Complete Randomness

So, it's been rather nice keeping my schedule wide open for music purposes. I received a call, the night before yesterday, from a band I had planned to audition for but never heard back from. Apparently, they had a competition they were scheduled to perform the next day, but their lead guitarist had backed out randomly the night before hand. Basically, the singer called me at around 11pm that night, I met him at noon the next day, learned the band's set in an hour or so, met with the whole group a few hours later, and then performed that night! Needless to say, it was quite the experience. The music is more indie/ambient than I'm used to, but I think that as a musician, it's important to stretch yourself beyond your comfort zone. Oh, by the way, their drummer is 14 and fucking rocks! Reminds me of the good ole' "Vitamin Funk" days!

On another note, the same night I was performing with this band, I manged to make friends with the sound guy for the venue we were playing at. (http://www.tinroofbars.com/Home/Knoxville) He invited me to come jam around with a group he's putting together, that does Hip-Hop/Funk/Soul grooves, which I fucking love! So I'm looking forward to seeing where that takes me as well.

Yeah, music isn't looking too bad here in BFE, Tennessee. I'm going to try and get me one of them' there' fancy cameras and shit, so I can post pictures and videos of the stuff I'm getting into around here. That may require me to get a job. Damn! All I want to do is play guitar all day.

That's all for now.


As always, remember kids, love is love,


-GMB

Update!

So, this will be my second week in Knoxville. It honestly feels like a couple months have passed by, due mostly to the heavy lifting my... let's say... muscularly deprived body was asked to perform. The house my folks managed to grab up is great, though I will admit having neighbors again is a little odd. I forgot how much I fucking hate other animals. I'm so lucky my dog is more teddy bear than canine!

 I know she doesn't look like much... but she's vicious! 

My parents have graciously delegated the third floor of the house to my fancy, which I have appropriately dubbed "The Villa." It's rather nice to escape the frequent meaningless bickering, which while harmless enough, can induce quite the headache if not adequately prepared for. In my Villa I have been afforded a veritable paradise (at least in my twisted sense of the word), with climate control, music room, full bathroom, and a distance far enough that I hear nothing of the happenings beneath me; all of these things previously unbeknown to me and my humble living situations.

All that aside, I suppose I should write a little about music right?? 

Unfortunately, Knoxville is, and can only be, Knoxville. Though I haven't had much opportunity to search the local clubs/bars for good music, based on what I've read in the papers and researched online, this city isn't much different than things back home. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised today when I met with some guys I managed to find on Craigslist. The pair, hailing from Ohio and having moved here a few years ago, were two brothers that proved to be a promising duo. The most peculiar thing occurred during this epic jam-sesh, as I was even more surprised to the eventual point of jaw-dropping, when another left handed guitarist entered the room. I've never met another lefty guitarist, let alone one that can play, and who played blues/rock! So the four of us continued to play into the evening, and while the music may still be in it's infancy, I have hope that with some effort the group could turn out to be something special.

Well, that's all for now. I am scheduled to meet with a few other people this week, so we'll see if those sessions prove to be as fruitful as today's.

Peace, and all things love,

-GMB

Grant Barnes has a blog?

 (Thought I posted this two days before I left, but this just shows how ignorant I am to this whole thing, I saved it as a draft by mistake!)

I realize this is completely unlike me. However, in the interest of keeping the few North Carolinian patrons of my career updated, I've decided to start a blog. This also prevents my Facebook from becoming a personal spam-fest for all things music related.

I'll aim to keep this blog interesting, with video updates of my progress, and hopefully someday pictures and audio snippets of my work. The fate of a musician has very much so become intertwined with his ability to manipulate the internet, and all of it's treachery. That being said, I'm not particularly handy with design elements, so should you know anyone interested in creating a template that is pleasing to the eye, please feel free to contact me.

Now with all that out of the way...

Prepping for the Move 

I'm not sure I realized how quickly this excursion would creep up on me. It feels like I've almost been running from something I so desperately wanted to happen. This entire summer has been incredible, as I suspect most senior year summers are supposed to be. I fear my general disdain for immaturity is being conflicted with my own internal desire to avoid growing up. No one really writes a manual on how to do this shit, you know? Most people sit comfortably knowing they have the first few years of college to figure out what exactly they want to do. Even then, most graduates still have no idea exactly what profession they'll choose. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. It's just starting to hit home that this a career I'm about to embark on. If I screw this one up, I may never have the opportunity to create and perform music to the degree I'd like.

All the sappy shit aside, I feel a lot of positive energy surrounding this move. It's almost as if Karma is waving a huge red flag reading, "THIS WAY!!!" The house we've found literally came out of no where, and we've managed to close on it in nearly perfect timing for my sister to start High School. Our new home is less than 10 minutes away from my fathers new job, which he happens to love, and also may someday help me get my foot in the door for this industry. Let's just hope this energy continues on throughout the trip.

Anyways, all for now.

-GMB