United States

So I was talking to a friend of mine and I found out quite by accident that most of the dullards in this sh*t hole of a town think I have a drug/substance issue or that's what he eluded to.

I laughed in sheer embarrassment and my face turned red as a beet.

I asked him if he thought that I could write the same kind of music and the volume of music if I did.

He replied, "well that's why we thought you had a problem, because of the type of music you tend to write".

My jaw just hit the ground.

I said "ok well how about the amount of material I play most each and every time I play...doesn't that count for anything"?
"It's takes a serious amount of memory to be able to play that stuff".

And he goes, "yeah but listen to what you are playing"...
"Some of it is like Pink Floyd and some of it is is just odd and completely spaced out".

I said, "so"?

He goes "how many people do YOU know that play like that"?

I maintained that the ability to play much of anything goes away when one uses recreational materials. Even worse, when you are all f**k up you forget main pieces of tunes you've been playing since the dawn of time.

As in "this is just not done if you want to be taken seriously".

He then says "didn't you notice the guys at the back of the room at the last place you were playing (name omitted for obvious reasons)"?

I said, "I can't barely see anything when the lights are on me or the lighting is low and I like it like that, as I just concentrate on the task at hand, mainly playing whatever I am playing at the time".

He replies, "well they were all f**k up and I don't think it was the booze".

I just looked at him and said "how does that make me the bad guy"?
"How does that lead you to believe that I'm involved in all that"?

He just shrugged his shoulders and said, "people have been saying that for a while now".

Now I am far from "pure and virginal" as it were, but there's nothing further from the truth. Anyone that ever had to play for people knows that the stress you feel is a good thing and it keeps you on your toes.

When you use drugs in a manner like this, you are not on your toes.
You tend to omit things or just flat out forget the break to whatever tune.

You just don't do this when you have to perform, it's not reasonable behavior.

If you have to drive, you don't go out and drink a bunch of alcohol before you drive, do you>? It's the same damn thing and this irritates me to no end.

I wanted to play in my hometown here not too long ago and I was willing to play for free and just have a good time. As I was working out the kinks, I got summarily dumped on my ass for what I thought were odd reasons. I'm guessing that what happened had something to do with this nonsense.

Say to say, perception is everything. You can play like a madman incarnate, but if they think you are crazy on the junk that's exactly how they will react to you regardless of what you say, how you act and worst of all, how you perform.

I never liked this town and suddenly, I'm liking it much less.
As in if it was on fire, I wouldn't piss on it to put it out.

I might pour some diesel fuel on it, but I definitely wouldn't be inclined to attempt to put it out.

Gee, maybe I should really go bonkers now and break out some really odd music. I could even act strangely and bump into some solid objects and see what a reaction I could get out of some locals here.

Maybe I can cost someone their job.
I almost got falsely sued for copyright infringement, why should this be any different?

Gee, not many surprises left for me now.
You could drop a meteor right near me and I'd look over calmly and say "well imagine that".

I love people, "bring out the clowns" and do not forget the big red noses.

Scott

Songs are often stories. People err when they think that because we wrote a song about giant salamanders devouring nubile young college girls that we necessarily sympathize with the salamanders!

My (ex) wife was sure I was a psychotic because I wrote a song called "I see my death in your faces." It was not about me for goodness sake!

Many songs are written from the perspective of the character that pops into your mind while writing it.

Some folks seem to think we are supposed to write macho 'love' songs when we are young and subsequently, tender love songs, and leave anything interesting alone!

Talbot

Talbot

Some folks aren't very perceptive... Also sounds a bit like small town mentality. Maybe next they'll think you made a deal at the crossroads.

Standin at the crossroad
I tried to flag a ride
Didn't nobody seem to know me
everybody passed me by

I always try to tell a story, but sad to say, they are not MY stories.

My story is BORING!!! Thus I tell one more interesting.

I am guessing that some of them are just WAY too interesting and suggestive. And here, I was thinking it was good to be interesting.

I never even in a million years realized that the crowd was thinking anything even remotely close.

It's making me considering quitting. I like the music, but I don't want to be harassed or frowned upon, spoken of in a bad light, thought of in an even worse way. I've had a lot of stumbling blocks in my way over the years and now this?

Yeah, I don't know. Maybe it's just not in the cards.

Everything I do is an uphill battle, for every compliment I get 3 rude remarks and one guy that wants to tear my arms off and sew them on his body because he thinks I have an unfair advantage.

Then we got the people that think it's all in my sacred equipment.
I got news for the stupid ones. 90% of your sound is in your fingers and hands. I can make a crappy guitar do the very same things that my other guitar does, simply because I can play it. PERIOD.

Then I have the jackasses that feel like it's ok to change the music once it's almost completely written. Whether, it's Les and his momentary lapses of reasoning "thinking he's making it all better" or Bullwinkle and Fat Tony feeling the pressure to screw with something bigger than they are, I'm sick to death of it.

Les kills his own music now, just listen to his current recordings.
That's what you call a "self-fulfilling prophecy". He'll go back to pumping the same variety of mush he was doing previous to this and I wish him well but he's delusional and I already made my overture to him. Stick a fork in him, cause he's done.

Bullwinkle and Fat Tony check in now and again to see if I've broken down enough to lure me back to their lair. They know I like it when someone else mixes and masters cause it frees me up to focus on the sharp edges of the music, ever trying vainly to come up with something truly golden and not cut myself on it at the same time.

But I can't really go back now, I don't like what happened and it makes my stomach hurt at my very core, so I have to let that entire situation go.

The long and the short of it is that I don't want to have anything ad libbed and it's sticking in the back of my head like a small wound that won't heal.

And now, even worse I got people thinking I am something resembling a drug addict. LOVELY. THANKS FOR THAT. THAT'S JUST UNREAL.

Yeah so some of it sounds like Psychedelic music. Is that a crime?
Maybe it is around here.

If I wrote some sh*t that sounded kind of like GNR, would that make me a heroin user as well? if you know anything about people that use that sh*t, they nod off like every 30 seconds and truthfully I have no idea how anyone can get anything done in such a state, and yet that must be the truth, right>?

My music is suggestive and thus I must be on LSD or similar. LOLOLOLOLOLOL

Really? Ever met anyone who was chronic into that sh*t?
It's not f**k pretty at all. They have NO short term memory.
They have the attention span of a gnat. They don't seem to have any ambition at all, either.

I really thought that the world was just slightly smarter than all that, but maybe they just are a pack of stupid animals waiting to tear each other asunder. I'm not sure anymore and I'm kind of disillusioned to put it mildly.

I know one thing, people will think the worst possible thing about you given half the chance and that galls me to no end.

The worst part about it is that I sincerely doubt that one can change that perception, albeit wrong, once in place.

I'll be wearing that egg on my lapel for the rest of my days or at least until I cut off Danny Hamlin and Tony Stewart wants to kick my ass too. lol

PS: f**k all you dirty ass Nascar Drivers, including that little c*nt Joey Logano.. If Hamlin got badly hurt, I'd hope someone rips Joey's leg off and beats him with it. And if Tony Stewart had such an issue with him, he should have mashed him into the wall or spun his ass out.

If ya can't race clean, get the f**k off the track, ladies.
Blocking is for slow cars...and rumors are for slow people.

People are/can be judgemental. F*ck 'em all. You know the truth, and if others dump you because of the 'rumor mill', f*ck 'em too.
Don't give up, Scott, but maybe think about moving.

Negativity always inspired me in some way to either prove them wrong or right.

When I got back in Aint Yo Mama a few years ago, I was going thru a divorce and some heavy business sh*t. And I let it go for a bit, I mean I had about 4 gigs where I did in fact get too messed up to play, my drug of choice at the time was Yagar Bombs, and lord did I get bombed. In the end it was embarassing to me, cause thru the years, I never had that type of reputation, but it stuck to me a bit, and lots of people call me the Wild Man or junk like that, fortunately my bandmates came to my rescue in a good way. Not to kick me out, but to support me and nurse me thru it all.

I dont know what to tell you Capt, if you really get that stuck to you, its hard to get it off your back.

But in the end, you just have to keep doing what you do, 100% full steam ahead it aint time to quit until you are on your back 6 ft under!

I just can't even stand to look at the faces any longer.

People that use drugs are all burned out for the most part.
I've seen it over and over again.
And I know a few of them personally as well.

I don't have the monkey gait.
I don't have issues, speaking, playing, singing or whatever is needed.
I don't have "short attention span theater issues".
I don't have issues thinking, either.

And I especially don't have any problems pumping out material, although people do get kind of hostile when it's quick and they don't understand where it's coming from.

They want to "bust" me with a cheat sheet or something, point is there isn't any short cut for music creation. One does what they do best and if it's good enough to make you wonder about it, it doesn't bear further examination. "It is what it is".

If you've been writing music for 20 years and someone bumps into you and drops something musically tasty in your lap after 20 minutes, don't complain and look for faults. Don't be jealous either, that's just pathetic and lonely as hell. Concentrate on what you are doing and do the best you can with whatever responsibility you have.

Do not look at them like the latest Zombie that walked up on your front door and criticize just because you don't know where it came from.

F*ck you, you don't need to know. And maybe that writer doesn't know either. Does that make it any less worthwhile to you?

If it's plagiarized, ok you have a problem. But if it's clean, shut your mouth and do what you do.

Too many assholes have been at this game forever and still can't churn anything worthwhile out, but they will immediately attempt to ruin something possibly wonderful just because it's coming from somewhere they can't or won't grasp. Jealousy ends up being the #1 killer of all musical collaborations as well. One writer thinks orange and the next writer thinks banana and look out, pistols at dawn.

The why's of it are irrelevant. Take what you've been given and do the best you can, more than that no one can ask of you.

If someone has been writing for a long time and your materials are pathetic (you know who I am thinking of), consider accepting your limitations and working with that which you know to be quality and don't be a pu$$y. It's wholly unattractive to those of us that are writing, trying to bang it out and don't really care much as long as the materials are quality.

"If I am a burn out, then how do explain my ability to write music or even write the English language in the manner that I do".

Pfft F*ck the world, I want to get off.

I didn't want to play covers because I know that's not my area of strength and I apologize to the peeps in Quakertown, it's just not working for me thus I don't want to be your "monkey wrench".

I love working with good musicians, but I see the change from amazement to anger and I just don't understand the "why" of it, nor do I ultimately care.

It's a team sport, ladies and sometimes a lifetime of experience only goes so far. You can't train something that comes from inside and you shouldn't get mad when people can do something you can't. There will always be better and worse of what you do, personally. You will have a bad time if you compare yourself to each and every one of them. Everyone is an individual, act accordingly.

I need a break before someone gets hurt, mainly me and I refuse to sacrifice anyone or anything just because of a pack of ignorant neanderthals are quizzical as to where this stuff comes from.

As I always say in a bad situation, "It's mind over matter".
"I don't mind and you don't matter".

And I am not inspired, I'm amazed because it reminds me of 13th grade.
WTF high school was over years ago and still people want to play nasty little games and behave badly? Go back to your basement or your smelly studio and yell at the people you work with because you're angry with yourself for being inept and not having any credible talent or drive.

I'm going to go take a lap on a Seahorse, maybe visit the octopuses garden and speak with Poseidon while he'll still call me by name...and no that doesn't mean I'll be taking any drugs, you just think it does.

And I never cared what anyone thought of me until it hit home.
Now I just find it repulsive and terribly ignorant, maybe even repressive.

"I don't need no arms around me.
And I don't need no drugs to calm me.
I have seen the writing on the wall.
Don't think I'll need anything at all." - PF

Scottie,
This is the dilemma that all real artists are forced to face...
These guys make us feel like Quasimodo, tasting the cake at a white wedding...

You shouldn't even waste your time engaging in a conversation with fools like that. They simply don't, and never will 'get it"

1) They are judgemental
2) They aren't talented
3) They cant even acquire the taste for good music
4) You may as well invite them to the bar for SOme mufflers, turkey legs and deep fried onion rangs... cause that's about all the cultural awareness you'll ever derive out of them.

I like you music...I applaud it... I 'get it'...

lol

Scott

If you have the slightest inkling of quitting - for God's sake hide your songs so you can't trash them when you're drunk and wallowing in self pity. (as I did in the nineties)

You might just find you'll go nuts trying to remember all the changes and lyrics!

Talbot

Scott, I've been shunned by many just like you. And yeah, people who like my style then try to play it hate me cause they can't get the chords. Well, I'm self taught and double jointed...plus I will not sound like anything I've already heard.

I write about some nutty stuff. A lot of it is just Sci-Fi, and sometimes mixed with metaphors. Some like it, some don't...but I don't think too many people really "get it".

Last guy that came in bragging about being a lead guitarist offered to play bass. He came in with a combo amp, his guitar, and didn't touch my bass cab. And like all lead guitarists, when they can't do rhythm they get mad and attempt to intimidate with a cheezy lead...and that's what this generic George Lynch wannabe did. So after many of these types of incidents I just got fed up, laughed, and busted out my self-taught leads. I guess they were good enough to make his face turn red, have him grab his stuff and leave after making some dumb remark. But he left right before he got left...in the parking lot.

Bands are filled with people that mess things up, and people always want to get in and kick up your garden. So, NEVER get a guitarist who offers to play bass(I'm sure you know that) cause one of your members might be soft and pout that the last guy didn't help open Disneyland, yet they don't help you promote the band...hey...at least you can call it yours, eh?

I know I'm rambling, but what I've read pisses me off. Yeah, I feel like I'm always getting punched coming in the door(joining) or getting kicked in the ass(starting a band). It's like either you're a "yes man" or a damned "babysitter". I sure hope that changes for us.

My biggest heartbreak was not getting this awesome bassist that wanted to join...but he lives like two hours away. Painful! Worse than not getting those 10 freshly waxed models to take care of you for life.

If you were closer, we could both be crazy, and people have to love a crazy they have to analyze.

Elliot Easton, lead guitar with The Cars, was quoted in Guitar Player Magazine in the 70s saying, "If you're going to play stoned, then you need to practice stoned"

It's not as impossible as you might think. Lots of musicians (especially country) play stoned on something. They don't usually last very long....27 seems to be the magic age for overdosing.

If these people are so clueless about you, then why does it matter what they think in the first place?

It's just the idea that little minds want to hate on something or someone that they don't quite understand.

I play my little crap and people like it, I think. I don't really know and I don't really care.

I tune in one channel in my head. It doesn't always come in clearly.
It's not always good. But when it's going, it's productive and provocative.

I get people that can barely speak the English language slamming me sometimes for the oddest stuff. (Recently someone shot me full of verbal holes over my choice of foot wear).

I was like, "are you serious"? "But how did you like the music"?
I noticed you didn't leave. LOL

This area is full of haters.

They hate you for being different. They hate you for being capable when they are less. They hate you for being good.
They hate you because you might be able to do something not currently in their skill set. They hate you if you write better than they do. They hate you if you have the nerve to stand up for what you believe in.
They hate you if your idea is not the same flavor as theirs. They hate you for being unique and we're all unique. That one just boggles my mind. It'd be sooo boring if we were all the same.
They hate for for what you do right and for what you do wrong.
They hate you if you get your own shows. They hate you if you don't.
They hate you if you get management offers, they hate you if you don't.

You get the idea. Every facet of this seems like a fing popularity contest and so unnecessary.

You know I must be a lunatic because I never bullied anyone yet and I know I could. I just think it's rotten because I've been bullied before when I was young and stupid.

I always try to see the best in people because I tend to notice their negatives immediately.

Why can't we all just get along and try to work together>?
I mean, I am not "on" every day and I make a lot of mistakes as well. (especially when it comes to musical theory)

If you are waiting for me to self-destruct, It's not going to happen because strength of mind is something I train.

The world is a vampire and it does try to drain you (sorry Billy C., didn't mean to steal that)

Yes there was a time that I would write even more proficiently/prolifically but to be honest, I think I am better if I go slowly, take my time and pick my battles one by one. (The drugs only go so far and really only slow you down and make you doubt what you already know.)

It still only takes me circa 16 hours depending on what I am doing and how much I like it. Something I really don't like can take forever and feel like death by lethal injection.

And honestly I can't even imagine playing high/stoned/whatever.
You are asking for trouble. Yeah, it sounds fun, but would you really want to take that chance and pump out something crummy in front of an audience?

That be Hell's stage for me. Everything would be ready, I'd start to play and then promptly forget the parts or just not play well and the place would be packed.

Even if I have more than 1-3 beers before I play, I lose coordination, the ability to improvise and I just don't fret well.

I might as well hit myself in the head a few times with a hammer before I wish to perform, same thing.

The only real possibility I ever concluded that was even semi-worthwhile was if I was in the middle of a tune and I was completely vapor-locked and unable to continue, then I might consider something light like A BEER to get my gears turning again. And it's really more complicated than that, I get so that I need complete silence and the ability to think unchallenged for a few minutes to just sound something out and then transcribe it.

Anything else is just doing my internal processes distress and subtracting from any possible mental acumen that may or may not be present and for what goes on, one needs EVERY shred of proposed brain to complete the task at hand. The propensity for something wonderful to take a turn for the worse at the end is huge.

On the convex, writing something shitty is easy and akin to relieving yourself, but not as rewarding by far. I have a trick for that as well.

SAVE EVERYTHING, it might be shitty but it might be useful at a later date.

The idea that I am being maligned because of the music I write is a flat out sin to me. Local pack of redundant, no imagination haters of anything they don't grasp immediately AND I am a burnout?

Bwhahaaa-haaa-haaa-ha. Get a grip.

Bring me your wonderkin, let's go a few rounds.

I bet I leave them smoking a little from the head and ears.
Then I will watch once again as the faces go from amazement to anger over something else they just don't quite grasp.

I played with a bass player of some renown not too long ago and I knew this guy could play. He knew a little of what I do.

Immediately he starts in with this terribly complicated music, fast and odd changes galore. I played with him a little bit and filled some of the holes as we went along, but kind of underplayed as I often do when faced with something I am unfamiliar with. (It takes a little bit for me to warm in some circumstances, as long as I can find something to like about what's being played.)

At the end, he smirked and said "gee, you you don't seem like that much of a virtuoso to me". I said calmly "I just play what I feel, no more and no less".

If I ever said anything to anyone that was a "player" that meant anything of importance, it would be that. "Just play what you feel and forget the rest".

I'm the furthest thing from a virtuoso I can think of, but I can write the music I hear that comes from within. If that makes you angry, so be it. If that makes you want to hate on me, so be it. If you want to degrade, call names, drag my ass through the rumor mill or the court system and slam my ass from here to Cleveland, so be it but you won't affect/effect what I do at my core.

No the only people that affect or effect what I write are those who destroy it as you are writing it, either by changing it when it's not ready or thinking they have the "golden take" on it and change it because they think what they are doing is what the material really needs. And I never needed anyone to write lyrics either, I love to collaborate but I don't want to be forced to collaborate or take anyone's lyrics just because they are layering/tracking via whatever DAW is for dinner this evening.

Gee am I bitter yet>? I think I might be. lol

I have something promising staring me in the face tomorrow and I'm going to play bass because it's looking like a situation where there is no bassist and 1000 guitarists and vocalists.

I'll evaluate the situation and no, I am probably not going to write anything for these folks, but I'll do my job and do it to the best of my ability because there are no stars, it's a team sport.

I'm hoping there will be no pressure and I'll play bass like I always do, "with reckless abandon and always in a melodic fashion".

But they can stress and they will do what they do, because I'm not hanging my sack in the wind any longer. I can play bass, get paid and be very happy and at the same time, throw my dime into the mix and hopefully adjust the final product without having to bore the main part of the load. (I just won't be playing any covers, period.)

I don't care what anyone thinks but I refuse to play what I consider good music only to be thought of as something only slightly less than a full blast junkie.

Ha, it's merely an attempt to obscure the truth.

Besides, I have no intentions of proving my worth as a musician.
The world is full of guitarists and vocalists, not many are any good but they all think they have the goods.

The question that any musician worth their salt is, "do you have the goods"? "Can you produce the goods on cue"? If the answer is no to either question, you are just pissing into the fan and life passes out no towels.

STAY AS DRY AND HAPPY AS POSSIBLE, life is way too short to lose your mind and act the fool.

PS: I love the Cars, always did. Terribly interesting music and I have no idea why. Translation = They are something great and that's all i need to know.

TOM JONES - SEND IN THE CLOWNS
http://youtu.be/5qBxU6Xbas0

New song from Scottie and the Bitter Pills:

Full of Haters

Verse 1
They hate you for being different.
They hate you for being capable when they are less.
They hate you for being good.
They hate you because you might be able to do something not currently in their skill set.

Verse 2 (think it needs another line!)
They hate you if you write better than they do.
They hate you if you have the nerve to stand up for what you believe in.
They hate you if your idea is not the same flavor as theirs.

Chorus
They hate you for being unique and we're all unique.
That one just boggles my mind.
It'd be sooo boring if we were all the same.

Verse 3
They hate for for what you do right and for what you do wrong.
They hate you if you get your own shows.
They hate you if you don't.
They hate you if you get management offers, they hate you if you don't.

Really Mikey? Ooh ok, you just made my ignore list again.

Take your billboard ads and shove them where your creativity is, you psuedo whiner invalidic head case with no inclination for gainful employment.

God helps those who help themselves and no he doesn't mean rob a bank.
He means get a job, even if it kills you.
I got one yesterday, yep it's another horrible one but it's full time. I won't enjoy it, but I'm back on the payroll again..so suck it you weezer!

I gotta say if you were looking to push my buttons, consider them pushed.

How dare you? You pathetic so and so. Where's my chainmail glove?
You need slapped. lol

You know how we say "Mike Nobody" where I come from?
A: "Pinata". As in you hang it by it's compression hose and beat the candy out of it.

(Wow not only do you mock me, but you use Tom Jones. That's a double negative, you little smelly bi-atch. I guess that's ok, you're the closest thing to a clown in here. I'll avoid you like the plague from here on in, you tripe sucking bandit. And tell Marsha I want my lucky condom back, she's not allowed to use it on you any longer. lol)



Mike Birch, go chase yourself. The only thing funnier than what you wrote is that pathetic reincarnation of "the fool", but if the shoe fits...

It's easy to make fun of that which you have no knowledge of but it's a whole lot less fun to be in it like a deep mire, but hey the water's warm come on in.

Be a fool, you do what you know right? Ok that's 2 for my sh*t list.
If you had any materials I liked, I might feel injured. lol

Chime right in feeding frenzy right here, except you might end up with a wound all your own especially if your living "la vida loca" and your local super market is all out of hair dye and Geritol.