I Am No Longer With The Mercury Rising

I’m back to square one: My solo material.

Between extreme musical differences (where they said “we don’t care about theory. Theory puts music in a box” which is pure BS), homophobia (two weeks before I quit I was told about how the bass player got with a friend and destroyed all their Judas Priest records when they found out dude is gay–and he somehow wanted me to make him feel vindicated for his actions even though he blatantly knew about my sexuality), my graphics and web work not even being worth $20 when I had to pay band dues of $100 a month (they wouldn’t give me even ONE discount for ONE month, no matter how much work I did), and me becoming utterly tired of the whole metal scene (I’m completely bored with the genre now) and trying to sing “harsh with emotion” all the time to where I was damaging my voice, I quit the band. Oh yeah, and the fact that the entire time I was with them, they SAID they would work on one or two of my songs, and whenever it came time, they’d say “If we do any new songs, they need to be ones that the band works on together” and then would turn around and work on a new one from one of the other members–that happened at least 9 times–THAT was frustrating.

I had spent almost all my time doing things for the band. Lots of hours there mixing (ProTools) because their idea of a good mix is all midrange and mono. All my time was taken up, I hadn’t gone out to anywhere just for my own enjoyment the entire time–almost a full year, I missed 3 major gatherings of friends in other states, and I had become moody towards EVERYBODY. I’m sorry that I had come on here all pissy about the MED thing. I didn’t realize how bound up I was. And then they had the nerve to tell me I had barely done anything for the band.

Anyway, hopefully my future messages here will be much more pleasant now that I’m not doing something that I should have never done in the first place. I suppose I had to learn somehow that metal TRULY isn’t for me.

Here’s a clip of one of the songs (I don’t want to deal with any more problems with the band if I were to post the whole song)–the only one I have a decent recording of:

(EDIT: This line was edited because I had to remove that clip because of the contract with the label. It does show up as a quote in a later post, but I have replaced that file on my server with a sample of me stating that I had to remove it.)

Anyway–I’m back to my solo material, but this time I’m continuing the live performance aspects. I have a 70’s Wurlitzer electric piano, a Roland Juno-60, a Roland JD-990, and a Roland JV-2080 that I will be using for my shows. I’m hoping to have a full set together by the end of November.

One thing though–I don’t regret the things I learned while in the band. I know what I really need to do now, and I’m on my way.

Thanks everyone for putting up with my crap a few months ago.

Well… Honestly, your solo stuff is much more interesting anyways. :)

Thanks. I’d LIKE to think so as well. Only time will tell.

Something else I found out during this time is that there are actually MORE places I can perform my music than TMR was able to. I’ve found out that there are A LOT of places to play at–just in Tacoma alone I could probably have a show a day without a problem. And then there’s Seattle–TONS of places to perform–I could be quite busy in the future.

This is good to hear Kizzume! Sounds like a very healthy move indeed. Can’t wait to hear some more solo compositions.

You should check out Hunz, he’s doing the solo pop thing very nicely, and a tracker to boot!:

http://www.myspace.com/hunz

Not a fan, sorry but this is cheese. Congrats on going solo! A lot more potential IMHO.

You’re in the wrong scene…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zibEPgMNNfc

Hmm… Gay musical called “Gay!”… That’s quite gay… Gay musical? Aren’t all the musicals gay? That must be the gayest musical ever made. (IT Crowd).

Couldn’t help myself just had to use that quote. :)

Best thing about that clip is your voice, looking forward to more solo work from you. :)

I’m so fed up with the whole focus on sexuality everywhere, it shouldn’t matter at all when it comes to music. I’m as fed up with homophobia as I am with overly supergay stuff like this: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=U6bGW4ShpNU.
Not to mention all the skin, cleavage, ass and pouty lips many singing ladies have to show to get attention. Bored to tears.

Ah well. The human urge…

Sex sells. And we buy it.

Welcome to the Way of the Ronin, Kizzume!

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseacti…ideoID=14425062

Very inspiring. It would be great to mix sequencing with live elements–it’s something I’ve considered before, but I haven’t seen many acts that do this to know a good way of setting up a show.

I have a jam planned with a bass player on Sunday whose style crosses jazz fusion with Radiohead–that’s really more the direction I want to go :)

really like the melody and structure of “numb”. I think that you’ve got a bit more processing to do on your synths. They need a bit more roughing up i think. just to make them sound a bit less plastic-ky. but thats all engineering - you’ve got some badass potential, and great tunes. :)

Good luck man, your solo stuff IS much better :)

Processing and heavy effects is not my forte’–I usually end up focusing purely on the song structure. I would love to work with someone who excels in those areas, or at least get some good tips from people as to what is too-much-effects and too-much-processing. I don’t really have that concept down very well, so I always end up playing it safe and it ends up sounding too dry.

Thanks very much :)

welcome back solo, Kizzume, I appreciate your solo works, you know :)

You did the right thing considering there behaviour seemed to be very imature.
To bad they turned out to be that way but fcuk em you are better than that and big welcome back!

Hooray for more solo Kizzume. It’s been toooo long since I’ve heard a new tune from you!

Thanks everyone :)

I definitely have some Renoise songs coming soon :)