The Healing Power of Rock

You might never guess this about an ambient/new age artist, but my musical beginnings were actually with straight-ahead rock music- KISS was the first band I obsessively listened to, and were the reason I picked up a guitar (the opening chords of "Calling Dr. Love" coming out of my sister's bedroom were what first got my attention). After a couple years, I graduated to learning songs by the Doobie Brothers, the Beatles, and then prog rock bands like YES, Pink Floyd, Rush, Genesis. In college I started listening to more classical and a little bit of jazz, and I continued to branch out into ever more exotic things as I got older.

About 4 years ago I was working at Intel, as one of those guys in the bunny suits, a job I hated. As I drove home after work, I would tune into the Portland classic rock station (KGON), which gave me great comfort. KGON seemed not to be a "classic rock" station in the ClearChannel sense of the word, they actually played the stuff I was listening to on my clock radio back in 1981 or so. It took me back to a more peaceful time, before the emotional turmoil of high school, college and career, and this is when I realized, I believe in the healing power of rock. Rock is a type of music that exists simply to make people feel good- it doesn't invoke subtle, possibly melancholy moods, it just rocks. This is also why I so appreciate the work of comedians like Jack Black and Bruce McCullough (of the Kids in the Hall)- they appreciate what it means to ROCK!

I think music really is food for the soul, and over time, determines our moods. It was only after I came out of a years-long depression that I really "got" Mozart's lighter music (it sounded emotionally bombastic to me before, like someone on happy pills). I have a friend who suffers from SAD (seasonal affective disorder) and he seems to prefer listening and creating happy music, and he certainly appears happy to me. I have made a conscious decision to create music that is uplifting and beautiful, even if it has what I think of as murky or bittersweet qualities. Hey, there has to be some darkness to notice the light.

I'm going to experiment with listening to some more energetic music as well. I just ordered the latest Yeah Yeah Yeahs CD, and am looking forward to that (I liked their performance on SNL this last weekend). I'm also checking out some of the late 70's and early 80's punk bands like the Clash, Violent Femmes, DEVO (actually I've been into them for a few years), and Blondie, which I kind of didn't notice when they were active. Also some newer bands, not sure how I'd classify them, like John Vanderslice, New Pornographers, White Stripes (I guess "new" has a broader meaning when you get to be my age :)

Of course I still like my mellow, melancholy, and minimalist stuff, but I like my variety too.

trivia

Here is some trivia related to the "Niagara" CD:

1) This trip to Niagara Falls was actually to go see a reunion show
by my favorite comedy troupe, "The Kids in the Hall". The next
morning, my wife and I walked around Goat Island, and that's where I
was inspired to write "Niagara"
2) My grandfather told me he was the body double of Joseph Cotten in
the Marilyn Monroe movie "Niagara", in the scene where he drives a
boat in the river just up from the falls (both he and my dad worked
for the Great Lakes Towing Company on the boats).
3) I didn't see Niagara Falls myself until I was 19, though I grew up
just a couple hours away!
4) Margaret Sharrow, who painted the paintings I used as a background
for the CD cover, is a friend of a close friend of mine (Chris
Terpin, who contributed to a couple of my earlier efforts) from
Buffalo. She was always fascinated with the U.K., and moved to Wales
to study art. Check out her blog to see more of her art.

Welcome to the Tea With Warriors blog! I may not have a lot of updates, since I also work a demanding day job in addition to my creative life, but I hope to post things about my new musical plans, mp3's of works in progress, and discussions of music that has meant a lot to me.

I thought this would be a great time to start a blog, since I recently released a new CD, called "Niagara". I got the idea for the CD after a visit to Niagara Falls, a little over a year ago. As the CD liner notes describe, I was really struck by the power of nature, and thought it would be good to translate that into music. The end result was a mix of new age, minimalism, rock and jazz. I started with some synthesizer background "colors" and added layers of guitar work, percussion, and violin. I think it makes excellent background music, of a cinematic sort. I had visual images in mind as I composed it, and for the CD cover enlisted my friend Margaret Sharrow for the paintings. I would like to find someone who would be interested in making some videos that I could put on YouTube to promote it. Any takers out there?

I was pretty happy that over the last month or so, one of the tracks, "Skydiver" got played on the "Echoes" radio show several times, giving me some national exposure. I think the other tracks from the CD are also very good, and deserve some exposure, thought I understand that they are not really the right style for a radio show, being more "minimalist" or textural. I think they would make a beautiful background for a nature movie or something like that, though.