Structure

Been thinking alot about structure these past few days.

John Cage, what they call an avant garde composer, created his own structures. He rewrote how music should be structured, redefined what structure could be.

I am nowhere near having the slightest incline as to what his structures were really about, but it has made me rethink the way I use structure in my music.

I guess you can think of structure as something entirely flexible. Do we need to keep conforming to the same structures as everybody else? Do we even need a structure? Does nature have a structure? Does the planet really have a structure? I think there are arguments for both sides.

I am wondering whether structure is simply just a 'man made' thing. Something we apply to things to help us understand them better.

Either way, I'm imagining the possibilities for what lies outside of structure. Just think what there could be, unconstrained by time, pitch, formula etc.

Phases

I'm about to enter into another one of my 'get yer ass in gear' type phases. These are periods every 4 - 6 months or so where I re-evaluate my life/music etc and decide to make some changes. Despite the fact I rarely see the changes through, these phases nearly always result in something good - some new music, recordings or a great performance or two.

It's funny actually. Usually these times are proceeded by some kind of negative feeling, but this time, it's entirely positive vibes that are encouraging me to make the changes in my life.

I'm not going to bother detailing anything that I have planned but I will say that a whole bunch of things have started to come together and make sense and I've decided now is the time to start capitalising on my good luck and positive energy.

Expect new projects, exciting, fresh music and beautiful live performances.

Turbinates

I really enjoyed Tuesdays open mic night at The Pig And Fiddle. For some reason I had been looking forward to it all day and then, as the night developed, my expectations were met with an array of brilliant and entertaining acts. Unfortunately I could not name a single one of them but sets ranged from covers to original singer/songwriters and even contemporary and jazz solo guitar pieces.

My set went OK, but was definitely lacking in something. I seem to be getting uptight during my performances at the moment. I'm not concentrating on my breathing and am struggling to complete lines, put power and emotion into phrases and sometimes hit sustained high notes. It's nothing major - I still feel my performances are coming across well but I know I'm not quite hitting the standard I can, and perhaps have done before.

I'm putting this down to three main reasons:

1. I desperately want to start collaborating with some other musicians. My thoughts are no longer consumed with my solo work but with how I can develop my songwriting and performance with others. I think this comes across as me performing in a slightly detached manner, not putting my heart and soul into what I'm playing.


2. I haven't been practising so much recently. When I moved here I was practising all day every day and that resulted in some good performances. Simple - practise = greatness.


3. Hay fever. I think I am starting to suffer with hay fever this summer in that my turbinates inside my nose are swollen making breathing feel restrained. It kinda feels like I have a cold but without the funny voice. I do think it is affecting my technique though and the way that I deliver some of my lines.

So my plan is - Firstly to practise. I need to master performing my songs again. I figure that this will also help reinstate the pride I have in my work when I perform it fantastically. It may even lead to someone wanting to work with me on some wonderful music. And I guess the hay fever thing I will just have to put up with for the rest of the summer. It isn't so bad.

Oliver Owen : Rock Critic!

This Saturday there is a 'battle of the bands' type event happening at The Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton. It is run by the good people of Live'N'Up and will also feature guest performances and an open mic event in the bar.

Not only will I be a guest act, performing two songs to open the second half of the evenings show, I have also been asked to sit on the judging panel for the BOTB competition.

I am both extremely excited and terrified about doing this, in equal measures.

It could be great. If there is a good mix of acts which allow me to give genuine positive feedback, maybe offer some advice from my years as a musician type, and maybe even drop in the odd joke or hilarious comment.

But there is a strong chance that many of the acts will be terrible. Coupling this with the probability that the other judges may be, how you say, soft, I could find myself biting my tongue and being 'nice' so as not to send the thirteen year old classic rock covers acts off home in tears.

Of course I don't want to be mean to children! I'm not going to be over critical just to make myself seem interesting. (Although it could lead to a lucrative career with ITV) But similarly, if something is genuinely shit - and is something that I hate - surely I cannot sit there and mumble "Yea guys that was really cool, you're all so young and talented and that guitar solo mid set where you played behind your head was soooo rockin!"

The other option of course is to say nothing, and where I absolutely have to say something, make my response so banal, so indifferent, that people actually forget that I have said anything at all.

but what would be the point in that?

Being A Musician In Bath: Act One

My plan has always been that once I had moved to Bath - the big city - that I would step the music thing up a notch. I would put more effort in getting gigs and maintaining a busy schedule of gigs. I would devote more time to writing, more time to marketing etc, maybe even gather a small cluster of musicians together to form some sort of ensemble. I would no longer be a simple clerical worker, dreaming of hitting the big time while playing crappy open mic nights with zero return. I would be a full blown musician, collaborating with others to produce ground breaking work and showcasing this to packed bars full of fans who will leave amazed and in love with the hottest new act in town.

I guess I had some naive notion that Bath would be overflowing with creative musicians, venues hosting live music and people willing to pay to see music. I thought that in no time at all I would be playing gigs and meeting other serious musicians. But in actual fact, I can't really say that things, so far, are that much better than in Taunton.

This is only going by my first impressions mind you. I have only been here for about three weeks so I mustn't jump to any big conclusions just yet but from what I have seen so far, on the surface, there doesn't appear to be the booming music scene that some other city's appear to boast.

My only proper exposure to Bath's music scene so far is through the attendance of a few open mic nights, which, as was the case in Taunton, are the stomping ground for very nervous newbies and seasoned cover artists and sound a-likes. And even these seem thin on the ground.

It would also appear that what music scene there is swarms around Moles Club and adjoining Porters Bar, mirrored by Tauntons singular music venue being The Perfect 5th. There are a few other pubs advertising live music but that nature of this remains to be investigated. My fear is that this, as was the case back in Taunton, will consist of pub rock cover acts assured of bringing in the punters.

The initial findings possibly could leave me slightly disheartened if it not for the fact that I am positive that once September draws near and the students return, and once this banal festival period of summer has finished, things will pick up and I shall be reporting an entirely different story.

New Inspiration

My plan was to spend the first two weeks in my new flat, writing, playing music, composing, and doing other interesting things like that. The sort of things I spend a long time thinking about doing, but never really get around to actually doing.

I've spent most of my time here rehearsing acoustic material and developing some new songs, reading about photography, and wondering why I haven't really got round to doing the things I was planning on doing. I did also make a brief start on a proposal for a sound installation but decided that, considering the proposal wouldn't be delivered until September, it wasn't worth spending too much time on. Plus I don't want to lose energy midway through this particular project as I feel it will be a real killer.

I have nearly finished reading a book about David Bowie in Berlin. It is absolutely fantastic. It talks about the making of both 'Low' and 'Heroes', as well as the making of Iggy Pop records, 'The Idiot' and 'Lust For Life'. What is most interesting about this time was the importance placed on working methods, collaborations and mindset when they were producing this material. Both Bowie and those he worked with were desperate to put their old selves, their old ways of working, behind them and create something fresh. They didn't tie themselves to schedules of preconceived formats of how things would be done. The sessions were organic and free and, perhaps because of this, the actual bulk of the work was completed fairly quickly.

I've spoken before about the need, as an artist, to force yourself into new directions, to attempt to work in different ways and to seek out new ideas and inspirations. This can be as simple as visiting a random gig, buying a new CD by a different artist, or as radical as it was for Bowie, moving to a different part of the world to work with different people. But if you want to keep being excited by your own musical or artistic journey, these steps are absolutely necessary.

I have spent the last few days working on new electronic music. Although the results aren't quite ready to be heard yet I am getting really excited about where some of the sounds are heading. Over the last few months I have had a bit of a sonic breakthrough with my electronic music which I am really pleased about. So to celebrate, I will be posting some old, new music on my musical sketchpad.

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I have just gone through the process of registering and licensing my copy of Cubase LE4 so that I can bounce some MP3s to upload. I have now discovered that Cubase LE4 does not seem to offer MP3 bounces. If it does - I can't find them.

I will post again when this is resolved and my music is online.

Bath

Living in Bath is great.

It has taken a week or so to stop feeling like a tourist, to be able to walk through the streets with confidence, not stopping every few steps to take a picture of an old building or ask where I am or where to go, but I am finally starting to settle into life here and the fact that this beautiful city is now my home is starting to sink in.

What with the moving and acclimatising etc, finding our way around and trying to get my head around bills etc, my mind hasn't hugely had the time to wander so I'm going to keep this post short.

I have been trying to develop my portraiture skills recently so will post some of the results very soon.

Also, with a new location comes new open mic opportunities so I will now be hanging around Porters Bar on a Monday night and The Pig And Fiddle on a Tuesday night. Come by, say hello and hear my new music.