VOTE FOR GUNSHY/ROSS TO BE ON STREAMING INTERNET RADIO!
FORBIDDEN RADIO!
THAT'S THE HOST AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE!
(really!)
it's more then just the fact that she's hot, she's like wonderwoman of myspace, better and cooler than that Tila Tequila whore... she really is a whore, but Christina Dolce is apparently a REAL PERSON!
I keep getting #17 or 18 out of 20 for each week, so while the pace of everybody's voting is keeping steady, i really need that extra 50 people or so to really get noticed on the site... please!
http://nowlive.com/music/SamVickson
i even keep forgetting to vote, so i guess it is tough to squeeze in a few mouse clicks here and there. sucks. because i'm nowhere near anywhere near enough to even be in the top 20 to even be noticed by more people on the site.
http://nowlive.com/music/SamVickson
vote, people, vote... the music industry needs you to help save it!
save it from corporate stupidity by putting me in front of a microphone to tell everybody how stupid it is that music is a commodity... it's to be enjoyed! not bartered!
http://nowlive.com/music/SamVickson
people keep leaving comments about how they're so surprised i've not been discovered yet or something, and this is part of the reason why. please vote!
http://nowlive.com/music/SamVickson
the other reason why is of course that my music is TOO GOOD to be on the radio, like eminem or marilyn manson... like they're afraid if this voice is heard there won't be a thing they could do to control me. the world would change too drastically because of my opinions being broadcast over public airwaves... they're afraid of what it'll do to the world.
[+R]

a few seemingly-random things to say on this nervous, dreary day in nj...
1) first off, i think we're fucked, geopolitically. there are things that need to happen for there to still be an american 250th anniversary, and i really hope this junior senator knows what he's doing. the probability seems high that he will meet the same deadlocked, lethargic, procrastinating washington that every other bright-eyed idealist politico does, and when nothing gets done in his administration, i don't think we as a people will stand for it. i certainly won't. he's being elected on the basis of change (obama, i mean), and if and when that change doesn't occur, who knows what will happen?
2) NEW SONGS FORTHCOMING! the long-awaited release of some of these same themes in a musical form is coming, i swear! :) songs that only need vocals: "incantation," "wonderful life," "twin flames," and "icarus, curmudgeon" are fully completed musically! i'm really proud of the production quality of a couple of them, especially having rerecorded "the brink" 10 times just to get it just right... just right. and it's awesome. some of the political themes i've been exploring in the past 5-7 years are in a couple of those songs. i think people need to hear them, and it kinda pisses me off i haven't recorded any of the really politically-charged ones yet. i mean, "saving face machine" may be about our president, but it doesn't say that much, to be sure. it's a mock breakup song, telling him that i, personally, don't want him in my life anymore. i don't hate dubya, but i don't respect him at all, because he hasn't respected me. he has done everything he could to make money for himself, his family, and his friends, and it's come from my paycheck. so fuck him. i'm done with w.
3) the demos go out soon, to a handful of independent labels! wish me luck!
4) aspirations: this year i'd like to play live as much as possible. i've done open mic nights, who hasn't? but i want bigger. i want a stage and billing and a night of just me. i want to play more than just two songs with terrible sound and no accompaniment. i want a trio, or a quartet. must have top 2 influences as nirvana and pink floyd. that's the kind of music i'm making right now, and that's the kind of music i love best, and what i aspire to be.
5) if you want to know how much of a whore an independent artist can be, at the expense of slackened child labor laws in the phillipines and asia, goto http://www.zazzle.com/gunshy and find out!
[UPDATE ON ZAZZLE] For some reason, if you're not a Zazzle member, no products will show up when you go to the link. So, PLEASE take the two minutes and become a member of Zazzle so you can at least SEE all the cool t-shirts and shit that I've made. there are bumper stickers, a mous epad, mugs, even a fucking tie if you're really interested. there are posters, art prints, and basically a little something for everybody! Do it! +R]
[+R]

Kurt Cobain
Jimi Hedrix
Kristen Pfaff
Janis Joplin
Chris Bell
Jim Morisson
Gary Thain
Jesse Belvin
Brian Jones
Robert Johnson
Mia Zapata
Peter Ham
Jean-Michael Basquiat
Alan Wilson
Frederick Heath
Jonathan Brandis
Dave Alexander
Joseph Merrick

-

Hunter S. Thompson
Brandon Lee
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Ernest Hemingway
River Phoenix
Sasha Jones
Lenny Bruce
Shannon Hoon
Aaliyah
Layne Stanley
Douglas Adams
John Lennon
Anne Frank
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
William McCarty
Freddie Mercury
John F. Kennedy
Robert Kennedy
Marilyn Monroe
Keith Moon
Sid Vicious
Heath Ledger
Ronnie Van Zant
Yitzhak Rabin
Dusty Springfield
Andy Kaufman
Johnny Cash
Edgar Allen Poe
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Buddy Holly
Ritchie Valens
The Big Bopper
Diana, Princess of Wales
Brad Renfro
Christopher Wallace
Che Guevara
Christopher Marlowe
Tupac Shakur
John Belushi
Michael Hutchence
Harry Houdini
Vince Foster

and of course many others... firefighters, emts and medics, cops, and even soldiers. i respect and admire every single soldier in our Revolutionary War. who could deny that? this current bullshit is another list... these were cut down before their time, by and large... the first bloc is just part of the "Dead at 27 Pantheon" list... others are Mary of Burgundy, Ahmed I, Jesus (my own theory), and of course Rupert Brooke.

yeah, that's right. u heard it here first.
i'm changing my name. my artist name, that is. my nom de guerre, nom de plume, or pseudonym.
i'll probably still be Gunshy on newgrounds, just so i don't have to have some awful handle with numbers at the end of it, but for any publication or publishment in another media (let's say a cd or something) i'll be something else... some other moniker that isn't taken already.
...
yeah, there's a million bands named gunshy, and it's a wonder to me how they've all gotten this far and haven't sued the crap outta each other for infringement. there's one from germany that's been playing since 1992, and i know you're all gonna say "that's fuckin germany, who cares?" but they actually care, and i just don't feel like dealing with it.
...
so, to avoid fifty lawsuits later in this life, i'll just go ahead and change the name while i still can.
any suggestions?
besides Sunshy?
i was thinking of using my first name as the "band" name, as egotistical as it seems, because there's no bands named Ross (yet) and it doesn't sound sound like some cheap attempt at witticism or irony or like i'm trying to be goth or something... most band names are these things, and i swore my allegiance to myself a long time ago that i'd refuse to do what other people were doing just for the sake of being like them. most people are idiots to me.
ok maybe i am egotistical.
still, any other suggestions?
[+G]

all politicians are just a bunch of saving face machines. that's really all they have to do, so the very best can, in fact, do ONLY this for their entire political careers. they never take a stand, really. they just smile and wave and tell us everything is okay, and that the boogieman is real and your government knows where he/she/it is. they smile and shake your hand, then wipe down with hand sanitizer the second they get back in the limo. they smile and tell you that they'll change the world for the better, but they mean their world... not yours; not mine, and no one you know, either. lotteries change our worlds. american idol changes our world. their world becomes more verdant while ours rots. a president should walk down haddon ave. in camden and tell people what to do. "tear down all these empty buildings, and pave this street with concrete. we're starting over." 'how will we pay for this?' the aides and penny-pinching nay-sayers will cry. the vice president, cool and trumped, responds, "because we're pulling out of germany." and he'll smile.
the president will smile. the people living and working on that revitalized street will smile. the soldiers in germany will come home, smile, and be safe with their families and friends. they'll make us safe, and more of us nobodies will smile.
and germany will smile, actually sad to see us go, in a way.
you can call me idealistic. but they'd smile like a proud son, knowing dad finally trusts him with the keys to the car. and it may all go to hell, but they'll smile, and save face, and let someone else take over. maybe they'll be smarter, wiser, smilier.
all these debates, the stump speeches... all just smiles from a waiter serving a plate of shit.
but ask yourself: which plate of shit looks better, now that it's down to four?
the old and runny shit?
the tortured shit?
the brand new squeaky clean shit?
or that same shit we had eight years ago only now in charge FOR REAL...?

anyway, i broke up with george bush a long time ago, and i'm posting the song i wrote about it.
y'all should hear it.
it's called "saving face machine"

[+G]

P>S> this pic is from 1996

"What we've got here is failure to communicate. See, some men you just can't reach. So, you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it. Well, he gets it! And i don't like it any more than you men."

Grunge (as per wikipedia):
"Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle Sound) is a subgenre of alternative rock that was created in the mid-1980s by bands from the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song dynamics, and apathetic or angst-filled lyrics. The grunge aesthetic is stripped-down compared to other forms of rock music, and many grunge musicians were noted for their unkempt appearances and rejection of theatrics."
ALSO:
"Grunge is generally characterized by a sludgy guitar sound that uses a high level of distortion, fuzz and feedback effects. Grunge fuses elements of hardcore punk and heavy metal, although some bands performed with more emphasis on one or the other. Grunge bands were noted for their punk / indie attitudes; and the music shares with punk a raw sound and similar lyrical concerns. However, grunge also involves slower tempos, dissonant harmonies, and more complex instrumentation, often reminiscent of heavy metal."
AND THE DECLINE (besides Kurdt dying):
"A number of factors contributed to grunge's decline in prominence. During the latter half of the 1990s, grunge was supplanted by post-grunge, which remained commercially viable into the start of the 21st century. Post-grunge bands such as Candlebox and Bush emerged soon after grunge's breakthrough. Post-grunge artists lacked the underground roots of grunge and was largely influenced by what grunge had become, namely 'a wildly popular form of inward-looking, serious-minded hard rock.' Post-grunge was a more commercially viable genre that tempered the distorted guitars of grunge with polished, radio-ready production."

ACCORDING TO DICTIONARY.COM:
Grunge Music: a style of rock music featuring harsh guitar chords, heavy riffs and drumming, and whose performers wear sloppy clothes

EDITORIAL:
So, label me post-grunge, I guess. The music of Gunshy has more in common with bands like Blur (Britpop) and Weezer (Post-grunge Pop) than it does with Mudhoney or Bikini Kill. The influences of Nirvana and Alice in Chains are obvious, and completely purposeful.
Because of all this, and the contentions of what is and isn't grunge that seem to be going on in the heated fight for the Top Ten and Number 1 slots in the genre here on NG, I have started to view the concept of "grunge rock" as being entirely subjective, and perhaps a new genre is in order, one that fuses Grunge and Techno. Technogrunge or Electrogrunge would seem to fit. The best example here on NG of this fusion of genres is "22 Hours" by LST, and CalPal's review has it right in this sense. I apologize for my seemingly negative review of this song in particular.
Artists like the Butthole Surfers and Beck have been doing this act for at least 10 years, fusing elements of Electronica into their otherwise grungy repertoire. Beck could do a hell of a version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit," that's for damn sure. And there are many artists here that do the same thing, such as Nessbeatsfox. But there are others that I would consider purists, like me, who seem like they can't stand the sound of a real guitar and vocals up against what is obviously techno drums, like Sixty Cycle and Scribbler.
I am in the same category as them trying to carry on the legacy of grunge in its true form, even if we are making the songs with FruityLoops and Cubase or even Garageband.
The point I'm getting at is there is an inherent string through all of these artists I've mentioned, a factor in the music that makes it all 100% grunge and not some cheap attempt at imitation.
That is: REAL GUITAR!
There is no way a synthesizer (even FLSlayer) will ever replace the sound a real live electric guitar. So, yes... it does piss me off when I hear songs that are 100% electronically-produced set in the grunge genre. My ears can hear that there are no real instruments being played, and no attempt at even making the drums sound real at all. My bias is towards the real, the concrete, not the plastic sound of an AKAI drum loop or a distorted MIDI synth.
Without bias, none of us would be artists. None of us would willingly make grunge rock if it wasn't for the love of a harsh, discordant sound with vocals that Simon Cowell would have an aneurysm over.
If me or Nessbeatsfox walked into an American Idol audition, we would be stopped halfway through and told to leave and never sing again outside of our houses, and THAT'S THE WAY IT SHOULD BE!
None of us in Grunge should be "expertly proficient" at playing the guitar, because that's not what grunge is about. It's about being half-rate, and not caring. None of us SHOULD be able to trade licks with SRV or Jimi Hendrix, because they're bluesmen and that's their thing. Their timing should be perfect (and was), but grunge shouldn't be perfect. It shouldn't seem plastic or overproduced, either. It shouldn't sound a thing like battle music for some video game, and it shouldn't EVER sound like chill-out downtempo electronica.
So, what should grunge sound like?
What IS grunge, if it's so clear what is not?
Grunge should sound like shit, because that's how the genre came to be named Grunge.
It should switch things up, surely, but always return to the hard, sludgy, shitty guitar that we all love.
Grunge should sound grungy, not "good" or "radio-friendly."
If I ever write a radio-friendly song, I'll shoot myself in the face just like Kurdt did... if you believe that.

Okay!!! So.... "Waiting to Die" is getting some serious fucking downloads and plays and votes and everything! I can't even describe how I feel, knowing that a shitload of people like a song I made. It's cool, guys, thanks for all the praise and critique and stuff... I'm a total dork right now because there are at least 2,000 people wandering about the world at the moment with a piece of me in their mp3 player. Sounds crazy...
Let me be a whore for just a second... myspace/gunshymusic.com! go there! I'll be putting the song on my profile so you can put it on yours! You can also read the lyrics so you can tell what the hell I'm screaming... not your name. :) doy
Also check out Heartless Geeks while you're there, they rule!
And read some of my rants!
Also DON'T CUT YOURSELF!!
"Waiting to Die" is not intended to be any kind of message about suicide or suicidal behaviour, if there is a message at all. For me personally, it is actually a message of hope, in a sick way. When we die our souls go on, possibly re-incarnated, possibly rejoing a matrix of energy that surrounds the Earth: the Living Force, the wakan tanka, Sheol, the ether... call it what you want. When we are reborn into this world all is not lost, and the soul (not the mind) remembers these past lives and acts on them. The hope lies in dying well, not having one's death (and thus life) wasted on the pursuit of greed or lust for power or simply wasted. Don't waste your life, and don't let someone else waste it. Do your best, and you will continue to do your best.
[+G]