My Guitar Heroes

Many guitarist and bands have influenced me in many different ways. The bands Im going to be talking about right now are secular(I have no convictions for listening to secular music because I think music is music just like being a teacher is being a teacher although some teachers are christians, it doesnt make them "christian teachers" in my mind anyway). First of all Chuck Schuldiner of Death and Control Denied fame, has a huge influence on my me. He blended jazz, classical, and death metal to make a super progressive sound. His lyrics were positive and as far as I know he was an awesome person. He passed away in 2001 from cancer and pneumonia. His guitar playing and vocal were amazing and have had a huge impact on my life. I dont believe he had God in his life but I found this on the internet--

Chuck once described himself as "a lover of life", "friendship", and "animals". "I would like to live forever, if it was possible", he once said in an interview. He commonly spoke out against artists who were "out of control", garnering negative attention to the death metal scene. Chuck openly condemned and disavowed stereotypes of metal musicians as being harmful to animals, people, or being "anti-life".
When asked about his opinions regarding an afterlife, Chuck responded "I don't know", but elaborated that he believed "this is hell", and that demons are in people, as they "create evil". Although his parents are both Jewish, Schuldiner did not go through any formal religious training. In the documentary, "666 At Calling Death", he was asked whether Satanism was a part of his music. He replied, "Not at all. I really don't want to involve any type of religious theme in our music. I think that's more of a personal thing. Yeah, I'm not a Satanist and I definitely don't put that into our music. No purpose. I was really young when the band first started out. I was never really into writing Satanic lyrics at all, personally. We did write gore lyrics, but it was more like kind of tongue-in-cheek, horror-movie type level. Nothing like encouraging people to go out and hurt themselves or anything stupid like that. It's pure fantasy-movie type, scary stuff. And then, I just really got into writing about reality, which is what we all have to deal with."

Next up is the band Pestilence. This band also had amazing ideas and incorporated many of the things that Death had in there last album "Spheres" which of course is my favorite. Patrick Mameli was the vocalist/guitarist on there last two and upcoming(YES!!)album. "Spheres" is 15 years old and I still listen to it and find something new everytime. My favorite part of Pestilence is their lyrics, written by the drumer, about space and stuff like that. They also have a knack for using crazy odd time signatures.

Last but certainly not least is Deron Miller of cKy fame. I came to know Deron's abilities first through Foreign Objects, his sci-fi death metal band which was pretty much a rip off of Pestilence's "Spheres"(no complaints though). But later on with Oil and finally cKy he definately grew as a musician and guitarist. I have had the pleasure of seeing cKy live and meeting Deron myself. He is an awesome person. He did have a battle with alcohol not too long ago and he does say some vulgar words, but thankfully not in his music. He feels as thought they are a cheap ploy to draw in people much like R rated movies. Nowadays cKy's fourth album is on the horizon and Deron's side project, World Under Blood, is finishing up their debut album. Now WUB is a death metal band and is remnicient of Foreign Objects, but with no Sci-Fi and lots of melodic vocals along with the growls. Deron is awesome and to me is up there with Chuck Schuldiner.

Well those are my three of my favorite guitarists, Im sure Ill add more later and Im thinking of posting some of my thoughts and beliefs on christianity as a whole. I promise you thought I love Jesus Christ and KNOW he died for me and Im definately a christian...just some aspects of "christians" anger me. Afterall even a dc TALK song (what if I stumble) had a soundclip that said "One of the biggest causes of Atheism in the world today is christians..." I'll get back to that on my next post. Praise the lord.

Song Lyrics I posted on myspace long ago

"Everything is now nothing, but Nothing Is now Everything"

In a Instant everything you know is gone away to a place you dare not go/To a place where fire is a symbol of peace and death is more important than life/You Think of Your Past and suddenly relize all the bad that have happened, but when you try to remember the good, it seems it was never there/To dream is to find new life, whether it is better or worse/And in these dreams you find yourself and when judgement is passed you'll look for everything and only find nothing, but if you look for nothing, you will recieve everything.

"UntimelyDeparturetoaGracelandUnseen "

My lungs are caving, its getting hard to breath. The weight of the world is collaspsing down on me. I fear the worst and hope for the best. The Sun is burning so bright. My grave is being dug by my own hands. I feel it coming with every beat of my heart. Corruption and Decay are starting to win.Chorus:My Heart dies, but my body carries on. I'll soon be laid to rest, so the feeling will be gone and stop the pain. The minds of demons fill my grave, while I fight a savior who only wishes to save. I deny that which loves me because Im too blind to see.The tomb is dug, the coffin set. The light is disappearing and I feel the cold wind on my face. I struggle to accept my savior if only to end the suffering inside. I return the love he gave as my pulse deadens and I fear it was too late. The light returns to my heart once more and my wings are spread as I shed a tear that represents the things I left behind. It falls as I fly.

"Death Is Not Forever"

Prelude: There are many lifes and deaths, but there is only one afterlife and he is that afterlife and he lies within my heart, but in all truth my heart goes with him.................

Verse 1: We never know when death will come, we only know hes there breathing down our neck hiding in the shadows, drawing us close.......hes hiding in the shadows, drawing us ever so near....I do not fear death because he cant hold me long for my destiny lies in the heavens where death is just a memory......that fades with each step. Soon I will break these chains that hold me here and be free from sadness...
Chorus: Fear is only an object of illusion and ignorance
Eternal life is the key to leave behind this pain that is relentless
Death is only an obsticle to happiness and new life
But without God this is only a dream to you as this life passes by
The gospel will set you free from all the lies inside
Verse 2: This is the pain that is inescapable and torment is everlasting, be careful of the path you walk
666 is the number we created, but Love is also possible if you only let go
My life is in you hands now and all trust is in you that the fallen will rise and one day happiness will be acheived.
Chorus
Death fires upon me, my life fades as I fall to the ground.......with a gasp of breath I hear the trumpet sound
What happens now is yet to be disclosed, but I know now what was meant all along and as Angels cry out and the end is near, I do not fear, for I know where my heart lies.

Havent really perfected none of these, some of them are way to long...

My New Addiction

Well this morning I was a little bit bored and felt like playing Xbox Live. Well I thought about playing Halo online like usual, but I felt like trying something new. I looked at the games I have on my shelf and saw the Orange Box. I bought this last year so I could play Half Life 2(Orange box is a compilation game collecting: Half Life 2, Episode 1 and 2 expansions, Portal, and Team Fortress 2). Anyhow I realized that I never played Team Fortress 2 online, so I popped it in. I have played it all day today, it is crazy addicting and fun. You get 9 different classes of characters and you have to compete against another team by completing objectives. Anyway it sucks you in and I still havent played as all the classes yet. Im glad I decided to throw it in this morning and it will be sure to entertain me for a while(at least until Fallout 3 and Gears of War 2 come out).

Tellico Beware

This weekend(Possibly Sunday), we will be filming for our new video. We are probably going to be filming what we like to call "Hardcore" stuff, some more stunts, and we have a few skits in mind. We have done this before and the tape was destroyed. We also have a stockpile of old footage to go through that is on my Hi8 tapes. This time we plan on going all out and adding effects, editing, and burning it on DVDs and stuff. This in no way is a proffesional thing, we just feel like doing to have something to look back on later on in life. Personally I cant wait too get started because I love seeing my ideas come to life. Im not sure if this will even happy or be any good at all, but I want to try. So this is a fair warning to anybody around Tellico or Belltown or Coker Creek beware of us.

*Us/we being me and my friends mentioned earlier.

Other Side of the End of the Universe

Well I guess I never fully made a "first post", but this blog will mostly be about the fun stuff that happens to me, any music news, or any new lyrics I may be working on. Well alot of times I will probaly mention a few friends that are like family to me, Cam A, Errick E, Cody C, Brian H, Trey S and Josh B. These are the people who are always there for me and vice versa. It kinda sucks though because most of them are doing college and I dont get to see them as much. In terms of music, I like just about anything, except I cant stand MOST rap. My favorite genre for the moment so to speak, is Progressive Death Metal. It heavy, technical, and very cool. Im actually learning how to play classical/metal/jazz guitar and thats the type of stuff that makes metal "progressive." So Im pretty excited about it, and Im gonna try my best to get into a band when I go to college. So this kinda of stuff is gonna be on here alot too. Well thats about all I can think of right now, just expect the random.

Some New Lyrics Im Working On

Darkness peers from the eyes of my bretheren
Shunned from the only life I know
Ostersized from the ones I loved
Hypocrites show themselves truly
I see what they are and have always been
Evil grew that day, almost hatred and scorn
Torn from my old self
You created this
You created me
Why?
In seeking the truth I found more than religion
Hatred was no more

These lyrics are a work in progress for sure. Its basically about how the church turned its back on me when I was younger and I hated it. Later on in life I found out Jesus was more than religion and I figured out that He wanted a relationship, friendship, and that made all the difference.