Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before

About a year ago it was just an internet rumor that alt-rock guitar slinger Johnny Marr (ex-The Smiths, ex-Modest Mouse, now ex-The Cribs) would be getting his own signature guitar from Fender, but shortly into 2012 it was offical: Fender Guitars would be releasing a Johnny Marr Signature Jaguar, based on the guitar he used for the majority of his time with Modest Mouse and his main guitar during his time with The Cribs.

Now what's so important about this, especially since I'm sure most of you reading haven't the slightest clue who Mr. Marr is? Well, it just so happens that Johnny Marr is one of my favorite guitarists, one who's definitely had an influence on the way I sling a six-string, and was the final factor in me purchasing my own Fender Jaguar the week before I moved into Schmidt Hall my freshman year at WCU.

For those of you who aren't aware of Johnny Marr's impact on music, he was the riff-meister of the songwriting duo that was Morrissey and Marr which provided the backbone for The Smiths, one of the most influencial rock bands of the 80s.

Still not ringing any bells? Maybe this will help:

Sounds like the theme song from "Charmed," doesn't it? You can thank Love Spit Love, the off-shoot of The Psychedelic Furs, for covering (or in my opinion, completely butchering) the song in the 90s. But The Smiths have a lengthy catalog of 4 full-length albums, nearly a dozen compilation albums and just as many singles released with their own unique b-sides. "This Charming Man" was the single that catapulted the group into the spotlight, and it's opening riff is something that many guitarists world over have desperately tried to mangle in an attempt to match Marr's riff wizardry.

Eat your heart out guitar-nerds: even Steve Vai's impressed.

My now-subdued obsession with Marr's playing started back in my senior year in high school, when my friend Chazz introduced me to The Smiths. He was obsessed with Morrissey's overly-morose, humorous and witty lyrics, and tried to shine a light on my musical taste, which at that point was steadily shifting from the metalcore of Killswitch Engage and Lamb of God to the art-rock anthems of Sonic Youth and Radiohead. "This Charming Man" had me hooked from the main riff, and thankfully Chazz lent me his copy of "The Queen is Dead" so I could delve into the band. While this album is one of my favorites, it took a few listens to really dig into it, and it wasn't until I heard the closing track, "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" that I really began to obsess over Marr's playing.

But while I loved his riffs, his overly chorusy guitar sound didn't really do it for me (for non-guitar nerds, "chorus" is a modulation effect used on guitars that doubles the original note[s] and sends the second signal in and out of tune... think Nirvana's "Come As You Are" if that'll help). Thankfully my exposure to The Smiths happened around the same time as I was not only looking for a new guitar, but also around the same time I was getting into another of my favorite bands, Modest Mouse. By the end of senior year I had worked up enough courage to get my second album by the band, 2007's "We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank," and the lead single, "Dashboard," won me over.

This was the first riff that Johnny Marr, having been invited to jam with the band prior to the writing and recording for the album, showed Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse's singer/gutiarist), and little changed about the riff from its first preview to the album. It's still one of my favorite guitar sounds, and when I found out the riff was played and recorded on a Jaguar (the same guitar used by bands like Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Placebo and My Bloody Valentine), I decided the Jaguar was the right way to go for me. Some 3+ years later I still stand by that decision.

But what's all the hubbub about? Well, Marr's made some interesting changes to the instrument. Where normal Jaguar's have 3 slider switches to turn on the pickups:

Marr's new instrument has a slider switch like a Telecaster:

While the normal Jaguar's switches are on/off switches for the bridge and neck pickup, and an additional switch that turns on a high-pass filter, Marr's selector works like a 4-way Tele switch that selects either the bridge pickup, bridge and neck pickups in parallel, neck pickup, and the bridge and neck pickups in series, which sounds like a big humbucker. Where the normal Jags have a rhythm pickup switching system on the upper bout of the instrument, Marr's chosen to add two high-pass filters there instead, one which works the traditional filter circuit, and one that strictly affects the series pickup sound.

While this seems complex, it makes a lot of sense, especially for a guitarist like myself who can get quite into playing his instrument and has on more than one occasion accidentally cut the sound on my guitar from knocking into one of the switches. While I had originally toyed around the idea of changing out the stock selector switch for a toggle switch like Kurt Cobain had, I may bite the bullet and change my switches to the same setup like Johnny Marr has, even if it does make me look like a bit of a fanboy.

Or would it? Normally I'd make some lame remark about pampering life's complexity while the leather runs smooth on the passenger seat, but then I realized That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore.

And neither are lame jokes about The Smiths' songs or lyrics, but I guess I guess I really Missed The Boat on that one...

Alright, Modest Mouse puns are lame too... I guess I'll just stop before my music nerdiness puts my Girlfriend in a Coma....

Happy Nerding, Everyone!
- Dan

I Like My Sugar with Coffee and Cream

I had another post initially planned for today, but since Adam Yauch, aka MCA, of The Beastie Boys passed away today I figured it would only be fitting to dedicate one to him. While I was not obsessed with the group, and only casually listened to their music, I distinctly remember my first exposure to The Beastie Boys: it was a weekday night during the summer before I entered 8th grade, and I was watching one of the scheduled blocks of new music on Fuse (a network I've mentioned before, and one that definitely shaped my taste in music), and it was when they were premiering the video for "Ch-Check It Out," which was the lead track and single from the group's 2004 release, "To the 5 Boroughs." Not only was the song catchy, but the video was by and large one of the funniest I had seen at that point in my life. I tried to nab myself a copy of the album, but due to my parent's unwillingness to let me listen to music with profanity, I was unable to check the album out (bad pun definitely not intended), and the Beastie Boys faded from my mind until the following summer when I heard "Sabotage" for the first time in Wildwood, NJ. Surprisingly, I had a feeling the song was by the group, and asked my dad if that was true. He turned to me, surprised, and confirmed by suspicion.

That is one of the reasons I respect The Beastie Boys so much: You don't have to be a fan or that familiar with their music to identify a song of theirs within the first few seconds. They were a genuine group of guys, and you got the vibe that they made music because they simply enjoyed writing songs, and they never took themselves too seriously (as can easily be seen with the title of their 2006 concert film, "Awesome; I F*#$ing Shot That!"). But more importantly (and slightly more on topic), MCA contributed some of the catchiest bass hooks in not only hip-hop, but music in general. Whether it's the well-known vamp of "Sabotage" or the grungy grind of "Gratitude," they carried the songs and made them what they were.

R.I.P Mr. Yauch. I still prefer my sugar with coffee and cream.

- Dan

"Cure for Pain"

I don't quite remember what drew me to look into the band Morphine a couple weeks ago but whatever the reason is, I'm glad I did. The first track that popped up when I searched the band on YouTube was "Early to Bed" from the band's 1997 album, Like Swimming. The song's quirky sound, which included a baritone saxophone and what I thought was a baritone guitar (a personal favorite of mine), made me click on the next top video on YouTube, "Candy," from 1993's Cure for Pain, and I was more than intrigued.

I quickly downloaded a copy of the album, and set about researching the group as I began to peruse the album. Formed in 1989 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Morphine defied the typical trappings of a power trio. Rather than have a singer/guitarist, bassist and drummer setup, the group was fronted by singer/bassist (that's right, bassist) Mark Sandman, and rounded out with saxophonist Dana Colley and drummer Jerome Deupree. What makes Morphine stand out musically from many bands is not just their choice of setup, but their unorthodox choice of instrumentation: Sandman strung his bass up with 2 strings and played them with a bottleneck slide, and Colley played baritone sax primarily, but was also known to play two saxophones at once (influenced by the late Roland Kirk). This left Morphine with a low - end intense sound, which Sandman termed "low rock." Even though the band had limited success in America, they were quite popular overseas, and although I loved the band's sound from the first listen, I figured I'd give myself some time for the tracks to sink in before I started a review.

Cure for Pain starts off a short instrumental track ("Dawna") before launching into "Buena," a blues - tinged rock track that would seem at home being played everywhere from a dive bar to a stadium. Fans of the show The Sopranos might recognized "Buena" as one of the songs featured prominently in the 9th episode of the 1st season, "Boca." "Buena" saunters around with bass and drums driving the first minute of the song while Sandman's low croon carries the song into the chorus, when the baritone sax enters, and solos for a few bars before quietly slipping into the second verse.

Many of Morphine's songs are dynamic heavy, with instruments coming and going in ways that emphasize Sandman's beat - influenced lyrics, questioning himself and those around him, with the occasional (and not so thinly - veiled) lyrics about drug use and general debauchery. Sandman's lyrics seem to reflect a search purpose in life, and he certainly wasn't one to paint a pretty picture. The third track on the album, "I'm Free Now," has Sandman saying "I'm free now to direct a movie, Sing a song or write a book about yours truly, how I'm so interesting, I'm so great but I'm really just a fuck-up," giving all of Sandman's lyrics just the right amount of humility to make Morphine's songs not only catchy, but honest.


But don't think all of Morphine's tracks are whiney, low tuned songs complaining about life: the album's eighth track, "Thursday" is a gritty track that tells the tale of a man (Sandman perhaps?) who conducts and affair with a married woman where they "... meet every Thursday... in the afternoon, for a couple of beers and a game of pool." Things go awry when the woman invites him back to her house and a nosy neighbor sees his car and threatens to tell the woman's husband of their affair, causing the man to flee town. For something so serious, Sandman paints a picture that's somewhat humorous over a crunchy bassline with just enough baritone sax blasts to make the song a straight - forward rocker.


Without going into excessive detail about each and every song, I'll sum it up as such: Morphine is easily one of the most under - rated rock bands of the 90s. It's a rare opportunity to hear a band that honestly has a unique sound, and Morphine is one of them. While writing everything else, I tried my hardest to think of bands that sound like them or artists that have taken a page out of their book, but I kept drawing a blank. 


Some might think that's a bad thing, but I personally think that's the sign of talent.


- Dan

"In Utero," or: What Motivated Me to Actually Play My Damn Guitar

I love Nirvana.

Although I may go through times where Kurt Cobain's trashy guitar just isn't exactly what I had in mind, or Krist Novoselic's loose and thumpy bass sound doesn't wet my whistle, you'll never hear me say that I dislike Nirvana. You might hear me criticize some of the songs from "Nevermind," the album that everyone and their brother has owned at some point in their life, but I chalk that up to how I came into listening to Nirvana.

Sometime in my sophomore year in high school, I came across an article on the band, and specifically their third and final album, "In Utero." Obviously I was familiar with the name of the band and had heard "Smells Like Teen Spirit," more times than I could count, but something about this article peaked my interest in the band. It wasn't until one day that summer, spending the afternoon watching TV at my grandparent's house, that I came across a "Loaded" episode of Nirvana, which was one of the programs on the Fuse network that would run half - hour blocks of a single artist's music videos. I came into it just as the video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit," was ending and I contemplated changing the channel, but thankfully I decided to expose myself to something unfamiliar. 

And I'm glad I did.

"Heart-Shaped Box" was the next video up on the list, and from the first few seconds I was captivated. The video alone was so bizarre and outlandish, even more so than the Slipknot videos I had been hooked on since freshman year. But even more bizarre than the video was the song itself. It starts out with a quiet riff on the guitar, which didn't hold my attention at first, but the last little chord Cobain plays was so deep, somewhat unpleasant sounding, but more than anything else,...

Unique.

That night I convinced my mom to drive me to Best Buy so I could spend what little money I had on a copy of "In Utero," and waited until the bus ride to school to dig in, and from the opening chord of the opening track "Serve the Servants," I knew that my musical taste would never be the same. The entire song structure was so strange to me at the time (most of the song revolves around a bluesy sounding chord progression consisting of nothing but dominant 7 chords, making it sound like a heroin-fueled Hendrix jam), and still amazes me to this day. 

Towards the end of the summer, when my family went down to Wildwood, NJ like we did every year, I visited the same music store where I bought my first guitar (Mr. J's Music Shop in Cape May, NJ), and found a copy of the "In Utero" tablature book. Although some of those tabs were waaaaaaaaaaay off, I spent the last few months of 2007, and the first few of 2008 studying that book, eventually teaching myself how to play "Serve the Servants," which I proudly half - assed each and every time I visited my local Guitar Center.

My whole experience with Nirvana is one of the reasons I came up with the idea to focus on music with my blog. I find it remarkable that something as stupid as a three and a half minute song can change the way we not only think, but live, and that something so small can shape our personalities in such under-appreciated ways.

Here's to Memories,

Dan

My Recent Obsessions

Hey!

Before I get started, I'd like to let you all know that this is a heads up for what my next couple posts are going to be about. Maybe it's that I'm trying mix it up, or perhaps it's the nostalgia that's stirred up from having my first guitar back, but I've been getting really into music from the 90s in the past two weeks. So partially due to the fact that I'm a week late in posting a Grammy rant, and since there's not many new releases that have caught my eye, I think I'll be making my next few posts centered around bands from that 90s, both universally recognized artists and some great ones that slipped beneath the cracks.

Prepare Yourselves,
Dan

Hey!

Hey There,

My name is Dan, I'm a junior at West Chester University, studying English, and this is my first official blog aside from a Xanga account I made and rarely used back in the sixth grade. After nearly a decade of being "out of the game", I'm excited to start up again.

I started this up as a forum to talk about practically anything music related. I've been playing instruments since I was 7 and still playing every single day. I mainly play guitar, bass, and sing, but I also play piano, woodwinds, and just about anything else you throw at me. I also write my own songs and am in the process of trying to get together an EP of some of my stuff (but more on that if and when the time comes).

Aside from being an avid player, I'm also a pretty obsessive listener of music, both old and new, and I'm always on the hunt for something fresh and exciting. My family is heavily musical, and I grew up listening to everything from The Beach Boys to Led Zeppelin to Michael Jackson (Thriller was actually the first album I ever owned... on cassette no less). Through the years my tastes have changed dramatically, from following My Chemical Romance religiously when Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge was released to becoming a devout metalhead for years after picking up Megadeth's Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? on a whim one day (Fun Fact: I got my first guitar because of that album). Nowadays I'm more of an alternative/indie/singer-songwriter kind of guy (seeing Bon Iver in August managed to beat out seeing Modest Mouse for my favorite concert ever), but I'm always down to listen to something in any genre so long as there's something interesting going on there.

So there's a quick life story: I'll be spending most of my time here talking about any new albums that come out, performance reviews for bands both mainstream and underground, and to satisfy all the gear nerds out there, any sweet pieces of musical gear that have come out (which is convenient since the NAMM show was held only a couple weeks ago and there's some sweet new gear coming out)

That about sums it up. If you guys have any questions/comments/suggestions, drop them in a comment or message me, and who knows? Maybe something you want me to talk about will get it's own dedicated post!

Until Then,
Dan