Yes it's true, you can now own shirts, hats, stickers, and many other items with the world (not yet) famous Mer7iN logo! Items for men, women, babies, and everyone else! Amaze your friends! Confound your enemies! Make complete strangers ignore you! All for the low, low price of $1.00!*


Mer7iN @ CafePress


*Disclaimer: CafePress seems intent on adding to my established price, so shirts  for example go for $10-20 more, but I can't do anything about that. Please don't make me suffer for them wanting to get paid too!

Unfinished Business (http://www.unfinishedbusiness.info) will be bringing the Rock to Little Cedar Grocery Store Saturday, May 30, starting at 7:00 PM! Attendance is free, beverages and snacks will be on sale in the store, consumption on the premises IS allowed - outside food and drink are NOT.

Little Cedar is known for their Monday Night Bluegrass Jams, ongoing since 2004 (http://www.carolinamusicways.org/events/forsyth/events_Cedar_Grocery.html), but Saturday night will be a jam of a different kind! The store is easy to find - just take 311 towards High Point, take the High Point Rd exit south, and you can't miss it!

See you there!!

Decided it was time to buckle down and dress up this place, but I didn't really want to use one of those apps... I'm a DIY'er, if you hadn't noticed! So, with the help of a website or two (or three), I was able to figure a few things out...

Looks much better, don't you think? Feel free to look around, make yourself at home, I don't think I left any traps or sneaky surprises around...

If anyone wonders, the background is based on tattoo flash I found, while the HexaDecagon is my own creation (not that I actually created the 16 sided figure, that would be up to the deity of your choice, but this particular representation is my own )

I dig it... it has a particular symbolism to me, but I'd be interested to see if it means anything to any of you as well. Leave a comment, we'll tawlk!

Due to recurring (mild) tendonitis, I've been trying to give my wrists a rest (get your mind out of the gutter, naughty person! ;)), but ...Walls and Suffer Life will be getting fleshed out, while Walk Alone HAS lyrics... they're complete, their just not done yet (kinda like a cake that might look done but is still all raw on the inside?). Maybe more like a bottle of wine that needs to age a bit... we'll see if they turn to vinegar, or bliss.

I'm always up for constructive criticism as well, so feel free to drop a comment letting me know what you think about the posted track... don't forget to check the lyric pages as well, they'll have some info about the song!

m7

Posted two new tunes, one that's been around but is newly recorded, and one that I just laid down tonight!

"Grounded" is a few years old, but when I brought it to the band (Unfinished Business), they really breathed new life into it. I'd never heard it as a southern jam band tune, but man does it ever work! It, and a few others, were recorded by David Coleman at his home studio - he did a fantastic job! The drums are his Roland V-Drum kit... not bad, if I do say so myself, given that was my first time using them.

By the way, the image I used for this tune is actually called "Grounded"; it's by Melanie Banayat and is used without permission. Check out her work, it's amazing stuff!

"#79" is a new idea I came up with a few days ago and just laid down tonight. Not a full song, obviously, but it turned out better than I expected. It was my first time playing around with splitting PodFarm's dual-amp feature to separate Send's in Reaper; it let me record the rhythm guitar track once and split it left and right. I did the same with the bass, having a 'dirty' and a 'clean' path recorded at the same time, then panned 30% right and left. Makes for a very interesting, very clean recording. This was also the first time I had a purposeful third guitar track, melody/solo type stuff, right down the middle. Opening up the center with the dual-amp tracking really lets those parts come through. The drums are a single stereo track, just a scratch to have something to play to, right now. I think the next thing I'll try is adding a second rhythm guitar, panned 50% right and left, with a totally different amp/cab simulation in PodFarm, and see how it all mixes; 4 guitar tracks is normally too much, but with these basically being split out stereo tracks, I'll really only have 2, 3 if you count the melody stuff in the middle.


I'll be updating the calendar in the next couple days as well... UB has a show at the Little Cedar Country Store in Kernersville coming up on the 30th. It's an all ages shindig they put on every year, and we've been asked to provide some classic tunes (we'll throw in our 'classic' originals as well, of course - come hear Grounded live!). Come out if you can, it's free! We've also been scheduled for the Dixie Classic Fair in October... more on that later.


Words from the wise: Don't think even for a minute that you're not going to die. On the other hand, don't forget to actually live your life until then.

m7

Late breaking news: my band, Unfinished Business, is playing at Confluence Coffee this Saturday night! We're sharing the gig with Ol' Skool; festivities should kick up around 7pm!

To get there: take Peters Creek Pkwy (Hwy 150) south from Winston to the stoplight at Hickory Tree Rd; make a U-turn, go just past the McDonalds, and Confluence is the big gravel parking lot on the right!

Confluence is a great place, and serves excellent coffee (as well as smoothies and killer milkshakes!!), so there'll be plenty to enjoy! ;)

See you there!

Uploaded a new demo! Mainly to show off my newly-refinished LTD M-207, and the Bare Knuckle Pickup's 'Painkiller' model I installed in the bridge!!

Enjoy! :D

Updated the former "December Groove", now known as "Walk Alone". It's in a demo state, still working on mixing, will be redoing the bass part when the new one arrives, and eventually all the guitar parts as well when the seven string is all back together. Oh, and lyrics are in the works too.

Enjoy, and feel free to comment!

Uploaded a new tune tonight... needs lyrics, and I have some floaty guitar stuff in mind for the verses, and it needs another section... but it's basically fleshed out!

Enjoy!

My SoundClick page - w/ New Music!

Did a new version of "Pride", in E standard and a bit faster (112 up from 100); also, a new idea I'm calling "Realistic".

Not posting them here just yet, I'd have to bump something off and they're not finished enough to do that! ;) Hope you like!

Been working on new software, refinishing the 7-string, testing out all sorts of new settings and patches.

Most recent uploads are the "Test Tracks", all using the '84 V, Yamaha BBN4 III, Line6 TonePort interface and Gearbox modeling software, Hydrogen drum sequencer w/ Alesis D4 samples, and Reaper for multi-track recording.