this is getting ridiculous

new york state declared a state of emergency because of 75 cases (in the entire state) of swine flu. seriously? someone look me in the eye and tell me that this is a rational decision. i'm no conspiracy theory nut, but good lord, i can use my brain and maybe a quick google search to realize that you're more likely to die from the regular flu than the swine flu.


we're all gonna die because of this guy

really? seriously america? i thought you were smarter than this. i mean, don't get me wrong, i love me some good old fashioned hysteria as much as the next guy, but this is getting out of hand. i see people wearing masks at airports like we're in freaking japan a couple years ago when SARS was a big deal. remember that pandemic? oh wait. it never happened. out of the entire 6 billion people in the world a grand total of a few hundred actually died.


at least he's having fun with it

oh, and remember the bird flu scare? ya. i'd rest my case but the jury doesn't seem to be able to connect the dots on the obvious. B. Reith got the swine flu and had to miss the show tonight. did we hold a prayer vigil? NOPE. does that mean we're bad christians or we don't care about him? ABSOLUTELY NOT. we didn't because it's not a big deal. i'm fighting off a sore throat right now but you don't see calling my church board to lay hands on me or running the nearest faith healer. i'm going to get a lot of sleep and make sure i dress appropriately for the cold. DONE.

is america really this stupid? NO. but we are being easily duped. the long form answer to that question is hidden in the motivations of the modern day town criers we call network news. news channels' ratings skyrocket when something big happens. on 9/11 we ALL were watching news networks. but the problem is that big stuff doesn't happen all the time. so what do they do to keep ratings up and the paychecks coming? they take little things and make them into big things. or at least they seem that way. watch any of them for an hour and ask yourself if those "BREAKING NEWS" graphics and sound effects are really warranted when all they are doing is spreading the latest celebrity gossip. we were all afraid on 9/11. fear sells. so it's in their best interest for everything to be outrageous and scary. it's not a conspiracy originating from the top down. they don't have secret illuminati meetings about how to control the population. it just happens the same way that a person's dinner bill goes up when someone else is paying. and so that's how a minimal, yet legit, scare about the swine flu becomes a mass pandemic on par with some sort of will smith zombie movie. and then the politicians jump in because it's an opportunity for them to appear as if they're helping the public when in reality emergency status for a state is basically a ploy to get disaster funds. better to be doing something wrong than nothing at all, right?



the answer? don't let them fool you. take everything they say with a grain of salt. i was once told that nothing on TV is 100% real and i'm really starting to believe it. use your head. rant rant rant rant robble robble robble robble.

we ain't got no place to go...

it's funny how you can slowly get desensitized. how your view can change without even knowing it. lately my mind has been thinking a lot lately about bands that cannot reproduce their record live. so much music, especially music that i listen to, doesn't sound anything like the record when i go see the band live. and beyond that, it's starting to feel like everything is written for the radio. everyone is writing perfect structure pop songs no matter what style they are. nobody is taking chances.



yesterday we played a show with MxPx. this took me all the way back to when i was in high school and was so pumped to go to cornerstone festival for the first time. sitting side stage watching them, i realized something. i know their music isn't a long stretch from what is being put out today, but there is something that we've lost in these few short years. for one, a lot of bands just flat out don't sound good unless they have a great mix. these guys have three instruments. if one is a little too loud, it doesn't make that much of a difference. the energy is still there. the music sounds great whether you're in a small club or big stage. sometimes the songs were ridiculously short. sometimes the second verse had nothing to do with the first. the guys don't need huge pedalboards and crazy effects. they were even taking requests and pulling out all the good stuff. no tracks. no meticulously programmed effects. no video walls or moving lights. and ya know what? it was a fun show. mike herrera wrote some great little punk songs and the music speaks for itself.

just because technology lets everyone be a recording musician, it doesn't mean that it's all good. actually, i'm starting to think that the amount of good stuff has stayed the same and that we've just increased the background noise.

that's my rant for the day. oh, and also, i saw this at the airport. i couldn't believe it. i grabbed my phone, acted like i was checking messages and clicked a picture. i'm not trying to be obscene or anything. this is just some straight up freak show sort of thing.


either those are really high knees, or.....

anyway, we're doing a west coast run of shows starting on thursday and i'm pretty excited about that. for now i'm enjoying the few days off with my wife and dogs.

movie reviews

the past two days i have seen two movies that are too good to be true. hahah that's probably the lamest opening line i've come up with so far. my high school english teachers would be proud. but i digress...

i loved both movies so i decided to write about them whether you care or not. try as you might, you cannot stop me from giving my opinion. so there. i'm no expert on movies. i have nothing to do with that industry. the views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of the writer. wait, that doesn't make sense. anyway, here it goes..

Where The Wild Things Are



kudos, bravo, and whatever other foreign linguistic expression of appreciation you can think of goes to Spike Jonze for this film. first of all i think he should win an oscar for resisting the temptation to throw cheesy dumbed-down jokes to "appeal" to wider audiences in the same way Jar Jar Binks goes against everything that star wars is. secondly, the writing was amazing. specifically, the dialog. the quirky and odd discourse between the characters was naturally funny without seeming pretentious. certain lines weren't funny because they had a good punchline. they were funny because it was such an odd and unexpected response. the characters and the whole vibe and look of the film portray a world as feral and interesting as the original childrens book is.

beyond all that, it felt like there were three main underlying themes of the whole movie. what's that? you want me to list them? of course i will!

1. first is the simple lesson a child learns about not being a brat. max doesn't know how to take his older sister starting to spend time with older boys. or his mom starting to date again. Carol, who is a metaphor for Max himself shows how his bad attitude and behavior are ridiculous. this is the most obvious theme.

2. the second theme that is communicated is about how we as adults have a tendency to lose the spark of wonderment and imagination that children have. its a sad fact that the maturing process seems to make people forget how to have fun, how to enjoy the tiny subtleties in life. max as a kid has no trouble with this and seems to hold a joy that everyone older has forgotten. the worries of adulthood and maturity seem to stamp out the natural happiness and wonder a child experiences when playing with the most mundane of toys. it becomes obvious why so many adults look back with fondness to the days of their childhood. why is it so hard for us to learn about responsibility and to mature and yet remember how to enjoy life?

3. the third theme is a little more esoteric. i'm not sure it was even present in the original book, but i definitely think it was put in the movie purposely. there seems to be a political theme underlying part of the story. i'm not talking about some political bias from the left or right, but about basic human nature when dealing with leaders of any sort. it's about how we almost have an innate need for our leaders to be something more than human, and how ridiculous they are to claim to be so. max's new friends dub him their new king after he foolishly promises that he has powers and says that he can keep all sadness away. later on when things don't go as planned there are some key lines. first of all, when they speak of a king, it's not as a title, but of a magical creature. a king's defining trait is his power. a power that cannot be stripped of that king. their definition is the antithesis of a mere title. yet they start to discover that it is just that. a title. they find out that their king is just like them. they wonder if there really is such a thing as a king. i think this is a perfect allegory for when we in the masses become enthralled by a political figure. it doesn't matter what party he or she is in. we believe their promises that they will keep all the sorrow away. we somehow believe these the ridiculous promises as if they are destined to be. and when we are eventually let down, we crucify them. the characters in the movie also tell max that he's the first king they haven't eaten.

so ya, pretty much an awesome movie.


and next....


Paranormal Activity



i just got back from seeing this one. i thought this was an awesome movie. trev got me into horror and suspense movies. and i feel like i should clarify something before i go on. horror and gore are two different things. horror is about the suspense and gore is about the blood. a gore film shows the morbid details of someone getting stabbed. a horror film focus on the moments leading up to the stabbing and the camera pans away during the violence.

anyway, this low budget gem gave us goosebumps in a way that very few films can deliver. it's probably the lack of CG that made it so real. real effects almost always seem more real than CG. the sound design was just ok. nothing great. but the use of silence to build suspense was superb. there was one moment at the end that i felt the movie could have done without, but i won't ruin it for you. why is it always the spiritual scary movies that really put us on edge? i guess it's the thought that maybe stuff like that does really happen. i was worried that this would be another blair witch project style film. you know, a couple people with a camera and not a lot happening. which it kinda was, except stuff did happen. and it actually felt that it could possibly happen in real life. also, there was some comic relief throughout the film in the form of a sarcastic husband. good good good good movie. i just wish some of the idiots who thought it would be funny to scream during quiet parts would have realized the joke was getting old after the 4th time. but oh well.

the price is right

my recollections are becoming a little fuzzy because of the hour. it's not that it's late. i've just been up for about 24 hours now. No big deal. actually, i've been saying just NBD all day today just to save time. "oh check out that ferrari over there - NBD." (sarcasm for those of you who didn't pick up on that one)

sorry to everyone at calvin college in grand rapids on monday. the show was great. but we didn't sign because we have an early flight out this morning. that said, today was AWESOME. we landed in LA at 930 and were immediately whisked away to meet the crew from tooth and nail as well as a bunch of radio people at the set of the price is right. i know it's tourist-y but anything can be fun when you're with a bunch of loud buddies.



yes, those are matching t-shirts. if you're going to do something, you might as well do it right. now i can check the whole experience off my list of things to do before i die. get that bucket list started early. i can't believe i just quoted such a corny movie movie like the bucket list.

what was freaking awesome is that one of the guys with us got called up and ended up winning A NEW CAR!!!! ya dude, it was amazing. we got the whole experience. jumping up and shouting numbers at our buddy and screaming like mad men as he ran over to jump into his new car.

after the whole ordeal we came back to the hotel and had a dinner with the radio people and we played some acoustic TFK and FM Static stuff. tomorrow morning my good buddy jon mark is picking me up to go surfing. i'm pretty pumped. i'm not very good but when i do manage to catch any sort of wave (or whitewash pretending to be a wave) i thoroughly enjoy it.

i'd really like to come up with some sort of witty and poignant ending but my eyelids are getting heavy....so, basically, you lose, internets. NBD.

ear candles

so today we had a day off in roanoke, VA on our way to the show tomorrow in lancaster, PA. clay and tom and i were at a mall in a GNC store looking for protein suppliments, weight gain shakes, anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. just kidding about those last two. so anyway, tom and I noticed some ear candles. i'd heard about these but never actually tried it. for those of you who don't know, they are hollow beeswax candles that you stick in your ear. you light the wax at the other end and apparently the heat draws the wax out of your ears in a massive goopy mess. i kinda wanted to try it. i ended up coming back to actually buy the candles ($9.00 for two candles - one for each ear). but on closer inspection of the package i found this:



i know the picture is kinda blurry, so here's what it says: "Contrary to some beliefs, this ancient practice does not extract ear wax out of your ears."

ok, so i had heard that these candles were kinda B.S. but i was going to try it anyway. but since they pretty much wrote it on the package...i mean, i figured i was wasting $9. but when i actually KNEW i was wasting $9 then the decision to not buy it became pretty clear.

moral of the story? don't just accept what you hear. figure it out for yourself. sometimes the truth is staring you in the face....or sticking you in the ear.

wishlist

frequently i find myself checking ebay and craigslist looking for deals on gear. it's so much fun but it's an exercise in futility because i always catch myself looking at things i can't afford. news flash people. just because you play in a band doesn't mean you're rich. i've had a few people approach me about investment opportunities before. one time a guy wanted me to invest $100,000 into a business. i'm like, good lord, what kind of money do you think i make???? anyway, a few days ago i posted a gear blog. today we played a show with Third Day and i saw some gear i wanted. well, not the exact gear. i'd use some different pedals, rack FX and maybe a different switching system. but the idea is good. their guitar setup is some next level stuff and i can't wait till i get there. so basically i'm drooling over stuff i can't have yet. here's the details:



here's the rack. they're on a custom switching system made by Bradshaw. if you don't know what those are, here's a quick tutorial: pedals sound good, but there's no easy way to hit one button to switch them all or to change settings. you could get one of those digital multieffects units, but the quality of the effects usually sucks. distortion is an analog phenomenon that digital just hasn't gotten right yet. the whole point of the switch system is to have a central unit that you plug each individual effect into and then a foot controller pedalboard. you can program the pedalboard however you want so that one push of a button can change every effect. it looks like this:



the buttons on that pedalboard are extremely versatile. you can program it with multiple "scenes" that change some or all of the pedals with one click. there are a few points in our set where i have to hit two or three pedals very quickly in order to get set for the next part of the song. there are also dedicated buttons for each pedal just in case you want to turn one pedal off on the fly.

their system has a true audio send and return for the volume pedal and two tap-tempo switchs for real time tempo adjustments on the effects if needed. and of course a tuner output. this whole system is designed to give the best of both worlds - the true tone and tactile surface of analog pedals with the power and convenience of digital switching. and it can do more than that...



at the top of the rack are the effects processors for delays, echoes, tremolo, mod FX, etc... the green one is the expanded rack version of the same pedal i have, the Line 6 DL-4. the blue one is the line 6 unit that has all the modulation effects. also notice the echoplex module at the top. all of these have lots of banks to store settings. they can be changed by what's called MIDI program changes. i won't go into what that entails, but what's cool is that the switching system is capable of sending those program changes. so basically a single push will change which pedals are on/off, and send program changes to MIDI devices. imagine having the perfect delay time and setting for each section of each song.



at the bottom of the rack we have the actual switching units. the pedalboard unit connects to this. they juggle multiple audio loops that you can turn on and off and route at will. they support multiple amp outputs so that you can run one or many amps at the same time. they will event send polarity switching signals to change the channel on the amp. so basically, you can have your cake and eat it too. the best of both worlds. you can use the pedals you love and have the flexibility to recall hundreds of settings at the touch of a button.

could i afford this? well, maybe. VooDoo labs has their GCX switcher and Ground Control Pro. Rocktron has their Patchmate and All Access control board and both aren't terribly expensive. the problem is in the logistics. we still do a LOT of fly dates and it would just cost too much to bring all this stuff on the plane. a lot of the headliners will send all their gear in a box truck or semi even when they do fly dates. eventually when we get to that point i'll be able to get the rig i want. more toys. of course by then i'm sure there's probably going to be something way cooler that i want. it's never enough, so i try to be content with what i have. for now my pedalboard is fairly simple. i only have three delay settings so i have to approximate the right delay times so it will work with multiple songs. and of course i still have to do some pedal dancing. blah. ok, that's enough salivating for now. i'm going to go watch third day's set. bye.

you can never fully be prepared for these things

the past couple days have been kinda rough. phone calls at 4am are usually bad and tuesday was no exception. when we got the call that tricia's mom had suffered a heart attack in the middle of the night it almost seemed unreal. we packed up some clothes and left that morning.

watching my wife stay up all night at her mom's bedside made me think of how great a mother she's going to be one day. and when i say "one day", i am in no way implying that she is pregnant. sorry mom and dad. nothing yet.

tricia's mom is doing better now and we want to thank everyone for their prayers. there are two stories that came from this whole thing that i think are fascinating.

1. early that morning, tricia texted a few of her best friends about what had happened even though they should have been sleeping. one girl who lives on the west coast inexplicably couldn't sleep and felt like she needed to stay up and pray for someone. when she got the text from trish she knew why.

2. our new dog Milla was staying with tricia's parents when it occurred. that night, Milla actually woke her up and was acting weird. when tricia's mom woke up to the antsy doggie, that's when she really noticed the pain. it's almost as if Milla sensed it and woke her up.

so i did some heavy research on the phenomenon. and by "some heavy research", i mean fifteen minutes on google. it seems that it's a known fact that some dogs can sense oncoming heart attacks and can predict seizures in epileptic patients through either their sense of smell, body language or a combination of both. here's an article on MSNBC about it. and here's another from PBS talking about it like it's a fact. these aren't websites written by whackos blogging about gear and posting audience shots. these are real news organizations. crazy.

so that begs two more questions. the first is can we get Milla in some sort of training to help further develop this sense. and secondly, how can we exploit this skill for our personal gain. haha...just kidding about the second one. although if the dog ever saves me or trish from a heart attack, then i guess that's better than any money.

gear

this post is for the tech heads out there. i've been promising a gear blog and here it is:

GUITARS
------------

PRS Baritone - Mike Mushok signature




about half of our songs are played in drop B tuning and the best way to accomplish this is wish a baritone guitar. what makes it different you ask? not much. it's just a longer neck to properly account for thicker strings. ya know how a bass neck is way longer than a guitar? this thing is about halfway in between. 27 1/2 inches to be exact.

PRS SC-245



this guitar is in standard drop D tuning for the other half of our songs. i'm a big Les Paul fan so when we hooked up with PRS they suggested this single cut. unlike most PRS guitars, this guy is pretty heavy, just like a Les Paul. it sounds pretty good, but i think i'm going to swap out the bridge pickup for a Tremonti soon.

PRS Mira-X



This is the newest guitar i've gotten from PRS and i absolutely LOVE it. the body is made of solid african basswood which makes it extremely light. i had them put a tremonti in the bridge and it sounds ridiculous. that's kinda why i wanna replace the pickup in the SC-245. anyway, the neck pickup is wired up to be a single coil tap so the clean sound on this guy is really clear. LOVE IT. for this tour i'm only playing this guitar for the FM Static set.

Gibson Explorer



this is the money guitar right here. the old classic. i'm only playing it for one song in the set - Falls Apart because that song is in drop C, not not drop B. why don't we play it in drop B to make it easier on everybody? well, trev's vocal sounds better in that key and really, it's all about the vocals. anyway, i love this guitar and it looks pretty sweet too.

Fender GA-45SCE



This isn't an extremely high end acoustic, but it plays really well considering that fact. i'm only using it for two songs on the FM Static set.


PEDALBOARD
------------------



Most people are surprised at the simplicity of my pedalboard. most songs are pretty straightforward rock so there's not much need for crazy effects. First off, a year ago i switched to a pedaltrain pedalboard and it's completely solved one of my biggest headaches. all previous pedalboards of mine were constantly breaking and causing shorts in cables as they worked their way through airports and in bus trailers. the new pedaltrains also come with little rails so that you can mount a voodoo labs power supply underneath the board which save a good deal of space. i've had this thing over a year now and i haven't had any problems with it.

ok, so here's the pedals:

Boss TU-2 tuner pedal
Fulltone Fat Boost
Morley ABY pedal
MXR Super Comp
Line 6 DL-4
Shure PGX wireless system
Voodoo Labs power supply

AMPS
-------

i use a two amp setup where one amp is dedicated to distorted guitar and the second amp is dedicated to clean.



The distorted setup consists of a Diezel Einstein head and an Orange 4 x 12 cab with vintage 30's in it.

Diezel Einstein 50W head



it took me a while to figure out why there are dog paw prints all over the head. can't figure it out? it's a veiled back to the future reference which kinda makes it even more awesome...and also kinda gives an insight into how the designer of the amp views himself. haha

Fender Hot Rod Deluxe



Fender always has a great clean tone. you kinda can't go wrong.

On the Orange cab we use two Audix i-5 dynamic mics. they're basically just like a shure 57 but they're better on the top end which makes the distortion sound like it's got more gain without actually adding more gain. on the deluxe we just use a single 57.

STRINGS
-----------

i use GHS strings exclusively. they're a great company and they've been really good to us.



For the Explorer, i use the heavyweights because i'm tuned so low on a regular scale neck. they're .11 on the high end and .70 on the low end. for the Mira-X i use regular GHS Boomers (.11 to .50) because we tune in standard E tuning. For the SC-245 i use a custom set that's .11 on the high end and .58 on the low end. the heavier string puts more tension which helps you stay in tune when really digging in to a riff. and for the PRS Baritone i use the GHS Low Tune set which is .14 on the high end and .70 on the low end. for both the single cut and baritone i also specify a wound G-string (insert obscene joke here) to help with tuning issues.

TRANSPORTATION
---------------------------

Set Carts



for those of you who have seen us in concert, you have seen our set carts with the giant TFK logo on the front. these serve another purpose beyond shameless self promotion. our tour manager, clay, had these made up and it's pretty ingenious. it's a rolling cart that has our gear strapped in and locked down. the mics and cables stay with the cart and all the guitar and pedalboard cases stay locked down. all of the sound and lights on this tour goes into a semi tractor trailer. the cart makes it easy to roll on and off stage rather than having dozens of individual road cases. it also allows for us to clear the stage quickly to get ready for the next act. a couple years ago we toured with TobyMac and we had a 3 minute change over from us to Toby. our fastest time to clear all of our gear was 2:57. that's pretty amazing.

Anyway, i think that's all. if you've got any questions, just leave a comment and i'll try to answer as best i can.

dreams

this right here is amazing. this picture has nothing to do with what i'm writing about. one of our dogs, Sophie, is on tour with trish and somebody made her an all access pass. hahaha she is ridiculous. anyway...

one of the most fascinating things about we humans are our dreams. once thought to be completely random, we now know that many dreams are a product of our subconscious crying out to our conscious mind. what is also interesting is that there are many common symbols that our minds use to communicate. for instance, if you have a recurring dream that has something to do with driving a car, it commonly refers to emotional control in your life and it's very important to pay attention to where you are sitting in the car. if you're in the backseat, it may mean you feel like someone else is running your life.

i came across an article tonight explaining some of these symbols in dreams and i think i have finally figured out the meaning to a dream i've had a few times that i could not explain. so here's the dream. do your best joseph style interpretation before you read the explanation down below.

---------------

a year ago i was still on staff with a recording studio in chicago even though i played guitar with TFK. and i had been there for 7 years. my boss died at that time and because i worked specifically for him, my position was eliminated. no big deal. i have a great gig playing for TFK. anyway, here's the dream:

i'm in the studio after hours. none of my co-workers are there. i walk into a room and there is some faceless person there who doesn't notice me. before they even know i'm there, i shoot them with a gun and then leave.

ok, now before you read any further, i'd really be interested in what any of you think the dream meant. leave a comment with your thoughts. anyway, this was such a vivid dream that at one point i was actually scared that i actually HAD killed someone and that i somehow repressed the memory.

tonight i found an article talking about different types of dreams and one of them dealt with death. i'll paste that section here:

Death Dream

First of all, calm down - death dreams are very rarely actual premonitions of your expiration (excluding Abe Lincoln who was actually right...). For the most part, death dreams are entirely metaphoric, meaning that whomever you see dead is merely representational of an inner death on your part. For example, if you see your mother dead, it may mean that you are witnessing the subconscious death of your care-taking instincts. Take careful notice of the dead person in your dream and ask yourself what this person might represent in your emotional life. If it is you yourself that you see dead, try to observe your clothing or hairstyle - this may represent a time in your life that has come to a close or a part of yourself you are putting to rest. All in all, the death dream can be considered one of the more positive nightmares (though not the most enjoyable), because it is most commonly a liberation from something yet unsolved.

with dreams, the details mean a lot. as it says above, the person you are killing could point the way. but the person in my dream was faceless. i think in my dream, the location it the key. it was at the studio. i think it signified the loss of the job and bringing that phase of my life to a close.

ok, so this blog may be a little boring, but that's what i felt like writing. i hope everyone out there is doing well.