Status Quo Wednesday Is Born Depressed

AFO RUMBLE!11:15 AM on Saturday, July 30th!

This week's jam:


Thank God for Jim Sterling. Has anything happened with them outside of the Jimquisition theme.

My new job is leaving me sunburnt and suicidal so I've been late with a lot of stuff and in a bad mood right now. 

So that means no Status Quo Stream tonight, since I finished this later than I wanted to and therefore would be starting the stream later than I want to, but I will do a stream this Saturday. Honestly, I NEED this shit now more than ever.

PREVIOUSLY ON THE STATUS QUO STREAM:


I don't want to give any of this up because as I sit here typing, needing to go to bed to get up early for an hour-plus commute, I'm exhausted, and the thought that I have to go in there tomorrow, not knowing what time I come home, then having to repeat that process the next day, fills me with nothing but dread.

Just completing something music related right now fills me with DETERMINATION, and the fact that this is not the be all end all.

"WHY DO YOU WANT TO GO HOME EARLY? WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO DO?"
"You're only the first stop."

WHAT'S THERE TO BE HAPPY ABOUT THEN? 
Well for one, The Final Deletion exists in all of its confusing glory:



And after I finished watching it, another Nero got deleted, namely wordshitter for Briebart Milo Y. (Last name withheld to dissuade neo-nazis) got his account deleted from Twitter. Basically, he's yet another white guy who rants about "Teh SJWs" because he has no other redeeming qualities about himself.

For those of you further behind, Milo Y. finally got his account deleted for inciting a hate mob on Ghostbusters actress Leslie Jones. This was only the most recent case of his usual routine of sicking his followers on a target who's not a white male, to harass and humiliate them. Then he'd deny any malicious behavior, saying that he was just "offering his opinion".  Most recently he's done this with GamerGate, joining them after, like most conservatives, found it a way to use young people and bring them over to the right.

In a nutshell: "It's not a PRANK, it's a SOCIAL EXPERIMENT"

Also, for something not likely to get me WELL ACTUALLYED by Neo-Nazis with Anime Avatars, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE IS DOING A THING!!!



AHHH!!!

10 Songs from Returning Bands I Want To See In Rock Band 4

YEAH! I have non-me stuff to post about again! With Rock Band returning as the best way to enjoy music with your friends, let's celebrate with 10 returning bands I'd like to see in the next Rock Band installment. NOTE: I tried to stay away from songs that weren't ALREADY in either Guitar Hero or Rocksmith.

1. THE WHO- Anything Off Quadrophenia

The Who have been on every Rock Band disc release, and the fourth installment should be no different. While there's no denying the greatness of "Who's Next", earlier albums still have a lot to offer. While not THE earliest, their second rock opera Quadrophenia has a few good selections, namely the lead track, "The Real Me", previously featured in Fantasia: Music evolved, one of Harmonix's prior releases. Guitar's a little simple, but bassists and drummers will have a hell of a challenge, while vocalists can belt this one out.

2. MUSE- "Panic Station"

The OTHER obvious band, it's hard to pick just ONE Muse song, because we're losing keys, and I'm trying to be original, so Knights of Cydonia is out. As this is one of their newer songs of the 2nd Law, it's less likely to be claimed any time soon. Slow, simple, but with a lot of force, I say MOAR MUSE.

3. BLACK SABBATH- "Neon Knights"

The people need to know the glory of Dio Sabbath. It's like the difference between Bon Scott and Brian Johnson AC/DC: The band's entire sound changed. The wicked guitar solo and fast riffs are going to be legendarily difficult, with the raw speed of the song keeping the bass and drum sections lively. Hopwever, it's Dio's operatic vocals that elevate this into a MUST LISTEN.

4. ROLLING STONES- "Jumpin' Jack Flash"

"Sympathy for the Devil" ALMOST won out this one, but again, it was in Guitar Hero 5, so the best Not On Rocksmith. Also, we lose a LOT on that song by getting rid of keys. Anything else was already used in another game, but Jumpin' Jack Flash was conspicuously absent. That doesn't mean it's a bad song by any stretch, it's just that it seems Elite Beat Agents was the only rhythm game to give it the level it deserved. The Rolling Stones will always be known by Mick and Keef, but the bass on this song harmonizes well, and certainly won't be dull.

5. HARVEY DANGER- "Flagpole Sitta"
Lip Dub - Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger from amandalynferri on Vimeo.

A.K.A. The Harvery Danger Song We Wanted In The First Place. Now imagine this on harmonies and drums.

6. THE FRATELLIS- "Chelsea Dagger" 


 A.K.A. The Fratellis Song We Wanted In The First Place. It'll fill that "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" sized hole that's called "Yeah, I think I heard this in a beer commercial a few times". Technically it was on the Guitar Hero for the DS, but that doesn't count cause that game sucked.


7. SQUEEZE- "Pulling Mussels From a Shell"

We actually got a couple decent Squeeze songs already, "Tempted" as DLC, and "Cool For Cats" In RB2 are both fine selections, but when I would listen to nothing but their Singles album while playing Deadly Premonition, I really got turned on to them. They're a really good band, and there's plenty that would make great DLC, but this is there best known of the songs we haven't done yet. Other reccomendations: "Annie Get Your Gun" and "Goodbye Girl"

8. ELECTRIC SIX- "Formula 409"

Because "Danger! High Voltage!" was too obvious.

9. MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE- "House Of Wolves"

Name ONE instrument this wouldn't rule on! I was going to pick "Dead!", but that was in GH2, and "Party Poison" just isn't as intense as this song. Both would be good mind you, but I'm limiting myself to this one song. Though "Vampire Money" off of Danger Days does have a Big Rock Ending... Screw it, I just want some more MCR.


10. BRAD PAISLEY- "Mr Policeman"

Country always gets a bad rap and the Country Packs are always looked down with scorn, but their instrumentation has the potential to WRECK YOUR FUCKING SHIT.  The guitar is relentless, the bass has that southern trait of "constantly fucking moving" and and the drums are always rolling. I don't think this song has one break in it. Yeah, there's a keyboard part at the end, but it's not TOO huge a loss. "Panic Attack"? "Freebird"? "Green Grass and High Tides"? "Through The Fire And Flames" FUCK THOSE ASSHOLES! Brad Paisley demolishes your ass in under 6 and a half minutes.

March 11th Open Mic Night

TL;DR: I liked how I played, but everything else was a clusterfuck.

(GOLD-Nearly perfect, ***- Barely made it)
"Clash City Rockers" by The Clash- GOLD
BUT I SOUNDED LIKE SHIT. I had to go through the PA system they had, and it made me sound weeeak. NO distortion. But I finally got it right.

"She Sells Sanctuary" by The Cult- ***
I started off by making a Scientology joke that kinda went mediocre. Nobody seemed interested in playing, and I was messing up, so I cut it short. I brought a Flange pedal, but couldn't use it, cause the school PA system sucked.

"Desolation Row" by My Chemical Romance- *****
I tried to do a ROrscach impression: "You'll trip over your acoustic guitars, look up and yell "Play Freebird" and I'll look down and whisper "No."" I FUCKED IT UP ROYALLY.
The song however, I couldn't have played better. I forgot the lines at a couple places, but picked it up. My voice didn't sound that awkward considering I was singing in a lower key.

For however many things went wrong, they went right. My performing got better, but I didn't put on a good show. The problem is that I'm playing the wrong kinds of songs on the wrong instrument, but this is what I like. It's what I feel good performing. The most common response I got was "It took balls to go up there." which I guess means "You sucked, but thanks for trying anyway."

While I seem all hip and coherent on this blog, I'm pretty skittish IRL. I don't know if it's nerves, or thinking of everything in terms of life or death, but I always feel like I'm embarassing myself when I put myself out in public.

The reason I don't feel the same way while writing is simply because I have a backspace key and edit button. I can take my time, and sort things out. When I'm nervous, or trying to speak then think, I tend to talk in word salads a little (i.e. one word is replaced for another).

I wasn't as prepared as I'd like to have been this time around, so I'm gonna hold off on these things, and do the NEXT next Open Mic, April 15th if at that. So I'll focus more time on nailing RB songs. If all goes well, I might actually have a semblance of a video for all o y'alls. Also, gonna try to do a bit of songwriting.

Dani California, the song next on my list was actually played by a friend of mine from the Commuter Association (not S'n, but he was there too, and in good form as usual) and forgot the words and said "fuck it" and laughed it off. God I wish I could do that, just laugh things off.

Holy shit, this is the most personal I've ever gotten on this blog. I better be back tomorrow with some inane rambling on how some aspect of Rock Band is related tangentially to some aspect of Team Fortress 2, or something stolen, I mean, posted from another website.

Dylan Days Are Here Again

From the Watchmen Soundtrack,

DESOLATION ROW
Really easy song. For those of you who've seen the Watchmen, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD NO SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS!!!

And I guess dont spoil the book either.

Right, so this song uses only three chords:
E5 (022---)
A5 (-022--)
B5 (-244--)

Verse goes:
E5x16 A5x8 E5x8 B5x16 A5x8 E5x8
Chorus goes:
A5x16 E5x8 A5x8 B5x16 A5x8 E5x8
Followed by
G-8/9999--------
D-8/9999---x4---
A-6/7777---------

Simple enough. After the second chorus, play these octaves:
G-9-8-6-4-9-11-13-14--
D-x-x-x-x-x--x--x--x--
A-7-6-4-2-7--9-11-12--

Solo is pretty simple too. As long as you know how to bend the strings (push up toward the next string up. That's it), nothing very technical, and it's all done in the same poistion (index @ 9th fret). This tab has the best rendition. I'll post my own solo tab later, because there were a few things that the tab got wrong.

SETLIST UPDATED

Row Of Desolation

All right, Sunday night, I'm dropping my friends off after we took a road trip to a store I thought sold old video games. They get off, when K-Rock's "B Local" show starts up. They kick off with My Chemical Romance's cover of Bob Dylan's "Desolation Row" made for the upcoming "Watchmen" movie. I've never really liked My Chemical Romance, (save for "Dead!" in Guitar Hero 2, and even then the novelty wore off), and never heard much of Dylan, so ths should be interesting. I was expecting to hear something wimpy and screamo, but this is my first thought when I heard the song:
"What the fuck? Is this The Sex Pistols?"

Seriously, the thumping bass drums, the constant power chords, it sounded a bit like "God Save The Queen".

Granted, in turning it into a 3 1/2 minute punk song, it takes away a lot of meaning from the Dylan original, since it was meant to set a scene, but it's not that bad. I heard they were going to make the song longer, but the label told MCR to cut it down. So it's not like they're totally ruining the original. My main concern is that it doesn't fit with the tone of Watchmen. The original was dreary and foreboding, but this is like "FUCK YEAH! SHIT GON' GO DOWN!" At least it's going on during the credits, after the ending, which they understandably changed. What did they change you ask? I'll save that for after I see the movie.

But still, read the book.

Anyway, I'm using this as an opportunity to announce "Bonus" songs. These aren't the bonus songs from the games, but really songs outside of that scope entirely that I either learned before the RB Experiment or plan on learning. These come sporadically, but I'm announcing when I'll be posting the lessons for the first two right now:

Feburary 25th: "Clash City Rockers" by The Clash and/or "Shipping Up To Boston" by Dropkick Murphys
March 6th: "Desolation Row" by My Chemical Romance