CKY

"I can hear the sound of the city. Sunrise and set all the same to me. My hesitating pulse is good company. My reflection offers no apology." -From "Close Yet Far" By CKY

CKY (or Camp Kill Yourself for those of you who prefer the less palatable designation) is a straight up rock band. In fact, the song I felt like discussing today is the slowest and softest song I think they have. I'm going to include one of their other songs so you can get a taste of what drew me to this band in the first place.

I was a skateboarder (man, I can't stand that, we used to just call ourselves skaters, but ever since friggin rollerblades I have to clarify) for a long time growing up. I got into it with my brother when I was about 11yrs old and skated until my first year of college. To this day I love watching skate videos (the slam sections are my favorite).


Well, a short while ago a series of skate videos came out called CKY. Featured in the series is a skater some of you may know from the Jackass series...Bam Margera. Probably fewer of you know that Jackass started as a result of the CKY skate videos. Many of the pranks and stunts in Jackass were taken straight from the first CKY video (yes, even the shopping cart crashes). Well, not so coincidentally, featured in the CKY videos is music by the band CKY. This may or may not have to do with the fact that Bam's brother Jess Margera plays drums in CKY. So, thats when I was first exposed to the band. They have a raw, reserved energy in their sound. It feels heavy though it really isn't. Their unique sound attracts all kinds of music fans, and I have definitely become one. I love the line at the beginning of this post. Most specifically the last part. It ties in well with one of my earlier posts (the Ani DiFranco one). It speaks of confidence and acceptance in who you are. When you know yourself you have no apologies...for your actions, beliefs, appearance, or anything. Another line from a Beastie Boys song "Stay true to yourself and you will never fall".

Peace within, peace without...J...


And so you have a taste of what the rest of their music is like..

Underappreciated

"Nobodys gonna come and save you....we've booked too many false alarms" -from Slow Dancing in a Burning Room by John Mayer.

Man, I think the title says it all from my perspective regarding John Mayer. I know some people will think to themselves "What?!?! Underappreciated?!?, he's one of the highest paid, biggest touring artists in the country!!". That is absolutely true, and I know that the man has a ton of fans, but I think the majority of his popular music fans don't really appreciate the talent that this man possesses. Most people like the smooth vocals or the catchy tunes like "Your Body is a Wonderland", and "My Stupid Mouth". The truth of the matter is that this guy is one of the great guitar players of my generation. I think its a shame that he isn't traditionally known as such. Just the other day one of his songs was on at a friends house and another buddy asked "Hey, do you like this whiny bitch?". Man, that was upsetting. I just wanted to take this guy aside, put on some of his less known bluesy songs and educate him.....so, I decided to do it in this blog instead, and hopefully reach a couple previously doubtful people out there.

I've seen John Mayer play live several times, and each time I am more impressed. I have to admit, initially I dismissed his music as pop when I first listened to the album Room for Squares, but by Heavier Things I had come around. The more I got away from the music on the radio I was able to stop focusing on the "pretty" aspect of his music and get into the technicality of it. The fact is, this guy is a phenomenal singer, songwriter, and most of all, guitar player.

But hey, you don't have to take my word for it, you can take Eric Clapton's. He has played backup to Mayer's lead many times and has had him on stage with greats like Buddy Guy, BB King, Robert Cray and others at a little event called the Crossroads Guitar Festival. There's no question that he's earned the respect of a lot of the greats, and its time he got more from those who just haven't taken the time to listen.

Here's a sample of one of the songs that even those who consider themselves fans may not have heard (I know this from talking to many of them), and I have no idea why. I think this is one of his best songs. There is a guitar riff in here that just sings...you'll know it when you hear it. Enjoy.

A Skylit Drive

Alright, so the past few posts have been slow songs, and sung by women, so for this week I wanted to pick things up a bunch. If you haven't guessed from the title, the band of the day is A Skylit Drive. Oddly enough I found out about these guys while searching through local concerts on my iGoogle page. The name was interesting and so I decided to dig a little deeper. Unfortunately I didn't make the show, but I have to say that these guys have quickly become one of my most played bands. There is something about this genre of music (if you can call it any one genre) that just appeals to me like no other. I find that the dichotomy of the deep screaming and the high pitched pure vocals is intriguing, there is some really great guitar work in here, and that friggin double bass pedal on the drums just lights me the F up! One of the clinchers for me was that I listened to some of their live stuff and they actually sound just as good live. Thats no small feat for this kind of music. I won't miss the next show.

I know most of the people who read this will not find the same appreciation as I have for these guys, but one of the central themes of this blog is to show you all what I listen to and give some explanation as to why I listen to it. So, here it is. This is really the stuff I listen to most often, and if I had my way, I would write music along these lines. Unfortunately, it would sound completely ridiculous with just me and a guitar. I need a band for this. Over the years I've developed an appreciation for the singer/songwriter realm and have adopted it as my own, but truly, if I had my way I would be cranking up the Boss distortion pedal with a black Les Paul Custom, plugged into an all tube Marshall head with a full on 4x10" Marshall stack and screaming into that friggin microphone. I've said it before, but music is a means of letting what is inside....out, and this style of music is one of the clearest depictions of that philosophy. Some of you will want to stop the song as soon as it starts, but do me this one favor and listen to it all the way through. Feel it, and Enjoy.



Peace within, peace without...J...