Category: music

Being Inventive

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

The one thing that I have noticed, is that as a freelancer, or someone who tries to freelance, when you don’t get work, it is hard to keep busy. I don’t know if this has been a problem over the last few months. If I get no interest, I take it personal, because my work is such a personal thing to me. So, when I get no work, I feel like it!s because I have done something wrong. I haven’t, but the easiest way to get past these feelings, is to ignore the issue completely. Which I have done.

But I can’t carry on like this. So, I have been writing down ideas of personal projects, that I can take on, to help improve my activity levels. Hopefully, it will also make me feel better about myself and about my work. I always feel better when I am doing things, be it blogging or painting. Because I am using my time more productive, I hope that the positive change of my thoughts, will open the door to more possibilities.

That’s the PMA way of thinking, anyway. That if you experience more opportunities, then more opportunities will come your way. Or that’s the idea, anyway. I have a few ideas I am thinking of, so we’ll see what happens.

All Change?

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Changing your website seems to be something which is rather fashionable right now. Every website or internet based product I use seems to be doing an end-of-year update. Whilst, this is something I know is important, to keep sites feeling fresh, I just seem to see it happening a lot right now.

Maybe it is just the services I use. It’s not like the service provided by these sites are changing, just how I find things. It involves a change of habit, and those aren’t always so easy to change. I think that people’s negative opinion of change stems from the fact that people in general, are afraid of change. So, in defence, any change is met with an over-bearing sense of hostility, as if acting in such a way will get rid of the change that is threatening them.

Which as noble as your anger is, it doesn’t make the slightest difference, as change is going to happen. It is a hard fact of life that nothing will stay static forever. So the quicker you can accept change, the happier you will be. I mean, there is enough stresses in modern-day existence without creating more stress over nothing. I mean if YouTube stopped you from viewing and uploading videos, then fine, but they haven’t. Just changed the layout. Yes you have to learn new paths to get what you want, but the stuff you want and need is still there. So no need to be angry and vengeful against the site’s creators for trying to make things a bit different. Change happens to us all, so try not be so untrusting of it.
Listening to- Miss America by The Fates (watch the video below)

PS- Umm… the snow at the bar at the top is playing with my eyes. So strange.

A Friend of Mine Just Found My Old Youtube Channel.

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

The Youtube channel I can no longer access, due to some reason or other. Basically I did loads of vlogs and videos and it’s now closed off. I tried to fix it, but it was easier to start a new channel.  So I did.

But the old channel and it’s videos are still up, and someone I went to school with found it, and emailed me about it. I wish what she said was complimentary. But she effectively told me to step away from a computer and not make vlogs because it indicates I have ‘no friends or a life’. It was nice.

I am fairly tolerant to people who smirk when I say I like to post vlogs. All I think is ‘well, they don’t know what they’re talking about’. Which is true. To make a valid comment on a particular subject, you do need to have at least some experience on the subject. So, I didn’t take it too seriously.

Then I realised I know noone else who posts videos on youtube, and that made me feel special. The kind of special I feel may be different, depending on how you look at people who make Vlogs and express a lot on the internet. And when I say express, I don’t mean that you post a daily status update on Facebook. So I do put a lot of myself into making videos, running forums and obviously blogging. And because of this, they are all very personal to me. And to have someone who I have not spoken to for YEARS, berate what I love did hurt.

Anyways. My new Youtube channel can be found here. I have today uploaded 2 videos from Rebellion Festival, which I went to at the start of August. The videos are of two bands, Septic Psychos and Strawberry Blondes. I had no camera for the rest of the festival, because my battery died on my first day.

Musical Tuneage: A Playlist

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

A lot of people I know use Spotify a lot. If you don’t know, Spotify is a music streaming service. It is great if you want to listen to an artist before you buy any of their work. It is also good for building playlists to share with friends.

Building playlists always reminds me of making mix-tapes, like I did when I was younger. Where you would copy a selection of your favourite music for friends, and you would swap tapes. It was great, and was always a good way to get new music. Anyway, I have spent today thinking up of a playlist to share, so here it is.

1)Tori Amos- Professional Widow

One of my favourite singer/ songwriters, this song is one that became very popular during my school days. It was the song that got me interested in Tori Amos, and it is forever known as her biggest hit. Released in 1996, the song was remixed  by Armin Van Helden and found it’s way to the clubs, and became on of the most successful dance remixes of the 90s.

2)Bad Brains- I Against I

Reggae infused hardcore. A brilliant band, one of the pioneers of hardcore punk, this band’s big success came in the late 80s.  I Against I, was the album where Bad Brains became popular, and is also the title of my favourite song by them. The influence of many current rock bands, and they are aiming to release an eagerly awaited new album in 2011.

3)Belle & Sebastian- Expectations

A Glaswegian indie band, started in the mid 90s. Expectations is mostly recognised for being on the highly praised soundtrack for the motion picture, Juno, starring Ellen Page. The music is very light in sound, but has a strong lyrical content. The lyrics are very emotive, which gives them the chance to be depressive or humorous, depending on the mood of the song. Regularly voted as one of the most influential Scottish bands in music, something well deserved.

4)Black Flag- Padded Cell

Another highly influential punk band, also noted as helping start the genre of hardcore punk. Padded Cell features on the album, Damaged, the first Black Flag album I owned. I was given it at school on cassette by some random. And at the time, I knew I loved music, but I hadn’t ventured out of the mainstream, pop market. But the tape was going to get thrown out, so I took it, as I had this funny attachment to tapes and things getting thrown out. I remember listening to it on my walkman, and it blew me away and began to open me up to more music. I wish I could remember who was throwing the tape away so I could thank them for letting that album into my life. Padded Cell has always been my favourite song of Damaged.

5)Care Bears on Fire- Barbie Eat A Sandwich

Cute pop-rock fun. Three American teenagers who write and record all their music themselves. Reminds me of early Avril Lavigne, where it has serious bounce, as well as some good technical aspects. It is very similar to a lot of the Disney singer which release cute pop rock, like Demi Lovato. Whilst I am sure many readers will squirm at the mention of the Camp Rock star, I know a lot of kids listen to her, and that is who would love Care Bears on Fire. Bright, harmless and written by teenagers for teenagers. If you like your music fun, light and very poppy, you will love singing into your hairbrush with this.

6) Moral Majority- Circle Jerks

80s hardcore punk is a bit of a soft spot for me, and here is another band who kicked it all off in the 80s. Circle Jerks’ was created by original Black Flag singer, Keith Morris. Wild in the Streets was an album I bought about 10 years ago on CD. It was in a charity shop, and cost me £1, and was never opened. Well worth the money, and helped steer me further towards punk rock, and the passion that this band have is immense. Really brilliant band.

7) The Creepshow- Rue Morgue Radio

This band is a more recent find, and I started listening to them with in the last few years ago. This Canadian band play psychobilly that packs one hell of a punch. Influence by horror movies, and a style of a bygone era, like many similar bands, they are frequently on the road, and have been reccently playing a lot of festivals in Europe.

8 ) Melanie C- Northern Star

Like many girls of a certain age, I was a Spice Girls fan. I became obsessed with the voice of, Sporty Spice, Mel C. Her voice seemed really unique, and when she started releasing solo material, it was a chance to listen to her sing, without the other 4 Spice Girls intruding. Because of her unique voice, Mel’s voice has a tendency to divide opinion. Some people love her sound, others hate it. I think people with unique sounds should be praised, which is why Northern Star is here. The song used to always make me cry when I first bought the album.

9) Dead Kennedys- Kill The Poor

Who likes heavy music and doesn’t rate the Dead Kennedys? Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables is one of the best albums EVER, in my opinion. Widely accepted as being parody, on the American political shift of the 80s to the right, where the rich were looked after, and the poor were left to rot. It hit the nail on the head, and became one of DK’s most popular songs.

10)Fat Boy Slim- Gangsta Trippin

The 90s were a period where dance music had depth, and wasn’t all about girating half naked women. I was a bit of a Fat Boy Slim fan in the late 90s. It was music I could draw and paint to, and that is something that is still important to me. It’s music I remember dancing to at school discos, although I couldn’t dance at all. It has happy memories, because it was on all the compilation albums, that were on the rage. I think I had 2 or 3 compilation CDs with this song on it. Great for parties, even if it is just for the memories.

11) Lady Sovereign- Love Me or Hate Me

There is something really honest about Sov. The self-dubbed ‘biggest midget in the game’, is a rapper who sings about what she knows. A lot of her songs talk about issues facing her growing up in an East London Council estate, and it is her honesty within her songs, which has seen her get a huge following on both sides of the Atlantic. Sov is a rapper who always seems to have had a strong sense of self, and is not afraid to speak her mind. This was the first of her songs I heard on the radio, and I was not disappointed when it lead to purchasing in her albums.

12) Manic Street Preachers- A Design For Life

A Welsh band who enjoyed popularity in the late 90s/ early 2000s. I think I first saw the Manics on BBCs Top of the Pops, which was on every Friday night. It was the way I found a lot of music at the time, as I never saw MTV at all. So it was music magazines and Top of the Pops/ the Offical top 40 on Radio 1. This song became a number 2 hit in 1996, and was acknowledged for its lyrical content. It is about the time where I did start to listen to lyrics more, so it appeared to be a very deep song to me.

13) Melody Gardot- Baby I’m A Fool

A jazz singer/ songwriter. Melody turned to music after being severely hurt, after being knocked off her bicycle by a Jeep in 2003. She was bed-ridden for a year, and was left with neural problems leading to her being hypersensitive to light, which leads her to wearing sun glasses all the time. A doctor treating Melody advised that music could be a way to help aid her recovery. Humming or singing music, is thought to help repaired neural pathways, which helped Melody recovery. She frequently visits universities talking about music as therapy, and is a successful recording artist. I found her through Last.fm, and was astounded by her voice. A truly inspirational artist.

14) Nirvana- Rape Me

Nirvana is widely accepted as one of the best rock bands of all time. Kurt Cobain, the frontman for Nirvana, is a fantastic lyricist, and you can feel his pain. The lyrics are so wonderfully written, and, on their own, can  make someone feel uncomfortable. This is good writing. This honesty and emotion, is what helped Nirvana become so successful, and become the band for a generation of disaffected teenagers.

15) NOFX- Hobophobic (scared of bums)

NOFX are a band that rose to popularity in the 90s with other bands such as The Offspring, Rancid, Green Day and Blink 182. Their music always has a strong sense of humour, and they are a band who don’t take themselves too seriously. They frequently mock their peers, and seem to seek out to be as troublesome as they can be. A brilliant band, and this is them at their hilarious best.

16) Rancid- Ruby Soho

Rancid are the band responsible for my music taste. It was 1997 when I first heard …And Out Come The Wolves, and it blew my mind. It’s punk sensibilities with aspects of ska, and the lyrics. A fantastic album, and Ruby Soho is one of the many highlights. Good for a drunken sing-a-long. I do hold Rancid responsible as being the band who introduced me to punk rock, and I love them for that. Always will be a favourite song, by my favourite band.

If you would like to listen to this playlist, it is available on Spotify here

Rebellion Fest– See You Soon Blackpool

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

So, tonight is ‘get ready’ night, because tomorrow I am away down to Blackpool until Monday night. Which is great, I need some time away.
I am away down to Rebellion Festival, a punk festival held at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens. It is the highlight of my year, and there is always some amazing bands there. Bands going that I want to see include:
*The Exploited
*GBH
*The Restarts
*The Guilty Pleasures
*Middle Finger Salute
*The Creepshow
*Anti-Nowhere League
*Cock Sparrer
*The Business
*Sonic Boom Six
*The Damned
*The Beat
*999
*The Bouncing Souls
*Goldblade
*Pennywse
*The Dickies
*The Vibrators
*The Varukers
*Street Dogs
*Old Firm Casuals (feat Lars from Rancid)
*Infa Riot
*The Meteors
*Slaughter & The Dogs

Just ckecked the timing, and I may have to make a choice between one band and another.
Going to be so good though.

These Days Spent A’Ramblin’.

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Don’t have a lot to say right now.

I have the urge to update though. All my utterances I have online, are pretty much on twitter and tumblr. Mostly because they are not anything substantial, it is just a few sentences or a comment I need to say. Nothing that has enough ‘stuff’ for a blog post. Which is depressing, because I usually have so much to say.

So I have been sitting around, listening to Charlie Parker and chilling out. I find jazz one of the most relaxing kinds of music. The sound just manages to lift what ever mood I am in, and to me, that’s what music is good for. It is something that you can turn to, if you need it, it is there. And depending on the person, different kinds of music can do that. For me, it is always jazz, reggae and ska that cheer me up, regardless as to why I am not happy.

Music is strange, because it is using someone else’s art, to relate to and help express your feelings. That is how I feel about music, it is art. Even if something is not to someone’s taste, they shouldn’t ‘hate’ it. I mean hate, is you dismissing another artist complete, and is a strong word for something that isn’t to your taste. I try to give most kinds of music a go, but I know there are particular artist’s I can’t stand (Justin Beiber, Take That, etc). But, I would never say these are crap artists. Regardless of my view on their music, they are out there making music, music which will effect someone. So kudos for them, for doing something I could only dream of. So you insult an artist, you insult the people who can relate to their music. You insult people you have never met. And if you do that, it says more about you, than the actual person you berate.

Good (Charlotte) Monday?

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

I have spent all day listening to music. Now, I don’t mean the usual ‘I can’t make up my mind, so I’ll put my ipod on shuffle’ kind of mood. Usually I have to be in a certain mood to do that, unless its a new band or album, and I obsessively play that music till I’m sick of it.

But today, I was tactically listening to, wait for it, Good Charlotte. I’m gonna be honest, I like to call myself some kind of uber-fan when it comes to Good Charlotte, but I don’t really listen solidly to their music for hours on end. Not like I used to, anyway. I mean, music to me is an emotional experience, so I like to listen to something that matches my emotions. For example, Municipal Waste is my angry music right now, because, well the music is a tad shouty and GRRR.
But anyway, today, I solidly listened to Good Charlotte. I watched videos, read articles and this feeling came over me. I felt proud. I know it seems stupid being proud of a band that don’t know I exist, but I can’t help it. I have been a fan of this band for 10 years, that is over a third of my existance on this planet. And they are still going so strong. I am guessing its what a parent feels when their kid does well.

Longevity is a big issue in modern music, what with the endless ‘talent’ vomited out by TV shows every year. So every band that remains a success for a long time, on their own talent, should be honoured. And to know that Good Charlotte have stood the test of time and are now winning over the critics, why shouldn’t I be proud? They are not existing in name only, they tour, they make albums and the most important part, they talk to their fans.

That takes me to the big reason, why at 27 years old, I am so fond of this band. The fans. Or GCFam. Whilst, yes, as a group there are some disagreements there is so much support there. No matter what a person goes through, the friends they have in the GCFam will support them regardless. Which for having friends from a mostly online community, is maybe frowned on by some, but that’s just because they don’t understand how close people can become.

I’ll shout it from the roof tops that I am a Good Charlotte fan, and I don’t care what people will say back to me. I’ll ask them if their favourite band gave them friends for life, if their favourite band inspired them to be where they are now. I just am protective about the band, which is strange. But when you make such a personal connection to something, you can’t help wanting to protect it. You want to keep them safe from harm, and it seems a bit strange, but its true. Its the truth of what a band can mean to so many people.

Good Charlotte are the truth.

Sex On The Radio

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

^^Good Charlotte’s new video for their song Sex On The Radio. I heard some things about the video before it was released, but having see it, I can tell you I think it’s one of my favourite videos.

The idea is, that the band are all in ‘disguise’ and they record people in LA listening to the song, and film their reactions. Its a really funny idea. It’s refreshing to see a band show people’s opinions so freely, to the point that they show people saying that the song is rubbish. Not a lot of bands would put that in a promotional video.

Anyway, this marks 14 days before I see Good Charlotte in Glasgow. *Squee* So as a warning, the fangirl posting may become more frequent.

Music Friday: Good Charlotte

~ Sue ~ 1 Comment

This is the day where I get to talk about music, and recommend something to you, the reader. Well today I am talking about my favourite band, Good Charlotte.


Happy Friday.

Joel Madden
Benji Madden
Paul Thomas
Billy Martin
Dean Burtterworth

I am obsessed with this band, and have been that way for the last 9 years of my life. It sounds like how people were like with boybands in the 90s, but trust me its not like that. I listen to other bands, but I always come back to GC.

Their music has guided me through some hard times in my life, and I find their lyrics to be very relateable. That’s where most bands fall down, whereas their songs may hold meaning for a specific time in your life and that’s it. Good Charlotte songs are just us meaningful now, as they were when I first heard them. But that could always be because my perception of music changed as i got older.

Another huge thing of this band, are the fans. The fans are pure awesome. I have talked about them before, but I love these guys so I’ll do it again. 😛 The Good Charlotte community is pretty awesome, which has been around for the last 7/8 years. The band actually cottoned onto this fact, a few years ago, and have been interacting with their fans through the net. The talk to fans through twitter, the chat and forums on their site, and also do video chats.

They show a real sennse of appreciating their fans, and this is something that not a lot of bands do. Other bands say, ‘we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the fans’, but you know they are just saying it, they don’t let the fans feel it. But Good Charlotte do, I’m sure if they could find away to personally thank every fan, they would do it in a heartbeat.

Now in 2010, 14 years since Good Charlotte was formed, the guys are releasing their 5th studio album, Cardiology. It is released on November the 2nd, and the whole community is buzzing. Not to mention, the band are getting ready for tours all over the world. This is the time to check out Good Charlotte and the GCFam, because it is a good place to be right now.

Blink And You’ll Miss It

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Ok, I was going to try and do this big deep and meaningful post, but I can’t do it. I just want to write about Blink 182 and how awesome they were at the Glasgow SECC last night. Although I only arrived 2 hours before the doors opened, still got to the barrier.

The Setlist

1. Dumpweed
2. Feeling This
3. The Rock Show
4. What’s My Age Again?
5. Violence
6. I Miss You
7. Stay Together For The Kids
8. Down
9. Always
10. Stockholm Syndrome
11. First Date
12. Man Overboard
13. Don’t Leave Me
14. Not Now
15. All The Small Things
16. Reckless Abandon
17. Josie
18. Anthem Pt2

19. Encore:
19. Travis’ Solo
20. Carousel
21. Dammit

Also. Travis Barker? Best drummer in the world. No arguements. I have no idea how the man isn’t terrified of heights, cause I would be, after all he’s been through. But the drum solo he did during the encore. Never seen anything like it EVER.

(video from the Aberdeen show on Monday, but couldn’t find one from the Glasgow show)

Apparently the crowd was really bad. Honestly, I didn’t notice. There was pushing, and I was squashed against the barrier, to the point I couldn’t get into my bag to get my camera. Gutted. Could have got some awesome pictures. And people compaining cause beer was getting thrown?!? What have they never been to a gig before. But the floor was slippery, and a lot of people fell over, which in a hall filled with 10,000 people, is no good thing. So a lot of people (mostly young girls) were pulled out.

When I thought I was never going to see Blink again, the fact that I got to see them, was good enough. But they never missed a beat, both Tom Delonge and Mark Hoppus keeping up a great level at banter. Both guys were so funny. Even Mark with the ‘thanks to Jedward for letting us cover their song’, before ‘All The Small Things’. And little ad-libs during songs, which were probably rehearsed like crazy, but were so funny.

I just wish I knew that they would be back again, because I would relive that gig in a heartbeat.

The only pitfalls, are the floor of the arena, which is this rubbery stuff. Awesome when its dry, but a few spilt drinks and it turned into an ice rink. The SECC need to do something about that, cause I think that was the main reason so many people fell in the pit.