Effects Bay

If you follow this blog, you know I have a thing for documentaries. Especially music/guitar docs. Love ‘em! Today I received an email who is involved with a documentary that is currently in development titled - Searching for Terry : Discovering a guitar legend. They’re currently looking for some funding to get the project off the ground and I thought I would mention it today.

Terry that is mentioned in the title is Terry Kath, who was the original guitarist and founder of the band Chicago.  It’s funny, I do remember Chicago in the 80s (not a big fan of) but I was recently introduced to some older stuff, specifically 25 or 6 to 4. That song is great, and the older stuff in general is more my vibe. I didn’t realize that Terry Kath died (strange circumstances) until watching the trailer and doing some research immediately afterward.

This documentary is by Terry’s daughter – Michelle Kath Sinclair. She was 3 years old when Terry died in 1978, so her memories of her father are foggy at best. The documentary follows her as she rediscovers her dad from archive footage and material from his point of view. This reminds me of another story similar – Ian Curtis (of Joy Division) and his daughter Natalie. It’s quite hard to think of having parent pass away before getting to know them, but in their case it is nice to know there are artifacts, footage, stories and accounts to discover.

Here is the official teaser for the documentary:

Here is a brief synopsis of the documentary:

The film is a coming of age documentary of a woman in search of her father’s identity, both as a rock icon and as a creative master.  Michelle must take the audience on a journey that digs beneath the public surface.  She hopes to learn more about Terry’s personal struggle against the pop machine in favor of his quest for creativity and reveal the highs and lows of a turbulent rock scene.  She seeks to discover the secrets behind Terry’s great talents, including his musical influences and demonstrate in turn how his music has influence another generation of artists.  As a working DJ in the LA music scene, she realized that her generation experiences Chicago through samples and remixes from artists like Fat Boy Slim, Girl Talk, De La Soul, The Bucket heads and Pitbull to name a few.  Her goal is to present an in-depth portrait of her father’s creative process and share it with a new generation of music groupies.

Please take a moment and check out their kickstarter page. Their at 51% of their goal with 12 days to go.  If you can help out, please do!

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A while back I picked up Foo Fighters: Back and Forth, a great documentary about the Foo Fighters that goes into their past and how they became to be, but also shows them recording their latest release ‘Wasting Light‘ in Dave Grohl’s garage. I LOVE documentaries. I always seem to reflect when watching docs. I start to see how we’re different, or how I can be more similar, etc. When we’re talking about music/band documentaries I always ask why are they’re big and why none of the projects I’ve been involved in are not. And what I’ve been seeing over and over again, it doesn’t come to talent or skill, but passion.

A while back I think I first started to understand this with the It Might Get Loud documentary where they showcase three guitarists from three different genres of music and three different generations. It was clear that the the common thread was passion. They were going to “make it” no matter what, because they were so connected to music, that fame and fortune were just by products. They just wanted a reason to play guitar all day long and not have to deal with distractions.

When I was watching Foo Fighters: Back and Forth, I was immediately inspired by Grohl’s passion. After the demise of Nirvana, Grohl had options as a drummer and you know he had cash to do whatever, but decided to start completely over. To me, that takes some major balls. Just like the survival shows on Discovery you’ll hear people talking about the Risk/Reward ratio. If the risk is acceptable while the reward is good, it’s a good move. When you look at Grohl’s position, the risk was pretty high. The potential of tarnishing his rock cred by switching instruments.. and deciding to sing – and potentially sucking. Tough. The reward is obviously and apparently great. I like that it wasn’t handed to the band, and the Foo Fighters toured like animals to win the hearts and ears of each fan, one fan at a time.

This documentary clearly shows the struggle and challenges of creating the band and keeping the band together throughout the years. Struggles of creativity, relationships of band members and friends, the struggle of maintaining a quality and standards as music fan. I really enjoyed that they’re a band for people. They play music as if they were in the audience. They record music as if they were excited to pick up the new album. Their passion is pretty damn impressive. Giving up or stopping was not an option, because like I said with fame and fortune with It Might Get Loud, I could picture the Foo Fighters still playing tiny bars/clubs just so they could still keep playing for a living. They love playing live and recording music..hell who doesn’t, but it’s the drive/passion that keeps them doing it, while others hang up the guitar.

As I mentioned earlier, the documentary also goes into the recording of Wasting Light. I’m also fascinated with how bands record and seeing the creative process develop. Seeing the songs form and possibly change unexpectedly. For this album, I liked that they recorded to tape. I’m a fan of the analog sound.. and the analog process and to me, that’s another bold move for a band like this. They could have just Pro Tool’d the hell out of this, but they chose to track like the old days. Some guest appearances were cool to see as well.

If you’re looking for something to watch, I would highly recommend getting this documentary. Doesn’t matter if you like Foo Fighters or not, you’ll respect the road they had to travel. If you’re young and starting in a band.. and want to see what it takes to “make it”, this is a good watch.

Foo Fighters: Back and Forth is available for $16.59 at Amazon.

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For all you Pearl Jam fans out there, looks like they’re putting out a great new documentary of their band. Pearl Jam is looking at their 20 year anniversary… and as far as bands go, that’s great achievement! This movie is directed by Cameron Crowe and is scheduled to be released in September 2011. Here is the official teaser for the movie. They had a trailer available, but for some reason is not available now? I’ll be sure to post it when it comes back up:

While watching this, it got me interested in some more Pearl Jam footage, and I came across a cool video. I’m definitely a fan of recording videos.. basically some behind the scene videos related to a making of a album, etc. I love the insight surrounded with the process and I came across this vid for their Backspacer album:

Enjoy!

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A friend of mine just let me know the crybabydoc.com has four 15 minute sections (not sure if it’s the entire movie or not) available. I just got done watching all four parts, and they were great. The official release date is 3/11, but if you have some time, head over to crybabydoc.com and check out the parts. I thought it was very interesting and cool to hear some of the stories related to the wah.

I started using a wah about a year ago (never liked it before.. and never had much interest in it). I started playing a Fulltone Clyde Standard Wah (white) and later got a Dunlop GCB-95 Crybaby off of eBay (DOA) which I wanted to breathe life into and have fun with mods. I added a ICAR Taper pot, made it true bypass, added a LED and a Red Fasel inductor in there. I think it sounds great and I’m definitely interested in other wahs now (ie: Teese picture wah, Dunlop 535Q, Fulltone Clyde Deluxe, etc).

I pretty much use wah for lead stuff, but also for creating some nasty sounds. What wahs are you guys using? How are you using them, etc? Comment below!

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Okay, I know that Kevin Ian Common just did a guest review on “Fuzz: The Sound That Changed the World“, but I finally got to watch it in its entirety last night. And since it’s about guitars/effects… I just felt like I needed to add my two cents into.

First, I wanted to say that I’ve been fascinated with the idea of pedal building. I’ve mentioned that in previous posts. I have great respect for the people that make pedals, that design circuits, and can actually make a business building, modifying and selling these things. It’s a rough world out there, and it definitely takes a special breed.

Going into this movie/documentary, I was expecting a ‘history lesson’ on the fuzz pedal. There actually is some good information and important historic points discussed in the film, but what I really got excited about was seeing what types of people are building these pedals today. A view into their personalities, and getting a view of how people can think in terms of electronics.. while maintaining a understanding of music, and musical needs and purpose.

Last year I watched, “Les Paul: Chasing Sound” and I was so intrigued of how a person can be talented (artistic) and still have the part of the brain to design/build/tinker. It seems rare to me to find individuals that are left/right brained.. and balanced on both sides. I felt that this doc really exposes those individuals.

I was also inspired to see how the “art” was brought into electronics. This could be cosmetic (ala ZVex) or crazy circuits or circuit bending (ala ZVex or Death By Audio, etc) for the need to make the sound the true voice of  the signal, and the guitar plays a part of it. Interesting concept.

If you’re remotely interested in building or modifying pedals, this is a great film. If you’re a musician and are interested to see what drives pedal development and fuels these crazy people to make more pedals.. again, this is a great movie to watch.

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I came across a sneak peak of the upcoming movie “It Might Get Loud” which will be premiering this Friday in Los Angeles and New York. This video snippet of Jack White was from the Blender Blog, and like the trailer.. is quite cool. I’m expecting this movie to be fantastic! If you’re a guitar nut or like music or musicians in general, this movie should hit the spot!

Enjoy!

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I’m a big fan of documentaries, specifically music related documentaries. Many times I’ve gotten sucked in to Ovation or the Doc Channel watching the history of music or musicians. I often think it’s inspiring as a musician to see other musicians work their magic almost effortlessly.  I also think it’s inspiring to see them as human as well, with their own problems and troubles.

A friend of mine sent me this YouTube clip thinking I would like it. And this is a understatement. I cannot wait for this movie to come out. It is called “It Might Get Loud” and it features three musicians (The Edge, Jimmy Page and Jack White). I thought it was great to take three totally different guitarists and get them into a room together.

I’m especially curious to hear what the Edge has to say about things, since he is the effects master!

Below is the trailer for the movie. Let me know what you think!

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