Vince's Blog

I've been working a lot on my guitar technique this last week - sweep picking, arpeggios and hand position. A friend of mine got me on a metal kick, so I've been listening to a lot of Vai and Malmsteen. This balances out the Woody Guthrie kick I was on last week.

As far as songs go, I've rerecorded a great song titled Midnight Blues that I had done on our old ADAT a few years ago. It deserved a higher-fidelity treatment, and I want Stephanie's vocals on it. The ADAT has been retired, so I had to redo it all in Logic. The drums are a thousand times better now, and I really ripped the guitar solo at the end, so I think it turned out very well. This should be another strong song for the next Zeyer album.

Big Squid RC has used another one of my instrumentals for background music. Check it out:


I put the full mp3 of this instrumental entitled "A Little Too Fast" right here.

It's been a fast start to the new year! I've spent more time on music lately than I have in quite a while. I've really focussed on getting the next Zeyer album out. I haven't been writing too much, but I have been working on recording and mixing a lot. Stephanie and I have been tweaking lyrics and working on arrangements. Some of the some have come a long way and are really sounding great. I made a test CD - a state of the union of everything under consideration for the album that's in some state of recording. 18 songs. And Stephanie has several that haven't been recorded in any form. I think when we pick the best songs for the album, we're going to have a lot to choose from, and I'm really excited about how things are turning out.

I've also been doing a bit of solo acoustic stuff - working on songs like "The Times They Are A-Changin" and "Let Me Love You." If we end up getting another car this year I'll be able to make it to more open mics, and perhaps start gigging again. But my priority is definitely to get the CD done.

I've also picked back up a book Stephanie bought me many years ago but never got very far into: Behind the Glass. It's a series of interviews with some of the best, most creative and most influential producers and engineers in music. They give tons of little tips and tricks, as well as insight into their thought process. Anyone interested in recording music should read this. It's fantastic.

I can't believe it's December already. I had planned on getting the next Zeyer album finished by the end of the year but I don't think I'm going to make it. I have been working slowly but steadily, and I think I'll shoot for 2009. On the positive side, I have been playing a lot of guitar lately, and I've been listening to some of my songs with an objective, critical ear. I'm trying to get everything perfect before committing it to the album. On song - which Stephanie and I both really like - really needed a chorus. I wasn't happy with the solos, either. So that went under the knife and should be emerging with a brand new chorus. I've been working on a couple of new songs, too. All in all, I'm not entirely happy that I haven't spent as much time recording as I should have, but I feel good about what's there, and I intend to make some good progress in December and on into 2009. Happy Holidays to you and yours.

I also thought I'd start listing what I'm currently listening to. As you can see, I've been in a metal phase.

Currently listening to:
Jeff Beck's "Truth" - Saw Jeff Beck on Clapton's Crossroads Festival concert on PBS. He's amazing, and I don't have enough of his albums.
Dio's "Dream Evil" - On vinyl - picked it up at Rock & Roll Heaven here in Orlando. There's nothing like heavy metal on vinyl.
Metallica's "St. Anger" - Great album to run to, and it's by far their best since Justice.

One one of my favorite internet sites, we were discussing influences, so I thought I'd share my personal biggest influences. In chronological order of discovery:

Def Leppard. My brother is 5 years older than I am, so when he brought home the Pyromania album in the mid-80s, of course I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Rock of Ages was the first song I ever learned on guitar.

Metallica. I have Kill 'em All through Justice pretty much burned into my brain. I still hear a little Kirk Hammet in my playing.

Led Zeppelin. The masters. Zeppelin IV was my introduction to them, and they were one of the few non-metal bands I listened to when I was a kid, and you just can't do classic rock any better. I love their early stuff, I love their later stuff.

Black Sabbath. If you grew up in the 80s and played heavy guitar, Sabbath had to be an influence.

Santana - when I started really getting into guitar, it was Santana that took me from noodling on simple scales and butchering covers into playing with melody and feel. I have the first Santana album cover (the lion head) tatoo'd on my left arm - that's how much it means to me. Always play with life and passion.

Hendrix - again, as a guitarist, how can you not be influenced by Jimi? He taught me how DEEP music can really be. I listened to a couple songs from Electric Ladyland this morning at the gym, and I STILL heard things I hadn't noticed before. Simply amazing. I also dug how easy he seemed to make songs flow. He takes these simple structures and riffs, and makes them totally funky and interesting. Cool, creative lyrics as well.

Stevie Ray Vaughan. I had been playing hard rock & metal for years. But when a friend turned me on to SRV my world totally changed. I got into blues really hardcore for years and years, and I don't think I bought a non-blues album for almost five years after that. I'm still a huge blues nut. SRV was my gateway to BB, Feddie and Albert King, Buddy Guy, Robert Johnson, Son House, Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters, Clarence Gatemouth Brown... And once I got into the blues, I got into other types of music like jazz, country and folk. It opened up my eyes to the whole spectrum of music. His overcoming alcohol and cocaine addiction was inspiring to me as I was trying to quit smoking at the same time I got into him (and I did!). I don't think I actually sound that much like SRV, but his impact on my life was enormous. In fact, I have him tatoo'd on my left shoulder.

The Allman Brothers Band. After playing straight up blues covers for a while, naturally my band started doing some A-Bros songs, and eventually we started branching out into more jamband stuff. I love the way they blend styles, write great songs, and go from straightforward dirty blues to wacked out jams. They're amazing.

Lucinda Williams. I just completely fell in love with her music when my wife and I took a long road trip and popped in Car Wheels somewhere in western Colorado. The power of lyrics is what hit me: I always dug guitars and grooves more than words, but not after listening to Lu. She really taught me how powerful the right words (with the right delivery) can be. I don't think I would have ever written any lyrics worth a damn had I not discovered her. I also started getting into country and alt-country more because of her. Just saw her on tour this spring, and it was amazing (saw her in Chicago about 5 years ago, too, and she was great then).

Of course, there are lots of other artists that I love, but these are the people that have really molded me as a musician more than any others.