Gerard is #1!

Well I wrote down somewhere on this thing that I would dedicate a post to the first person to comment (no link or anything because I think it was a lame post...probably with some bad grammars...)

But since, though there are no comments, I actually have an official FOLLOWER now, and since I actually KNOW this follower, I think I will change all the rules and dedicate this post to that follower. Alright!

Let's see: Gerard plays drums quite well, and also other stuff well enough to have put together some song selections on an EP that I have - and that will be worth lots and lots of money when he becomes famous. And he also started a blog during that process (which I do link to because there is no embarrassment in it for me).

So...ah, how about the music?

("The biggest favor I will ever ask of anyone is to honestly tell me what they think."
-Gerard P. 1/11/09)

So basically, there are two parts to the EP (you gotta admit this would be some nice publicity if, well, the public read my blog)

1. Several up-tempo, rather high energy rock-like songs. There are definitely some very cool ideas going on - there's a jam section in one song that has a non major/minor flavor, which could probably be expanded upon to interesting effect live. The bass groove on "Deluge" is a good starting touch. There is a funky little acoustic interlude at some point that yells "make me into a song!" Oo actually, if you click the EP link up there and go to the end of "The Least I Can Do" you'll hear it.

The songs for the most part are coming musically from a place that is not too familiar to me. That is to say, if I had to assemble a list of possible influences for the writer of these songs I would mostly draw a blank. So I'm not really qualified here to make any kind of comparison judgments or anything. In the spirit of honesty, I will say that the similarities in sound among the tracks generally overshadows the differences.

Thematically, a lot of the songs seem pretty "specific" to me. I listen and think hmm, in 5 years could the artist say the exact same thing and still stand behind it? And if I use myself (i.e. the way I think about stuff I wrote months, years before) as a template, in most cases I say nahhh... But of course, this is all for Gerard to decide. And hey, if I was more into the Neil Young style of saying things I might have more love for lines like "Today I burned an American flag / 'Cause I won't let freedom die".
In conclusion, if I had to pick two children, I'd probably pick "Deluge" and...


2. Obstacles.

Yeah, so this song is good. Really good. A very universal sentiment (growin' up, leavin') captured in a very characterstic way. The mood fits the lyrics fit the melody fits the chords... THIS is the song where I say "I wish I made that up." The most inspired part of the whole thing is the percussion, which I think really helps complicate the mood.

Last thing: here's the sophisticated SHROPSHIRE/NOLL-produced video featuring the first-ever performance of "Obstacles". After thinking deeply for awhile, at 0:46 Gerard gets up and creates the masterpiece. At least, that's how legend has it.