CHIESTER

…as we found the missing link for Black Memphis.

His name is Raz.  Awesome dude, a monster on bass.  He has a 4-string fretless, but his main one recently is an Ibanez Soundgear 405 5-string (just like my old one) through a Carvin Red Light 1000 watt tube amp with a 4×10 and a 1×18.

I knew he was the right guy from the beginning.  He just disappeared for two years. Last time I saw him, with Josh (who’s a monster on drums) was The Velvet Ash’s second gig with Cindi at the Bamboo Terrace: coincidentally, that was the first time I would meet HERA.

I accidentally found him on myspace.  Sent him a message, a day later he called me.  We talked about the band, and told him about the myspace page.  Another day later, he’s ready to audition.  Sean and Adam liked him.  So we brought him Saturday to jam with everybody.  We all collectively agreed that he is the guy.

Job fortunately hooked me up with some Red Horse.  It’s watered down as far as I remembered, but my bandmates loved it.  Sean didn’t get a chance to try it for he had some Sapporo with him, and he was coming down with something.  Adam had one, Saj had three, and Raz had four.  Adam had like three Tsingtaos and three Basses (from Saj’s fridge) and both he and Saj drank 5 shots of tequila.  Man, those two got wasted really bad, more with Saj, as he threw up at his own home.

So Sean, Raz and I ended up jamming.  I already packed up my effects, so I just plugged in straight.  Somehow, just that Gibson LP Studio through my Ampeg rig just sounded like Adam Jones of Tool, as I blasted through Aenima and Prison Sex, and so Sean and Raz followed suit.  Then Raz played Forty Six and Two. And we ended with an open jam filled with odd meters that I just winged.  Those two just connected at that point, thus landing his role in the band.

So until then, I’ll keep you guys posted.

Who the f?!k cares?  I had a nasty one last Thursday, good thing my co-worker was nice enough to cover for me for the rest of the day.  I don’t think I’ve vomited six times in a row. 

It’s one of those days that I’m glad that there was construction on the side of JC Penney, meaning, there’s less people that’s going over our side of the mall.  If that wasn’t the case, I would’ve vomited on a customer, now that would’ve been an awesome youtube moment!!!

So, would anybody give me a Gibson SG ‘61 Reissue for Christmas? Ahehehehehe!!!

Puddle of Mudd opened, but we got to see the last three songs: Breed (by Nirvana), Blurry (their best song ever) and She Hates Me (BLEH!).

Chris Cornell rocked the stage around 9-ish.  Here’s the setlist:

Let Me Drown
Outshined
Show Me How To Live
No Such Thing
What You Are
Out of Exile
Hunger Strike
Billie Jean (solo)
All Night Thing (solo)
Fell On Black Days (solo)
Like A Stone (solo)
Doesn’t Remind Me (solo, then the band came back in, much to his surprise)
Rusty Cage
Black Hole Sun
Cochise

ENCORE:
Sunshower
Spoonman
Jesus Christ Pose
Slaves and Bulldozers

I must say that this was a great surprise.  I gave up the fact that he won’t be able to sing like he used to.  Well, s?!t, if he can play almost a two-hour set without his voice breaking, then I’m sold. 

I think it’s better that he went back to doing solos.  He seemed happier, and it shows on the latest cd, and this performance. His band’s way better than Audioslave.  No offense to Tom Morello, who’s a guitar wizard, but his style will overshadow the fact that he’ll always be associated with RATM.  Brad Wilk, you f?!kin’ suck! 

What’s fun is that they closed with the usual Soundgarden tracks Jesus Christ Pose and Slaves and Bulldozers, the latter with the guitar techs playing with them as well, so imagine all those guitars going off at once!

Great show indeed.

Ok, I wanna see your reply to my Bulletin post here.

He was, in my mind, one of the best ones that still wrestled to this day.  Right next to Bret Hart. 

You will be missed dude.

Now, to the a$$hole who is posing as Bret Hart… F?!k You dude!  Pinoy ka, tapos nagpapanggap ka pa…

This, by far, had got the be the S?!@@#$%T day of my life.

My former Hera bandmate and cool friend Sean and I had kept in touch since he left the band he believed in.  We talk about music and gear nerd stuff, very few people I know of that’s as obsessed with music as I am. One thing that sets him apart is he knows, and goes for, good tone.

Sean was aware of my search for tone and was very helpful to suggest what to get. 

When The Velvet Ash was looking for another producer to finish a demo, I asked him if he can help us.  He said as long as I help him with his projects, we’ll call it even. With that said, he offered me the guitarist spot for Black Memphis, a
project he wanted me to play on since the Hera days.  So my sisters and I have alternately gave him stuff in return to produce a three song demo.  Before Voltaire went home, he was able to lay three important song tracks, All is Forgiven, It’s Quite Alright and Anxieties.  We had already gone through several tracks re-recorded for Sean was particular about the tone, and after getting my Ampeg VL-501, he suggested redoing EVERYTHING, and boy what a difference! Now that Saj lent us his Fender DeVille (the 2 x 12 version), and after Sean picks it up from Futara Music (rebiasing and clean-up) this Wednesday, he wants us to re-record the cleans with that amp!

I guess he didn’t expect that Ampeg to sound THAT good.  Ever since I saw Zakk Wylde on that Guitar World issue, and loving that first Fight record, I knew I had to have it (same goes for the Yamaha T-50 and -100, but that’s another story…), but they never had it in the Philippines (and neither I had the money HAHAHA!!!). After I changed the tubes, he was floored! He used it on every track on his project! Even I can’t believe the sound coming out of that amp each time.

Since getting the Ampeg, we had a close watch on eBay and craigslist on Lee Jackson’s amps.  We had found a Crate Stealth and we won a bid!  We’re waiting for it to arrive any time now. 

Just as things couldn’t get better, Sean was gonna buy a Crate Blue Voodoo cab with Vintage 30s at Squid Music in Stanton.  What did he find as he walked in the store? Another Ampeg VL-501!!! The sales guy gave him a price quote, and gave him a deal if he paid cash. Next thing I know, Sean’s calling me about his new amp! He’s gonna have it serviced at Futara (like I have originally planned, but lagged) for the two upgrades and possibly replacing the input jack. It’s quite noisy right now, even replacing the power tubes (with EL34s), the place where we buy tubes ran out of 12AX7s.  He might try the 6550s on his another time.

Last night, it was a great sight to see TWO Ampeg VLs on Saj’s garage. All we need is the bass player to come in with a Marshall bass amp LOL!

Okay, I have the amp and the guitar. 

What’s wrong with the picture here? 

Replaced the tubes with Ruby Tubes and it sounded better, but not quite there yet. 

I figure it’s my tele. It has this ground-like hum that’s been
bothering me during the later Vash gigs (especially that awful time at
The Ugly Mug…). 

So I had Paul (of Guitar Remedy) look at
it and it’s in working order he says. He suggested replacing the bridge
pickup. The existing one is John 5’s choice, a Fender Enforcer, which
is a very high gain pickup.  Paul suggested Seymour Duncan’s Classic 59
(the chrome covered version would be AWESOME!) or Alnico Pro II (can
you say Slash?) for its low output yet killer sustain qualities.  I
mentioned Sean’s Gibson Burstbucker pickup and he said that it would be
nice, but it would have to fit the tele’s scale, so he has to look at
it first.

I was also researching about speakers for the past
two weeks. My first choice was actually Jensens for I love the Fender
tone.  I would be the first to try those out because everyone else is
going with Celestions (well maybe not, but you know…).  I know, stick
to what the pros use, but if I want my own voice, I have to go with my
gut. I think it would work well.  I was looking either at the C12R or
the Mod 12-35.  Sean spoke about a unique idea about a speaker
combination (which I won’t divulge ha! that’ll be our secret!!!) and I
wish I had thought of that!

I forgot who said it, but one
guitarist mentioned: Great tone ain’t cheap.  True, but if you know
your way around it, it would work.  And it’s really all about the
player.

Why people make awards shows a big deal mystifies me.  When they start
talking about what they wore, who they came with, irritates me. 

But I’ve seen enough over the years.  Starting with the Oscars.  Why
did Dreamgirls get 3 song nominations? Couldn’t they have given other
movies a crack at it?  Of course I was partial to Chris Cornell’s You
Know My Name (cuz it’s THE most kick-ass Bond theme that’s not the
title of the movie!!!), and that should’ve been nominated.

Grammy’s… sure they came first before the Oscars, but disappointed me
in the same category. Why they didn’t pick Chris’s song is beyond me.

And then the VMAs. It’s supposed to be everything the Grammy’s that;s
not, but it became just as horrible.  No more diversity in music.
Mostly hip hop or pop.  Lame bands too, they don’t even feature great
bands anymore.  It’s what sells at the moment.  And Jeez, these bands
suck live too…

http://www.leejackson.com/VLCABS.htm

I found this guy Russ at craigslist.org.  Guitar tone freaks will know what this amp is all about.  And I will own one!!!

——————————-

R.I.P Audioslave

Chris
Cornell held himself back by joining this band. Why do you ask? My
answer would be cuz Brad Wilk would be a bandmate. Brad Wilk. Heck,
even Greg Upchurch could play better than him! Why on earth would you
join a band after Matt Cameron being your drummer???

This was
doomed from the start. The debut was promising. The 2nd was like…
HUH? The 3rd one was funky. But imagine Cornell and funk… what a
weird combo. It sounded like he was forced to sing that last album, but
it sounded the best band-wise.

But Brad Wilk was still the drummer…

I
am looking forward to Carry On, his follow up to Euphoria Morning. I’ve
been playing that album quite recently and more of it made sense now. I
used to hate Steel Rain, but now it’s glorious.

Which begs the question: would Soundgarden reform?

Give it a rest people.  Let it end that way.

Although,
I’d want them to make their FINAL record. Down on the Upside didn’t
feel like a Soundgarden record. Too relaxed. Make that last album and
not tour. And no boxed set with 3 new songs PLEASE!!!

————————-

I’ve been blasting Soundgarden’s Big Dumb Sex a lot recently!!!

Great song, great riff… and the most rockin’ chorus sing-along EVERRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!