PainSticks

Pics

Attitude

Fun and friendship come first. I like to make music casually, but seriously focused, with people that I'd hang out with without making music. Be some combination of musician, hippy, rapper, artist, intellectual, liberal, Monty Python, BLM, geek, and sci-fi. Your age, race, and gender don't matter, just be cool, stable, sober, not racist or anti-LGBTQ, and legally a grownup. (I'm white, straight, cis, male, and sober, with a BA in English, and an MS in eBusiness.) Louis Armstrong once said good music makes you bob your head and tap your foot. For me, creating music is about instrumental simplicity, plus lyrical complexity. Because my words are faster but my fingers are slower. So I prefer the Johnny Cash two-chord plunker, not the Eddie Van Halen virtuoso explosion; the Ringo Starr shuffling break, not the Neil Peart machine guns. Once the group finds that basic groove, the lyrics come naturally. Or I can stfu and just pound away while you play and sing your own awesome shit. People who can take direction, give direction, and ideally both, would be good.

Influences

Eclectic tastes. The Fall. Bob Dylan. Iggy Pop. Jay-Z. The Sound Defects. The Jesus and Mary Chain. David Bowie. Boris Brejcha. Shit Robot. Ringo Starr. Lou Reed. Joni Mitchell. Iron and Wine. Max Roach. All Them Witches. The Black Keys. Cypress Hill. Tom Waits. B.B. King. The Stone Roses. Johnny Cash. Gary Clark Jr.. Lauren Hill. Ray Charles. Nirvana. Dianna Ross. Michael Franti. Elvis Costello. Ramones. Tenacious D. Too many to list, shooting from the hip. (Disclosure: Taylor Swift sucks.)

Equipment

Roland TD-17KVX-S electronic drums, two pawnshop bass guitars, shotgun mic with stand, ancient (but awesome) Peavy 110 amp, and 32 Ohm headphones. Video streaming setup with three webcams, LED ringlight, cardioid condenser mic, and several muslin backdrop screens with stands. Music production with AV Linux/Ubuntu Studio. Working on a backyard studio as a soundproof space for practice, webcasting, and recording.