2011; The Year Of Photography

So I've been busy. Busy with my newly rekindled love for exploring and photography, which as has taken a lot of my free time. Been working on some new songs as well, but photography is currently were my heart is at and I strive at bettering myself in this field.

I don't remember if I've mentioned it on this blog, but ever since I first started thinking about the type of job I'd want for myself, photography or graphic design, in one way or another - apart from music - has always been the first and last thing in my mind to pursue career wise. It's always been a hobby of mine, even before I picked up a guitar I spend a lot of time taking pictures and playing around with them in various photoshop programs. My mom was an independent designer, so she had all the tech stuff I could wish for at my disposal as a teen.

Somewhere along the line music took over, not completely, but close to and photography was put slightly aside. Until the year of 2011.

I bought a new camera a few weeks ago (the new Nikon D7000 - incredible camera (more on this in a later post)) and have been learning to use it properly along with some neat photoshop software. All expensive stuff, but hey, money is meant to be spend right?

I'm boiling over with ideas for portraits, landscapes, artsy stuff. Buildings I've walked or driven by on weekly basis and thought "that could make a great photo". All these ideas that I didn't want to carry out, without having the proper tools to do so with. I'm a dumb perfectionist, I know. I've been keeping a notebook for these photographic ideas for the past few years, now it's time to let them fly.

So why all of a sudden start taking photography seriously?

Well, thanks to something else I used to do in my teens, that I've taken up again: exploring abandoned buildings (thank you, Silent Hill).

I fell over a bunch of websites about Urban Exploration and everything just kinda clicked,

To make a long story short and leave room for future posts, I've been to some pretty awesome locations. Number one on the list being a prison that closed in the 1950'ties, decaying in peace ever since.

Much, much more on this later...

- Mike

One Step Back...

today is a trifecta of curses
love hate and cynical nurses
prescription drugs in the form of news events
about some new war in faraway continents
I'm hiding devils up my sleeve and angels in the closet
go ahead and put down your deposit
the snow feels warm and the fire is freezing
this is gods joke that fucker is teasing

somewhere along the way we all lost our heads
no one can help us see
now we're sleeping in our unmade beds
among flowers of the withered tree

you cannot bend what's already broken
fix the words that's never spoken

Band Of Horses - Voxhall

"This show is dedicated to trucker Joe."

Fem fyrer der oser af god energi og venskab kan ikke slå fejl, og det gjorde de så afgjort heller ikke.

Danmark betyder uden tvivl noget for Band Of Horses, ikke bare bliver de spillet en del i radioen, men de har en stabil fan skare og deres koncerter i landet er altid udsolgte (aftens koncert var ingen undtagelse). Desuden har de spillet deres første "rigtige store" koncert på Roskilde Festival 08, som de selv kalder for deres livs koncert. Hvad de da også hintede til med nogle projekteret billeder, på det kæmpe lærred der dækkede hele scenen bag dem, under nummeret "Islands On The Coast" af dem rundt omkring på festival pladsen og under selve koncerten på Arena.

Som sagt var VoxHall pakket med mennesker, de knap 800 billetter der var sat til salg var væk efter en uges tid. Det må også siges at være lidt af et scoop for et lille spillested som VoxHall, at ha' fået så stort et navn som Band Of Horses til at gi' intimkoncert.

Opvarming bestod af danske Figures, håndplukket af hovednavnet selv. Jeg havde selv lidt blandet følelser da jeg hørte de stod for opvarming, men må bøje mig og erkende at de er et vel spillende live band. De minder genre mæssigt på mange punkter om BOH ret meget, så valget af dem må siges at være oplagt. De gjorde ihvertfald et fremragende job til trods for publikums noget kolde modtagelse af dem... Trist for de var sgu gode i aftes.

Fløjten fik mildt sagt en anden lyd da BOH gik på og stemning iblandt publikum gik kun en vej og det var op mod stjernerne. Bandet startede ud med den noget stille ballade "Infinite Arms" fra det seneste album af samme navn. En underlig måde at starte på kan man diskuter, men det fungerede nu meget godt. Dernæst fik den et lille nøk op med "Factory" også fra det nye album, også fik den ellers skrald for alle pengene på nummeret "Cigarettes, Wedding Bands" til et begejstret publikum, der brød ud i fælles sang.
Sådan gik det ellers resten af aftenen igennem med et godt varieret udbud af sange fra deres tre albums, plus et cover nummer af J.J. Cales "Thirteen Days".

Et nummer der især var værd at bemærke var "Older" der blev sunget af Ryan Monroe på keyboard og guitar. Han synger mindst ligeså godt som forsangeren Ben Bridwell og formår et ramme de karakteriske lyse tone Bridwell er kendt for.
Og selvfølgelig kogte publikum over da der blev spillet "Is There A Ghost", som har været et hit i "mainstream Danmark" siden udgivelesen.

De så ud til at hygge sig der oppe på den lille scene i Voxhall, hvor de små jokede med hinanden og publikum. I det hele taget var de meget veloplagte og det smittede af på os der stod som sild i tønder, så man glemte helt varmen og den lidt for fulde ældre herre man stod ved siden af. Tiden fløj afsted og før man viste af det var koncerten slut, eller ikke helt. For efter en klapsalve der ingen ende vil ta' medmindre ekstra nummerer blev lagt på bordet, kom de da os' tilbage og gav to ekstra nummerer.

Og ja, selve Voxhall er jo - efter min mening - et af de bedste spillesteder i Danmark. Lyden var som altid i en klasse for sig, intet mindre end perfekt og burde være et forbillede for alle andre større eller mindre venues. Bare hør lyde på det her YouTube klip optaget med en mobil telefon og forstil hvordan det har lydt.

Alt i alt, en hyggelig mindeværdig aften i selskab med nogle rare gutter.



Setliste:

Infinite Arms
Factory
Cigarettes, Wedding Bands
Marry Song
The Great Salt Lake
Islands On The Coast
NW Apt.
Is There A Ghost?
Weed Party
Older
Blue Beard
Compliments
Thirteen Days (J.J. Cale-cover)
Part One
Laredo
The General Specific
No One's Gonna Love You
Ode To LRC
Wicked Gil
The Funeral

Neighbor
The First Song

Frankenstein Guitar Part II

Guitar stripped down to the bone.


Out put connected to volume pot - one in on the side and one wire on top (weird wiring, but whatever).


Another view of the wiring for the out put.


Ground wired on middle tone pot.


Another view of ground wiring.


Grounded to the back.

Then just following the diagram for a standard tree pick-up to five way switch set-up.

& VOILA:



It's done! & it sounds fuckin' awesome!

Frankenstein Guitar

My cousin gave me his old beat up Stagg guitar. I think it looks pretty cool. The fretboard feels good to play on and though worn down, I reckon it still has some years to go on. The pick-ups sounds alright, much better then I expected for a ridiculous cheap chinese guitar like this. However I think it can be better with a few significant modifications; I'm going to put in all new electronics, Fender 54 pick-ups and a new tremolo bridge.

To be continued...

Polaroids From RF2010

Roskilde 2010 - Feeling The Orange Vibe

Roskilde Festival 2010 is over, it all went by so fast. Too much too see, so little time, but the memories of the best Roskilde year out of my now five years in a row is still fresh. Experiences you can't find any where else, people you can't find any where else and of course the amazing concerts. Those two swedish girls I smoked joints with at a reggae concert; that drunk stranger who stumbled into our camp and kept on telling us he loved us; that girl in the neighbour camp who gave us a frame of can beer the last day; Those crazy campsite parties; all the dirt, smell of urine, warm beer and licorice shots.

I can be drunk and stoned for 7-9 days without feeling hung over. Don't know how it's possible; maybe it's all the fresh air or maybe it's that magical "orange feeling." Whatever it is, it's fantastic.

One week where you forget the outside world, nothing else exist, no bills to worry about. The break-down-depressions I've increasingly been having fades away, all that's left is a sincere love for everyone and everything. It sounds corny, but I've never felt more alive then I do while I'm there. It's one of the few places where I can be my uncut true self.

All Packed & Ready To Go!

Sitting here checking off the checklist over what to bring to Roskilde, while drinking Guld Tuborg and chain-smoking cigarettes. I think I've managed to get everything I need packed... Now all there's left to do is clean the apartment and get some sleep before we take off tonight. The gates for the camping site won't open until tomorrow at 18:00, but after the last four times I've been there, I've come to learn that not only do I not want to wait that long when I've packed, but also nothing goes according to plan when it comes to Roskilde; which by any means is not a complaint -- I love the chaos.

So yeah, I'm killing time, counting hours (28 hours, 8 minutes and 23 seconds) and filled with an excitement only Roskilde can endues.