Another Practice! (Corey)
OK, so maybe I was a little pessimistic on the last post. Sorry for the amazingly long rant, but thats what happens when you mix me, a little frustration and a keyboard.
Finally, we were able to get together and work on some music today, and it was one of the best practices we’ve had in a while. What we decided is that we were getting too complacent with all the same old songs. We’ve been playing the same three base songs since the band started (“nineteeneightyfour”, “here again”, “rainy days”), and we just got too tired of playing them, and we’ve also developed a new sound. With that in mind, we put together two songs today that we’ve been kicking around for a while, “Tuesday Morning”, written by Andy, and “Empty Cup” written by yours truly.
We’ve never had so much fun just jamming on two of our songs. They’re both full of raw energy and are just plain fun. We played them about 4 times in a row because we enjoyed them so much. We’re finding a sound that fits us and that we enjoy playing, and these two songs are the basis of it. I’m not saying that the other songs are going to be trashed…maybe reworked, but not trashed. We’re just starting to move in a different direction, and we’re happy about it.
So we’re back to doing what we love to do, writing great fun music that we enjoy, and who cares about anyone else. Now that we have some passion back in the music, we hope to start practicing more and hitting up some open mic nights. Should be fun and we’ll keep you up on when they happen.
Until then, keep rockin’.
Peace
Corey
Hiatus?
I’m not really sure what to call this. If you’ve read the main website, then you know that we haven’t really done anything in a while and it doesn’t look like anything else will be happening any time soon. I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty disappointed with the way things have been going lately. There’s a lot of potential in this band, but scheduling problems, distance and lack of time is keeping us from becoming as good as we could be. to be honest it’s keeping us from doing much of anything. I hate that we’ve gotten to this point of stagnation, but as I’ve always said, I think things happen for a reason.
I’m not going to give any details or any definite plans for the future of Andy, Patrick, the band or me, but I’ll tell you that I foresee some changes happening. Something needs to change to make us push forward and get out of this cycle of practicing once every couple of weeks, maybe, and then playing one open mic night to about 10 people. The core of the problem is that we do not get the opportunity to play together as much as we would like. We’re all working this summer, and it seems that we can’t get things lined up enough so that we can all get together. In a perfect world, we would live in a house together, so band practice is as easy as getting up in the morning, strapping on a guitar and jamming for as long as we have, then going our separate ways for the day.
Practicing at least three times a week is necessary for a band to really develop a cohesiveness that creates great music and a great stage show. When we get together, we can play things well: things just gel and most of our stuff sounds great because we are comfortable and just playing for each other. But we are not comfortable enough with the songs to be able to go out and perform them on stage well, with great presence, emotion and make it look fun. That comes with lots of repetition and practice, which we don’t have.
I’m honestly not sure what will happen next, or honestly if anything will change. I do hope something does change though, because otherwise there won’t really be a band worth mentioning. It will be three guys who get together every once-in-a-while to jam and mess around. As fun as that is, it’s not our ultimate goal.
I think it’s time for a change in Blind Pilot. We need to take a completely different course, try something else, or even just start all over again. But the bottom line is that we are not going to be successful if we continue on this path. We’ve talked about and I’ve thought about adding a second guitarist/vocalist, or even just someone to play guitar. As much as we love the 3 man set up, it binds us musically and it keeps me behind a mic which doesn’t allow me to interact with the band and the audience as much as I would like. Another guitar would allow us to add more musicality to songs, rather than just having strummed chords through verses. Honestly, it’s hard for me to play much more than chords when I sing just because I haven’t been doing it very long, and an additional member would give us someone to play the parts that I would like to have in the song, but can’t play while singing. It would also allow us to incorporate more instruments into songs, such as keyboard, or synth (Andy just bought a new one…it’s pretty sweet…I can play “Jump” by Van Halen, and that makes me excited) to give them more variety and texture. This, more than anything is what we’re looking into to change what is happening and push forward with the band.
Hopefully in the next few weeks we’ll be able to pick this up and really start working towards becoming a solid, fun and exciting band. The opportunity and musical talent is there, it’s just a matter of putting it in the right place and working to make this thing happen. So like I said on the main site, I wouldn’t really expect to hear too much from us any time soon. This might be a period where we sit back down, find our sound, focus on song-writing and really work to make this band successful.
Thanks for the support we’ve been giving by you loyal people who would come see us when they could and helped us out with transportation, buying stickers and t-shirts and doing what you can to spread the music. Hopefully we’ll be back with something we can be truly proud of and that will provide for us a solid fan base. Until then, take it easy, have a great summer and keep supporting local music.
Peace,
Corey
Practice (Corey)
We finally had our first practice of the summer!! Please, please, don't get too excited. It was a good time and it was great to get back together and play some great music. We went through all our normal songs, which sounded great as well as messed around with some random covers (what else is new?). Also, we reworked "Empty Cup" so that it sounds much better and will be great for our live show. Hopefully you'll be able to hear it live soon.
Speaking of which, the show that was scheduled for this Saturday in New Bern will no longer happen. We were really excited about the show, but hey, there will be others. We plan to be hitting up a bunch of open mic nights, especially at the Berkeley Cafe and also the Local 506 in Chapel Hill. I really hope that we can get some solid shows in before the summer is over so that we can keep playing even when we are in school. We shall see how things work out.
Other than that, I don't believe there is much news in the BP world. We're pumped about Summer, and I hope that it will be a good one full of sweet, sweet music. The website might not be updated as much as normal, now that I don't always have internet access with my laptop (where all of the website files are) so I'll do my best to keep it up to date. This blog will continue to be updated though.
So thats it. I'm done talking. But here is a little "funny" that I like…it's been stuck in my head lately. It comes from the hilarious Mitch Hedberg…enjoy it and tell your friends.
"I went to the store to buy a candle holder, but they didn't have any. So I bought a cake."
20 Things I Hate (Andy)
Over the past few months, I have noticed a few things that bother me. So I decided to write some of these down so i could share them with you. Who knows, I could add more… but for right now here is episode 1-20.
-andy
things I hate…
1. Hamburger Helper
2. hang nails (those little things get you all the time)
3. belly button lint (it's gross)
4. mismatched socks
5. people who use "like" every two words
6. research papers
7. pathological liars
8. people who wear socks with sandals
9. alfredo sauce
10. those little quizzes on myspace and xanga, like "what type of berry are you?" (oh, by the way, I'm a blueberry)
11. people who hate the band Styx…I love them
12. PLU codes for vegetables and fruits
13. people who take pictures of themselves in mirrors
14. Jay Leno
15. not being able to solve my rubik's cube (8 years and still mixed up)
16. DVDs with "Easter Eggs" in them…the remote is too hard to use to find them
17. rotary phones
18. people who mow their lawns on Sunday at 8 a.m.
19. raccoons
20. fake duct tape
The Podcast!! Finally! (Corey)
So I know a long, long time ago I told you that we would be put on an iTunes podcast. Well, that moment is finally here. Last night, Blend Colab published the second episode of their podcast (after about a month delay). If you have iTunes, you can find it by clicking on the Podcast icon on the left, then searching for “Blend Colab: Undertone”. The name of the Podcast is “Blind Pilot, Philip Pledger, IP Contract, Happy Birthday Carrie! Episode Two” (just a quick sidenote: for those of you not familiar with them, a podcast is basically a free, usually 30 minute radio broadcast that can be downloaded through iTunes). This means that, hypothetically, we could be heard nation…well world-wide. I doubt the podcast is that big, but hey, I tend to keep my hopes up.
There are only two songs on the podcast (since they are all listener submitted), the other one being by Philip Pledger. “Waited” plays after his announcments for the Blend Colab group, the random rambling and Philip’s song. He is even cool enough to give the website a plug, so if you’re reading this through his podcast plug, thanks for coming, and check back often, we’ll be playing a lot more shows in the area over the summer! It’s kinda hard to get organized when we’re all 30 minutes away from each other (Raleigh, Chapel Hill, and Greensboro).
Check out the podcast and we hope you enjoy it! Hopefully I’ll be able to get some more stuff on the program later, and I’ll keep you updated when I do!
Until then, take it easy, enjoy this wonderful spring weather (well…today it is pouring down rain…but you know what I mean), and good luck with exams and all other end of year activities!
Peace
Corey
I didn’t forget…(Corey)
So I know its been a while since I updated this, but its been a busy few weeks with exams and all that stuff coming up!! Just wanted to give a quick update and some news from my area.
Blind Pilot cannot wait to get back together over the summer to get to work on writing, polishing what we have and playing some shows all over the area. We should all be home by the end of next week, so stuff will start happening soon!! I know, you're on the edge of your seat.
Since BP+ has not been doing much lately, I've taken the time to write and record some music (which may end up with BP+, but who knows?). The music is posted on myspace under the name Corey Franklin (my middle name). You can either click here or just go to www.myspace.com/coreyfranklinmusic. Hope you enjoy it, and be sure to add me as a friend if you have a myspace.
Also, in other news with me, I will most likely be working with a up-and-coming music magazine on campus here at Carolina entitled "Reverb". It should be up online sometime this summer and in a hard copy sometime next school year. It will mainly focus on the thriving music scene in Chapel Hill and surrounding areas, but it will also feature national acts and information. I'll post up a link to tell you more about it when I find out more.
That's all I've got for you now!
Peace
Corey
The First One (Corey)
What's up?
Just the other day, I realized how much I ramble on the news page of our website. What is sad is that I have to stop myself from writing more. I want everyone to know exactly what we are doing, and its not easy to do that in a small news blurb. So I had a revelation: jump on the "blog" bandwagon. That way I can tell you everything I want to, and add some funny stories about the band, because, trust me, there are some pretty funny stories.
So now the main page, or the news page, will be just short entries about new things on the site, new shows or other info we need to get out. If thats all you want, read no further. If you love to listen to me ramble, or just want to get a laugh for the day, you need only to click on the 'journal' link on the navigation bar.
You'll be glad to hear that it won't be just me posting on this journal (even though I have a feeling a lot of them will be me). I'll put up things from Andy, Patrick or anyone else that has something interesting to say about us. The name of the person who wrote the entry will be in parentheses beside the entry name.
We hope you enjoy this, and feel free to comment on here about what we say, or anything else that tickles your fancy.
Peace,
Corey
