one hit wonder
Music

Nailed it with a single album release

Back in June, I asked a question on Twitter that was “What was the best rock/metal band that only released one album?” To many people, this kind of band is deemed to be a one-hit wonder. But as someone who has never released any kind of album—or EP for that matter—this question really got me thinking.

What if these bands made one album so good, they felt like they had nothing left to prove?

As I consider putting together an EP—which will no doubt take me the next ten years—I find myself wondering if I will put together the best I’ll ever have to contribute and then never try again. It’s likely. It’s also likely that I will never release an album like anything in this short list I’ve compiled called Nailed it with a single album release.

Enjoy. … Nailed it with a single album release

Bird of Prey
Photography

Suburban Bird of Prey

I managed to capture this photograph of a bird of prey—I am unsure exactly what kind of bird this is—over my house in suburbia. Photograph taken on Nikon D60.

Melbourne Street Art
Photography

Melbourne street art

Melbourne street art in the form of spray painted grafitti in one of the many laneways in this beautiful city. Photograph taken on Nikon S7000.

Kookaburra
Photography

Kookaburra

A Kookaburra sits calmly on top of a cabin in the northern New South Wales hinterland near Bellingen. Photograph taken on Nikon D60.

2015 five favourite albums
Music

My favourite five new albums from 2015

Let me start by saying that I’m not suggesting this list is some kind of top list in any way. This is not the top five metal albums of the year. This is not the top five guitar albums of the year. No, this is simply my favourite five new albums from 2015. I’ll hopefully explain why as I summarise each album. I’d also like to say that 2015 was an amazing year for new releases. You need only check out the list of albums released in 2015 on Wikipedia to see that.

Marilyn Manson, Periphery, Slayer, Lamb of God, Joe Satriani, Motorhead … It was a good year for metal releases. For me though, there were five albums that made me very happy. These are those albums (in no particular order). … My favourite five new albums from 2015

Campese Guitar Tone
Guitar

Mike Campese performance at the Sonoma Wire Works booth—NAMM 2015

Last week at NAMM I was lucky enough to catch Mike Campese perform at the Sonoma Wire Works booth at the 2015 NAMM Show. Mike was showcasing the tones the iOS app GuitarTone is capable of. Even though I’ve used GuitarTone several times in the past—even writing about them a few times over the years—I was blown away by the audio quality. My embedded video is not going to do that audio any justice because I was only using an iPhone to capture video/audio, but trust me … It sounded awesome and was loud enough to ensure the NAMM decibel police were on hand to protect all sensitive ears.

Everybody won on this day. … Mike Campese performance at the Sonoma Wire Works booth—NAMM 2015

Fluff
Guitar

Ryan Bruce performance at the Cleartone Strings booth—NAMM 2015

One of the things I liked the most about the 2015 NAMM Show was how easy it was to come across people I’ve recognised from the Internet and/or bands. For example, I saw John Petrucci, George Lynch, Paul Riario, The Tone King and Ryan Bruce. I know those people aren’t all huge on Twitter, but that’s where I like to hang out (hence the Twitter links). I also came across people who knew who I was (once I gave them one of my business cards or plectrums). That was flattering and weird. Because I am nobody.

Better than just seeing someone I recognised, was watching and listening to them play live at NAMM. That’s exactly what I did when Ryan Bruce played at the Cleartone Strings booth. It was pretty impressive to be honest. … Ryan Bruce performance at the Cleartone Strings booth—NAMM 2015