Status Quo... Wednesday?

NEW BIZNEZZ:
Yeah, Status Quo Sundays are now on Wednesday, just to get some space in between updates here on the site.

I'm still going to be in "HOLY SHIT WRITE" mode Sunday, but then it'll be ready to post Wednesday instead of kinda late on Monday. I'm still gonna find a way to fuck it up though.

SHOW OUTTA NOWHERE!

Saturday, June 25th, 6:30 PM

Markee Music
1700 S Powerline Rd
Deerfield Beach, FL 33442

My voice coach invited me to play this event as part of a showcase. A lot of people are going to be there, and it's going to be a lot of fun!

THIS WEEK'S JAM:


Yeah, I've been on a Reel Big Fish kick recently. This has always been a standout track of theirs, not necessarily because it's the best, but because it features NO HORNS (except maybe I missed them. I dunno. I'm not that smart).

It's like another big song of theirs, "Beer". Beer has more trappings of ska, but it's still a song where you can take out the horns, play it as a punk band still get the full experience. What I'm getting at is that Aaron Barrett is really good at his job and a really good songwriter.

FLORIDA FANDOMANIA:
It's a first year con I really hoped would be successful, since I knew a lot of people involved with it. 

However, a lot didn't end up working out at Florida Fandomania. I got there early to do a soundcheck, then little by little, panels and appearances fell through, mostly due to low attendance due to the events that happened in Orlando the weekend prior. At the end of the day, I wasn't able to play.
Also, the lights were shutting off occasionally because of the weather. No one to blame, though except terrible luck.

Though it turns out Eric Stuart can write some damn good music, and you can check out his band, Eric Stuart Band, here.

I was able to get a corner table though, and met plenty of new people, so it wasn't bad, it just could have been better.


STATUS QUO STREAMING:
I'm working on setting up a weekly stream where I can set aside some time to jam out in public, like a mini-preformance, maybe learn a cover or something, then play games, maybe with you guys.

Tonight, for the inaugural stream, I was thinking of streaming the first hour of World Of Warcraft (since I got a free trial on Battle.Net) or maybe some Hearthstone, whatevs.

10 NEW Bands Who I'd Curbstomp Babies To See In Rock Band 4

So like I did last week with returning bands, I'm doing with bands that haven't had a song debut in Rock Band, Guitar Hero or Rocksmith yet. This cancels out some I wanted to do like The Misfits, but these should be reasonable.

1. THE AQUABATS 

The ONLY downside I can see with the Aquabats is that the loss of keys hurts some of the songs, but there's plenty straight rock songs in their library that would fit in well. Plus, their stock is rising with The Aquabats Super Show and Yo Gabba Gabba! so the younger kids will be familiar the everyone's rock and roll superheroes!
If Harmonix ever has a brain hemmorage and releases Lego Rock Band 2, The Aquabats should be front and center!
SEE ALSO: "Super Rad!" "Look At Me, I'm A Winner!"

2. DAFT PUNK

Another band that feels the loss of the keys, but there's still workarounds, it just requires very liberal interpretations of "guitars" and "vocals". Maybe not on disc songs, but it's time for add some Robots to Rock Band.  
SEE ALSO: "Digital Love", "One More Time/Aerodynamic", "Harder Better Faster Stronger"

3. FOXY SHAZAM

With operatic vocals that could give Freddie Mercury a run for his money and the energy of nine coke-fiends crammed into 5 guys, Foxy Shazam is a rock band in every sense of the word, who's soujnd has changed enough over the years to give a wide variety of play styles. You want thrashy, trashy and in your face? Go with something off of their album "Introducing Foxy Shazam". Harder rock? 2012's "The Chruch Of Rock and Roll". Found out that you don't have a lo9t of hard songs on vocals? Anything off of 2010's self titled album will have the guy with the mic putting in A LOT Of work.
SEE ALSO: "Unstoppable", "The Church of Rock and Roll"

4. JANELLE MONAE

Have I mentioned I fucking love Janelle Monae? Another artist that bounces all over the place with genres, Cindi Mayweather captures the more mellow side rock, while adding in a ton of funk and hip-hop influences, which Rock Band is sorely lacking. A few of the songs on RB3 that tried to fall into this category were either too spastic or too easy. No keys is a bit of a loss, but depending on the track, you wouldn't even notice it. Any vocalist worth their salt should be begging to have these songs included.
SEE ALSO: "Q.U.E.E.N.", "Tightrope", "Cold War", "Many Moons"

5. JAPANDROIDS

Imagine if the Black Keys got their influences from Arena Rock, and you'd have a pretty good idea of The Japandroids. It's really good "Drive With The Windows Open" music that's plenty of fun for the whole group.
SEE ALSO: "The House That Heaven Built", "Adrenaline Nightshift"

6. THE PROTOMEN

The Protomen make concept albums based off of Mega Man and try to sound as 80s as fuck while doing that. If that sentence alone doesn't convince you, let me repeat it: The Protomen make concept albums based off of Mega Man and try to sound as 80s as fuck while doing that.Keys are missing, but we can still give it the old college try, right? RIGHT?
SEE ALSO: "The Hounds" "Hope Rides Alone" , "The Will Of One"

7. REEL BIG FISH

While "Beer" might not be the most "family-friendly" song from the Boston ska band, it's the song that suffers the least from losing the keys. Like most ska (see "This Gigantic Robot Kills"), the bass is challenging, and the small licks on the lead guitar keep the mostly chord focused song interesting to play. Also, "Beer" was MADE for harmonies. It has "Whoa-oh-oh" part! Bitches love "Whoa-oh-oh" parts!
SEE ALSO: "Take On Me", "Sellout"

 8. BOWLING FOR SOUP

We have "Nerd Rock" in Rock Band with "Still Alive" by Glados, Brony music and Kirby Krackle, but we need more "Dork Rock" and Rhythm Bastard, while awesome and cool and talented and well endowed, it's JUST NOT ENOUGH. Bowling for Soup are a bunch dorks that make some really sweet pop-punk, and everyone's guarantee to know AT LEAST 1985.
SEE ALSO: "Girl All The Bad Guys Want", "High School Never Ends", "Punk Rock 101"

9. WALK THE MOON

I'm really surprised these guys haven't had a Top 40 hit yet. Hopefully by the time RB4 comes out they will have gained some mianstream attention, but it could still be an opportunity for Harmonix to be kingmakers.
SEE ALSO: "Tightrope" "Different Colors"

10. THE WOMBATS

Another alternative rock band that's been around for a while, but only managed one radio hit recently. The accent and British Pop Culture references my throw a couple vocalists off, but the relentless energy makes up for it.  
SEE ALSO: "Kill The Director", "My First Wedding"

August 17th, 2011 Videos Of The Week: DIY Edition

A friend got me into Minecraft. My bad. And my mics fucked up right, so I had a song ready to go, but it'll have to wait.

OK, so one video I wanted to do for a long time coming was The Squeeze's "Pulling Mussels (From A Shell)". I couldn't find any decent live videos on YouTube (since the one with the best audio was when they played it slower).

VIDEO OF THE WEEK #1: "Pulling Mussels (From A Shell)"


I liked it because it seems to fit so well, and just has a nostalgic vibe to it that sort of puts me at ease.

Anyways, I was going to do a bit on some crappy homemade music videos made for actual artists, and use that on a "How To" section. However, when I did a search for such, I delved into a world that I did not anticipate. An, Uncharted Zone so to speak.

DON'T make it super obvious you're using green screen.


This guy was parodied in the "Brainpower" music video Mega 64 did for Freezepop, and again was brought up in their Gnomon University commercial.

DO be thematically appropriate.
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK #2- "Hungry Like The Wolf" by Duran Duran


Never seen Lupin The Third, but it looks like it's a show about a pretty slick dude. And this is a very slick cover of a song about a creepy stalker guy. The lips match up when they're singing, and the tone of clips go with the tempo. I can look at this and see something complete.

DON'T just throw shit up there.


Hey! Reel Big Fish again! So what does the song "The Fire" have to do with a line for the bathroom? And why is it just showing me full clips from the show? Oh well, at least I know what the episode is. Good thing this guy didn't bother with video editing!

DO get friends who've been to film school.
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK #3: "Take The Money And Run" by Steve Miller Band

I just want to applaud their effort. The shots here lead me to believe that they knew what they were doing, and everything with that car in it is pure gold. For such a small project, a lot effort was put into it.

Like the other two entries, it captures the spirit of the song, and UNF DAT CAR.

DON'T make a fucking slide show.

I was looking for something pathetic, like stills of Sasuke to Disturbed's "Down With The Sickness", but this is in the same vein of what I was looking for: Screenshot Video.
1. Take some pictures
2. Lengthen to 5 seconds each in Windows Movie Maker
3. Have people hit your video so they can have the song in the background while they do something else.
4. There is no profit. See step 3.

If you're the kind of person who lives off YouTube hits, go ahead, waste your time. At least a Rock Band FC video shows me what the songs looks like or if it's any fun to play, and, you know, took effort to capture.

That's what it boils down to: effort. If you put care into making it, I'll take care to watch it, and not use it as background to whatever I'm doing.

NEVERMIND GUYS! I FOUND THE WORST THING!!!