Upstroke, upstroke, upstroke…rimshot!

Evening folks!

I made a promise to myself at the beginning of these blogs that I wouldn’t write while intoxicated due to the fact that I would say something stupid. Tonight, that promise gets thrown out the window. Boom!

The guys and I are up north at Mangawhai checking out a festival with New Zealands best and brightest. Living it up in VIP styles. The wine flows like the salmon of capastrano and the music is just as mind numbing. In a good way of course.

It’s been a lovely bonding day for the boys and I. We’re scorched from our beautiful sun and are well fed by the offering of hot chips and wedges from the well placed stalls read and eager to take my hard earned money from me. That’s not a gripe, they just want to make a buck.

It’s night now… Nighttime at festivals means that it’s about to get messy. There is a guy walking in front of me and Chris trying to pawn his half eaten hot dog away. I’m actually quite hungry…but Chris rightly has advised me against taking it.

Well ladies and gents, my glass is empty and a new band is about to take the stage.

Until tomorrow night.

This is me, signing off.

Peace and love.

(everyone says hi by the way.)

Play it again Sam…(and Callum)

Evening folks!

I’m sitting in new, unfamiliar blogging territory.  I’m chilling out at Brad’s house, writing this on his incredibly ergonomic computer setup.  An ergonomic keyboard, that has turned my one finger typing into a scavenger hunt to find the keys.  An ergonomic mouse…with the buttons under the thumb.  Comfortable, yes.  Easy to use…not quite.  However, it’s a challenge.  I enjoy challenges.

We just got in from a gig at the Bacco room here in Auckland, seeing our dear friends in Decortica rip up the stage like only they know how.  Quite a cool venue.  My first time there.  Underground concrete room…cold, dank vibe.  I dig it.  I like the seedier venues on the circuit.  I started my live performance career playing at a bar in Waihi called the Golden Cross.  The local gang bar, that doubled as a brothel.  So seedy…I loved it.  It’s not there anymore, for very dodgy reasons…but it certainly gave me a taste for the dankier pubs around.

We spent a good half an hour after the show tonight talking with Tyler (our super duper sound man) about how we are going to survive the zombie apocalypse.  Stick with us kid.  We’ll see you through the carnage.  I won’t go into the gameplan…as then everyone will take our hideout, but say 3 months down the track and you’re still alive…give us a call.

Man I want a hashbrown.

So, all four of us are heading up north tomorrow to check out a festival.  It’s going to be a day of sun and music…awesome chance for us all to chill out and have a few drinks with friends before we head off to Australia next week for the tour.  I mention this in this blog as if there is no cell reception up there then a blog tomorrow night will be rather unlikely.  I’ll do my absolute best to do it, as I’m sure I’ll have a heap to write about having sat all day getting inspired by New Zealand music aplenty.

It’s been a great night…and it’s still going.  We’re sitting back taking the mickey out of late night infomercials.  Does anyone remember the Motor Up ads?  The one where they start the frozen engine because they used Motor Up?  That was my favorite.  Ever.

‘You never know what you’re gonna find in a junkyard.’

Well, I think we’re going to head to Denny’s now…because we’ve got our late night hunger ON!

Until tomorrow folks!

This is me, signing off.

Peace and love.

…stand tall.

Evening folks.

We had a very positive meeting this evening at the practice space.  A lot of really great stuff came up about moving forward and ideas for the future…putting a big plan around the new album as a hole.  I’ve come home from it feeling quite pleased about the direction we’re pointed in.  Chuffed even.

We’re one week away from hitting Australia’s shores again…so between now and then all focus is on getting the set perfect and making sure everyone arrives at the right venue on the right day.  Gray and I are disappearing into the outback for a few days while we have a bit of downtime to continue with the writing process.  Polishing new tracks and developing new ideas.  I’m feeling quite renewed tonight.  Just a couple of simple decisions have given me quite a boost.

Everyone’s thoughts are still with the people of Christchurch.  Please see my last entry if you’d like to donate or help out in any way…it will all help.

I’d like to make a special mention about Aidan Holland and his team at Forever Art Tattoo in Palmerston North.  Aidan is making an incredible mark in the NZ Tattoo scene and does all of our ink.  Forever Art is donating all proceeds on the 6th of March to the Christchurch Relief…so, make the effort…get inked.  Then you’ll have a permanent story to tell as to how you helped.  Check them out here.

Forever Art Facebook.

Until tomorrow.

Peace and love.

One Small Nation…

Evening folks.

I, along with the rest of you I’m sure, have spent the majority of the day focused on the local news mediums, absorbing the events of the last 24 hours.

Something I’ve noticed from being one in a small nation – when a disaster like this occurs..the small nation seems to feel it as one.  It’s been incredible to see the walls of our profiling sites filling up with best wishes and open hands.  Our local businesses have opened their doors and their wallets in support.  Every car you pull beside has the news up loud, every house has their TV on, every one of us..following as closely as we can.

Our hearts go out to the ones still yet to be accounted for…and to those who have found their way home.

I’ve taken some information from the 3news.co.nz website on how to help or donate to the Christchurch cause.
* Use the Google person-finder to help share information about those missing in the quake.
* It is suggested that if you have heard from Cantabrians who are unable to update their Facebook page, post to their page so their friends and family know they have been contacted.
* An appeal account for people to donate to a proposed relief fund will be set up once details of the fund are finalised by the Christchurch City Council, meanwhile you can donate to accounts set up by the banks:
ASB – 12-3205-0146808-00
ANZ – 01-1839-0188939-00
National Bank – 06-0869-0548507-00
Westpac – 03-0207-0617331-00
* The NZ Blood Donation service have said they do not require blood donations at this time, but will update their Facebook page when it is needed.
* A Facebook group has been set up for those who are able to offer free temporary accommodation for those affected
* The Red Cross is currently not requiring or accepting donations of goods or volunteers – keep an eye on their website for information. They are accepting online donations at www.redcross.org.nz

* The Salvation Army is accepting donations online, and by phone – 0800 53 00 00.
* To lodge an enquiry in relation to missing relatives please call the NZ Red Cross National Enquiry Centre on 0800 REDCROSS (0800 733 276) (note this line may be overloaded) International calls can be made to +64 7 8502199
* The UC Student Volunteer Army is preparing volunteers to help quake-affected people.
* If you are in Auckland and can offer accommodation to those affected, please register on 0800 AUCKLAND.
* Vodafone users can donate to the Red Alert Canterbury Earthquake Appeal by texting Quake to 333 to make a $3 donation, or by texting Quake to 555 to make a $5 donation. A universal donation text number is currently being set up.
* RadioLIVE has a page set up where you can offer assistance to those affected.
* Telecom stores around the country are collecting corded landline (analogue) phones to distribute to those who can’t use their digital phones.
* An interactive map has been set up for those in the Canterbury region with spare beds. http://quakemap.net/

Stay safe everyone and keep in touch with eachother.

Peace and love.

To The Loved And The Lost…

On potentially the darkest day this country has ever seen…I hope everyone is doing their best to stay safe, to be with family and friends and to look out for one and another as New Zealanders.

On behalf of These Four Walls, our hearts are with you Christchurch…joined by the rest of the country’s.

More than ever…

Peace and love.

I hope Steve found parking tonight…

Hey boys and girls!

I’m going to keep this one brief as I’m in-between demos

Steve is at Queens of the Stone Age tonight (neglecting his blog duties AGAIN). He sponged some tickets and took Brad along for a man date, leaving me with all the domestic chores. Well, he didn’t leave me with them, but they have played a large part of my evening.

I don’t like domestic chores.

It’s not that I feel like I shouldn’t have to do it, I just don’t like doing it. As some of you may know, I flat with our bassist Chris (hence why I’m always boasting Bomberman victories over him…) and we have our flat inspection this weekend. So between programming drums, recording drums and the odd morsel of food, I’ve been helping him with the cleaning and tidying of the house and DAMN it’s starting to look good. There is one common problem that I’ve started to notice, though and it’s a little troubling.

We have spiders.

And not just the usual daddy long legs dangling from a stringy little web with the odd fly or moth caught in it. No… We have great big spiders. Black spiders that look like lobsters that jump all over the place, massive brown spiders that casually stroll over the house as if they held title over the land and many other types of arachnid. I don’t know about you, but I hate spiders. Yes I understand that arachnophobia is slightly irrational. For a full grown man to hate something so tiny isn’t overly logical, but once you see one walking across the lounge, then all of a sudden you can “feel” them on your feet, behind your neck… Basically, anywhere your brain throws your paranoia, you can feel them. It’s all in the head, but even as I sit here writing this, I can “feel” them crawling over me… and I don’t like it!

On that note, we’re off to Australia soon

That’s pretty exciting!

I was chatting to Crystal Ignite – the lovely lead singer for Bellusira – earlier tonight just to get a few final details. The set list is all compiled and we’re ready to hit the road – It’s going to be an awesome trip. It’s strange, that after all the touring we did towards the end of last year, going a month without a gig feels like a lifetime! I can assure you, there are no cobwebs (yes, I brought it back around), we’ve been really on the ball with rehearsals for this one and I just want to get over there!

So that’s about all I have tonight.

I’m about to start programming drums for a song that Steve wrote – time to put my spin on his insanity!

Till next time
Stay cool and take care of yourselves!

Gray

…hotties might be a stretch.

Happy Lantern Festival everyone!!!

Did everyone get along to the festival in Albert Park this weekend?

I LOVE the Lantern Festival.  Honestly…it’s such a blast.  Delicious food everywhere, amazing trinkets to buy and look at…and of course the brilliance of the lanterns is just one of those things to write home about!  I’ve been along to almost every one since I moved up to Auckland…and today was to be no different!  Sunday was to be my Festival Day, and has been booked into the calender for weeks!

I jumped into my car at about 5pm this afternoon and hit the road.  Starving, as I hadn’t eaten anything all day in preparation for this evening.  Once I got there, I was going to hit the food stalls with a fury that they hadn’t experienced since I was there last year.  Stall by stall, they would have their delicious delicacies demolished…and I would be standing proud, hands at my hips, laughing a maniacal laugh into the light filled sky.  I could not wait!

I crossed the bridge into the city and made my way to the general area…as I knew parking would be a mission.  I did a few laps, calm and patient for the moment…understanding that there would likely be no parks close by, but I had hope that I would find something nice and close…that something would magically free up.  Unfortunately, every other person in their car was hoping that same hope…and there just wasn’t enough hope to go around.

I drove around for probably about 30 minutes or so before my patience began to start wearing thin.  The first thing that got me a little irritated was a family of five.  A Mom a Dad and three daughters.  The daughters were beaming with the purchases that the parents had purchased.  Each of them had a ‘Bolang Gu’ which is one of those toy drums with the balls on string that you twist to make them hit the drum.  I was parked at a set of lights that had obviously been programmed to short change to allow more pedestrian traffic through.  So I sat, and I sat…while these three little girls smacked their little pieces of percussion consistently for at least 10 minutes.  Solid.  Good on them.  As I said…my patience nub had only just begun to wear away.  It was the next decision that wore the nub to an even smaller nub.

The Parking Garage.  ‘Well…no parks on the street.  Better try the parking garage.’  Why?  Why oh why did I make that silly decision.  Why?  Why oh why did every other person who was looking for a park on the street at the same time as I was…decide at the very same time to also try the parking garage?

I drove slowly into what would soon become my concrete tomb.  Grabbed my ticket, where the broken speaker hurled garbled abuse at me through static warning me not to lose my ticket or else, and joined the queue of cars working their way up to the empty parks at the top level.  Here I am in fact…

That’s me.  Almost at the ramp to head up to the second level.  To the right of me is Albert Park…my destination.  So close…yet so incredibly, incredibly far.  I sat in silence, waiting…sinking into a deep carbon monoxide fueled coma.  I waited.  I waited.  We all waited.  Cars started pulling out from every ramp I could see…and soon it was a gridlock of cars, horns honking…people wanting to go up, but being blocked by the people going down.  Now let me tell you…anyone can vouch for me.  I am a pretty patient guy.  I’m tolerant and I’m certainly in no rush.  However…when 54 minutes pass and you are here…

THAT’S THE SAME RAMP AS IN THE FIRST PHOTO!!!  From A to B…in 54 minutes.

It takes 54 minutes to break the human mind.  I learned this today…as almost the second I took this photo all hell broke loose.  People started getting out of their cars and yelling at the person in front of them.  I sat and watched as innocent people started attacking innocent people in the most incredible displays of road (parking garage) rage I had ever witnessed.  The fighters quickly formed two sides…the ones going up and the ones going down.  The ones going down wanted to escape…wanted everyone to ‘move aside’ (what?) so that they could drive out.  The ones going up were just angry.  Their kids were screaming in the car.  Petrol lights were burning like stars on their dashboards…and their night hadn’t even begun yet!

A big flabby fist slammed against my window…’rat tat tat’.  I looked up at the beetroot red face that stared back at me and slowly rolled down my window.

“Hey…are you going up?  Because I’m going down…and I think you should move because I’m going down.”  Logic if ever i’d heard it.  You first, me last.  Got it.  I stared into those rosy red cheeks and just silently rolled my window back up in an awkward silence.  It was at that point where hunger took me over.  I realized I hadn’t eaten all day and It was about 7:30 now.  Hunger + Impatience + Flabby Fists = Angry Steve.  Remember that, it may come in handy.  I cracked…I pulled out of line, wormed my way through to the exit…actually PAID to leave and just went to Momotea for dinner instead.

I hate the Lantern Festival.

Until tomorrow everyone.

Peace and love.

…the Bob Loblaw Law Blog.

Evening folks!

Today, Saturday the 19th of February has been dubbed ‘Recovery Day’.  It shall be known as so for years to come…so mark it in your calendars people!  Calling today ‘Recovery Day’ is really just a way of tricking myself into thinking that I have done absolutely nothing today for a reason.  One of those days that just doesn’t come along often enough.  Although, if there was one thing that I’ve done that would define today…it would be listening to music.

I like music.  Which is probably a good thing, given my career choice.

I wouldn’t classify my family as a particularly musical family.  Actually…that’s not quite right.  Lets just say that I didn’t spend my youth on a tour bus traveling with the family band, playing the odd Family Variety Television Show wearing striped, flared jeans and singing along to backing tracks.  Not to say that I wouldn’t have enjoyed that upbringing…it just didn’t happen.  My family is musical in the sense that they all have a passion for listening to music and appreciating the musicianship.

My Mom is an 80′s Glam/Hair Band freak…and that really rubbed off on me as a kid.  I used to stay up late dancing to ‘Jungle Love’ by the Steve Miller Band when I was like, 7.  Tearing the house up to the 1984 album by Van Halen.  My Dad plays guitar, which pushed me in the direction of learning an instrument.  He used to play it to me and my brother all the time.  ‘Let it Be’ by The Beatles, ‘Fire and Rain’ by James Taylor…he taught me how to play ‘Needle and the Damage Done’ by Neil Young as my first song.

I had these amazing musical influences surrounding me as a kid…some of the greatest songs, albums and bands of all time at my fingertips…so you can understand the eagerness in everyone’s eyes when I started saving up my pocket money to buy my very first CD single…and their dismay when they saw what I had purchased.

‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ – Coolio.

Man, that track was slammin’.  I do hope that everyone either remembers that track, or at least knows of it.  If you don’t then it’s worth checking out for the laughter.  For the chance to come up to me at the next show and rightly say ‘what were you thinking??’.  This song paved a slippery, sluggish…yucky looking path that I followed for the next 5 or so years of my life.  The disturbing world that is the ‘Top 40′.

Now…I’m not talking about what we have on Top 40′s at the moment.  I’m talking late 90′s Top 40.  When ballad R&B reigned supreme.  Mariah Carey, Boys II Men, The Fugees…groups like that.  I was the kid that sat home on Saturday mornings and watched Video Hits. \(Is that show still around these days?  Surely nobody is watching it if it is.  The videos are all on Youtube whenever you want to see them…so you wouldn’t need to sit at your VCR anymore…finger on the pause button ready to un-pause it to record the videos you wanted to watch again.)  Anyway, that part of my life doesn’t get talked about all that often for obvious reasons.  Whenever I’m asked what kind music influenced me growing up, I leave those artists out and describe what I found next…

Slipknot.

When I started learning guitar for real, the bands like Metallica, and Nirvana were the obvious bands to start worshiping.  I loved those bands (and would soon develop an unhealthy relationship with the latter) but Slipknot was the band that changed it all for me.  I was in America the day their first album came out in stores, I’d read about them in a magazine…saw the album, exchanged money with the fine gentleman behind the counter and proceeded to get my mind and musical tastes blown apart.  It was simply just the most raw, brutal and eye opening soundscape I’d ever heard.  I was hooked.  I went from the everyday teenager to the ‘none more black’…’socially awkward’…’cross over to the other side of the street when you see me coming from a distance’ kind of kid, overnight.  This was really the start of it all for me.  That album opened up a wide would of music to me, i stumbled onto bands like Sevendust, Powerman 5000, American Headcharge, Static-X…then found my way into the more commercial sounds of the genre like Incubus, Trust Company, Lost Prophets and early Hoobastank.  That’s where I found the band that put me on the road I’m on today.

Staind.

If I was on a cruise of the Bahama’s and our ship went way off course because the Captain, who drank too much partying down the night before with the on-boat covers band, passed out and hit that funny looking FULL STEAM gold lever that you see in all the movies…and ended up crashing on a desert island…where I was the only survivor and the only things that I could salvage from the ship was an endless supply of batteries, a CD player and ONE CD.  That CD would be ‘Break The Cycle’ by Staind.  Everyone has that one album.

They were the game changers for me.  ‘Outside’ was the first song I ever sang live.  Lyrically and thematically, it spoke directly to who I was at the time and helped out in tough times.  I know, sob sob…boo hoo…waaah.  I say again, everyone has that one album.  I have every album Staind has ever recorded.  Not in some kind of golden shrine with candles…not like that, but I am an avid follower.  They were the band that gave me the courage to stand up on a stage and do what I do night after night.  I saw Aaron Lewis and Mike Mushok do an acoustic show at the Powerstation a few years back and it just sealed the deal for me.  It was an incredible show…except for the fact that they opened up the bar on the night.  Nothing adds to the mood of an acoustic performance like a bunch of drunk bogans at the back screaming ‘PLAY IT’S BEEN A WHILE OY!!’ over every song.

I think I mentioned it last night or the night before…but lately I’ve been trying to open up to genres that I normally would have tried to steer clear from purely out of the fact that I thought I may not like it.  I was introduced to Imogen Heap a few months back before her show at Juice Bar here in Auckland.  One of the most life changing concerts I’d ever been to.  A highly recommended live show.  Incredible example of  how technology can be used to make music absolutely beautiful.  I’ve been stuck in the Australian music scene for quite some time now.  I discovered The Butterfly Effect years ago when some friends of mine in Sydney took me along to a show of theirs at The Annandale.  I discovered Karnivool not long after…and they both ruled the roost in my playlists for a long time to come.  You can imagine the achievement I felt last year when we got to play with both of those bands.

Not a lot happened for me to write about this ‘Recovery Day’, so I sat down this evening with intention of putting my fingers to the keyboard and seeing what comes out.  It now seems that letting my fingers run free is a dangerous thing to do…as lots of words come out…but with no moral.  Lets make one…

The moral of this evenings nonsensical rant: if a group of nine masked men approach you and ask for you to follow them…go with them as they’ll blow your mind apart.

Until tomorrow.

This is me, singing off.

Peace and love.

Cookoo Ka Cha!

Evening folks.

Just a quick one tonight as I’m deep in the realms of writing at the moment.  I’ve been getting a lot of inspiration over the past couple of days.  More so than the past couple of months.  Maybe because there is so much happening in the These Four Walls camp at the moment.  We’ve got a lot of really exciting behind the scenes stuff going on.  Not so much within it that would excite you (yet)…but there are big changes afoot for us which is refreshing more than anything.

I’m sitting in my writing nook at home, laying down a whole series of interludes and mini songs that have been popping into my head.  One thing we wanted to deliver on Down Falls an Empire was a listening experience.  Not an album where all you want to hear is one song, so you skip to that…but an album where you put on track one and it flows all the way to track twelve.  Much like a live set.  Which is why we toured the Down Falls An Empire album in its entirety, song for song as it was designed to be heard.

I’d like to offer the same experience this time around, either along the same lines…or heading down the path that I seem to be going down this evening.  Almost adding a new little song between the songs.  In that time that doesn’t exist on an album.  You know when you’re listening to a CD and a song finishes, then all of a sudden the CD is counting backwards instead of forwards?  That time.  The time that isn’t meant to exist.  I want to live there!  Not new songs entirely, but almost used as closure…being brought down from the heights the song has taken you and preparing you for the road ahead.

So here I go…deep into the abyss.  Let’s see what I find down there!

Until tomorrow.

This is me, signing off.

Peace and love.

…you weren’t followed were you?

Evening folks.

A strongly worded letter shall be prepared in rebuttal to Grays comments last night.  It shall have strong words in it.  The strongest of words.  My absence last night was legitimate and I will go into details as to why…now.

My internet was restored to us here at around 7pm this evening after nearly 24 hours of outage time.  In my last blog, I complimented the road workers that delayed me in getting home, saying that they were doing a great job.  Go road workers.  WRONG.  Seemingly, these same workers severed the cable supplying us with delicious broadband.  To give you further background…I mentioned in my cyclist blog that I live down a long, windy road.  This is no exaggeration.  In fact it would be better classed as an understatement.  I live in a little closed off world with little to no cellphone reception and as of no more than 3 months ago, broadband connection.  Up until that point we had to settle with dial-up connection (which is my ultimate pet peeve…slow internet drives me BONKERS!).

So, said workers cut us off.  It’s amazing how much I (we) rely on the internet for everything.  I was like a lost child, hands outstretched…looking for my mother in a sea of strangers.  I called our ISP and asked them what the dealio was.  They said they were unsure of the time frame and offered me 50 hours of free dial-up connection.  This did nothing but anger me…as they were offering me my pet peeve as a booby prize…and also suggested to me that they were expecting this to be quite a long outage.

It was a dark place last night in our little village.  The whole town was without internet.  So we gathered in the streets, looked up into the night sky, held hands and sang ‘Kumbaya’ to try and come together at a time of loss.  It had little to no effect and the townspeople started rioting and looting within minutes.  My cat is nowhere to be found.  Good riddance.

There was some truth to Grays words however.  The mojito’s were delicious.

So, internet issues aside.  I’m here now and I’m ready to type.

As I mentioned in my last blog, I went off to write a new song that was knocking around in the noggin.  I put together a good chunk of it, but it’s missing a bit of flair that Gray often brings to things, so i’m going to grab some alone time with him soonish and put some structure around the thing.

I’ve been listening to a lot of new artists and genres recently to open up to new ideas.  Artists like Imogen Heap, Thornley, Underoath, Norma Jean, Decortica, Coheed and Cambria…just to name literally a few.  I’ve been personally trying to find my way into new tunings, time signatures and structures.  All of which this new track has.  I was playing around with tunings and it ended up in this.  DAEABE.  The bridge plays around in 5/4 and the verses run from 7/8 into 4/4.  These kind of things might not have much room on the new album, as it’s not really the These Four Walls sound…but i’m finding it’s flexing my writing muscle again as I haven’t really been doing much in the way of the instrumental writing this time around…and I would certainly like to change that.  At the end of the day…if the song ends up as some monster of awesomeness, who knows.  It may see the light of day.

It’s getting late now, and I’m keen to get a bit of practice in before I head to bed…so I might go take a seat outside and have a strum for a while.

Until tomorrow!

This is me, singing off.

Peace and love.