SEEKING
Keyboard.ABOUT
Just over 50, been playing for many years in punk, funk, rock and jazz bands.
- Screen name:
- MrBig
- Member since:
- Mar 03 2017
- Active within 2 weeks
- Level of commitment:
- Moderately Committed
- Years playing music:
- 35
- Gigs played:
- Over 100
- Tend to practice:
- 1 time per week
Influences
Bootsy, P-Funk, Buckethead, Primus, Zapp, Trouble Funk, Motorhead, Dead Kennedys, Screaming Headless Torsos, Ornette Coleman, Derek Bailey
Instrument experience:
- Bass Guitar:
- Advanced
- Keyboard:
- Intermediate
EQUIPMENT
Decent! Plus recording and video editing kit.
MUSIC
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Angels 1 - 5
Angels 1 - 5Weeds epic meditation on the heroic fantasies of childhood, recorded live in their own garage using a pair of cheap microphones...
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F.U.N.E.X?
F.U.N.E.X?A quick'n'funky musing on the joy of eggs.
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Free Form Funghi Freakz (FFFF Baby)
Free Form Funghi Freakz (FFFF Baby)This is a bass musing on mushrooms... Featuring bass, drums and keys by Mr. Leonard Smalls, plus acoustic guitar noodlings by Mr Kevin Drumm himself.
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Bedtime
BedtimeWeeds attempt a lullaby. Recorded over the internet if that's any excuse!
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Hammer Riff
Hammer RiffRecorded roughly at the Foundry, Sheffield... Starring all the Weeds; Special K on drums, JLS on guitar and programming, Goth-Boy B on other guitars, Mr. Biggles McC on bass and Pointy Birds on vox.
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I've Seen The Light
I've Seen The LightLittle ditty inspired by the pic... Starring Monsieur Legrand on Sandberg bass, keys, vocals, EZ Drummer programming and fiddling about with Ableton.
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Topsy Turvy
Topsy TurvyThis is a song about how the world may, or may not, be going to hell in a handcart. It features Monsieur Legrand on lead vox. All guitars and basses are the trusty Wal through a variety of fx, with Mr EZ Drummer bashing most of the drum things.
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Autobahn Ausfahrt
Autobahn AusfahrtAn impression of a classic... Many apologies! All synths/drums from Ableton synth noises and drum racks. There's also a hint of 2 other songs... Guesses?
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Bird Brain
Bird BrainA rough'n'ready tribute to Funkadelic... Featuring Wal bass on phat bottom end (bass whammy, mild tube distortion, auto-wah), with Wal on rythm guitar (bass whammy +1 octave, 1st ever use of plectrum!) and Wal on lead guitar (bass whammy +2 octave, max distortion, sweep and delay) with a touch of sequenced keyboard, glitch percussion and programmed EZ Drummer drums.
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Voices
VoicesHere's a cheery slice of Goth Rock just in time for Halloween... Weeds return to their early 80s roots!
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Pollock's
Pollock'sInspired by Pollock's no.11 (that's number 11, not 2!) with just a hint of Bates' Motel, this is an exercise in making a bit of a random racket... Though for those appalled by the first 1'30ish, it gets (mutantly) funky toward the end!
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Throb
ThrobA collaboration with fellow Weed, John Sullivan...
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Weeds Investigate: The Duality Of Man
Weeds Investigate: The Duality Of ManAn investigation by the Weeds (or at least two of them) into Jungian Duality through the medium of epic disco-funk...
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Harry Monk And His Steampunk Funk
Harry Monk And His Steampunk FunkBit of general oddness - remixed for your delectation and delight with extra keyboardy goodness and slightly clearer old-boy rap. Instruments: Wal Bass (one clean with supercharger compression, one with octave distortion) EZ drummer - half played live on keyboard Fender Rhodes preset, with delay and notch filters "funk organ" preset with delay, wah
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The Night Bus
The Night BusThe idea was to recreate the feeling of being on a nightbus, where everyone's a bit hyped up, there's plenty of oddness and just a touch of threat, but basically everyone just wants to get home! Bass is a Wal, one take, recorded clean and with 3Leaf envelope follower and Darkglass tube distortion Weird noises provided by the Wal with octaver and feedback distortion Keys Novation clavinet and "tube screamer" Drums programmed on the fly in 3 takes from EZ Drmmer Weird vox from Freesound Mix and recrding all done in Ableton Live9
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Kamikaze Girl
Kamikaze GirlInspired by this video: https://youtu.be/q0povnDhVa4 this ere's a song about taking your life in your hands and having a great time doing it... Lyrics: She'll be funkin' down the mountain when she comes Like an air dog, flying through the sky Like Superman's sister, a female samurai A modern-day warrior whose battle-cry Is not "for king and country", it's "banzai!" If you'd like to quantify, exemplify, classify, demystify, indemnify: Kamikaze Girl In days of old the myths all told that the food of the Gods was Ambrosia But being that bit nosier will show it was adrenaline that fuelled them not Benylin that fooled them into thinking they were 10 again when a thrill meant Belle and Sebastian on the telly not like Franco Zeffirelli painted by Boticelli channelling Machiavelli making like Jean-Claude Killy Kamikaze Girl That's way rad, man, that's gnarly dude shows understatement and order of magnitude below understanding the amount of attitude needed to launch oneself from an altitude where a slip means you're certain worm-food. At the end of the day I'm forced to conclude this level of pluck shows fortitude beyond what I and the multitude have accrued Kamikaze Girl
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There She Blows!
There She Blows!This is a bit of Northern Funk, a cautionary tale about not growing up and the redemptive power of music. Snigger.... Everything by me except heavily edited flute and guitar samples. And if I may just apologise now, before I subject y'all to the lyrics! 1. My mate Dave, he turned to me With great portent and evident glee “There’s a storm a-comin’” quoth he “There’s thunder in them hills you’ll see 2. “There’s a rumble in the jungle, a one-gun salute “More tea vicar? Me flatus is acute “You thought I couldn’t play the Tibetan noseflute “I think I’ve just spattered me 3 piece suit” There she blows! 3. I said to him “just be direct, call a spade a spade, “you’ll get respect. “Don’t just blame your dialect, “that’s an excuse that I reject “even if your kecks are now brown-flecked, we all have to suffer the after effects “maybe now you’ll be more circumspect 4. He said “You can’t hold what you haven’t got in your hand “better an empty house than a bad tenant “get out and walk, I should be on Grandstand! “that one’d drown out Barbara Streisand” 5. I heard it’d all ended in tears. He’d done summat daft and confirmed me fears He’d been practicing a trick to impress his mates Showing what’d happen when his abdomen inflates And a match is applied to the rear of his pants his mates were meant to laugh as the flame did dance However, he set fire to the curtain And soon the whole house has gone for a burton Now he lives in the park with a can of strong lager And that’s the end of this sorry saga 6. Now his mates want him to do some stuff That doesn’t just involve blowing gas out of his chuff. Like playing the flute –go Freddy! etc
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Feel The Burn
Feel The BurnI've been inspired this month by what is known as an "endorphin high" (though latest science attributes this to endocannabinoids), where doing sufficient hard exercise can give a feeling of great euphoria and intense happiness - however, all that joy comes from pain! My most memorable one was while walking up the Grand Balcon Nord in the Chamonix valley; I was carrying 15kgs of climbing equipment and for some reason was absolutely flying up the mountain. I passed 2 squads of French Alpine troops, with a feeling of complete joy and well-being, like all was well with the world. I arrived at the climb about an hour before my partner - he found me sleeping in the sunshine...
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Eruption
EruptionInspired by rain and butterflies, this piece explores deterministic chaos, through the medium of improvisation and poetry. It's influenced by hepcat muso-poet, Ken Nordine, though only if Ken was channelling Les Dawson and was very, very drunk... No sniggering at the back!
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XenoFunk
XenoFunkThis is the song being played by the dance band on the Galactic Cruiser "Outer Rim Voyager" as tourists view Sol rising over Terra. It takes the standard 4-part form with parts 1 & 3 forming a 2 digits-astride-of-the-proboscis "salute" to Figrin D'An and his Modal Nodes, the mercifully short part 2 is for percussive posing, and part 4 is an homage to the Cosmic Funk pioneer, Max Rebo.
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Hooz Blooz
Hooz BloozThis month I've produced a mutant bit of blues - I wondered what the wood might say if forcibly given a mouth, perhaps just a jumble of half-remembered sounds and images all mixed up by hundreds of years exposed to the elements. Or perhaps not! Drums are EZ drummer, bass is a Parker PB51 with Qtron, sweep distortion, wah and tube overdrive (3 tracks), keys Novation V station/Impulse. As you can probably tell and as is my usual wont, all instruments had 1 and only 1 take!
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Say What?
Say What?A picky with a bit of everything in it inspired a tune with everything and a bit in it! Thanks to Fellow Weed John Sullivan for programming help.
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First Day Of September
First Day Of SeptemberThis is a song about when the US Navy stopped the daily grog ration for sailors. 'Twas the 1st Day Of September 1862... Drums, bass, vocals, keys all by me. Special thanks to fellow-Weed John Sullivan for guitars, extra sequences and general inspiration.
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Easy Tiger!
Easy Tiger!This month's picture conjured up an altercation in an Indian restaurant between two aspiring but cowardly hardmen... The presumptive combatants are GhenTze and I, the voice of reason is Liz.
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Superman Don't Need No Seatbelt
Superman Don't Need No SeatbeltThe picture obviously conjures up images of Muhammed Ali floating like a butterfly, which logically leads to a tabla chant and crooning... The title is a quote by "The Greatest".
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Say Aaah
Say AaahThis is a song about whales and dentists, and why never the twain should meet...
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It's Not Me, It's You
It's Not Me, It's YouJust a quickie...
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Tombstone Dub
Tombstone DubThis is a slab of cowboy dub, complete with authentic ricocheting Colt 45s, slide guitar as played by Doc Holliday and harp in the style of Wyatt Earp... I'd advise listening on the biggest speakers you can find as there's lots of bass!
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A Walk On The Cold Side
A Walk On The Cold SideAs this month's picture was a painting that had presumably been in an exhibition, and was depicting the French retreat from Moscow, the first thing I thought of was Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" (obviously!). Hence a jaunty, jazzy musing on the promenade theme!
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Turn To The Left
Turn To The LeftThis month's entry to the Basschat Compo Compo is inspired by this picture of New York's 7th Avenue - hence funk and fashion. Bass is the trusty Wal - either balanced DI or via Rocktron distorted wah.
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Duel 2
Duel 2The image reminded of the nightmare truck in Steven Spielberg's debut film, "Duel", as if the train is some sort of hybrid of that Peterbilt and the car in "Christine". Which explains this rather melodious piece of piano jazz...
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Disturbing The Peace
Disturbing The PeaceFirst of 2015, this one had a working title of "Havin' A Larf"... Still, any excuse to quote Mr. Bush out of (or even in!) context (they're public domain samples from Freesound.org). Bass, keys, drums by me, thanks to Peter Sherman for some crazy guitar! Must remember in future to mix on speakers rather than 'phones!
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Sister P
Sister PSomehow the picture of the Mexican fireworks festival inspired me to produce a Latin/house song about a nun who used to teach Latin grammar when I were nobbut a lad. Though the real Sister P didn't have rages that dwarfed Ahriman's plagues! Bass, keys, drum prog by me. Horns by Loopmasters!
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Dance Until You Drop
Dance Until You DropInspired by the picture of the old boy boogying at Studio 54, this month's song is about getting old but not worrying about it, about doing what you want to do, about not conforming to the stereotypes of old age, about plain old getting on down!
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The Difference
The DifferenceMr Big's version of the Roco classic - all (including the vocals...) can be blamed on him, and him alone. Sorry!
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The Difference Engine
The Difference EngineOctober's entry for the Basschat compocompo! my idea was industrial chaos and cacophony with an underlying sense of order, together with a feeling of cumbersome-ness, like Babbage's (and William Gibson/Bruce Sterling's) Difference Engine. Bass, keys, drums and pretension by me (with a little bit of Loopmasters!), crazy trombone by Nick Dummer - cheers Nick!
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Unbalanced
UnbalancedMy entry for this month's Basschat compo compo... The idea was to create chaos - as it would be if all the birds started "singing" at the same time, with added shock thrown into the system by the unbalanced 3 phase (ie 3 phase plus neutral) they're all sitting on... I can only apologise!
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Tired and Emotional
Tired and EmotionalThis track was produced for the Basschat August Composition Challenge, with inspiration provided by the Aubrey Beardsley picky of Salome holding the head of John The Baptist. My idea was to invoke an aural headache, or even a musical migraine to show poor old Johnny B that it could have been worse! Huge thanks to Nick Dummer for his Horny Help - some seriously crazed 'boning - and watch out for the Bucknell Noise Collective... Bass is the Wal, drum loops are by Loopmasters, upload was at 48kHz as Soundcloud wouldn't allow 96kHz - so I apologise if it's slightly squished-sounding after compression!
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Kinigl Of Caerbannog
Kinigl Of CaerbannogMy attempt at this months Basschat compo challenge, based on the picture of some psychedelic Jefferson Airplane types. It comes from a bass noodle I did in a slightly Jewish/Hungarian Gypsy Mode after listening to said "White Rabbit"; drums were added afterwards - only the bare bones of the drum tracks were samples. Bass is the trusty Wal...
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One Moon Circles
One Moon CirclesMy entry for the June Basschat Compo Challenge, inspired by the spacey piccy. For some reason, it reminded me of the Star Trek Next Gen episode, "Night Terrors" where the Enterprise is trying to rescue a trapped science vessel. Deanna Troi has strange nightmares where she hears the words "Eyes in the Dark, One Moon Circles", and meanwhile the rest of the crew go mad leaving poor old Data to sort it out again. Samples are from www.looperman.com - ta! - bass is the trusty Wah-Wal and keyboard is my laptop...
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BagItUp
BagItUpMy attempt at Basschat's May compo challenge... Being an obsessive climber, I thought I'd do something about why somebody would climb. Horns are copyright free from www.newyorkhorns.com, drums looped and both basses are my trusty Wal custom. I must add, no other Weeds can be blamed for this 'ere "song"...
