Trick or Treat, Witches

It's the most wonderful time of the year! #Halloween!

What better way of celebrating than engaging in grand acts of passion towards the very evil-doers of your heart? It's like TP'ing someone's house, only there's a lot less to clean up afterwards (or a lot more depending on how you roll)! And what better music to have scoring the joyous occasion than our take on a timeless classic?

Remember children, the key to any kind of criminal achievement is to always have fun and be yourself. Stay safe out there!

Yours Cruelly,
theRave

New Music is Here (Yet Again)

The last song I uploaded was one I put into the vault but ultimately decided to release. In the weeks since then, I've combed through a few of the unreleased stuff lying around the vault and found a song that I felt captures where my head's at currently. This is a song I recorded a while ago, but the words still ring true for me at this point in life. I suppose there's a trend happening here...

I think everyone we know (and perhaps ourselves too, if we're being honest) is going through some deep stuff. Maybe it's really heavy, maybe it's just nagging, but it's ultimately unhealthy if we keep it bottled up. Let's just remember to be kind to ourselves and ask for help when we might otherwise be too spiteful, prideful, or scared to. Let's remember that we are not alone; not on this earth, and certainly not in this life. We are all here, and have each other for a reason.

Hit me up if you need to talk.

New Music is here

I recently had a very important conversation with a close friend about some things I was going through, and it opened my eyes to a perspective that was really helpful. I recorded this song just a few hours later, but I was gonna leave it in the vault. It was only recorded for me to listen to when I needed something to act as my medicine and help me out of a pretty dark place in my head (regarding this particular situation, at least). However it's been really helpful; listening to this recording was balancing me back to normal. I suppose something about hearing my voice say the words was kinda like confronting myself with the truth. No hiding from it this time. It was so helpful for me, that I figured it might be the same for someone in need as well.

Yes that's me breathing heavy, having a hard time getting the lyrics out. Yes those are dissonant chords thrown in to give you an idea of how fucked things can sound/feel in my head. This was just meant to show you what "going through hurtful shit" feels like for me. But I'm surviving, and guess what that means? So can you.

SO CAN YOU. I promise.

Spells and Curses cover Maxwell

Like most of the CYAF tracks, this cover is an experiment of sorts. It's more or less an indicator of what I'm trying to do with regards to the vocal production for some of the tracks on the upcoming EP (particularly the vocal harmoniessss!). It was also really fun going crazy with the guitar to get some the "out there" sounds you hear on this track (yea, that's not an orchestra sample I got there, tehe!)

Initially, this cover was only going to be vocals and guitar. But then it gave me "Little Wing"-vibes and I decided to throw on a mallet instrument too. After that came the guitar solo and all the crazy aural experimentation that comes along with it. Everything sounded great, but then I figured it could use some drums to make it more trap-soul-ish. I didn't even want bass on it to be honest, but after some more experimentation, I figured why not and VOILA:

To New York, My Hometown...

This is because of you. This is for you.This is from me.

It took a bit longer to make than the other tracks in the CYAF series, but it was worth it. I worked hard on having the arrangement take this song to a new zip-code, while still maintaining the same grey skies as the original. I'm pretty proud of this mix too; it's a step in the right direction for me. 

Sometimes you overwhelm me. I hope this gives you some insight as to why.

Yes, It's Really Me (... sorta)

Dearest Dorothy,

I hope you enjoyed the last letter. It should comfort you to know that I'll be going back to my usual schedule of writing. Before I move on however, I wanted to let you in on something. Some spill-over from the last post, if you will. Two VERY interesting facts were brought to my attention:

1. The release date for SUADADE was March 11th, 2014. March 11 was also Romeo and Juliet's wedding day, according to Shakespeare (albeit 712 years earlier). In some aspects, it's quite appropriate when you consider the story of the album.

2. I recently released another song on Halloween (yes, I guess it's a thing now). It is a cover of Slipknot's "Prelude 3.0”. Funny enough, Slipknot's newest album debuted at #1 around the same time.

Do you see? None of that was planned! Things just fall together so magically! It's all quite astounding, really.

Anyway, I have something new to shine your attention onto. As I mentioned before, I've had the pleasure of talking about SUADADE with those who've already heard it quite a few times now. Hearing all the theories and connections make for quite the conversation, especially for me. But one of the most common questions asked is who the songs were about. Or who from my life are the characters based on. Or simply; "How much of your music is REALLY YOU?"

Now I think I spoke about this already in a previous letter where I mentioned: "... I wanted the same artistic freedom that a director would have fleshing out a movie in his head..."

This means I don't want my music to be solely based off of my life. I don't want my songs to feel like a page from a journal. At the end of the day, I didn't want to limit my music to my reality.

Because why should I? Did George Lucas base "Star Wars" on his experiences during college? Did Alexander Dumas base "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" on his uncle? Did Mary Shelley base "Frankenstein" on an actual man made from different peoples’ limbs sown together, and animated by electricity? I'm aware my last two examples aren't film directors, but I think you get what I mean.

With all that being said, the real answer is that my music is ALL ME. It's all about me. It's all from me. It's all from my life.

For the longest time, I've been saying that my songs don't contain any particular element or influence from my life. That it is simply their distinct presentation which is informed by my perspective. Perhaps I needed to think this in order to have finished the album. Perhaps I needed some sense of distance or separation between me and the events of the album's story, in order to feel comfortable enough to tell it. However, I've recently began doing some honest retrospection, and I've come to realize that no matter how much I divorce myself from the content of my music, it has to all come from somewhere, and for me, that place happens to be my life.

What this basically means is that while I might not name anyone in a song about losing a loved one, or describe certain events with the utmost veracity (or heck, even lost a loved one to begin with), I can still harken back to the actual emotions I felt during then or a time similar to it, in order to fill in the gaps between the poetic embellishments and artistic liberties of the song. So is the song about losing a loved one, or about not getting the last slice of pizza? Ahhh, well grasshopper, that’s the beauty of what I do! In all seriousness, I’ve come to learn that my perspective doesn't only shape a song’s presentation, but also its inception and core meaning. I felt this necessary to share with you.

I think this is all I can say on the topic for now. A magician never should reveal his entire bag of tricks. Besides, I don’t wanna burn you out. Save your energy for the next letter. I’m gonna weigh in on a conversation that is quite heated at the moment, so it should be quite the read.

Enjoy The Fall,

theRave

More Treat than Trick

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I was rushed with a surge of inspiration this week to record this song when I re-discovered it at random. I guess something about Halloween just fires up my creative juices. The entire process for this track took me 2 days to finish, from arranging to mastering. That's a personal best!

I've got a new found appreciation for Joey Jordison. He was already one of my favorites, but he's hands down top 5 after breaking down what he did on this track (with the help of additional percussion). It's not even one of the harder Slipknot songs! I didn't wanna do an exact copy, so I tried to keep to his spirit, while still having some fun myself.

In addition, I was playing around with some vocal production moves. James Spader was an influence.

Lastly, I've been dealing with this terrible cough all month. I figured I'd try screaming it out, but that didn't work. You don't have to take my word though, listen for yourself: