Why there are no “relic” guitars in Ember Studios
I just saw another advertisement for a new “relic” guitar. This means that you’re buying a brand-spanking new guitar, but they chip and fade the finish and add scratches and dents for you:
And the kicker? These “designer guitars” are more expensive. Sometimes by thousands of dollars.
Every time I see ads for new guitars, it reminds me of a car trip I took when I was in college. I hopped into the back seat, wearing a t-shirt and a pair of jeans I’d owned for a long time. One of the girls looked at my knees and asked “did you buy those pants like that?” I looked at the threadbare thighs and the holes in the knees and thought she was kidding. “No, I just wore these out,” I told her. “Oh, I bought these like this,” she said. And I looked at her jeans and realized that she had a basically new pair of jeans with “designer holes” in them.
And that’s when I realized, I will never, ever understand fashion.
But my basic incredulousness is the same, if we’re talking about guitars or jeans: why would you pay for something to look ravaged by time? Those old “relic” guitars weren’t that way originally. The “lived in look” came from years of use and abuse. If you buy a guitar that already looks 30 years old when you buy it…how do you think it will look in 30 years?
Some people say that guitars that have been “worn” have a more “lived in” feel right out of the box. Well, maybe they do. But isn’t half the fun wearing it in yourself? I have some guitars with chips and wear and each represents many hours of use and joy, not simply my economic buying power.
Ultimately, of course, people can do whatever they want with their money, and if they want to buy something that looks like it’s been run over buy a truck they certainly can. I’d rather buy something that looks shiny and new, and then wear it down with my own hours of woodshedding and performing. This is just a trend/fad/style that I’m afraid I will never understand.
NAMM ’13 roundup Ember Studio style
I’m back from the NAMM show. There are a ton of roundups all over the net, so I won’t bother with that. But like years past, I’ll note those specific things that I could see as part of Ember Studio. For those who aren’t as interested in music tech I’ll put my list of stuff behind a cut.
NAMM 2013
If you’re familiar with the music or music instrument industry, you know what NAMM is. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, I’ve written repeatedly about my relationship to, and participation in, the NAMM show. This year is no exception. Today, my coworkers from my publishing company arrive in Orange County, and tomorrow the meetings begin. As I’ve said before, if you are as enthralled with music, musicians, and music gear as I am, it’s like having a sweet tooth and meeting in a candy shop. Even if sitting in the meeting itself isn’t your favorite thing, the environment makes it that much nicer.
I might have time to blog the odd picture of something particularly cool, we’ll see. But if there’s radio silence until my meetings, dinners, and the inevitable drooling over gear is over, well, NAMM is why.
New David Bowie Single!
One of our musical icons and heroes is David Bowie. Bowie’s last album was 10 years ago. On tour, he was felled by health issues, and with very few sightings and no real interviews, he took the last decade off. Out of the blue, last night, on his 66th birthday, he released a single, Where Are We Now. It’s a haunting song with a haunting video that you can catch here.
Also announced on his website is a new album, The Next Day, to be released in March and already available for pre-order.
This album is a complete surprise to nearly everyone. I’m still wrapping my head around the single, but regardless of that I’m thrilled that Bowie is making more music, and it’s great to have a new release on the horizon!
Rush finally inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!
If you follow Ember After at all, you know we like Rush. We even have a cover of Subdivisions. So it is with a sense of happiness that we report that Rush is finally being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As they should have been years ago. But that’s another rant.
Anyway, congratulations to Rush. And just for good measure, here’s a our cover of Subdivisions:
Celebration in Led
We’re all big Zep fans here in Ember After. The very day it was released, I bought the Led Zeppelin Celebration Day Deluxe Edition. It came with a blu-ray of the concert I describe below, a double-CD set of the music, and a bonus DVD of news footage and a dress rehearsal. There is a less expensive blu-ray/CD package without the DVD bonus, a CD/DVD bundle, and then various ways to buy the movie and the music digitally via iTunes, Amazon, etc.
For those of you who don’t obsessively pay attention to all things Zep, in 2007 after the death of Ahmet Ertegün, the record mogul who signed Led Zeppelin back in the late 60s and became the band’s friend and mentor, the three surviving members of the rock quartet decided to do a benefit show for his charity at O2 arena in London. Drums were handled by Jason Bonham, son of their late drummer John Bonham, friend of the band, and great rock drummer in his own right. For the vast majority of the world’s population that didn’t make the show, we had to take everyone’s word for it that it was absolutely spectacular and amazing, the few YouTube clips from mobile phones and odd news clip being all we could get. Celebration Day is the professionally filmed and recorded footage of that show.
Everyone was right. The show was amazing. All three original members were either over or pushing 60, and yet they performed with as much passion and energy as bands easily a third their age. They looked good on stage too, still commanding and like a band, not a trio of aging former friends trying to rekindle past glory. A special nod must be given to Jason Bonham, who not only held his own on the drums, but added some great backup vocals. He was warmly received by the fans and the band and left everything on the drum kit—he earned his ovations.
And their songs are just as powerful as they ever were, and arguably played even better. Led Zeppelin during the 70s was known for their live shows being excellent but erratic, the quality often depending on Jimmy Page’s state of health and chemical intake. The four men were present and in great form; Robert Plant has long since lost his highest register but he handled the tuned down songs incredibly well.
There was talk of a tour afterwards, but Plant wouldn’t have anything to do with simply cashing in for its own sake (and allegedly turned down $200 million). So if you either are, or know a Led Zeppelin fan, this collection is as close as you’ll get to the real deal (sans John Bonham, but all respect and honor to his son who does him justice and made him proud). They wrote the book. And I can’t possibly recommend Celebration Day more highly.
I sometimes say that if I had to some up rock in a single song, that song would be Kashmir. So here they are, Led Zeppelin, performing Kashmir on December 10th, 2007.
New YouTube video for Sick Of It!
Ember After’s world conquest continues with a new lyric video for Sick Of It from The Misery EP!
Our plan is to continue to upload more of The Misery EP and other songs to YouTube, since these days it seems YouTube is one of the most popular ways for kids to stumble across songs. Eventually, we’d love to do more involved and creative (and expensive) videos, but that depends to some degree on sales of The Misery EP picking up.
Until then, enjoy Sick Of It, and if like it, please consider buying it via our bandcamp or iTunes pages.
Goin’ Mobile (with our Bandcamp page)
Good news for those of you who like checking out new music on your smartphone! Bandcamp has just “mobilized” their site, which is a fancy way of saying that if you want to check out Ember After’s Bandcamp site on your smartphone it will look awesome.
And please do check it out—you can listen to every song or complete albums and buy our music cheaper than anywhere else. Enjoy!
DSI Mopho x4: a new synth for Ember Studios?
I’ve been trying to get another video up on YouTube. Not much more to wait now—just a few technical difficulties to iron out!
However, speaking of videos on YouTube, Dave Smith Instruments, my favorite hardware synth company, just came out with another synth, the Mopho x4. Ember Studios already has a Mopho in it…will I have to add one of these? I just may…
Letter to Emily—or why buy music
The odds are, if you’re reading our website, you’re one of the people who values music. Hopefully, that value includes paying for songs. You understand that we musicians—especially when we’re not huge rock stars—we don’t get free gear from endorsement deals, we pay for our own recording and packaging and distribution, etc. So I never get preachy here about buying music vs. “acquiring” your music for free. Although I did rant a bit about Spotify, when announcing that we’re on it (and for many hundreds of plays, we’ve only earned fractions of a penny…but I digress).
I did, however, want to point you to David Lowery’s Letter to Emily White. David Lowery, for those who don’t know or remember was the lead singer/guitarist in the seminal 90s indie bands Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker. Emily White is an NPR intern and DJ who wrote a heartfelt blog about how she had a lot of music she’d not paid for, and her ethical conundrum of loving music and wanting to do the right thing. Without sanctimoniousness or ego, Lowery lays out in a lengthy but incredibly well-worded letter the situation, and gives a lot of practical suggestions of how Emily can make good. I think it’s a must read for anyone on the fence about legally buying music—and a must send to anyone that you may know who doesn’t see the value of paying for music.