Clark Blogs

Recently someone gave me grief about playing a lot of instrumental music. You know, “songs” without vocals. They said something like “No singing? Nobody in rock has ever done that. It might be okay in jazz or classical, but it will never be accepted in rock.” I couldn’t help myself. I had to point out that many of the early rock hits were actually instrumentals. Artists like The Ventures or Booker T & the MG’s were staples on early rock radio. Guys like Dick Dale (whose hit “Miserlou” was featured in the movie “Pulp Fiction”), Duane Eddy, and Link Wray were the original guitar heroes, each with multiple radio hits. Songs like “Rebel Rouser” and “Rumble” are still used in TV shows, movies, and commercials today because of their powerful sound & previous popularity. What about “Wipeout” by The Surfaris, “Walk, Don’t Run” by The Ventures, “Apache” by The Shadows, “Pipeline” by The Chantays, or “Tequila” by The Champs? Come on, these are some of the most popular songs of their time! They helped shape the very core of rock music!

In a typical conversation like this (yeah, I’ve had this many times) the other person says something like “Well, okay, maybe ‘old time rock-n-roll’ had instrumentals, but no one modern does instrumentals.” Well, let me think… hmmm… oh, wait! I just bought a new Steve Vai CD, that’s mostly instrumentals. And then there is my latest Joe Satriani CD, which is all instrumental. Then there is a new Buckethead CD, the new John 5 CD, the new Paul Gilbert CD – then they cut me off. “Those are all guitar nerds. Okay, maybe there are still some guitar-nerds making instrumental music. No one I’ve ever heard of has played instrumentals.” Oh really? Ever heard of Jimi Hendrix? His version of “Star Spangled Banner” is an instrumental. So is “3^rd Stone From The Sun.” Ever heard of “Boureé” by Jethro Tull? No? How about “Moby Dick” by Led Zeppelin or “Wring That Neck” by Deep Purple? Surely you have heard of those artists? Maybe you’ve heard of Stevie Ray Vaughn? He did an instrumental version of “Little Wing” by Jimi Hendrix and wrote one called “Scuttle Buttin’.” You’ve heard of Frank Zappa right? “Peaches En Regalia” and “Zoot Allures” are just a couple of his tunes. How about “Stoked” by The Beach Boys or “Buck’s Boogie” by Blue Oyster Cult or “Was Dog a Doughnut” by Cat Stevens? Ever hear of Ray Charles (“Rockhouse,” “One Mint Julep”) or Pink Floyd (“Atom Heart Mother”) or Carlos Santana (“Europa,” “Soul Sacrifice” & others) or Fleetwood Mac (“Albatross”)? Van Halen? (“Eruption” “Little Guitars”) Electric Light Orchestra? (“Fire On High”) You’ve heard of Queen? (“Last Horizon”) I could go on, but I don’t.

“I mean someone current,” they say. Current? Santana was just a presenter on the Grammy Awards prime time broadcast! How about Jeff Beck? Too many instrumental compositions to even start to list, and the Grammy Awards had him perform on their latest prime time show. Is Metallica current? (“Orion,” “The Call of Ktulu”) Is Rush current? (“YYZ” & “La Villa Strangiato” among others) How about The Flaming Lips? (“The Wizard Turns On…”) They’re both current and trendy. Do the Who count as current? I know they are old & have been around awhile, but really! They were the half-time entertainment at the latest Superbowl game! They have more instrumentals than just “Quadrophenia” and “Underture” and “Overture” but we’ll stop there. Is DJ Krush (“Kemuri” plus others) current? Then there are the current artists you probably don’t know like Dream Theater or Neil Zaza or Eric Johnson or Symphony X or George Lynch or–! At this point I get cut off again.

“Alright, alright, I get it,” they say. “Maybe there is a whole world of music I didn’t know existed.” Really, that’s all I want is to get them to open up to new music a little bit. Now they have. At this point I usually gush about all of the aspects of instrumental music that appeal to me, and we will talk about how exploring new worlds in music used to be fun & exciting, and how it can still be exciting if the listener is willing to drop a preconception or two. I eagerly offer tips on my favorite artists, and sometimes I will even whip out the iPod & play some of the music. The normal reaction is something like this: “That’s Steve Vai?” (Or whatever artist I play for them.) “I had no idea! That’s really good! I thought it would be a bunch of endless wanking! This song is awesome!” Ah, enlightenment! After that, I’ll say to myself “We have lift-off into another world of music,” and go on my merry way.

It really is almost cosmic, when you think about the possibilities. Join me and my band sometime for one of our musical explorations. You’ll discover some new and amazing things; many of them instrumental. Just fasten your seatbelt & enjoy the ride!

Why will you want a nap on Nov 28? Because you’re going to want to see this concert! The band called Clark Plays Guitar will be performing their last Rockford area show for the year at Bar 3, 326 E State St, Rockford, IL on Saturday, Nov 28. This show is going to be so much fun, we are pulling out all the stops, putting the pedal to the metal, and putting it all on the line with some new, very cool visual special effects, new music, new merch, and it’s all being filmed for an upcoming DVD!

BUT WAIT! I know those of you who live in other parts of the world are saying “Sorry, can’t be there” or something to that effect. Well, we have you covered, too. We are streaming this concert live on the internet, for FREE! So you can still see the show, even if you are not close enough to drive to the venue. Keep watching here & at www.ClarkPlaysGuitar.com for the link that will get you into the streaming concert.

Of course, there will be some people that could come to the venue, that will try to save a couple of bucks by watching it online, & that’s okay. We know times are tight, and budgets can be unforgiving, which is part of the reason we’re doing the online stream for free. But remember that there will be lot’s happening at the show that won’t be online. We’re having an after-show party with the band, right at Bar 3 when we’re done; we’re doing some give-aways, there will be audience-participation segments, and who knows what else! Not to mention all the great drink specials Bar 3 has agreed to run for this show. So if you’re close enough to come, join us! We want to shake hands, give hugs, hang out, share stories, & do all the other crazy things that happen when we’re around.

So here is the whole run-down: Doors open at 8:00pm, and Shawn Williams takes the stage at 9:00pm to give you his fun packed, over-the-top guitar playing, one-of-a-kind sensory overload show. Then at 10:00pm Clark Plays Guitar will take the stage and give you everything we’ve got. This includes the Amazing-9-Headed-Whirling-Drum-of-DOOM, the totally awesome Big Fat Guitar Medley, new tunes & more. Our wild-man of the drums, Oz Amaro promises “We’re going to give you something you’ve probably never experienced in a venue this size!” Darryl Andrus, ferocious bassist extraordinaire agrees: “This is NOT your daddy’s basic bar band!”

Then when Clark Plays Guitar leaves the stage, it’s a full blown party with the band, and we have the amazing Brian Beer performing, starting at about midnight. Brian plays the Chapman Stick, which is this over-the-top kind of guitar and bass melded together on one neck, plus he plays the world’s only Matrix Synthesizer. Brian performs progressive, totally unique music, with a level of musicianship that will astound you. While Brian is dazzling us from the stage, the band will be hanging out with the crowd, signing CD’s, t-shirts, & body-parts; telling stories, taking pictures, posing for pictures, and just acting-out in general like we do when we are in party-mode. And we’ll keep it up until closing, so you had better get a nap in that afternoon!

We really would love to have you all involved in the show, either online or in person. (You could end up on the DVD!) This is going to be a truly special show, and Oz, Darryl & I would be thrilled to talk with you about it, years from now, and have you be able to say “I was there!” I think it’s going to be that kind of show!

One last thing: if you have not subscribed to the official ClarkPlaysGuitar.com “Backstage Pass” newsletter, you really should. That’s the first place the link for the free online stream will show up, plus we send subscribers things that don’t show up anywhere else. We sometimes give discount coupons for merch; free MP3’s; and even the occasional free CD or t-shirt. And when you subscribe you can rest assured that your information will not be sold, lent, distributed, offered, or given to anyone else. Ever. Period. You signed up for the ClarkPlaysGuitar.com newsletter, and that is what you’ll get. If you would like to sign up now, you can go here to do it.

That’s all for now, thanks for reading this. I hope to see you all (online or in the flesh) on Nov 28!

Love,
Clark

Clark
www.ClarkPlaysGuitar.com

Posted via email from clarkplaysguitar’s posterous

A while back I was struggling with a booking agent who had made claims of being able to book my band as many gigs as we were willing to work. Once he had collected a retainer fee from me he suddenly had a change in his story & claimed he could not book us because we played mostly originals & only a few cover tunes. He went on & on about how the only bands he was able to book were the tribute bands he represented. Now, as much as I would love to spend time slamming this agent, (I’ll save that for another day) this post is really about tribute bands.

My conversations with him sparked my curiosity & I started looking at advertisements for live music in a northern Illinois music publication that focuses mostly on the Chicago area. Indeed, there were a lot of tribute bands showing up. I mean a LOT of tribute bands. Name the major band & there was probably a tribute act appearing somewhere in or around Chicago: U2, Metallica, The Beatles, Ozzy, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Journey, Sabbath, AC/DC, Zeppelin, Kiss, Bon Jovi, Judas Priest, the Stones, & on & on & on. I was actually shocked at the number of tribute bands out there.

I have seen a few tribute acts, & they were all pretty good. But, if I’m really honest about it, I have to say that if I’m given a choice between seeing a band I’ve never heard of, playing their own tunes & their interpretations of some covers and going to see a tribute band - well, 99 times out of 100 I am going to see the band I never heard of before. For me the excitement in seeing a live band comes from seeing them do their own thing. If I want to see & hear a dead-on live rendition of “Enter Sandman” I’ll go see Metallica on tour. If a local band does some really cool arrangement of “Enter Sandman” that is unique to them I’ll check them out, but I don’t really want to see a bunch of Metallica “wannabe’s” posing on stage. But apparently, at least in the Illinois & Ohio portion of the Midwest, I am the exception to the rule.

I say in the Illinois & Ohio portion of the Midwest, because I just came back from Colorado, where there is a very big music scene. I picked a copy of their entertainment newspaper, & in it I saw dozens & dozens of venues advertising local or regional bands. Only one tribute band appeared at any of these venues. One! Compare that to the 23 or 24 tribute acts I saw in the August issue of the Illinois publication. Both had roughly the same number of venues advertising live music, but what a difference in the number of tribute acts!

Clearly this is not a national trend. There are still many parts of the country where an original band can still get work, as illustrated by the Denver area publication. But right now, in northern Illinois, being a tribute band seems to be the ticket to steady work. Although the trend seems to be waning. When I first looked at this phenomenon about a year ago there were actually a lot more tribute acts in the Chicago area than today. And I have nothing against it, in general. Some acts just don’t exist any more (such as the Beatles) and to see some major acts you need to get a second mortgage on your home in order to buy tickets. So I can see how there would be a market. It’s just not for me.

If you like tribute bands, please don’t think I am saying you’re wrong to do so. For me, there is no appeal. Like seafood, you know? Millions of people love their seafood, but I just don’t like it. So if the tribute band thing works for you, cool! Just don’t forget about us other guys.

Okay, enough ranting & rambling for one day. I need to go work on my new CD. Later!

Clark

I’ve been thinking about MySpace, Twitter, & Facebook a lot over the last few days. I feel guilty when I’m not posting something every day, mostly because of how hard all the music-biz “consultants” and “gurus” pound us musicians on the subject. Nearly all of them say it’s “critical” to participate heavily in all of the “web 2.0″ social sites if you want to be successful. I’m there, on the “big 3″ but I just don’t have the time to play the game the way these people say it needs to be played.

Take twitter, for example. Twitter etiquette says if someone is following you, you should follow them. So I tried. But I gotta tell you, even though some of these folks are my friends, I really don’t need to see all these “tweets” about how the guy next to them on the bus has B.O., or they just had the best pickle from the funkiest little deli, or how they wish they would have ordered pasta instead of a salad, or the cat just did a cute thing, or bla bla bla. I’m interested in their lives, of course, but I really don’t need to know that someone just finished flossing & didn’t like it. And wading through all the floss & pickle “tweets” to find one little tidbit that I did want to know was just too time consuming. So I dropped a ton of people that I had been following. And I am certainly not going to bother the world with all of my daily minutiae. (Although, I tried sort of half-heartedly once or twice after the “gurus” hammered me with the “importance” of writing a tweet 6 times a day minimum. It didn’t last.)

Then I saw this article about the very issue that’s been on my mind, followed by someone sending me a link to this very funny video, and thought “Okay! I’m not alone.” And for a very short time I thought I would just stop participating in all of this social networking.  After all, right now I am in the middle of two recording projects where I am the producer, engineer, & guitarist on both, and on one I’m additionally the bassist, vocalist, songwriter, sometime drummer, and keyboardist. Plus I fill all of the following positions for my music career: booking agent, publicist (note: these first two are about to be handed over to someone else - yay!), accountant, guitar tech, photographer, videographer, graphic artist, video editor, webmaster, tour manager, road manager (different duties from tour manager), stage manager, stage hand (this means I move my own gear), lighting director, advertising copywriter & director, and gig transportation co-ordinator. Plus I am a husband, father, and homeowner. I also like to work out on a regular basis, and I do need to work in time to practice my guitar playing on top of it all. Oh yeah, finding time to write some new songs would be good, too. So I should just stop all the social networking, I thought, and move on to doing what I was put on this earth to do: make music.

But then, I thought about my old friend Sam, in Florida, who found me via MySpace. And my new fan (& friend) Jason, from California, who always has a kind word or two for me just when I think no one gives a sh!# about my music. Or Blaine & Betsy, who moved out of state just as we were becoming good friends, & now use Facebook to stay in touch. And others, actually quite a few others, are connecting with me via these social networks. So I hesitated about just stopping, and ultimately decided to stay. But here’s the thing: I am not going to “work” these sites like the business consultants say I should. They want you manipulating your relationships in the name of finding new fans or business connections or whatever, & I’m just not going to do that.

I’ll post things that I’d like to have known, or that I think you might find interesting, when I have a few minutes. Like today, with this post. I’m taking a little time in between vocal takes during this morning’s recording session just to put something out there that I kind of want my friends & fans to know.  And if I need help on something, I’ll just ask. But I’m not going to spend endless hours “tweeting,” or trolling MySpace & FaceBook for names, all for the sake of artificially “befriending” people hoping they will buy something from me. No question, I need some new fans & need to get word out about what I do musically. But I think I will just keep on writing & recording, speaking up when it’s appropriate, and hope that those of you who like my music will spread the word when you sincerely feel like doing so. Perhaps by spending a little extra time on my writing & recording process, on band rehearsals, etc - time that would have been otherwise spent on social networking - I can improve what I do enough that new fans come to me honestly, because of the music, not because I am a “master networker.”

Well, it’s time to get back to recording. I was going to “tweet” about the session, but don’t have time at the moment. Maybe later…

Clark

Off we go into a new year! I’ve talked with quite a few folks who are feeling pretty optimistic about 2009. Many of them feel the change in elected officials will be good for the country, many of them think the economy is about to turn around, and in general it seems everyone is just glad to have last year over. I can say that ‘08 had its fair share of challenges for me, and 2009 is already looking like it is off to a better start than last year.

I try to have a positive outlook not just at the start of a new year, but every day. For the most part, things seem to go in the direction that you expect them to go. If you think things will get better, they usually do. Not always, of course, but in general. I find optimists to be happy, pessimists to be bummed, both because of what they expect. So I guess what I’m suggesting is this: don’t wait for outside forces to make you happy. Just expect the best and work towards it.

I have been working towards putting a truly world-class band together, and I’m nearly there. I have two really good players that are willing to push themselves extremely hard in order to attain my vision: Joel Baer on drums, & Darryl Andrus on bass. We have a really, really good show right now, & we have so much more planned. You will be thrilled with the end result. (I can’t say too much at this point. I want some of it to be a surprise.) Anyone who came to our show at Bar 3 this past weekend (Jan 3, 2009) knows just how good this line-up is now, and I’ll bet nearly every one of them is anxious to see what we have up our sleeves.

Now that the holidays are behind us, I can jump back into the recording process. There is a lot to do yet, and the multitude of delays last year laid my schedule to waste. (My injuries last August, the new roof, the plumbing & electrical issues, the new studio technology upgrade with a giant learning curve, the auditioning process for the new band, the enormous search for an agent, etc.) I am committed to spending time every single day in the studio, either recording or mixing, until this new release is done. We will be doing a few shows, of course, but the majority of the next couple of months is going to be in the studio. As much as I love the holidays, I really enjoy getting back to my routine after they are over. I am so excited to be back at recording, it’s really fulfilling in a way I can’t adequately describe.

Well, I think that’s all for now, I just wanted to post a little “State of the Clark” at the start of the year. Have a great 2009!

Clark

The first real snowfall of the season just fell, & I have had to be out driving in it. Now, it’s not like we had a blizzard or anything. I don’t know what the “official” amount is, but in my driveway this morning, the average depth was about 4 or 5 inches. It looks about the same on the streets. This is not a lot of snow for this part of the country. But because it is the first significant snowfall, we have a phenomenon occur that I call “snow idiocy.”

When the first snowfall like this hits, I notice that there are essentially 3 categories of drivers: Snow Idiots - Type 1; Snow Idiots - Type 2; and the 2%-ers. Type 1 Snow Idiots are the folks who act as if they have never seen snow before, and decide to drive at absurdly slow speeds in order to prevent any possibility of their vehicle suddenly careening wildly off the road, flipping over multiple times, and exploding into flames as it sinks into a bottomless drift of snow, where their charred & frozen corpse will remain undiscovered until 75^th century explorers in search of ancient civilizations stumble across them by accident. Seriously, while taking my kids to school this morning, we got behind a guy going so slow that my speedometer did not register anything! We were literally going so slow that a guy walking was passing us. And the really funny thing is that the street had been plowed last night, & there was only an inch or so of snow on the road!

Please don’t get me wrong, here. I think you should exercise caution under slick, icy, &/or snowy conditions. But when someone is driving this slowly, they are creating a traffic hazard, as well. And in spite of the fact that it snows here every winter, and has done so for thousands of years, the Type 1 Snow Idiot is stunned when it happens and has to re-learn how to drive in the snow. This usually takes until mid-February, which is when we typically see more reasonable driving from them. But wait! I’m not done with the Type 1 Snow Idiot yet! They have 2 subclasses, at least. The first is the Clean Vehicle Type 1 Snow Idiot, whose car is kept in a garage, or car port perhaps, and their only offense is being so overly cautious as to be dangerous. The second subclass is the Rolling Snow Drift Type 1 Snow Idiot, and these are some of the stupidest, dim-witted, brainless creatures to ever climb behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. They have no shelter for their vehicle, and so it gets covered with snow whenever there is a snowfall. And because they are morons they don’t think it’s important to brush the snow off their car- they just wipe the snow off a little pancake-sized spot on the windshield, maybe the driver’s side window, and occasionally the rear window. They don’t clean off the headlights or tail-lights at all, so you can’t see brake lights or turn signals, and they normally don’t make the pancake-sized hole anywhere on the passenger’s side. Then they plod along at dangerously slow speeds, drifting from lane to lane, all the while cursing the fact that once again (just like every winter they can remember) snow has fallen out of the sky, and covered their car.

Unlike the Clean Vehicle Type 1, who is mostly undetectable by the end of February, the Rolling Snow Drift Type 1 Snow Idiot is with us until spring comes & melts everything. These boneheads will be late for everything for the entire winter. They are driving slowly, because they can’t see out their windows, right? It takes them an extra 15, 20, maybe 30 minutes to get anywhere, BUT IF THEY TOOK FIVE FLIPPING MINUTES TO CLEAN OFF THE SNOW they would only be 5 minutes late. But they are too stupid to figure this out. Oh, it gets better! These fools will leave their vehicle covered with snow the entire winter! You would think that they might occasionally brush the snow off - like after work, or when they get home, but no! I have seen Rolling Snow Drifts weeks after the most recent snowfall. And so instead of being late to work the day the snow came, they are late every single day for weeks, and dangerous, because they are too lazy and too stupid to take five minutes to brush away the snow one time. Good grief.

At the other end of the spectrum we have the Type 2 Snow Idiot. These are the ones who think that they are bullet-proof and drive at speeds that would be reckless on dry pavement. For the most part the Type 2 Snow Idiot has a 4-wheel-drive vehicle, and this is why they think they are bullet-proof. They have traction, and they use it to its full capabilities. What they fail to understand is that they have no more stopping power than anyone else. Everyone has “4-wheel-stop,” but they don’t take this into account. The Type 2 Snow idiot also fails to take into account that 4-wheel-drive will not help you steer on ice, or on roads that have packed-down snow covered by slush. So when the first snow like this comes, you will find most (but not all) of the vehicles in ditches or wrapped around poles are 4-wheel-drives, driven (or should I say “crashed?”) by Type 2 Snow Idiots. And of course we have sub-categories within the Type 2, as well. Just like the Type 1 Snow Idiot, we have the Clean Vehicle & the Rolling Snow Drift variants in the Type 2 Snow Idiot as well. The Rolling Snow Drift Type 2 Snow Idiot is without question the most dangerous of all the Snow Idiots. Many times this particular variant will be driving something with regular 2-wheel drive, but really it doesn’t matter. Going too freaking fast & not being able to see is just stupid no matter how you got up to speed, because you can’t stop quickly either way. Lazy and stupid is a common combination in life, but it reaches new levels with the Type 2 Snow Idiot. I really despise the Rolling Snow Drift Type 2 Snow Idiot. Much like their Type 1 brethren they will often let the snow build up all winter long, or until they crash, which- sadly- is what comes first most of the time.

That brings us to the 2%-ers. That would be the 2% of all drivers that drive at speeds not too slow, not too fast, and who actually clean the snow from their cars every time it snows. We 2%-ers are split between the 2-wheel & 4-wheel-drive groups (I’m 4-wheel-drive), and between those of us who need to park outside & those of us who have a garage. I have a garage, but sometimes it snows while I’m shopping or gigging, or whatever, and I use my snowbrush to clean my car every time. It only takes a couple of minutes. Most winters I hope to find that some mysterious force has imposed sense, logic, courtesy, and a glimmer of intelligence upon the other 98% of drivers, all of whom are either a Type 1 or a Type 2 Snow Idiot. But deep down I know that is like hoping that all the little froggies will grow wings and not bump their poor little green butts when they hop. It just ain’t gonna happen.

So, in all seriousness, please, please drive carefully if you are in the Snow Belt. Take the extra time to clean your windows & lights, leave early so you aren’t tempted to hurry. Be extra cautious, watch out for all types of Snow Idiots, and be forgiving on the road. Do it for those you love & those who love you. Thanks! I’ll talk to you soon!

Clark

Experts crack me up. Really, they do. Each one is absolutely convinced that he (or she) is right, and everyone who disagrees is deluded. For instance, within the last week I have seen two “experts” from the music industry expounding on the best way to get your promo pack opened by whoever you’re sending to, i.e. record companies, booking agencies, etc. One was a video, the other an article on a web site. Expert Number One says you need to use “props” to drive home your uniqueness: put a tiny toy race car in the package with a card that says “Race to the top of the charts with our band!” Expert Number Two says never use gimmicks like that; serious music industry people aren’t fooled by this type of stuff, they just want the facts.

And on & on it goes: Expert Number One says “Put your whole life on the web! Video tape & blog about everything! It’s Web Two Point Oh!” Expert Number Two says “Don’t put everything you do on the web! Maintain an air of mystery. Use Web Two Point Oh to interact with your fans just enough to get them hooked.” Expert Number One: “Look & act totally outrageous! Be so unique that everyone notices you!” Expert Number Two: “Look and talk like your fans! Show them that you are just like them!”

I see this conflicting information & I want to shout “JUST SHUT UP!!!” These so-called experts are just offering up their opinions, and like everyone else, they can find rationalizations & justifications that they think “proves” they are right. And it’s not just music industry types, I’m using those as examples because they tie in to what I really wanted to talk about, and I promise - I will get to that in just a minute. Anyway, experts in politics, the economy, religion, sports, computers, car maintenance, parenting, sex and more all offer conflicting advice. And they all crack me up because of the conviction they have that their theory is right and everyone else is misguided or maybe even stupid. Don’t get me wrong, I think we are all entitled to an opinion, and that we should have strength in our convictions. I just want to see more of these “experts” admit that their advice may not work for everyone; that there are other approaches that have yielded good results. You know: YMMV, right? (For the utterly out-of-the-loop, that means Your Mileage May Vary.)

What set this whole rant in motion was one of the music industry “experts” (of course) who cautioned his readers about working in the recording studio. He said don’t record anything that you can’t reproduce when you play live. He said don’t get carried away with over-dubbing, adding special audio effects, adding strange instrumentation, and other studio “magic.” He very bluntly said it’s bad, period. “Just don’t do it,” was his final word. And why did this get me so fumed? Because he did not qualify his statements at all. To say that no one should ever do that in the studio is to limit artistic creativity. If no one ever recorded things they could not duplicate fairly accurately live we would not have had amazing albums from artists like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, the Moody Blues, Queen and others. (Yeah, yeah, I know these are all artists from the old days, that’s only the tip of the iceberg, you know better examples of current artists, that’s just all I can come up with right this second!)

Now, if the “expert” would have offered something like this, I might not have been so ticked: “If you are recording a demo designed to get you live shows, don’t record anything you can’t duplicate during a performance.” Or this: “When you record a CD try to make most of the songs easy to duplicate live and limit the number of the ‘artsy’ tracks.” Do you see the difference? To me, these examples just make more sense; they qualify the advice. Of course, that’s just my opinion.

So that’s what set me on this path to what I actually wanted to talk about today: my approach to making recordings. Once upon a time, I too, felt that the studio was simply a place you went to create an audio record of what your band sounded like when you were at a gig. I essentially looked down on bands that released records that did not sound remotely like their live shows. But over time change crept in, probably due to the amount of time I was actually getting to spend in recording studios. Eventually I came to regard the recording studio as an art form in itself. Think of it this way: painting and sculpting are two different art forms, but sometimes the subject can be the same, and work well in both mediums. Let’s say Abe Lincoln is the subject; you could recognize him just as well in a painting as in a sculpture. Obviously, you would be able to tell which is a painting & which is a sculpture, but you would also know that the subject is the same: Abe Lincoln. Some songs are like that, they transcend the medium. But some work really well in one form, but not the other. A drawing or painting by M. C. Escher probably could not be made into a sculpture, for instance. (Although people have tried! But the results only resemble the original Escher from one very narrow perspective, and just don’t capture the magic of the original, in my opinion!)

So now I approach the studio differently. I record some songs pretty much the way you’ll hear them at my concerts, and others are treated as creations meant only for your enjoyment at home, or in your car, or on headphones at the gym, whatever. Some of my songs may never be heard during a concert, some others you might hear an arrangement that’s aimed at optimizing the concert experience, therefore noticeably different than the CD version. And still others will sound just like the recorded form. This is very much like the philosophy that Jimi Hendrix had about concerts & studio recordings.

Like many guitarists, Jimi had a huge influence on me. For me, it was more of a mind-set influence than technique or sound. So many guitarists are after the exact sound of Jimi, or they try to mimic his playing, but as great as all that was, that’s not what I think he would have wanted. I feel that Jimi wanted us to break out of conventional thinking, to experiment with sounds & arrangements, to express our deepest feelings through our music without confining ourselves to preconceived ideas of what music is. (And, yes, I have snagged some playing technique from Jimi, as well.) So if perhaps the most influential guitarist of our time can treat songs differently in the studio and in concert, I guess I will take a shot at it, too. To use the earlier simile, Jimi could “paint” and “sculpt” with equal skill, and I hope to hone my talents in both mediums as well.

Now, all this is not to say that artists should use studio trickery to compensate for the inability to play your instrument. I have strong opinions about that, which I will save for the next installment. Right now, I have to get back into the studio & work on a song. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this fairly long blog!

Clark