Your musical influences.

[sans culottes]

Alright, a thread for musicians and/or aspiring musicians. When you make music, who really influences you?

Right now, I am not capable of putting a band together. Well, I could easily make a shitty teenage cover band, but I think bigger than what's in my reach. So, every night I find myself strumming my guitar, looking at chords for songs that I like, and playing along. And then, I'll attempt to write a song, but I always screw up. I can write a good vocal part and write a good guitar part, but never the two together.

So, while I'm a lone musician, I look up to guys like Tom Petty and Cat Stevens. Both of these musicians wrote pretty simple songs (a lot of Petty's songs are basically D, A, and E chords) but they sound really good. My attempts at songwriting are much alike Petty's Wildflowers album.

I should mention, though, I have so far only written one complete song. However, that song is nothing more than a novelty ditty that makes fun of modern "country" pop stars. If only I could write something that isn't a joke.

[Samus Aran]

Alternative and grunge bands, most notably The Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana. I dunno why, I just love playing that kind of music pretty much above all else. Any original stuff I've come up with recently has been in that vein of guitar playing, if not also the lyrical content.

[snorkel]

Any electronic music I make falls in line with typical IDM stuff, which is just a result of my admiring the genre for years and having it in my head.

A good question, though, is why I have jazz scales ingrained in my mind without even being able to tell you what they are. Whenever I mess around on sax I can do awesome jazz solos without stepping out of key once, and I've never had formal education with it... possibly years of hearing Allman Bros. in my dad's car, or some random subconscious shit goin on

[sans culottes]

Alternative and grunge bands, most notably The Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana. I dunno why, I just love playing that kind of music pretty much above all else. Any original stuff I've come up with recently has been in that vein of guitar playing, if not also the lyrical content.

This is kind of stuff is definitely an influence to me in what I'd like to do down the road. I think I've established myself as a grunger. If I was to make a band, I'd probably draw a lot of influences from grunge. My ideal band would blend punk, grunge, and a ton of psychedelic. It'd be like Donoavan getting raped by Mudhoney.

A good question, though, is why I have jazz scales ingrained in my mind without even being able to tell you what they are. Whenever I mess around on sax I can do awesome jazz solos without stepping out of key once, and I've never had formal education with it... possibly years of hearing Allman Bros. in my dad's car, or some random subconscious shit goin on

I lack real musical knowledge. I used to learn music theory when I took piano lessons, but that was years ago. I've forgotten how to read sheet music, I don't really know scales, etc... I'm too busy strumming chords and pretending I can sing. I seriously need to start learning music theory.

[Samus Aran]

It'd be like Donoavan getting raped by Mudhoney.

That's such an awesome way to describe it.

[sans culottes]

That's such an awesome way to describe it.

It is, which is why I said it that way. Probably a bit inaccurate, though, because my psychedelic side will shit all over everything else. "Brian Jones getting raped by the Velvet Underground" might be more fitting.

By the way, this whole thing about raping is me ripping off of Kurt Cobain. He described Nevermind as "Bay City Rollers getting raped by Black Flag" and I found it quite an awesome way to describe an album.

[Boogus Epirus Aurelius]

All we seem to be able to do is play violent femme covers and prolonged jams fairly well. Ho hum.

Bought a synth recently though, and that's making us think in different directions.

[Title]

I only play Piano, and have no interest in playing with anyone else, and do it mostly to stimulate my mind. When i'm writing, which is rare, my main influences are The Smiths, probably one of the greatest bands of all time, and Goldfrapp. The latter is mostly when I'm high.

[Veal]

Mostly just look up to Taylor Swift a lot, but sometimes we go in a slightly different direction with something more along the lines of Insane Clown Posse or Johannes Brahms.

[Zach]

In terms of just good composition, I've always looked up to guys like Britt Daniel of Spoon and Stephen Malkmus from Pavement. They're always able to string together chords and notes with their guitars in a way that has always kept me interested as a listener.

[Hiro]

That's almost exactly how i am Veal, although i also draw a bit from Raffi and Aphex Twin

[Samus Aran]

If you had read all of his post you would've seen he was kidding.

[Roach]

Johnny Motherfuckin' Ramone, The Pistols, The Clash, Dead Kennedys, The Virus, The Unseen, all of the Crack Rock Steady Seven, and their various side projects. All in all, there's too many to name. Anyone who has the balls to fight for what they believe in through music is who inspires me.