Technology and Music

I had a conversation the other day with a Grammy award winning producer and we discussed the progression of music and how technology has influenced it. We came to the conclusion that music as an abstract being has not progressed as much as its technological counter part. And technology is the reason for this. Here is what I have observed in myself and others. It used to be that a musician spent his/her whole day practicing and mastering their craft. Endless hours of study and performance, so that one day they go into an extremely expensive studio and nail a performance in one or a few takes, only because the technology was not savy enough to fix any mistakes. It would have sounded God-awful if it wasn't perfect. Then technology improved and now you can take a poor performance and magically turn it into a masterpiece. Along with that, we can now record in our own homes. The recording capabilites of computers is relatvely similiar to that of a video game. So essentially what happens it that the musician decides to spend half his time on his craft and the other half of his time playing the video game. So what happens is the musical piece starts to suffer. We dont even need to have other people their with us because the computer becomes every other instrument that we need. That also takes away from the vibe of connecting with other musicians in a live setting. So what I think is that music progression has a cap on it in its current state. Listen to popular music today and from many years ago, it literally sounds the same. Same song structure, same verse chorus verse chorus, the melodies are all the same. I mean the only real change is kick drum and the bass are a bit louder. Agian all songs are like 4 minutes or less and they always have the same hooky chorus. But I ask myself why???30 years or progression and incredible technology and we are just doing the same things over and over again.....However on a good note, I dont think its forever. I think as we move forward and learn how to balance the two, music is really gonna go places. Slam One Down is embracing technology and doing its best to keep the old school mindset involved. I am really excited to mesh the two together in the future. -J.R.

Friday and Saturday September 9/10th

We have two great shows this weekend
Friday September 9 @ 10PM
Seaside Tavern
891 Cove Road
Stamford Connecticut 06902
we are jamming with Rezin and Super Monkey Death Grip

Saturday September 10th @ 8:00PM
Trash Bar
256 Grand Street
Brooklyn, NY
with Hellshot, World Lost, Ikillya, Resolution 15 & Slam One Down

Queens Metal Meltdown Aug 13th 2011

For Tickets for $12 click this Paypal button otherwise pay $15 at the door...your choice

For the first time ever, Horns Up Rocks, Rock Sur, and Brutal Bitches Productions are joining forces to bring YOU a hard hitting Heavy Metal show!

Performing that night will be:

- The Judas Syndrome
http://www.facebook.com/Th​eJudasSyndrome
- Raza Odiada
http://www.facebook.com/pa​ges/Raza-Odiada/3225848012​38
- Slam One Down
http://www.facebook.com/pa​ges/Slam-One-Down/13055025​8953
- Scars Of Envy
https://www.facebook.com/p​rofile.php?id=100001117476​186
- Viruzy
http://www.facebook.com/vi​ruzy1
- Black Tears
http://www.facebook.com/bl​acktearsny

TICKETS ONLINE AT : http://www.rocksur.eventbr​ite.com/
Cost: $12 (in advance), $15 (day of the show)
Age: 21+ with ID

Hosted by Jo Schüftan from Horns Up Rocks and DJed by Alissa Shimansy from Brutal Bitches Productions (Official Sponsor)!

More information at:
http://hornsuprocks.blogsp​ot.com/2011/07/queens-meta​l-meltdown.html

Links:
www.brutalbitchesproductio​ns.com
www.rocksurny.com
www.slamonedown.com

Nikstock 2011 Owego NY

Slam One Down is playing one day of a 2 day festival called Nikstock (http://www.nikstock.com/whatis.htm) The event is on Friday August 5th and Saturday August 6th. Essentially its a two day Metal/Hard Rock festival at the Champion Speedway in Owego, NY. About a 3.5 hour drive from NYC. We played this gig last year and it was a hell of a time...Basically hundreds of people set up their tents, cars, camping gear in this huge field and party for 3 days straight. We met so many cool people out their. Bands play all day and night. Hundreds of kegs and basically whatever else you wanna get your hands on too. There was go-carts and bikini contests. I highly recommend anyone who likes good music and fun times to jump on board. We have tickets for sale at $20 a piece and that covers you for the whole trip. You can email us at slamonedown@gmail.com or click the Paypal button below to purchase tickets and use a credit card.



To Purchase tickets for Nikstock 2011 for Friday August 5th & Saturday August 6th Click the Paypal button. Each ticket is $20

Nikstock 2011 Owego NY

We are playing Nikstock on Saturday August 6th at the Champion Speedway in Owego, NY...We have tickets for both days for sale for $25 each. They are good for both days. Click the Paypal Button above.

To Purchase tickets for Nikstock 2011 for Friday August 5th & Saturday August 6th Click the Paypal button. Each ticket is $25

One for my brother, Garrett "I miss you already"

My brother Garrett passed away yesterday suddenly. He was 30 years old and left behind a beautiful wife Jessie and their gorgeous German Shepherd, Brody. He was one of the toughest and strongest people that I have ever known and had been battling for his life for 20 years. He has been through 3 kidney transplants and suffered through an array of invasive surgeries and was on dialysis since he was 10 years old. The reason I am writing this blog is to do what I do best and remind people to celebrate life. After you shed a tear for Garrett, please remember to grab the people you love most in life, tell them how much you love them and then go grab a cocktail or whatever it is that you do and enjoy life. Please make sure you raise one up for Garrett. That's what I am gonna do.
The other thing is that Garrett taught all of us a great lesson. Garrett had many dreams growing up. Among them was to become wealthy, fall in love, get married, have a family and live the rest of his life in good health. Due to his health condition, he had to fight harder than everybody else in this world to achieve that. And you know what, he almost achieved them all. So think about that dream or goal that you have in your mind and go for it, forget about all the little obstacles that get in the way.
I Love you Garrett and I miss you already! Of all the heroes in my life, I look up to you the most. You are my inspiration for life.

The Big 4

I was watching the big 4 with Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth. There was one thing really stood out to me that was said during the behind the scenes video. Dave Ellefson of Megadeth went on stage and backstage during the whole event before the show and showed the audience all the pre-production going on. He said that this show, like all others "Is just another Battle of the Bands, like the ones you have in high school." And as I watched the video, I could not notice that he was right. It is all the same shit. People running around trying to get their equipment on and off the stage. Making sure the sound is good and their equipment works. Also, all the bands didn't seem all that excited or emotional about the event. So what I realized, is that it is all about what you make of it. Heavy Metal is inside my heart and you know what, if that was me doing the Big 4, I would be having a lot more fun...just the way Slam One Down does at every show we play.

Complex chords

It is very important to practice complex chords and inversions of them in Heavy Metal (Like 4 part harmony jazz chords)...Last night I was practicing Major, Minor & Dominant 11th chords in the key of D Major...the chords themselves are not really that appealing to the ear when strummed. However when I arpeggiated them...I got this really cool sound. I moved the chord to an open form... and then combined the chord with other notes within the key. By doing that I was able to add new chords to the progression, but the new chords where more simple. This riff will definitely makes it way to a Slam One Down album one day. In summary, I would bet that great musicians worked on stuff that was out of the box of their genre and by simplifying them, probably came up with some really famous simple riffs. J.R.