Lynwood the friendliest place on earth

This weekend my band performed at a Lynwood metal show. For those of you how do not know where lynwood is, it is in south la in between Watts and Compton. The metal scene in Lynwood is huge and the headbanging rockers eyes squinted when they saw us come on the tiny stage with our guitars and trumpets. As you may already know I play in a Skacore band, and its not exactly a popular genre among these metal heads. We turned on our gear and turned up our sound, then performed our first song. it was a success the crowd applauded and whistled and we were shocked but happy we were not booed off stage.
After about five or six songs our time was up, but the metal heads asked for one more so we let them have it with defying the shouts of the sound guys and the kids went crazy. They asked for one last one but we had to let it go and but the metal heads kept cheering either way.
I had tons of fun that night and i realized something special to me as well, and that is that growing up the mission my friends and I had in creating this band was to someday be the first ska band to play at metal shows and be well accepted and after that night i knew i was accomplishing that dream.


Proyecto Makabro has an unofficial website at www.myspace.com/proyectomakabro

HASOM ARTICLE

Inside and outside the walls of HASOM, mainly between the students at UCLA’s school of music, there are rumors of a Music Industry Minor in the works. There are classes available at UCLA that satisfy the requisites for this degree yet the students don’t see the minor listed in the books. While you don’t see many schools with such a degree USC and UC Denver already have one. Looking at the catalog of classes that have been offered I see that with the right organization and the will power from the guys up stairs I am sure we can get something running for these students. But how many students are actually willing to minor in Music Industry at UCLA and would it be technology based or business based? With these questions in mind I went out to get my answers.


I sat down with one of my peers Ryan Guffey, and Anthropology major at UCLA and an active musician. I asked him what his thoughts might me on a Music Industry Minor and he said that it would be a pretty smart thing to do, especially since you would become more “business savy,” while still in school trying to pursue their degree. Also, he mentions that it would help to be able to comprehend the contracts active musicians like him might face further down their musical career. Lastly, I commented on the technology verses business focus of the minor and he said that he would hope to see technology become a big area of focus within the minor because he wants to see more recording classes and lessons on live sound, he feels that the minor should provide real life applications things he can learn and apply at his next gig at a club the following weekend.


My next lucky candidate to interview was Sam Augilar a Sociology Major at UCLA and an active musician in his community. When I approached him he had already heard about the possible Music Industry Minor and said he thought it wasn’t for him. When I asked him why he simply said that music is his creative outlet and wouldn’t want to make it formal and business like. Also, commented on how he doesn’t feel that the majority of the faculty can teach that subject and that he would suggests some outside help if the minor were to happen. While he doesn’t feel that this would help the students he says he still has much respect for the teachers at UCLA’s school of music.
Finally when I had run out of contacts I thought, of course there is no better person to interview than myself. I asked myself these same questions as the above text and I feel that it would be a grand idea to learn about the Music Industry from people who may have experienced it themselves. I believe this could save a lot of musicians’ time with legal or promotional problems. I myself sometimes get coached by an old friend of mine who rocked out in the sixties and is now a retired musician who owns a rehearsal and recording studio. People like them have tons of wisdom about the business and would usually charge big money for advice. Although he is an old Cat we need some new guys as well who can teach us how to use the technology around the industry. In fact I think that is a great example on how business and technology are dependent on one another these days, with the internet and new added effects and electric drums and guitars, we need a interdependent based knowledge. Furthermore one has to have the business mentality even though yes it is fun to jam out with your group; you never want to get ripped off or even placed in an awkward position.

Here are links to some schools that have a music industry minor and their prerequistes and classes
Lehigh University
University of Southern California
Saint Joseph's University
Dallas Baptist University

Podcasting was fun but I think I got carried away!

This is my podcast I had tons of fun thinking up what to say and what song to fit in the Background. The song in the Background is Quote Unquote by Mr. Bungle, really groovy song!

The question know is what can podcast do for me? After taking a few second to really think about the idea behind podcasting, the whole make your own radio show seems really fun and helpful. I can see myself becoming a more prominent figure in the Los Angles SKACORE scene by hosting the only Los Angeles SKACORE radio show. People might consider coming to me instead of me going to them. That all will hopefully come as the show catches more and more hype. With my own radio show I can promote my band as much as I want telling people where we are playing every weekend or when our new album will be out. This Podcasting idea is really exciting and I wish I had heard about it early.

I might consider posting the podcasts I make on myspace and twitter, but definitely on itunes once I figure it out. It must reach the Los Angeles SKACORE scene by any means necessary and myspace is a key bridge between my and SKACORE. The substince within my podcast would be mainly comprised of upcoming shows interviews with bands and coverage of the big SKACORE events within Los Angeles. Also I will host music from the local scene anything that is offered to me by promoters and the bands themselves.

My Flickr slide show!!

For this class I think we were supposed to choose something HASOM related but I wasn't digging it so I coughed out some recent pictures of me at a gig. Playing music is a big part of my life, and the performances are even more so. You could say I live life weekend after weekend because nothing makes me happier than playing music for anyone.

The Pictures were taken on January 24, 2010. I was performing in a two day festival in East Los Angeles. I had a great time with my band performing and jumping around like a mad man. This event was hosted by Evoekore media, and they have tons of experience with the ska scene. They are the big production on top of every ska bands friend lists, because they are such a big deal. My band’s name is Proyecto Makabro and on stage that night we had our drummer Munster (that’s his stage name we all have stage names), Bass player Karma, keyboard player Martian, Saxophone player Reaper, Ana on the trombone (She was our guest performer that day), Brujo and the microphone singing, Nekro on the guitar, and finally me on the second guitar, my stage name is Graves, lol.

That day was beautiful; it was the same week with the heavy showers, so I was happy to see that it was a sunny, cloudless afternoon, especially since it was outdoors. My band likes to put up a show, which is why my hair is all over the place, I am a great head banger! So you will see my head in funny position throughout the slides. Also I think my nipple is exposed in one picture or two, but I didn’t blur it out, should I? is it ok for guys to show their nipples?

Twitter has been a fascinating program, with all its popularity and great search engine; I just wish I would have gotten into it long ago. I plan to first use tweetdeck to monitor the world from my very room. I will store and save this information so I can use it once I have more free time on my hands, like during the summer or spring break for example. For now I will become a fly on the wall, a spectator, learn to use twitter by following the best and apply it to my future band’s profile. Sinister yes, creepy maybe but that is how I plan on using tweetdeck.
On my tweetdeck account I have three list/groups columns and five search columns. The lists/groups include a list of bands I decided to follow in case they come into town for a local show or to catch the latest about upcoming albums and music. The second list/group includes a news list to get the latest of news while sitting on my computer desk composing or listening to music. In addition to those I have my final list/group which are my really personal friends that also have a twitter account so we can all follow each other and keep in touch.
The five search columns are I chose are; HASOM, Skacore, Proyecto Makabro, Veteranos of the Underground, and Jason Becker. The reason I am searching skacore is because that is the genre my band plays and I am interested in seeing how many people tweet with that in mind. For those same reason I search Proyecto Makabro because that is my band. I am searching Veteranos of The Underground because that is a two day festival I will be playing with my band, and I am curious to see how many people, if any, talk about it on twitter. Lastly the reason I am searching Jason Becker is because he is one my most influential guitar players, his music inspired me in many ways both musically and as a person.

Here is Jason Becker just jamming out with Marty Friedman (another great musician)