Well I hope so.
I’ve come through this recent patch trying to get perspective on it – y’know, recognise that it always ends up okay in the end and I should try to freak out a little bit less.
It was no major. I was just sick for a little while and a couple of my guys here in the business weren’t around and I wasn’t really prepared for either situation anyway so I kinda wiped out a bit there.
It was frustrating because I feel like I’ve been solidly committed to my businesses for over 18 months now and I thought it would be time by now to start easing into the good times, getting back into my music and kind of living out the music a bit more, like I’ve been talking about.
But now it’s May already and there’s a big month of gigs on the line, and I can see it’s all gonna get crazy.
There’s Extra Mile at Fu – an Oxfam benefit gig on Friday May 8th with a whole bunch of Auckland promoters – dare I say pretty much every outfit is represented and our next gig “Drop it Down” is coming up on the 16th, again at fu, and lastly I think – I hope – we’ll be doing something for Queens Birthday
I have done some music too. I’ve got two new sketches which I worked up, first was “Dance if you Know” which was a real follow up to the Wine Cooler thing we’ve been working on except I went further into a more lofi indie “bloghaus” feel, and it was a tinky little poppy number so I could see it again having good crossover potential as something really new that I was doing. Mittens Drum’n Bass.
Then I went over a beat I’d started earlier in the evening and really hit gold. The tune is called “Kings” and it is just a basic kind of deep and dubby calibre style cut but what really turned me on is that the elements of composition that I was really trying to bring out by listening to lots of calibre and 11th hour were really coming through.
Before I was in a real Alix Perez or Random Movement place, building deep vibes but very kinda blurry layered, I wanted to bring out more clear cut and connected riffs, and thats what I love about “Kings” strong vocal sample thats been worked into its own logic, solid bass in it’s own space, and all the secondary elements playing off each other with a real distinct connection to each other.
So yeah I felt really rewarded with that, that the more, slow and ponderous approach I’m taking to tunes right now is actually working. Right now I think we’ve got about 8 solid sketches that are earmarked for completion. But I’m happy to keep sketching and increasing the pool from which to draw from.
So I’m back on my blog anyway because for me it’s really important to start developing narrative skills. I’m not about the music of Romantech, I’m about the story now. And the story has music in it, And just trying to keep my blog updated has to be my commitment to that for now. Developing my shit, getting into ideas.
Cos I often think . . . I’m not young anymore, it’s kinda depressing but it always returns me to the thoughts that I need to express something genuinely real in my stories, highs and lows and all that drama.
I think everybody wants their life to be a little bit more like a movie they once saw. But maybe I’m trying to make movies that are a little bit more like my life because that’s a little bit closer to reality a real message than hoping for redemption and wishing I was still 21.
But if I was still 21 it wouldn’t be real, and I’ve kind of been responding to that, how can I create and develop this character that’s around 30 – in fact it’s a very 30 thing I’m developing . . . – the last grasp, or is it?
The fact that I look young means that I can kind of segue between those two vibes – the 20’s “living” vibe and the 30’s “settling” vibe. being “it” and being “past it”.
I wanted to play with that as well the fact that I can put a cap and hoodie on and im instantly playing my 25 year old self, the DJ Romantech, a small time and somewhat infamous player on Auckland’s Drum’n Bass scene. That’s right, Flashbacks!
I dunno, I just wanna “get down and do [my] own thing.”
I was just thinking about the book I wrote and stuff this week and I know I do have to step up artistically. I already know that it’s not by being the best DJ or writing a tune that becomes a worldwide dancefloor hit.
Being a musician is music, but making music is just another story about life. Now my music is about a bigger story about my life.
I may be writing on this dumb blog now and hoping no one is actually reading it, but I’ll have you know I have cameras on my watchlist. I have got two scripts I’m filming for my vusines now that I’ve had a haircut and my skin isn’t too bad, and that’ll just be warming me up to get back in front of the camera.
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