Wednesday 4 September 2013

Nervouscited

(The title is a word Made up by Pinkie-Pie in the film My Little Pony: Equestria Girls. It is a portmanteau of Nervous and Excited)

After actually doing my homework for a change, I paid attention to my GCSE certificates (which I didn't even glance at when I received them) and I realised that I got a distinction for my music composition, so that either means that by luck of the draw my pieces consisted of what the examiners where looking for, or I can actually compose decent music, hopefully the latter. Either way I feel slightly better about myself.

I know I should take this as a compliment, but I'm not used to receiving compliments in fields I actually want compliments in. The next best thing that I have received is multiple people saying that they like me as a performer but they don't like the horror themed songs that I perform.

Earlier today I received a package containing a condenser microphone so I can start recording some songs for you, I'm not going to set a deadline because I doubt I'd keep it (I never do, it's becoming a very bad habit that I will have to break out of), but I would like to say that I have started working on recording a song, by that I mean that I have converted the drum beat into a .wav file and copied that into Music Creator 6, I would of like to record it myself but I don't have a drumkit, so the drums don't sound "right".

About the songs I have composed: the first song you will hear is called Please Don't Leave Me (Here This Way) it is a blues rock song about "me" getting dumped by my girlfriend (I haven't been so don't worry) This song was originally spammed out for my composition work in music, because I thought it needed to be handed in that day, but I later tweaked it a little and added a solo, and now I'm quite impressed with it. This song will be released under my name, George Booth, while the other two will be released under a different name which you will hear more about at a later date.

The other two songs are horror themed, and I chose a common fear to base them on: coulrophobia. I suppose the inspiration for these came from playing a lot of Killing Floor during the Summer Sideshow event. but anyway, for this I plan on putting on composing two more songs and uploading one song to YouTube and release the rest as an EP on iTunes, Please Don't Leave Me (Here This Way) will Not be included in this EP.

But before any of this can take place, I must first compose two more songs for my horror project and record all five of them, and I'll hopefully have something uploaded to YouTube by the end of September, no promises. So right now I'm quite nervous, It won't be long before I am able to share my music, which is quite exciting, but I'm just a bit nervous about it's reception.


Thursday 25 July 2013

Sorry

Tomorrow is my deadline for recording a song and uploading it somewhere so you can hear it, at the time it never occurred to me that my mic is absolutely terrible, nor did it occur to me that a "decent" mic would be so damn expensive, so unfortunately I have failed my task. However, don't get excited, I'm not going to set my balls on fire because I'm too much of a wimp, instead I'm going to sit and sulk, and browse eBay for a cheaper mic to buy, and then I may record something.

Sunday 26 May 2013

Soon My Friends Soon

I've been thinking about recording some songs a lot recently, and now Steam has released Music Creator 6 Touch, which I will download soon, and then I can start recording some pieces. They will be instrumental at first, while I work out how to use this program, and until I get a microphone worth using. Either way expect something musical to be recorded within the next 2 months or I will set my balls on fire.

Thursday 9 May 2013

SURPRISE ATTACK!

It isn't half as interesting as it sounds... Ofsted Inspectors have come to school, so all events have been postponed, which has caused a bit of controversy among the students. It's actually quite ridiculous, but I suppose their points are valid.
On the lighter side of things, we've decided to keep Sam in the band, no one knows if he is actually going to sing or not though, and annoyingly Joe has threw in the towel and abandoned us, so now I get to throw him evil glances during music to make him feel guilty. I'm a really friendly person.

Sunday 28 April 2013

Year 12 Concert

Thursday (24th April) was the Year 12 Concert, it went quite well to be honest. However, my solo pieces didn't really go to plan, and I have been told to stick to just playing an instrument, or just singing, not both, so I think I'll just play my bass from now on (at least until I can comfortably do both). I was temporarily inducted into a band for the concert, they call themselves "Cyan Cities" which is a name I don't really expect to be seen on any posters.

As a band we mostly work quite well together, we just have major problems with our front man Sam, for two reasons. Reason one: he can't sing to save his life, he's terrible, even if you auto-tuned him, he would be miles off the right notes. Reason two: he steals the spotlight, which probably isn't much of a problem, but since this was being recorded for an exam, and he wasn't being examined (it was just me and our drummer, Joe, being examined), he was being a tad inconsiderate. If your wondering he had his guitar amp up really loud, so you couldn't hear my bass, or the drums, thankfully though, our lead guitarist (Mikey) understood that this was for an exam and turned his amp down, which meant we couldn't hear him over Sam.

I imagine if we replace Sam, we might be a reasonably good band, but until then who knows, if we're lucky people will start taking the mick out of him for his horrendous performance and he'll either quit or learn, I don't care which, but if he quits we'll need a replacement. Replacing rhythm guitar would be easy, I can think of three people who would (probably) be willing, but a new singer is a bit harder.

Thursday 4 April 2013

The Next Concert

I will be honest, when it comes to my guitar playing I have been an idiot. Instead of actually practising songs for my exam I have been working to improve my guitar playing as a whole, which is good in a way, but not right now. Now there is a Concert in less than three weeks time, and I haven't practised for it. Crap!
I suppose I could perform some of the songs I've already done before like My Dying Bride and Helena, but I don't really feel like doing Helena again because I've performed it recently, so I'll choose another Blitzkid song, maybe En Infinitus Sleepus (Lullaby). Blitzkid songs are easy enough to play. but I have to do two more songs as a group, currently Walk Like A Zombie and Are You Gonna Be My Girl, I may have to change Walk Like A Zombie to Smells Like Teen Spirit though.

Wednesday 3 April 2013

Charity and the School Life of a Weirdo

First off Charity, a month ago it was Comic relief, I was going to post this bit sooner but it completely slipped my mind many times. The theme at school for Comic relief was "wear something funny for money" so I was a Ladybird. I dressed as a ladybird because the day before my form teacher (who teaches textiles) said she had a ladybird costume in her store room if anyone wanted to wear it, I said that I'd wear it, and I did. this involved me going down to Sainsbury's and buying some red tights, I had to ask a random middle aged woman whether or not she thought they'd actually fit me first which was probably more awkward for her than it was for me. In the end however I looked awesome, and I even performed one of my favourite Blitzkid songs in the Charity Talent Show at school wearing it.
There was another nice big charity event at school before Christmas, which was simply a Sixth Form Fancy Dress Parade, I was Curley's Wife, from Of Mice and Men. I wore make-up, I even epilated  my legs, arms and underarms, to add to the effect, I went all the way, my high-heels were uncomfortable, but I still skipped through the school in them.
But for both of these events I was the silliest, hardly anyone dressed up for comic relief, let alone walked around looking as ridiculous as me, and in the fancy dress parade, the closest thing to me was some year 13 lads in women's lingerie, but they didn't wear make-up or high-heels and they didn't shave there legs. I'm not a charitable person, but I still go overboard at charitable events, no-one else does...
So for these I've become a bit of a celebrity around school, it might also be because I carry Rarity (the My Little Pony toy mentioned in my last post) around with me and it might also be because I wear a proper Blazer, have my shirt tucked in, my top button done, and even have my tie actually around my neck. I don't have to do these things, but I think I look better that way. I do odd things around school, it's true. I'm a very happy and childish person, but people think that because I listen to punk rock, that I'm a necropedophile (someone who rapes dead babies, in case your unsure),  I may be a little disturbed, I may have an "unfriendly" taste in music, but it doesn't mean I'm unfriendly, so what if I believe in the Fae, Spirits and Magic, it's just the same as Believing in God, but I'm seen as an evil person nonetheless, or people think that I'm putting on this evil guise and lazy eye (I don't know how one fakes a lazy eye) just to get attention.
School is a harsh place, but my school days are probably going to be the best I'll ever have.

Toys

The toys designed for girls are absolutely pathetic compared to that which have been designed for boys. I'm not saying girls toys are bad in anyway, I have got a My Little Pony toy who keeps me very entertained, but really the entertainment is the struggle of getting all the knots out of her mane and tail. But she is still fairly boring, yes I may love her to bits, but that's irrelevant right now. the only thing about her that moves is her head, and that only swivels allowing her to look around, but she cant look up to see the birds or look down to admire her pony-pedi. her legs should move at least so she doesn't have to constantly stand in such a stiff pose as if she was an Equestrian Legionnaire, receiving orders from her squad leader.
The same goes for Barbie Dolls as well, or so I hear, but they have some joints so they can move like Lego men, unless your lucky enough to get some of the more expensive ones that have joints in the elbows and knees. The main thing really is that the can look up and down as well as left and right, but still the most entertaining thing is sorting out the hair.
Boys toys on the other hand have a lot more variety, sure we had our equivalent of the Barbie Doll, Action Man, who usually had joints in his knees and elbows. but essentially he was pretty boring too. The greatest toy we ever had was Bionicle, hey were awesome, they had joints everywhere, some had the Achilles Tendon so they had greater balance and could actually stand up after you let go of them, and one that I owned had hands with moveable fingers. But the main reason for Bionicle to be the best action figures was the simple fact there were instructions included in the boxes and online to combine the figures into great big monsters that will happily wreak havoc on all the puny other toys in your toy box.
Boys also got Lego Technic which is essentially basic engineering in the form of very small, painful plastic pieces, and that was incredible, hell it still is, learning toys are probably some of the best, but they are usually for under 3's, Lego Technic isn't its for a more advanced age and I'd call it a learning toy, same goes for Meccano, not so much for K'nex though..
Overall, guys have more variety than girls when it comes to toys, and I don't think that is very fair at all. Girls really could do with more variety, all they really have is different sets of which they can play House with. Boys get to build racing cars, jet-fighter, cities, create epic battles, and even combine the lot.

Wednesday 20 March 2013

Inheritance?

OK so recently my girlfriends mum decided to sell my girlfriends laptop so she could buy Windows 8 for their new computer, and now she is scared that her guitars, bass and violin will also be sold. Fortunately for me this means I get a violin, and acoustic guitar, my old electric guitar back, and a Fender Squier Jazz bass.

I've been wanting a violin for awhile now, but I've never actually brought one, so I'm chuffed to bits with that. The acoustic guitar needs its action adjusting but it produces a lovely sound. My old Lodgestone guitar sounds great when plugged in, and it feels good to play too. Finally the Jazz Bass, its unfortunately not as balanced as the original fender but it still produces a sound which fits almost every genre of music imaginable, in fact it fits all genres (unless you try to add distortion).

Right now I'm also trying to save up for a small mixing desk so I can actually try and record something, but Steam keeps throwing games in my face that look incredible, so if I can resist not buying Farcry 3 or anything equally as awesome for the next two months, I should be fine, I may however treat myself to some more Nerf darts...

Friday 11 January 2013

Drummer

I've finally found someone willing to do some drumming for me, so now I just have to teach Dana some songs on bass and get Matty (our drummer) playing them too. this is actually kinda exciting, now I'm just hoping we can all play "Walk Like A Zombie" by "Horrorpops" in time for the march Talent Show at school.