main guitar at the moment is an RG1527 7-string electric guitar. I've owned it for about 2 years by now, and it has assisted me greatly in mess-around recordings of backing tracks and ideas alike.
My other Ibanez is a Joe Satriani signature model - the JS100. It may be made in Korea, but for what it is, it's brilliant! It needs a bit of setting up - maybe a new tremolo and strings wouldn't go amiss. It shall see daylight from its guitar case soon!
The amplifier I'm using is an Egnater Rebel 20 - a really decent amplifier that can push a staggering amount of 20-watt air out of its 1x12 cabinet. I have its head set to a clean setting, because my floor unit - the Boss ME-50 multi-fx - is being used as a makeshift 'preamp' and basically has all of my sounds stored in there.
I use a Shure SM57 instrument microphone right against the cone of the cabinet to record, and that's plugged into a Presonus Firebox interface, which communicates with Cubase and Reason for my recording purposes.
Future Investments
I'd be lying if I said that was my dream guitar rig. I have capped £6,000 of imaginary money on a lot of high-quality objects that I require to make my dream rig a reality. Things like a Blackstar half-stack amplifier, Eventide stomp boxes and an entire MIDI set-up are on that list.
I have a feeling that this will all happen later on this year, and that when it does, whatever I've recorded and submitted up to THEN will be re-recorded with my new gear for optimum results.
In Conclusion...
I'd like to thank whoever got this far down the page for reading all of this - I know a lot of it is like 'yeah, who cares?' kind of stuff, but this is my life. It's time I stopped being a human dreaming... and become a human being.
