søndag 28. august 2011

My journey

When I grew up, music was a part of my life just as much as drinking water or even breathing. My family has always been of musical and everyone of my siblings does or have either played an instrument or been practicing vocals. We would always have music handy and I can still recall hours of going trough my fathers LP collection. With the 70s headset clamped onto my way too small head, I would listen to the tunes of Chet Atkins, Mark Knopfler and more. I remember singing at the independence day celebration when I was about 5. Nervous as I was, singing the verse of the song that we as a family had just sung. That was the first and only time I can remember having any real stage-fright, because the idea of being on a stage quickly grew on me to the point where I didn't even think about it. Later I've been on stage in front of hundreds of people Playing an instrument or singing, either with a band or by myself. At a young age, aching to follow in my fathers brilliant footsteps and mastering the art of guitar, I started taking guitar lessons. But it seemed I lacked a lot of patience, so I soon lost interest in the guitar, and used it only for the sake of playing something. My dream had always been, since I was a little toddler destroying my moms pots and tupperware with my drumming, having my own set. However, I didn't grow up in wealth and a whole drum set doesn't sell cheap. So I kept playing guitar and bass, as well as singing. When I turned 15, I bought a computer, and even tho games was fun, I soon realized it gave me a new oportunity to produce music. I downloaded a music program called magicx music maker, and started playing around. Trying to learn the subtle art of manipulating soundwaves, VST instruments and such, were completely strange terms to me. So I started trying to either mix precomposed music together in mashup remixes, or record raw soundwaves from instruments. I still find that those years gave me a lot of insight and lessons in how to go about making music, because I was forced to use my imagination and study the way songs were made just by listening. I developed a selective hearing, something I think is essential when it comes to analyzing music. This way I could separate out single instruments and focus entirely on them to learn patterns and how they are balanced out.

During that time, I also learned how to play the drums. A local church was nice enough to let me borrow their drum set as noone was using it. I couldn't get enough of playing. I played while listening to music, slowly gaining momentum and getting better. I also tried forming a band with some friends, but we never really went for it a 100%. From I was about 14 and forward, I started developing my own taste of music, and definitely went off my fathers classical guitar-style unto more hard music. Artists like Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit was my gateway from the rap music the young skater in me took interest in, to the more heavy genere of music. As i turned 16, I found the finnish band Nightwish. Their music was different from anything I've heard so far. They had this Symphony-instpired metal with a opera-like vocalist named Tarja that grabbed a strong hold of me. I had found the drums of other contemporary artists to be way too simple, and the drums of LP and Limp Bizkit to be a little too sampled and "fake". So this was an appreciated change of pace. I started loving the fast double bass drums and trying to replicate this with my very limited drum set. My parents must have been going crazy. But I turned 16 and moved out. In the years to come, I was echonomically independent and on a raging riot against my parents, so everything I had of money went straight into my budget for cigarettes. I was having way too much fun and way too little money to focus on music. I was free and saw this as an opportunity to do anything but produce music. Tho my love for music never went away, and I would consume large ammounts of new artists and all the way taking pleasure in hearing new, harder songs.

During this time, I had 1 major principle: Electronical music was not music! The idea of some kid sitting in a basement pressing buttons to create something called music, and in a dull rythm that didn't change for the entire song. Not for me. The progressive metal artists I were listening to, created masterpieces that took you on a journey though incredible changes of riffs, tempo and rythm. I could not understand how people could listen to techno.

In the last few years, I have been working on identifying myself as an artist or producer, and this is very much an ongoing process where I have done R&B beats and full rap songs, Metal compositions and even movie soundtracks. The latest developement have been my discovery of the UK underground genere DubStep. It is widely mainstream now, and has been called the punk movement of our time. At first, I didn't pay much attention to it, but the wobble bass and deep sub sounds combined with ripping synths in untraditional changes of oscilations soon captured me to the point where I started to see what this was all about. I had already been open to listening to a few select electronical artists like Infected Mushroom (israel) and the more known Pendulum and The Prodigy. I have in the last weeks been studying Dubstep more in depth and learning about making this kind of music by following the "rules" of DS.

From my several attempts on forming bands, working with others and trying to get things off the ground, the idea of being a lone artist, making beats on a computer appeals more than ever. But I must say my dream is and will always be, standing on a stage with a band, tearing the roof off, not by prerecorded tracks, but with pure artistical performance and live skill. So who knows what the future brings, and what may come. I am very much looking forward to seing how things turn out.

Thank you :)
- André