PROX Intake

Blog

  • Gig Review: Days N Daze at New Cross Inn, London 10/5/22 (by Emma Prew)


    ‘Folk’ punk is to me what ‘ska’ punk is to Colin – which, if you’ve read this blog before, you’ll know is a big deal. It was my entry into the expansive genre of punk rock as a whole and I still love the folkier side of punk music now. That being said, I’d never seen Houston, Texas, folk punk legends Days N Daze before and so, especially given how much I loved their 2020 album, Show Me The Blueprints, I was very excited when the opportunity arose to see them live – and at our favourite venue, as well!

    It was a bit touch and go about whether we were actually going to be able to go to either of the two Days N Daze shows at the New Cross Inn, after the first night sold out before we got around to purchasing tickets and the second night followed suit soon after. Thankfully, due to Colin being more organised than me, we managed to get a couple of tickets for the original date via the Dice waiting list within a week or so of the event. A Tuesday night gig is not usually my favourite but I was excited for this one and, boy, it did not disappoint!


    Opening the show and fresh off of the previous couple of Days N Daze gigs were Bristol’s favourite scrappy acoustic ska-folk punk band, Boom Boom Racoon. I’ve always really enjoyed seeing this trio live as their songs are a lot of fun and they always connect with the crowd so well – everyone feels part of the Boom Boom Racoon family. However, I must say that since the pandemic they really seem to have upped their game. We had a the pleasure of seeing them perform at Fishstock earlier this year and thought it was the best we’ve ever seen them. Well, at NXI on a Tuesday they managed to excel again. Classic tunes such as NHS (National Health Simpsons) and their cover of Boom Boom Boom go down a treat as always but it’s their newer songs like Fuck You Ashley that really shine. It was nice to see so many folks down early for the opening band and the Racoons certainly did a great job of getting everyone smiling and bopping away.


    Next up was a band that I didn’t know much about but Colin had recently caught at MPF – The Infested. I know they had some guitar-based technical difficulties at the festival so he was looking forward to hearing how they’re supposed to sound. As it turns out, they sound very good! I don’t know why but I definitely thought that The Infested were more of a ska band – a ska band without horns, but still a ska band. There were hints of ska in there but it turned out they actually played more of a straight-up raw and heavier punk rock style. Obviously I don’t dislike ska, but it was a pleasant surprise to have imagined one thing and end up with something a little different. Not being familiar with the band, I can’t tell you what songs they played but it was all great. The Infested are sadly calling it a day soon (their last show was supposed to be a few days after this one but sadly the dreaded covid hit), which is a shame as they put on a great performance and I’d certainly go see them again.


    And just like that it was time for the main event. Spirits – both the alcoholic and mood kind – were high and I for one was eagerly waiting for the band to finish sound-checking and commence with the show proper. As soon as Days N Daze burst into their set (with Fuck It!, I think… maybe), you could see just how happy they were to be there and that happiness carried into the crowd with people dancing, singing and, in the case of a select few, crowdsurfing almost immediately. Whitney wasted no time in voicing those feelings, stating how long they’d been waiting to be able to tour again and just how over the moon they were to finally be back in the UK, and London in particular, as well. It never goes unappreciated seeing how stoked a band are to be playing shows, particularly one from over seas – it definitely makes for a friendly and more down-to-earth, community vibe. Some might describe Days N Daze as scrappy or raw-sounding but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t a hugely talented bunch of musicians and songwriters. I actually felt a bit ashamed that I hadn’t really brushed up on my lyrical knowledge before the show as everyone around me was singing their hearts out to every single word and I only managed the choruses of most. It did not hamper my enjoyment however – honestly, it was just super lovely to see everyone else connecting with the band so much. Whether it was older tracks such as Post Party Depression, Misanthropic Drunken Loser – complete with fun covers of Creep and Linoleum sandwiched into the middle – or songs from Show Me The Blueprints – Saboteurs being a particular highlight for me, it all went down a storm. The absolute highlight however had to be the final song, Self-Destructive Anthem. Now, if you’ve seen Days N Daze live before – or have watched them on YouTube – then you would have known what was going to happen with this last song but, alas, I did not know. For those unaware, the song has a bridge – ‘Why do I do this? Why?! Why do I do this to myself?’ – that is repeated many times throughout and when played live, various friends of the band and/or audience members make their way to the stage, or just in front of it, to sing that line with the band. DIY punk rock shows always have such a wonderful community feel and I can’t think of a more perfect way to represent this than with how Days N Daze ended their set. 


    We left the New Cross Inn with big smiles on our faces and I didn’t even care about the late night / work early in the morning combo – this is one of those special gigs that was without a doubt worth it. Wholesome is probably not what comes to mind when you picture a ‘crust’ punk band but that is the vibe I got from my first DND show – and I loved it.

    ps. Paul, please get them back soon.

    This review was written by Emma Prew. Photos also by Emma.

  • the james mcmurtry playlist

    A playlist to accompany the Fine Tuning Podcast episode featuring McMurtry whose music is a top-shelf mixture of Americana, rock and folk.

  • the james mcmurtry playlist

    A playlist to accompany the Fine Tuning Podcast episode featuring McMurtry whose music is a top-shelf mixture of Americana, rock and folk.

  • the heartless bastards playlist

    This playlist serves as a gateway to the music of Heartless Bastards and accompanies the Fine Tuning Podcast episode featuring the band.

  • the heartless bastards playlist

    This playlist serves as a gateway to the music of Heartless Bastards and accompanies the Fine Tuning Podcast episode featuring the band.

  • the anthony d’amato playlist

    This playlist serves as a gateway to the music of Anthony D’Amato and accompanies the Fine Tuning Podcast episode featuring him.

  • the anthony d’amato playlist

    This playlist serves as a gateway to the music of Anthony D’Amato and accompanies the Fine Tuning Podcast episode featuring him.

  • Book Review: Making Sense of Recordings by Mads Walther-Hansen (2020)

    I’m thrilled to share my latest publication, a review of the book Making Sense of Recordings: How Cognitive Processing of Recorded Sound Works by Mads Walther-Hansen (Oxford University Press, 2020). This review appears in the open-access music theory journal Intégral vol. 35 (2022).

    https://www.esm.rochester.edu/integral/35-2022/hudson/

    Below is an excerpt from the review that is especially relevant to metal and heavy rock music. Please click the link above to view my review in full (for free!).

    […]

    For example, the cognitive metaphor for “Heavy” overlaps considerably with “Dark,” “Hard,” and “Rough.” While these are not identical metaphors, most instances of “Heavy” arguably also draw on one or more of the other three metaphors. Additionally, in Walther-Hansen’s definitions, these four cognitive metaphors share many overlapping entailments, as I’ve mapped out in Figure 1. For example, “Heavy,” “Hard,” and “Rough” sounds all entail apparent force or effort; “Heavy” and “Dark” sounds are both low in pitch; etc.

    Hudson, Figure 1

    Figure 1. Four cognitive metaphors with their overlapping entailments. Top row: cognitive metaphors for sound quality; Bottom row: entailments / characteristics from other domains of experience. Based on Walther-Hansen’s encyclopedia definitions (Chapter 4). Dotted lines represent two additional entailments I added: rough sounds are often literally loud or imply loudness, and heaviness is often associated with badness or evil.

    Additionally, a single metaphor like HEAVY operates in the background for a large network of related sound qualities with distinct connotations and associations, which often are not entirely represented within a single definition or term. Figure 2 takes a few of the large number of senses for HEAVY used within the metal genre, grouped into two categories by speed. The Heavy & Fast category is also closely related to another background metaphor, HARD. The broad metaphor of HEAVY could be described as a kind of schema which passes on many entailments (like size, weight, impact, etc.) to each of the more specific senses (such as brutal, thunderous, adrenalized, etc.). But many of these individual senses resonate with other metaphors as well, and those other metaphors could be viewed as schematic for these individual terms. For example, “funereal” could be described as a finer sense of both HEAVY and DARK. This network represents a diverse and multidimensional space of interrelated senses, which cannot be reduced to a single definition for HEAVY; for example, “funereal” and “adrenalized” are practically opposite in meaning, but both are senses of HEAVY which apply this metaphor in divergent ways to create their distinct qualities of physical impact.

    Hudson, Figure 2
    Figure 2. Network of senses of the cognitive metaphor HEAVY. Square boxes contain cognitive metaphors. Shaded circles provide two distinct senses of “heavy” categorized by the characteristic of speed. Individual descriptive terms are in normal text. Dotted lines show that a term draws on a specific metaphor. Double-dashed line indicates that HEAVY and HARD are closely related metaphors; both metaphors are activated by the sense “Heavy & Fast.”

    […]

    …for the rest of the review, please navigate to Integral’s website at the link above.

    Here’s this article on my Academia.edu page.

  • An Open Letter To Hard Rock Daddy Readers…

    hard rock daddy

    Dear Hard Rock Daddy Readers,

    Hard Rock Daddy was launched on this day in 2013. The original intent of the site changed rather quickly when it was embraced by the hard rock community. For most of the years since our launch, the site has been fairly active. Over the last year or so, there has been much less activity on the site. Though the change happened during the Covid pandemic, that was not the reason why there has been much less activity in recent times.

    Hard Rock Daddy has always been a labor of love. It still is, but when opportunities arose in other areas to generate income, something had to give because there are only so many hours in the day to split between work and family. For the better part of the last year, I have been working at least 60 hours a week on other projects.

    Many of you have reached out over the course of the last year wondering what was going on. My apologies for not having the time to respond to everyone, but rest assured, your voices have been heard. I truly appreciate all of you for being loyal readers, and I apologize for the lack of consistent content over the past year or so. 

    I’m happy to announce on the ninth anniversary of Hard Rock Daddy, that I am rededicating myself to providing at least the Octane Big ‘Uns Countdown and HRD Radio Report going forward. If time allows, I have some other ideas for the site that I would like to include, but that is a post for another day. In addition to providing regular content, I am also looking into creating a line of HRD swag for fans of the site. 

    Thank you all for your support! It is greatly appreciated!

    Sincerely,

    Adam Waldman
    Publisher/Editor
    Hard Rock Daddy

    Announcements See more
    HRD Radio Report See more
    SiriusXM Octane Big 'Uns Countdown See more

    The post An Open Letter To Hard Rock Daddy Readers… appeared first on Hard Rock Daddy.

  • Gear Summary of 2021

    As you all know, I try to cover gear-related topics on this site too. I play guitars myself and, in the last few years, I’ve gotten into home recording as well. One tradition I’ve started a while back, and am continuing with this post, is an annual summary of the gear I’ve purchased. It allows me to share my feedback with you all, but I can also look back and analyze how much each purchase was utilized. These things are helpful to make more informed decisions.

    All in all, I think I resisted impulse purchases much better than I had in any previous year. I became a little more focused on my musical goals and thought more about what I wanted to do with my music and guitar playing.

    That said, let’s talk gear!

    Schecter Riot 5:

    This year, I finished my first song with vocals on it. The music and lyrics were all mine, but I didn’t sing. I hired an excellent pro to do it. You can find the song here. Along with having vocals, this song also was the first time I ever played bass! I’d always programmed them before. That’s what I was going to do on this one too, but my guitar teacher, who is more of a musical coach to me these days, suggested I try playing the bass myself. I was saving up for another guitar but changed my mind and decided to get a bass instead. I figured it was worth a shot!

    I picked this bass because it just looked stunning, and the demos I checked out on YouTube checked all the boxes in terms of tonal versatility. Seriously, you can play whatever you want with it! I went with the 5-string version because I don’t plan on accumulating too many basses. So, I needed to have that extra string if I composed songs that required it in the future.

    I did a video playing Megadeth’s Dawn Patrol. If you want to check that out, you can find it here.

    I must be honest; I don’t consider myself a bassist. I’m a guitar player trying to play the bass on his songs. Maybe I’ll play some covers here and there, but I bought the Schecter Riot primarily for my songs. I still play with a pick. It helps the bass cut through in the mix a bit better when I play metal. But I want to learn how to play with the fingers too. The pick doesn’t sound right if you’re playing something less heavy. I already tried it, but it’s not as easy as some professionals make it look!

    Finally, I’ll say this. It is a massive boost in creativity and inspiration when you pick up a new instrument. If you are a guitarist and you’ve been on the fence about playing bass, I’d highly recommend it!

    LTD Deluxe Viper 1000:

    I’ve always loved ESP’s interpretation of the iconic SG shape. The asymmetry makes it look much cooler. I wasn’t planning to buy a new guitar around the time I got this, but I saw a used one on Guitar Center, and the price was too compelling to pass. The guitar seemed to be in great shape. So, I went for it.

    I had it professionally set up when it arrived, and it’s now also tuned down to D Standard. It’s my only guitar with that tuning for now. The body shape is really comfortable. It sits nicely on your lap when you play sitting down. I haven’t played it standing up yet. The scale length is a little smaller than I’m used to. I believe this one is 24.75 inches. Most guitars I have are around 25.5 or so. So, it was a bit of an adjustment for me in that sense. But once I got used to it and accepted it as a different instrument, I really started to enjoy it. I’m keeping it as my D Standard guitar for now.

    The pickups sound good. The Seymour Duncan Pegasus in the bridge, in particular, works excellent in high gain tones. I’ve got to explore some more sounds to really gauge how much I like them, though.

    This was a risky buy as I had never tried one before purchasing, but so far, I like it!

    Bose S1 Pro

    Since I have a few amp modelers, I’ve also tried a few FRFR speakers. I’m a huge fan of Atomic CLRs and the Friedman ASM series. I have both and use them frequently. But their size is rather large (especially the Friedman is quite heavy!) so I also bought a smaller HeadRush 108. It’s much more compact and comes at a much cheaper price. It, naturally, doesn’t sound as good as some of the others I mentioned, but you can’t really expect that from this price point anyway. I think it does what it does rather well. But all this experience with a smaller FRFR made me want to try another one.

    This time, I went with a Bose S1 Pro. The benefit of this unit is that it can serve multiple purposes. Yes, it can absolutely perform as a speaker for your modeler. I don’t know if you can technically call this an FRFR; but regardless of what you can call it, I can tell you that it’ll work quite well with whatever modeler you’ve got. It sounds quite good too!

    But the biggest benefit you get with this unit is that it can be used without a power supply. It’s got it own internal battery. I love that I can just take it anywhere and as long as I have a place to plug in my modeler, I’m good to go. I don’t need to worry about the S1 Pro. Another benefit is that because it’s a Bluetooth speaker, I can easily play a track on my phone and play along to it on my guitar. You have separate volume controls, so you can easily control how loud you want your guitars to be alongside the track you’re playing.

    Fractal Audio FM9

    I’ve been using my Axe-Fx 3 for a while now. I can’t say I’ve discovered everything but I’m getting more and more acquainted with the Fractal user interface, and I’ve been exploring all the amazing flexibility their units offer. So, I thought the FM9 would be a great addition because it’s a floorboard model that is far more portable, but the learning curve wouldn’t be too bad because I’m already somewhat used to the Fractal way of doing things.

    The processing power of the FM9 is not the same as the other Fractal units. You can find a lot of detail on this topic if you just search for it online, but briefly put, it has less power than that of the Axe-FX 3 and more than the FM3.

    Overall, the FM9 is a phenomenal amp modeler. I love my FM3 as well and I’ve gained a lot of flexibility with an FC-6 paired with it. And if you want a smaller unit and you are okay not carrying around the FC6, then the FM3 will still be a great addition to your equipment. While the FM9 is, of course, bigger than the FM3, I think the benefits are too good to ignore. You get more footswitches than the FM3 and you don’t even need an FC unit. You also get a more powerful unit as the FM9 can handle more complex presets than the FM3. I haven’t had a Fractal unit that disappointed me yet. There is tons I still have to discover but once you start getting to know the interface, you see why so many revere the Fractal Audio modelers.

    The post Gear Summary of 2021 appeared first on Mega-Depth.