Lend me your ears

An area to discuss erm... musicians?

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Darth Sabbathi
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Lend me your ears

Post by Darth Sabbathi »

I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know some of you over the past few months. But I would be keen to get to know your musical history and leanings a bit better. I could probably trawl through old threads and piece this together, but I'm lazy and I've got a lunch hour to kill... :yawn:

So, if you're up for it, give me a run down on what you're into and how it came to be so!

This is me:

I grew up listening to metal in the 80s - everything from Led Zep and Sabbath to Motorhead and AC/DC to Motley Crue and Ratt to Metallica and Slayer. I was an Iron Maiden tragic from the age of 11 till about 16 - had all the albums, t-shirts, posters, even read Running Free... more than once, truth be told. I kind of lost interest around Seventh Son. I'd started listening to Metallica by that stage, and a big turning point for me was the 5.98 Garage Days Re-revisited ep, which got me into the Misfits. At the same time, a lot of guys at my school were heavily into the American hardcore scene of the late 80s - think Black Flag, Flipper, MDC, Bad Brains, that sort of thing - and I started getting a bit more punkish.

Then grunge came along, which was absolutely perfect for me - all the attitude of punk, but with a higher level of musicianship (relatively speaking!) like metal. I got hugely into the Sub-Pop bands - not just Nirvana and Soundgarden, but Mudhoney, Tad, Afghan Whigs, Screaming Trees. I did an exchange to the US when I was 18, just as Smells Like Teen Spirit hit, where I was the man for owning a copy of Bleach. During the explosion of alterno music that followed I got into things like the Melvins, Helmet, Big Black, Faith No More, the Jesus Lizard, Sonic Youth and the Pixies.

When I got back to NZ I hooked up with some friends from school and formed my first serious band, Funkmutha (I know, worst name ever... we weren't even vaguely funky either...). We shared a band room with Shihad and Head Like a Hole - our biggest claim to fame was a b-side on the Faster Hooves ep, and a North Island tour with HLAH (https://headlikeahole.bandcamp.com/albu ... -hooves-ep).

Sort of parallel to all this, while I'd been learning guitar I had developed an appreciation for the blues, which eventually led to some interest in jazz. In my teens and early 20s I listened to things like Muddy Waters, Brownie McGee and Sonny Terry, Johnny Winter, and some other random stuff. Then started listening to bebop - Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillispie. I was especially partial to Miles, and got into his 70s prog stuff like Bitches Brew and Jack Johnson, which led to things like Mahavishnu Orchestra and Jeff Beck's Blow by Blow.

There was also a bit of a hippie flirtation somewhere along the line when I started digging Dylan, C,S,N & Y, the Byrds, Cat Stevens. I should also mention that I loved the Beatles all through this, from childhood really. And there are some things I shared with my dad, particularly Jim Croce and Simon & Garfunkel. I guess it is the same for everyone, but the evolution of my musical taste wasn't a simple linear progression. There is a whole other side of music I got into with my sister, which was mostly about hip hop. This track includes Prince (massively Prince), Beastie Boys (hugely them too), Public Enemy, Eric B & Rakim...

The band fell apart in my early twenties, and for a long time I really lost interest, sad to say. Then in my thirties I started playing again with Tough Love - never really went anywhere, but that was a cool band and I am really proud of the album we did (a couple of tracks are here https://www.facebook.com/toughloveheavy ... page_panel - sound isn't great for some reason... the original recording was better than that). Having kind of lost touch with musical trends I pretty much followed my own path and just stumbled on things, which is still the case now. I did particularly like some of the 2nd wave brit pop bands like Arctic Monkeys, the Libertines and the Fratellis. I dug into a vein of glam a few years back and got really into Slade, T-Rex and Bowie. Then there was a doom/stoner dalliance which left me with a lasting love for Electric Wizard and Sleep. Also developed a liking for big band swing, especially Benny Goodman and Ella Fitzgerald. For the most part it is pretty random these days...

TL:DR - I like all kinds of shit for reasons...
Last edited by Darth Sabbathi on Thu Oct 22, 2015 1:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Lend me your ears

Post by calling card »

I was just thinking poised on the edge of labour weekend that it's been 30 years since I got going with music at age 22 in 1985. Ha! back to the future.
It's a long story I don't feel like elaborating on. Got me to thinking though if I could have time traveled from those days in '85 to now how the younger me would feel about what I saw today.
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Re: Lend me your ears

Post by hamo »

When did you tour with HLAH Darth? I feel like I may have seen you guys...
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Re: Lend me your ears

Post by Darth Sabbathi »

hamo wrote:When did you tour with HLAH Darth? I feel like I may have seen you guys...
Shit, the 90s are a blur for me... 1994 I think?

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Re: Lend me your ears

Post by Darth Sabbathi »

calling card wrote:I was just thinking poised on the edge of labour weekend that it's been 30 years since I got going with music at age 22 in 1985. Ha! back to the future.
It's a long story I don't feel like elaborating on. Got me to thinking though if I could have time traveled from those days in '85 to now how the younger me would feel about what I saw today.
Go on, elaborate! I certainly did... :lol:

And what do you think the young calling card would make of 2015? This is a better idea for a thread than mine!

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Re: Lend me your ears

Post by calling card »

I guess I ended up in the cool pad I dreamed of and fitting of a retired successful performer without ever making it in music.
Lot of it never went as planned but so much good stuff happened, I'm still that same dude, got me hair and it's going silver.
About all I've got time for now, got to run. :D
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Re: Lend me your ears

Post by Vince »

I tried to play guitar for years and pretty much hated it.

It felt like when you have a stamp collection as a kid and you have no idea about WHY you have it, it's just that boys are supposed to.

And then, the band I was in broke up and we couldn't find a bass player so I moved to bass and loved it, I can't begin to describe the sense of completeness I got out of playing bass. It was like something had been restored, rather than added to my life.

But then we had to find a guitarist and it was 1983 and we wanted to be a synth band and we kept getting all these guys turning up to auditions with their strats and their Blackmore riffs and their permed hair and it was... not a good fit. We literally tried 27 of them. Many of them were great players but it just didn't work.

In the end, after some months, I said "fuck it, I'll cover the guitar parts from the bass and we'll move on" and we did. Since then, I play a lot of chords and things bassists don't normally do. I sit somewhere between the bass and the rhythm guitar, doing a bit of both.

I've been playing acoustic bass guitar for about 15 years now, I hardly ever touch an electric. I'm forming a new band now but I've been playing out as a solo bassist for a couple of years now.

Musically, I love a lot of stuff. I was born in Argentina so there's a lot of Latin stuff in there but I really enjoy raggedy arsed folk music, old 20s blues, industrial music, electronica (still love synthpop). I've played blues harp and guitar and sax and synths and all sorts of things but bass is the one that I can actually play, and do.
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Re: Lend me your ears

Post by Molly »

Early 70s David Bowie's Life on Mars. First song I recall liking
Around the same time heard sister's Simon & Garfunkle and brother's MFSB 'The Sound of Philadelphia'
1975 aged 10 heard Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and saw my first 'guitar hero'. Started playing.
Hendrix. Judas Priest. Saxon. Queen (News of the World, Live Killers). Iron Maiden. Sabbath. Dio. MSG, Floyd's Wish You Were Here (I'm picturing the album covers i had on my bedroom wall).
Introduced to EVH, RR and Vai. RR a firm favourite. Loved the precision.
Borrowed SRV's Soul to Soul and largely forgot about everything that'd gone before. Felt like I had to start over.

I always 'mined' back through my heroes' heroes but struggled to get Clapton (though I enjoyed a lot of his songs) or BB King (still don't I confess). Can't think why SRV made such an impression on me when many of his heroes just didn't.

Anyway, hasn't been anybody since that's really moved me. Derek Trucks is a recent one I guess. As for all the early metal stuff, I really now see much of it as utter shite.

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Re: Lend me your ears

Post by Darth Sabbathi »

Vince wrote:Since then, I play a lot of chords and things bassists don't normally do. I sit somewhere between the bass and the rhythm guitar, doing a bit of both.

I've been playing acoustic bass guitar for about 15 years now, I hardly ever touch an electric. I'm forming a new band now but I've been playing out as a solo bassist for a couple of years now.
Wow, just been listening to your 365 bass riffs thing - that stuff is amazing. I don't know what my expectations were for solo acoustic bass, but you certainly exceeded them. :D

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Re: Lend me your ears

Post by Darth Sabbathi »

Molly wrote:Early 70s David Bowie's Life on Mars. First song I recall liking
Around the same time heard sister's Simon & Garfunkle and brother's MFSB 'The Sound of Philadelphia'
1975 aged 10 heard Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and saw my first 'guitar hero'. Started playing.
Hendrix. Judas Priest. Saxon. Queen (News of the World, Live Killers). Iron Maiden. Sabbath. Dio. MSG, Floyd's Wish You Were Here (I'm picturing the album covers i had on my bedroom wall).
Introduced to EVH, RR and Vai. RR a firm favourite. Loved the precision.
Borrowed SRV's Soul to Soul and largely forgot about everything that'd gone before. Felt like I had to start over.

I always 'mined' back through my heroes' heroes but struggled to get Clapton (though I enjoyed a lot of his songs) or BB King (still don't I confess). Can't think why SRV made such an impression on me when many of his heroes just didn't.

Anyway, hasn't been anybody since that's really moved me. Derek Trucks is a recent one I guess. As for all the early metal stuff, I really now see much of it as utter shite.
I'd love to hear you play Molly. Randy Rhoads to SRV is an interesting transition. I bet you can still shred... :wink:

I've only recently started to really appreciate Clapton - I'm really loving Cream at the moment. That live version of Crossroads is some amazing shit. But I totally get what you mean you say you liked his songs, but didn't get him. And it is hard to ignore the fact that everything he has done since the 70s is a putrid pile of poo.

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Re: Lend me your ears

Post by Conway »

Darth Sabbathi wrote:I've only recently started to really appreciate Clapton
This is a banning offence, I believe.
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Re: Lend me your ears

Post by sirvill »

I'm blessed in a way - my Dad has a great taste in music, so Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Cream, Led Zepplin etc are almost baked into my DNA. Somehow I know most of the Led Zepplin back catalog without ever owning an album :)


I evolved from that through Grunge, Metallica and into where I am now - basically into everything as long as I like it :D I suppose my main love is Prog Metal but in the last 5 years I've widened into all sorts of genres. Recently I'm getting into the more doomy stoner rock stuff.

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Re: Lend me your ears

Post by Vince »

Darth Sabbathi wrote:Wow, just been listening to your 365 bass riffs thing - that stuff is amazing. I don't know what my expectations were for solo acoustic bass, but you certainly exceeded them. :D

Thank you so much! :D

At the moment, I'm also trying to get a band to its first gig. We're a three piece: violin/ F. vocals, acoustic bass guitar and percussion (cajon/bongos). Lots of jamming and improv. I'm working on the concept of having a "boat" (ie a basic riff or progression) and then, musically speaking, we can swim away from the boat and come back.
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Re: Lend me your ears

Post by Darth Sabbathi »

Conway wrote:
Darth Sabbathi wrote:I've only recently started to really appreciate Clapton
This is a banning offence, I believe.
The appreciation, or the lateness of it? :D

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Re: Lend me your ears

Post by Vince »

OMG, we can actually say "Eric Clapton" now?

And "gold", too?
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