I’m a huge fan of the ‘Dead’ myself and they are a very rhythm and harmony-driven band. A classic and truly brilliant West-Coast folk-rock band. I can’t see much of them in the music you shared with us.
Maybe you should focus on your ‘old traditional American’ songs (with your new pianist), which would seem to be closer to your heart, rather than trying to be all experimental and making music that can only be enjoyed in ‘altered states’.
Pick up a six-string and leave the Moogs alone for a while, maybe.
If you are getting a talented pianist in the band then PLEASE don’t limit her to the organ. A good pianist can really lift a band and she will teach your lazy percussionists to actually keep strict time, maybe.
Anyway, whatever path you choose, good luck to you, and I wish you success.
Thanks very much man, I really appreciate you taking the time and listening to it and giving feedback. We KNOW we have a long ways to go on every level but have a deep trust in the process and unfolding of it all. Our only real goal is to play for the meditation center we are all a part of every Friday night for a couple of hours. We want to sort of form a sacred family friendly community evening experience and be a part of a living creative process with art and dance and chant and kids running around being annoying and whatever else naturally becomes a part of it. The audience wont even be an audience-- they all want to chant and sing and dance. We recognize that it will definitely be a target audience we can reach but for us that is a BIG part of the fun-- not having to appeal to a wide audience gives us way more room for creative freedom and experimentation.
What are you looking for? I’ve got a lot more recordings I can post. There are just a lot of layers going on philosophically, spiritually and musically in our music. Those dimensions have to be a part of the hearing of it or it wont work.
One of the members in our band was sitting in a park one day next to a pond. There were many ducks in the water washing themselves and playing chaotically as they will often do. At the same time there was a flock of seagulls flying in circular patterns around the pond. There was a lot of noise and chaos going on. Suddenly his consciousness expanded and he was high above the whole event seeing it in 360 degrees and hearing it in a new way. He said that in that state of mind every sound the seagulls were making, every sound the ducks were making and all of the movements just became perfectly synchronistic. In that state all of the chaos was seen in a higher light and it was all one, all perfect, and all harmonious in a way not usually discernible.
As a band what we do is enter as best as we can for that day into a similar kind of awareness and then play the music from there. There is a feeling of power in the room of different flavors and our consciousness is expanded in various ways. Some of the band members are playing shamanically and journeying as they play. As I said we are not yet working on songs (the easy part I think) because we just want to get really good at entering into those states and expressing those states musically in a number of different ways, ranging from total seeming chaos and in gradations towards tight form (songs). We are seeking to turn that power into sound. One band member said "we have only discovered two or three ways of playing in that place but I think there are ten more. We strongly believe and have some evidence to support the idea that our music will draw others into similar states of being and provide healing emotionally and psychologically.
The problem is that we still are not very good at it but we think it IS already happening and some people have been able to experience it. I think the Grateful Dead were able to do this also, I know many people who have had very intense spiritual awakenings while listening to their music. I have. We want to do what they did but in a totally different, more intentional, and more direct way…
All this is probably way off topic for the Moog Forum, but I’m intrigued nevertheless.
To be honest, these days I’m more interested in the psychology of a band rather than the music it creates - although one often tends to follow from the other.
I wonder what makes people come together to make a band in the first place? How they work harmoniously together, and how they conflict. How do they resolve their musical and personality differences? Who dominates (if anyone)? How do they even find each other in the first place?
Your band seems to be in a somewhat ‘embryonic’ state, and I would find it interesting to see how it develops (or doesn’t). All bands start somewhere. Some grow and some fade away. The reasons why are what intrigues me.
Perhaps you’d consider making a diary/blog of your band and how it evolves. I think that would be very interesting.
Is that a thread I could start here do you know? I would not mind sharing all of that because I think our approach is unusual and MIGHT be interesting to some people here.
What a remarkably unique project. I appreciate your sharing that Dropbox file. The music reminded me of shamanic trance accompanying music heard in South America. The entire concept of working from an altered state has, of course, influenced meditators, musicians, and artists of many different mediums. Your journey is one that will attract some interest. If you do create a blog feel free to post a link.
Thanks for the replies to all of you. I lost my password temporarily and haven’t been able to log in till now.
Stevie Ray, I will consider doing that blog, its nothing I’ve done before but sounds interesting. I think earlier in the thread you asked about what our musical influences were and I did not give a very good reply. I think we are a cross between a shamanic drummer, the Grateful Dead, Alice Coltrane (Journey in Saccitananda) and Fela Kuti. Each of these bands and the shamanic approach to using sound to create trance holds a strong influence on our band.
Moog Cloud, thanks for the enthusiastic support. We all feel very supported and deeply inspired by what we are doing. All of the members in my band are very serious about meditation and all but one are involved in some kind of alternative healing as a part of their career so its easy for everyone to get into altered states and think of music as a way of healing people.
I have been doing a shamanic drumming evening once a week for a few years now and have been involved in shamanism for a very long time. My Friday group has evolved in a way that is a big part of what inspired me to start a band. Over time the people coming to the drumming started to journey less and less and just started settling into the sound of the drum and dropping into really deep altered states. Experienced meditators started reporting that the practice was having a deep influence on their lives.
Lots of people reported being able to feel waves of sound that had turned into energy rushing through their body and healing them. (sound healing). Many people report hearing melodies, singing, chanting, and such coming through the drum (we often hear that while playing in our band now). It just sort of occurred to me that it would be possible to do that with music provided you could find a group of people who had spiritual and healing inclinations. I got lucky enough to find a bunch!
We are totally in the exploration stage now and are not trying to gel in any way. We feel like new ways of playing in power are still emerging and re occuring over time and we are just stumbling into them. If we try to play it right or in any certain way it will ruin it. We are committed to staying in this stage for the next few years.
Since there is some interest I would like to post one more link to a music file. I am really grateful to anyone who listens to it. I think this shows us at our best right now and wouldn’t mind hearing peoples take on it. The links expire in a few days..
and whatever else naturally becomes a part of it. The audience wont even be an audience-- they all want to chant and sing and dance. We recognize that it will definitely be a target audience we can reach but for us that is a BIG part of the fun-- not having to appeal to a wide audience gives us way more room for creative freedom and experimentation.