Reading now.
The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off
Trying now...
Okay, okay, I'll give it a shot.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
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You started this thread for me, right Frank?
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
Yes sir!Originally Posted by progeezer
You started this thread for me, right Frank?
Web Page Blocked! I'll have a look at home
Huh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ?
Hired on to work for Mr. Bill Cox, a-fixin' lawn mowers and what-not, since 1964.
"Arguing with an idiot is like playing chess with a pigeon. It'll just knock over all the pieces, shit on the board, and strut about like it's won anyway." Anonymous
“Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.” George Carlin
It's mostly used by musicians who are hyper and desire a more relaxed vibe in the studio. The drug offers a direct channeling process for creativity and so various aspects to a piece you are writing would not exist if you were straight. This usually involves music which is of a simplistic nature and not a hundred percent of the time complex. If you're playing a Blues piece or improvising to Jazz and you are a naturally hyper active musician, you could pull it off and be creative, but I wouldn't recommend it to any musician if they were about to enter the stage to play a Frank Zappa piece. Classical music as a rule is a very bad choice or smoking and playing Jethro Tull....A Passion Play note for note. Say for example....you are playing the guitar parts both electric and acoustic and you're switching back and forth because they are set up on stands ...giving you just a few seconds to make physical contact with the instrument and you are high....not good. You are also playing many of the keyboard parts on electric and so regarding the importance of preciseness ..this drug can work against your skilled development of gymnastics. I wouldn't recommend performing a piece by Univers Zero or Art Zoyd while under the influence. In the case of Lennon and McCartney, the drug is more mind expanding for the individual who is structuring songs and not concerned with music of complexity.
Dedication, not medication! Listening while stoned is fun, but playing under the influence often just results in aimless noodling and/or impaired motor skills. (One reporter's opinion...)
I've known musicians who could play marvelously while stoned. I'm not one of them... but it took me a couple of decades to figure that out.
Dont be a dope! Dont do dope!
The music of those two can be downright scary when you're stoned.
Good article. Not much I haven't already heard/realized.
The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off
A friend of mine worked in recording studios and as a live sound tech in NYC back in the 70's / 80's. He said he was amazed by how stoned Rik Derringer would be when he showed up for session work, yet Rik performed impeccably and needed very few takes to nail it...
and, off topic but I'm sure Geezer would appreciate this, Paulie told me the biggest douchebag he ever had the misfortune of working with was Leslie West
Last edited by -=RTFR666=-; 03-11-2015 at 12:47 PM.
-=Will you stand by me against the cold night, or are you afraid of the ice?=-
Sleep, Electric Wizard, Dopethrone, Belzebong, Cosmic Dead, Bongzilla, Weedpecker, Weed Priest, Stoned Jesus etc.... there's a whole high scene up there!
some of the few musicians I know personally think they play awesome when stoned... but the guys they play with certainly don't...
toking made me love complex music (it allowed me to delve within the layers of musuc) and hate top 40 pop crap...
don't need it (toking) nowadays to love and discover new music (haven't toked in three years, I think), but I think everyone (especially squares and conservatives) should toke at least once before listening to music
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
let alone Present or Shub-Niggurath...
No need to be stoned to be spooked by the latter
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Semi-related: The Luck of the Irish!
"Dem Glücklichen legt auch der Hahn ein Ei."
I can enjoy a lot of music whilst
I believe if you are high, doing a session and being asked to play a certain style on guitar that you've been playing for 30 years...with all due respect, how difficult could it be to play it while under the influence, when it all channels through you like second nature? It's mainly other aspects to the drug that annoy the hell out of me. It's next to impossible accomplishing anything musically challenging for a good percentage of musicians while under the influence. The drummer might drag an instrumental piece during live transmission and the guitarist feels like they are being pulled ,being worked against and forced to play fast intricate note passages with the horns at a slower pace that does not feel natural and was not meant to be played that way in the first place when it was originally composed. If you have a few hits at a show, you might suddenly find yourself laughing/accepting buggers in the audience who are drunk and obnoxiously persuading you to live your life as they do. Normally , your routine revolves around steering clear of these people.....because you share no common interest with them and as the drug begins to ware down, you realize you made a mistake.
A friend of mine worked in recording studios and as a live sound tech in NYC back in the 70's / 80's. He said he was amazed by how stoned Rik Derringer would be when he showed up for session work, yet Rik performed impeccably and needed very few takes to nail it...
and, off topic but I'm sure Geezer would appreciate this, Paulie told me the biggest douchebag he ever had the misfortune of working with was Leslie WestWhat a shock!
While I never had to read charts or play an instrument (other than a little rhythm guitar and block chord piano), I absolutely have never had a problem, and still don't, with being a little buzzed while singing. No forgotten words, entrances, stops, phrasing etc. in 55 years of performing.
There are more than a few here who would respond to that by saying, "Geezer, no one I've ever met partakes more than you do (mostly since retirement), and your tolerance is not of this earth". I can't deny that.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
No, UZero and AZoyd and Present and the Chubbys - they're all pretty gloomy with or without the herbals. However, The Shaggs were downright frightening when I heard their record while stoned, and so were parts of that s/t Mad River album. Completely psychotic, demonic possession galores. A buddy of mine was also scared shitless on hearing that opening bugle in Steve Miller Band's "Song for Our Ancestors" while on magic mushrooms - although the piece soon converted into what he called the "greatest release of his hallucinogenic career".
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
Being stoned while listening to Univers Zero is completely harmless if you have a head for music. Playing their music on an instrument while stoned and expecting to perform it accurately is another situation completely. On the other hand, Rick Derringer is a very skilled guitarist who has been in and out of recording studios for decades and being under the influence does not affect his abilities to perform his job accurately. It is much easier to play a guitar solo by Larry Carlton or Elliot Randell off of a Steely Dan record while under the influence as opposed to playing a Pat Metheny solo.....or a complex composition by John McLaughlin from The Heart Of Things. It solely depends on what you are being asked to play. I would not recommend attempting a Classical guitar solo written by Steve Howe, Steve Hackett, or Anthony Phillips, where dexterity is a must, let alone any Classical piece transcribed for guitar by Christopher Parkening or Andrea Segovia. This drug works against the ability to obtain perfection and in many cases would NOT accommodate a musician to accurately perform Progressive Rock compositions written by Anglagard, The Enid, or Univers Zero, where the devotion of practice time already exceeds beyond the average musician who writes simple or much less complex music.
I stopped getting high on gigs after a hearing a tape of myself from a night when I thought I was ON. I wasn't.Mind you, it's easier to receive musical ideas from the cosmos when you're stoned, but to articulate them perfectly is another story. Because I had fans who would actually come out to hear me play, I felt that I owed them the ability to at least play at my par and I couldn't count on being able to do that while under the influence. But I won't lie, it sure was fun!
I've had that experience numerous times.I can enjoy a lot of music whilst
It depends on the musician and their tolerance. Like I said, I've known players who were brilliant while stoned, but the trick for them is that they always played stoned, even when practicing. Now that I haven't played high for decades, I'm totally out of practice and if I did it today, I'd be lost. Despite what I said above, I could hang in my stoned days and navigate my improvising through tough chord changes and stuff. I even had friends who thought I played better stoned. Of course that's because they were stoned too.
I know exactly what you mean, but often the recording of a gig isn’t the whole truth. Not to get all esoteric, but there’s an element to a live performance that just can’t be captured. You might beat yourself up after the gig because you flubbed a note or two, but often the audience won’t even notice unless you caused a train wreck. It’s the spirit that counts and not perfection.I stopped getting high on gigs after a hearing a tape of myself from a night when I thought I was ON. I wasn't.
"Dem Glücklichen legt auch der Hahn ein Ei."
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