December Happs

I don't blog enough, sorry. For somebody that talks as much as I, this joker sure is barren. I'll improve, I promise (no really....). Don't take it personally, I barely answer the phone or call people. I'm just weird like that, don't mind me.

Anyway, NYC, I'm heading your way with that Hill lady multiple times this month: Blue Note, Highline Ballroom, and the Music Hall of Williamsburg to be exact. More deets this week, HIDE YO' KIDS!!!!

Blue Method (!!!!!) will be rocking Warmdaddy's in Philly in our normal funky fashion December 10 and 11. Special guests and what not...as much as I'm away I'M pretty much a special guest!!

There's a bunch of other Sungee sightings on the calendar too, stay tuned.....

- r

Game Faces in Foreign Places!! (from August 2)

"Image is everything."
- A. Agassi

I think I visited five different countries in the past 10 days, running up and down massive airports spending DAYS in the air; it gets to the point that I don't know what day it is let alone what time zone I'm in! It's a dream though, one my father always wanted to experience and one that I'm so thankful Music has brought to me.

A thought that came to me during my travels was a phrase one of my homies Shon Penn has coined in his lifestyle: 100% 100% of the time. In a nutshell, it basically breaks down to always being prepared and in many cases "looking the part," especially as an artist or business professional. It's something that comes naturally to some, but definitely not everybody. It's been drilled into us since we were young and in many cases well into our adult life, from school uniforms to work dress codes even over to no athletic wear in the club.

I first noticed it's importance on this trip during our sound check in Lisbon, Portugal. We were playing a huge outdoor festival and many people came to watch since we were in the middle of town square. Besides the backline company showing up two hours late (and then needing another hour or so of preparation since they didn't have a lot of the correct equipment on our rider), a good portion of us showed up extra late for our early lobby call. With all the delays this didn't matter much, but once we took the stage we had a pretty good time: quite a few jokes with each other, rattled through a few stevie and Erykah Badu tunes, and going back and forth between the stage and our trailer punishing our spread (can't beat a good sandwich). Meanwhile, another well-known artist's band was on site. I wasn't a witness to this, but according to some people a good number of them kind of had a side-eye in regards to our 3 hour sound check which only included about 45 minutes of us playing L.H. tunes. Of course come show time we shut the whole stage DOWN and rocked the 40,000+ crowd, which silenced any doubters, but it made me look at things in a slightly different manner.

So the Boss lady sat us all down following the sound check semi-fiasco to give us a pleasant curse-out (lol). It boiled down that same familiar principle: 100% 100% of the time. While this is not about competition in my eyes and I always show love and respect to ALL musicians I meet on the road and at home, I realized that most people look at the position I hold as one with prestige. With this a certain standard of professionalism should be expected and carried in ALL situations. Obviously with other bands and spectators watching us sound check we can tell eyes are on us, but even seeing people whisper as we walked through the airport with our guitars and equipment in tow showed how much folks are really watching. Mind you, we tend to be EXTREMELY wild (check our tweets to each other for evidence lol) and silly when we're out, which is good for morale and laughs. While it's great to have a good time and nobody wants to run around in a 3-piece suit when we have to spend 20 hours in airplanes, we have to be mindful of how we look, act, speak, and generally carry ourselves in all situations because of WHO and WHAT we represent.

It hit home hard for me. While I may not be the loudest, wildest, or least professional by any means, it definitely made me want to examine all aspects of my "image" when I'm out and about. My best advice is to always look the best you can look (within reason and comfort, of course), act the best you can act, and HANDLE YOUR BUSINESS FIRST!! Everybody likes to laugh and joke, but if work isn't being taken care of first then you gotta curb that shit until later.

Sorry for the seriousness, I'll be back to my cynical bad-shit bashing soon!

- rah

Sing like a Guitar

This one is for the singers. I've always been an advocate of good bands and musicians as a unit. I'll admit that until the past year or so I never gave background singers as much attention as other instrumentalists, until I had to help out on some vocals on a few gigs. I'm by no means a vocal giant and am somewhat reluctant to call myself a vocalist of any kind, but lately it's been something I've given a lot of attention.

Too often background singers come into gigs with a huge amount of "I's" and "My's." They think extra hard about "my" note, how do "I" look, and this is "my" spot on the stage. Just like instrumentalists, THIS IS BLATANTLY THE WRONG APPROACH!! While you must hone in on your part to execute it perfectly, the most important function of you and anybody in your unit is where you fit in the entire puzzle. I was on a gig recently, and the singers all plopped themselves directly in front of the only two monitors on that side of stage. The problem with this was they were the only monitors for the keyboardist and guitarists! Sometimes a lack of the amount of monitors is key, as it was at this gig, and the ones present can't be moved, but that's when you PLAN FURTHER and think about the entire unit and not use the "I/My" mentality.

Furthermore, the key to any gig, no matter your role, is what's going on around you. With singers, you must blend. I repeat: YOU MUST BLEND!!!! A vocal unit must sound like ONE VOICE with a strange ability to produce multiple tones at once. A good analogy is to think about your unit as a guitar. When a guitarist hits a chord, you hear every note as one. Each note sings together to create one beautiful sound. This is exactly why most good guitarists will check their tuning by striking a chord; one note off in the body of the chord can make for poo poo in an instant. Use the same mentality, vocalists: listen to everybody around you in your unit, though you can hear the individual notes you shouldn't hear an INDIVIDUAL. Leave your crazy vocal licks at home, and invite them out ONLY when they serve the proper purpose. When done right, your unit will be UNBREAKABLE and will shine all together. It's a cliche' to no end, but its an age old fact: there is no "I" in TEAM.

These are just a few tools coming from a non-singer that will definitely benefit in the long (and short) run. My primary example of the perfect unit is the legendary I-Threes. These three ladies were Bob Marley's background singers and ventured out on their own. It still boggles my mind how unbelievably tight their parts were; it was just like listening to one voice, on a unison AND in harmony. One cannot forget Boyz II Men ("Water Runs Dry" comes to mind immediately), Parliament Funkadelic, and pretty much ALL of the male/female singing units of the Motown era. Study these examples and apply them to your own stage shows, the results will be baffling.

- r

P.S. - Anybody that knows me will testify that I'm NOT a fan of John Legend by any means. But I will always respect and give him credit not only for his songs and writing, but his band definitely sets a high standard as a unit. Shouts to my homies Allen, Clayton, Man-Man, Kenny, and honestly everybody else that's been a member of the unit, you guys are definitely an inspiration! Check it out folks: band placement and part placement at it's best.

Be Careful in that Glass House, Rock Thrower....

I'm critical beyond belief, I know this about myself.

It's to the point a lot of people HATE listening to music with me because, chances are, I have a serious issue with whatever they are playing. At the same time, I'm honest, and 95% of what I say in my rants is intended to IMPROVE you/your craft/etc.

One thing I really hate more than anything is when people straight up down-talk another in a malicious manner. All too often this happens amongst musicians, especially between the more experienced and sought-after. That mentality will NOT improve the current state of music and musicianship, it has to stop. But what REALLY has to stop are people who are mediocre, barely experienced, and not 100% on top of their game publicly criticizing singers/musicians.

This comes up because recently a singer I know made a complete ass of them self during a performance, not to mention having a few other "questionable" moments at some other events. When my opinion was asked about one of the said performances, I was blunt, honest, and most of all intending to help and improve their performance for the next go 'round. Some time after this incident, this same singer that was upset with me before proceeds to criticize and somewhat MOCK a background singer at a gig. LET US NOT FORGET THIS IS THE SAME PERSON WHO PUT ON A VERY LACK-LUSTER PERFORMANCE PRIOR! Now, I won't claim to be the most innocent man because I sometimes chuckle at people, but I won't go out of my way and insult them loudly or on a public forum (facebook, twitter, etc.). Egos are unattractive, insults are wack, and doing so makes you look even worse at your own "okay" performances.

I'm always going to be blunt and honest; being uber-opinionated is a good chunk of what makes me ME. But rest assured I will NEVER insult you if I know you are honestly trying. I state my views and what not in the efforts of making you, music, etc. BETTER. I don't claim to be perfect, but before I run to twitter, facebook, or even to people around me to get a laugh, I try to consider if whatever I say is meant to INSPIRE. If it isn't, I doubt it's worth it....

yup.

r s.g.

FROM THE WOODSHED TO THE STAGE!!

Lawdy I been in musician heaven the past few weeks. Between all the gigs, the auditions for Boss-Lady, and the jams at Elenas I've been on a constant clinic. From parts to random improvisation, my homies did it up.

A big lesson I learned as a musician and just as a human in this life is the best lessons come from things outside of ourselves. In the case of music, I constantly improve as a musician often by NOT focusing on bass. My time and groove are definitely heavily influenced by my love of the drums; harmonic changes definitely all guitar and piano. It goes back to my "musical body" philosophy: every part of the body has to work together to take a successful walk.

Anyway, I just want to acknowledge and thank some of you that have been seriously inspiring me and keeping me on my toes: Steve McKie, Joe Truglio, Luke O'Reilly, Dai Miyazaki, Jeanette Berry, Theron Shelton (RIP), Anthony Tidd, Jay Lawson (!!!!), Pete Kuzma, Mike Patriarcha, Tom Long, Damon Bennett, Elliot Garland, "Biscuit" Rouse, Ms. Lauryn Hill, N'Dambi, Kindred...and a bunch of y'all I'll remember at some point and I'll come back and add you!!

- rah

Soulful Saturdays.....

Aiight, since I talk so damn much, every Saturday I'm going to post a song that got to me in a special way that week. It may be lyrically fit, be a very moving live performance, or it's just some funky shit. Listen, watch, learn, and enjoy....

"DESTINY"

In this world there's much confusion
And I've tasted the city life and it's not for me
Now I do dream of distant places
Where? I don't know now, but it's destiny...

If it's the rich life
I don't want it
Happiness ain't always material things

I want destiny
It's the place for me
Give me the simple life
I'm getting away from here
Let me be me
C'mon let me feel free

Now I'm a man that's for all seasons
And what the city offers me ain't naturally
I look to greet the stars but there are no stars to see
I'm gonna search this world until I find my destiny

If its the rich life I don't want it
Happiness ain't always material things...

I want destiny
It's the place for me
Give me the simple life
I'm getting away from here
Let me be me
C'mon let me feel free
Let me be me

I wanna get far from here
Or should I up and fly away so fancy free
yeah
Nobody can change my mind
the words of destiny are calling me wild time...

Ah destiny
you and me
so fancy free

Ah destiny
should we fly away

Ah destiny
you and me
so fancy free

Ah
destiny

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU?

I was in Jersey the other day holding some auditions when we got into a interesting conversation (lecture lol) with (from lol) the boss-lady. In a nutshell, she described what she does musically and with her career is with the intent of being a "fire-starter" and revolutionizing the industry; more or less, making it less of an "industry" and more of a creative outlet. I really could relate to that point, as many of you know I'm harshly critical when it comes to music, lyrics, and things of the like. But at the same time, this is still an INDUSTRY and a way of life. With rent, mortgages, car notes, and children in the mix, a deep question presents itself:

WHAT'S YOUR MOTIVATION, THE MONEY OR THE LEGACY?

It's a noble, artistic, beautiful thing to say we do what we do strictly for the sake of music. Let's face it: we are only here for a relatively short amount of time. We strive to be remembered through the ages like Michael Jackson, GURU, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Richard Manuel (homework!) and Ray Charles, or to leave a legacy like that Bob Marley, Bach and Chopin just to name a few. Their music speaks well beyond decades, and in some cases even through CENTURIES! That's an amazing thing to imagine, let alone actually create. But the fact of the matter is the most artistic and revolutionary things are realized long after the creator has passed on, and while they are here they are subject to ridicule, criticism, and in some cases poverty and inner turmoil. The Beautiful Struggle sounds great, but being one that lived it first hand for a little while it is HARDLY beautiful!

Now consider the other side: doing it for the money can take care of all of that. Frankly it's not THAT hard to make a living or at least a partial living as a musician, with a million and one different avenues out there (i.e. wedding bands, jingle writing, etc.). The wedding circuit is easy, playing some extremely easy songs EXACTLY the same way in any and every band across the country makes it easy to pull in a few hundred bucks a week, eventually getting to the point where there's no need to do anything else but play weddings. I've been there...after a while, you want to kill yourself. I can only play "Sweet Home Alabama" or "It's Getting Hot in Huuuurrr" but so many times before I become suicidal and homicidal at the same time, it's not a pretty sight. But beyond that, it's not a fulfilling feeling (outside of paying bills) to not be able to play your OWN music or at least music you truly enjoy and inspires you and listeners. But, at the end of the day, money makes this world go around, and wedding gigs and bubblegum pop music pay the bills and pay them WELL.

I can't really say which way is the right or wrong way, we all have different situations in our lives that may require certain courses of action. All I can say is that at the end of the day, if you're happy and feel content with your current space and on the path you've chosen, more power to you. I'm a full-time musician, so sometimes I have to live in both of the above worlds, but I keep this in mind through it all: paying your bills, taking care of your family and being able to live comfortably is a beautiful thing. But when it's all said and done, if I become a millionaire off music, I can't take that money, the superficial fame and all the houses and cars with him into the afterlife. So I strive to know that the words I speak, the poetry I create, and the music I give have some meaning, merit and love behind them, because those are the things that you CAN carry with you through enternity.

with that, I'm 'bout to bump this Devin CD loud as hell up to run these auditions! LOL
peas,
rah.