Forwards

I realised when I posted my last column on Bronies UK that I missed out last weeks post, So Happy New Year everyone, I hope you all got wasted and had lots of fun, and I also hope that you can't remember all those naughty things you did that night. Joking aside, I have quite a lot of plans for this year, mostly centered around my band: Reincarnated Love.

I get the feeling the skeptics reading this are laughing, and have probably made a mental comment about me saying "joking aside," but I don't really care about what those skeptics think. No one can tell me with any certainty what will become of the band,  It's not likely that we'll make it, but you never know. And unless the band does get anywhere, I still aim to have a steady income from elsewhere.

I also get the feeling there are others who have read my previous posts thinking something along the lines of "I thought he wanted to join the army," which is true, I do want to join the army, but I want to join as a musician. I position which will be pretty hard for me to score, especially since I can fill only one of about forty-five slots. Other things that will get in my way include the entrance exam, audition and the simple fact I am ungraded in my instruments.

I am actually confident in my audition, I'm working on the two pieces that I have to perform. I am grateful that I can chose the two pieces of music, as long as they contrast. The word contrast is what worries me the most, to me it could mean many things while referring to music. So I'm just going to have to hope that they accept the contrast I have chosen, and also hope they don't ask for the names of the pieces. Anyway, I try not to think about those things, the more I do, the less confident I feel, and a lack of confidence will obliterate my chances of success.

Anyway I seem to have sidetracked a little, so as for the band, we intend to get a four track EP recorded so we can stick it on ReverbNation and hopefully start gigging. We currently have a friend of ours working on our publicity for when we do get everything ready, but until then we can only practice what we have and write more.

The four tracks for the EP have all been written, one of which is even loaded with a solo from each member of the band, but since we no longer have a rhythm guitarist, Nathan will have to record the second guitar as well as his own, and hopefully we can train up a fourth member soon enough.

We will face a few difficulties when it comes to gigging, the first of which being we are a member down. But more than anything our current biggest problem is that we don't fully know what kit we will need, we do know that we can currently only play somewhere that already has a PA system, our amps are loud enough even if they don't get mic'ed up, but we only have 3 amps big enough to use: a 100 watt Trace Elliot Commando bass amp (solid state), a 100 watt guitar amp which we can't find any information on (also solid state), and an 80 watt Marshall Valvestate (which as the name suggests is both valve and solid state). The Marshall may be smaller than the others, but it is still very loud and will be perfectly usable in conjunction with the others.

The next problem will be transport, neither me, Nath or Phil can drive, and so we'll have to pack the majority of the kit in Nath's dad's van, once that is filled with the amps, and the drum kit, and the guitars, there probably won't be enough room for all of us. so my guess is that some of us will have to go in Phil's fiancée's car.

The next problem would be the sound tech, we don't have one of our own, and so we'll need to use whoever is at the venue, that is of course if there even is someone at the venue. So yeah, if you haven't guessed, being in a band is a lot more than most idiots expect it to be, and so we as a band have a lot of things to sort out.

This year is going to be fun...

Yay! I'm Keeping Myself Occupied!

This week has been another week that has thrown me off my usual routine, I have been spending time with friends at awkward hours, I have finally formed a band, and I'm learning Spanish.

First off My friends have dragged me into a strange concept for a YouTube channel called TheMentalLibrary which is basically the insane group of idiots that used to hang around the school library. It isn't actually the complete set of idiots unfortunately, one idiot doesn't leave the house or socialise. The other idiot is camera shy so we haven't fully included her, although she is mentioned as being part of the group in the introductory video (which I will start editing shortly after writing this).

That YouTube channel is basically going to consist of Ash telling me to humiliate myself, and Ash telling Nathan (A.K.A Stunt-Man) to hurt himself. Ash will simply be involved in the skits that are semi-scripted. It's definitely a good job I have no dignity when a camera is rolling.

Last night I also formed a band, and within thirty seconds we were jamming along to Weird Al's parody of American Idiot. So far it seems like this band will be a pop-punk band (sigh) but I can live with that and soon I'll convert it to something that suits my preferences a little more. Although I don't mind pop-punk I'm more of a Horror-Punk kind of guy, I also like progressive rock/metal and psychobilly. My ideal form of band would be a progressive psychobilly band, with a musical style reminiscent of black metal, but I highly doubt that will happen.

The other point I made in my opening sentence was that I'm learning Spanish. I used to learn Spanish in school when I still lived in Birmingham, but since I moved to Stoke-on-Trent I stopped learning Spanish and started German instead (sigh). Recently my dad told me about a website that teaches you one of five languages for free, and I couldn't remember what it was called until a post on 9gag lead me straight to it. That website was called Duolingo!

I have so far done six lessons on it, I'm doing two lessons a day, and I will do that everyday (well that's the plan anyway). I've encountered a lot of words I already knew, but I've also been learning some new words. I'd also like to say that it is teaching me Spanish better than my old teacher did.

My last post was full of talk about stories. I have been working on the My Little Pony Fan Fiction piece, and I wrote three chapters in one morning. Which if it had followed my original idea would mean that the story would be complete, however, while I was lost in the story I changed it slightly taking the mid section of it down a completely different road. I had no plans to do such a thing, but I did, and it's coming along nicely.

Friendship is Magic

My plan to win over Lydia's mother has failed, which means I am to remain single for the foreseeable future. This does have one major advantage though: I'm now allowed to have friends. Unfortunately I don't really speak to my original best friend anymore, I lost him sometime during the relationship with Dana, but thankfully I now have a new friend to take his place.

So for the time being my mate Ash will be considered my best friend, as he is my first real friend. I highly doubt he'd be replaced by a female anytime soon on the sole basis that I am no longer in contact with females, and those I am in contact with are much manlier than I am, so I don't consider them dating options. I'd also like to admit it isn't hard to be manlier than me.

My current hope is that my other friend Nathan will visit me, or at least tell me where he lives so I can visit him, and then the two of us will be able to form a band. I'd also invite Ash to join us, but unfortunately he isn't a drummer, which is what we'd need. I already have a name idea for the band, but since there is no band as of yet, the name will stay in my head.

If a band is formed it will most likely end up a horror punk band, since we both like punk and I get the feeling I'll be the primary lyricist so I'd end up including a lot of horror themed lyrics, or my lyrics will consist of taboo subjects. I have other ideas for what this band would become, but it'll most likely become something entirely different.

I have also restarted my old YouTube channel and I'm working on another Minecraft play through, I'm hoping that this one will last more than twelve episodes, and I'm hoping someone will actually view it, (I'll put a link to the first episode at the bottom of this post). There are two reasons why I've started doing this again after two years, the first and foremost being: Ash reminded me. The second reason is simply that I have nothing better to do with my free time.

Since it is the first of the month, I may as well record the plans I have for it, first of all I have a college interview on the twelfth, which I'm both looking forward to and dreading at the same time. following that on the Saturday I'm going on holiday to Abersoch, and I'm looking forward to that very much. I plan on taking my guitar and a notebook so I can compose a song or two, I may practice my drawing skills a bit.

The half term has pretty much ended now, school is back open tomorrow. I won't be going though, I've finished with it. I should now consider getting myself a job, I reckon I stand the best chance of getting a job at the newsagents where I do my paper rounds. I do need a job, I also need to visit my GP at some point so I can get a letter from him.

As promised here is the link to the first episode of my Minecraft Let's Play:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5nyXx_QdsM