Listening: Queensryche - Silent LucidityIt's been 2 weeks since we played together, a week plus since a posted a blog here. I'm addicted to the computer game Disciples 2. That's why I'm spending less time on the msn & frienster.Our reunion jamming session quite sucks. But I'm very glad that we remain dedicated to our music. During the performance, we have like, 82% with us. Now we have about 22% of our form. I also blistered my fingers on the bass. It's been 2 weeks since I practised on it!But this session isn't a serious one. That's okay. Of course we'll fight hard & climb up the ladder again. Hope for another upcoming gig, at maybe my school?The ensi-hordes also found a bass for their lord. Thanks bro ajid & sir hasyim! I should treat them a meal! Not forgetting count raven idris!Finally, I also discovered the genre that we classified are in. But I don't wanna inform the hordes or else the 'what's that?' will be on their face. Hasyim: "Binatang aper tu?"Here's our songs, and what genre/style they are..- Everybody's Changing - Extreme death/black metal, satanic-core (Wakaka. Jokin' here)
- Canon In C - Another sh*tty piece from us
- Phantom Of The Opera - Symphonic gothic metal
Current songlist:- If I Could Fly - Power metal, 80's metal
- Moondance - Symphonic metal
- Song Of War - Heroic folk metal, progressive metal
- Children Of The Earth - Progressive metal, hard rock
Overall, we're more to the Progressive metal side. Fine examples are Queensryche, Dream Theater, Rainbow.. Know more at wikipedia.com/progressivemetal
Listening: Europe - The Final Countdown
Thursday, 16th November 2006. One small performance, one big step for EnsiKnights. The power of four.Crowd strength: less than 30. Wakakak, but a nice starting gig.After a long ride in the mrt, me and Idris met up with Yazid and Hasyim at the concert band room.
I had many doubts that morning. Mostly, it's about our guitars. I have already heard to our jamming recordings yesterday. It turns out that Yazid has problems with his palm muting. Yeps, it sounded more like ''skunking", seriously.But Yazid displayed and proved me wrong at the early mini-session. He practised hard the day and night before. Then I'm more confident that we are very ready to hit the stage. Furthermore, Yazid has the most supporters at his school. That's good!It's a surprise that we were the first to perform that morning(from third in order). Some organising error I guess. And also I was the first to discover that we brought up the wrong, faulty bass amp on stage. Okay. Delayed by 15 minutes...Our original intro "Song Of War" was fair, but cool. Initially I was quite stage-frighted that I didn't nailed my slide notes. Followed by "If I Could Fly" by Helloween, it went really smooth. I didn't know how my bass sounded(the amp was facing away from me), but so far the solo-part is much better than our sessions. Hasyim screamed at the pre-solo part and that is smashing!Our another original "Children Of The Earth" had the so-called best applause from our crowd. That's so unexpected. Looks like Hasyim has the magic. Moondance went smooth too, despite some little errors from Idris. Well, he did his best. All of us made our mark. March marsilings, march!!
I only stayed to watch the 2nd band(because they borrowed my stuff...). Their guitars are fine but the vocals is far from horrible(really, really horrible). Wakakaka. The drums are a bit out of place. It sounded like swing music instead of metal at the song "The Trooper". Wow, I'm a critic. Their words after they perform is, "I off!" "I don't wanna perform anymore!" That's so not professional. But their lead guitarist was more optimistic. He performed awesome too. Now gimme back my gadget!As the day ended, I was addicted to performing. How I wish just now was a rehearsal... Seriously, I wish we had 6 songs instead of 4. My reaction after our last number is,"What? That's all? My fingers have no blisters yet!! Next stop, rhythm masala and practice harder!Special Thanks To- Allah The Greatest.
- Idris, Hasyim and Yazid. They believe me and in the spirit of Ensisventine!
- Coventide, their support made us larger than life
- Azam, for his huge support and allowing me to perform with his bass
- Zack, for taking the pictures
- Adilah, for watching me perform, and introducing me to her pretty friend who says I'm cute (kembangan ako... memang la aku cute Wakakaka)
- Our parents for letting us spent time practising together, and give us money to jamm
- The crew who helped us set up the stage(nak kite tolong lepas habis? rilek sua. Adios!)
- And last but not least (your name here), for reading
Watching: Finntroll - Trollhammaren
Another change in the Ensis line-up. Our lady Liz is no longer with us. Still don't know her reasons. I don't think she has the interest to communicate with us again. Or interest with band.
I am very glad that my old buddy Azam was there for the band. We were friends since sec 1. He's our new keyboardist for the upcoming performance.
The jamming went pretty well. We didn't waste any time at all. I think this was one of the best sessions I've been to. We all did our parts with discipline and seriousness. No other songs which are out of our main playlist (sweet child o' mine?). Now that's the band I wanna be in.
Azam did learn very fast and followed close instructions. He made my day.
Yazid still had problems with his palm muting, I guess. Luckily, Azam was there to help us with the guitar set-ups and maintenance. Hasyim voice is as power-pounding as usual.
Idris, maybe a bit blur. He had some visitors at home, so he joined us late. But a job well done, he showed the thunder with using a single-pedal. Woohoo!
I was also surprised to know that Raudhah was at rythym masala too. She's a band manager I guess. A metal band. I thought she was a vocalist like Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy (I'll bow to her!).
Recalling bittersweet memories, Raudhah kind-of rejected me when I asked her out for a date. Her rejection got me so low. Damn low. I feel like a creep. I feel like crap.
But now I'm finding myself after that heartbreak. Heavy metal is my one true friend; my drug; my motivation.
Forget emo. Heavy metal teaches me to endure and fight the struggles in life. Live with power. Live with adventure. Live with passion. Live to the fullest!
Seriously, I hated Raudhah (A lot. wish I had revenge). But I realise that I should move along and forget the past. Being with my band makes me happy. I smiled as a saw her outside my jamming room.
My music and true friends are better than girl-relationship in life.
Listening: Rage Against The Machine - Calm Like A Bomb
Nice intro bassline... Turn up the volume!
For the 1st time we jammed at my room. From evening to late-night. Yazid brought along his newly-bought black electric guitar. And his marshall amp. Hasyim with his keyboards.
We are still working on our original. It was like 50% completed, and after yesterday's session, I could say that we are on the 75% or 80% percentage.
We were working on the kick-in part, from slow to faster-paced. Yazid's method was fairly creative. But I'm sure we'll develop into bigger entrances some next day. Or next future songs. I'm satisfied, though. The most important part of playing a song is how we deliver it. Let's just stick to positivity and rockin' thunderness! \m/
Since we moved from dual-guitars attack to a single-guitar band, I completely shifted my ideas and the influences of our band.
I'm a bit disappointed about the change of our guitar system. But at the same time really, very looking forward to take on the almighty bass.
I don't hate being on the bass. In fact I love it. I have lots of bass inspirations. The undisputed Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath, Tim Commerford from RATM, Metallica's Jason Newsted, and more (Yups I know guys. Cliff Burton is more f*ckin awesome in Metallica. But Jason uses the plectrum like I did).
As for the band, I look into superior one-guitar bands, like Van Halen or System Of A Down. They play single-guitar to the superb levels, equivalent firepower to two guitars (Stratovarius and Nightwish too, one guitarist and a keyboardist working together. And Coventide deserves some credit here too! They rule!). Of course these one-guitar bands don't play boring all power-chords from start to end, these smart one-man-show guitarists juggle from riffs to licks to solos. And of course, excellent palm-muting and variations!
Eg. Of excellent one-man show rock guitars (w/o keyboards...)
- Van Halen - Ain't Talking Bout Love
- System Of A Down - B.Y.O.B
- Motorhead - Ace Of Spades
Many, many more.. Feels like talking more here... Ok back to my homework.
