lior - Heal Me - acoustic cover

(the following text is taken straight from the video description from my latest youtube upload)

FOR those of my subscribers outside of australia that don't know who lior is, simply put, he's amazing. a singer song-writer influenced by the beatles, led zeppelin and a bunch of other cool stuff i'm sure. check him out..

http://www.myspace.com/lior

a few weeks ago i heard his new song "heal me" for the 1st time on the radio, a sneak preview to his upcoming album. i just can't get it out of my head.. so much so i just had to attempt this cover. it has such a fantastic chord progression. i'm pretty sure the song is so good, it even stands up to me butchering it. haha.

it's a pity i was too disorganised to actually get tickets and see him live in melbourne last week. next time i guess.

this is more like a blog post than a video description isn't it (which is why i've posted it to my blog) ? s'pose i'll just keep typing then. oh and yes, i recorded this in the office. i didn't plan it that way, i just happened to have my baby taylor under the desk and i was just manning the helpdesk phone at that moment... figured, sure, why not. and no i'm not posting any lyrics or chords, it's not my song, and besides, i might have got them all wrong.

cheers big ears.

how do i tune my drums?

short answer.. i don't know, i just do.

long answer... well here's a reply i wrote back to a friendly youtuber...

hey there,

i get asked to do a tuning tutorials all the time.. the only problem is i don't know how to explain how to tune.

i just tune it till it sounds good. there's no rules i follow. and it's different every time depending on the drum size, the skin thickness, the head dampening, the room size, the room acoustics, the volume i want, the sticks i'm using but most importantly, the style of music i'm about to play. sometimes i re-tune from one song to the next.

so sorry i can't be at all specific, but there are just too many variables when it comes to drum tuning.

if there's one tip i CAN give you, it's to use your ears.. listen, then listen again.

good luck.

-john

i'm still alive.. just not blogging

got a lot on my plate.. and not much in the way of interesting things to say.

facebook takes care of all my communicating these days.. even to family. ahh, technology. so isolating, yet so embracing. speaking of staying indoors, i think i'm going to go shopping for a new TV.. a nice big flat full HD LCD. and surround speakers.

why leave the house ever again?

-john

I get a LOT of emails and private messages on youtube asking all sorts of things, but two of the most common are regarding how I record my videos and when am I making a CD.. so here are my two most common responses.

g'day there,

i've been taking a short break from the song writing because life got a little hectic, but hopefully i'll be getting back into it soon.

and yes, after i have enough material that i'm happy with, i'll be recording an album, and then selling it online. it'll probably be on iTunes and i'll be personally selling actual CD's just through me. as in burning and printing them myself and walking to the post office and mailing them personally.. maybe i'll sell em though eBay. not sure yet. but basically since i'm not signed to any sort of label that would do the distribution, it's all going to be home brew.

wish me luck.

-john

This email was in response to a question about how I go about recording my videos... and it's different every time.

hi there,

the way i go about recording stuff is a little different every time, but generally what i'll do is record the video using my digital camera or handicam (not webcam) and record the audio entirely separately on my laptop using a variety of microphones, mixers and pre-amps. i'll often overdub multiple audio tracks on the one session of guitars, bass, vocal harmonies, percussion.. or whatever. in the audio software i can tweak levels and effects before making a final mixdown.

in movie maker i'll overlay the finished audio with the video and remove the original sound. then i'll go about editing the video how ever i feel like but making sure i keep the new audio in sync with the cuts.

sounds complicated but it's the same process used on almost every tv show and movie ever made.

the response is kind of long, but i hope it helps.

-johnnyOnline

So there you go, proof that I'm so busy(see: lazy) that I've resorted to posting previously sent emails as blog entries. I'm so awesome.

-JXL out

I guess I was Inspired

The Most Important Video You'll See Today

A YouTube Video Wish List

So I'm on youtube right, and I've made a lot of videos right, most of them musical.. but I'd like to make a lot more... and I will. But of what? My original songs of course, but for a bit of fun there are some other directions I'd like to go in. Here are some ideas that I've got floating around in the back of my mind. Feel free to leave more suggestions in the comments or email me at johnxlewis@gmail.com

• A Beatles Song.. Any Beatles Song
  
• Elliot Smiths "XO"
• More Weezer
• Maybe more John Mayer
• A Drumline Chart.. me playing all parts; snares, basses, tenors & cymbals
• I'd like to draw something... :)
• I'd like to animate something I draw
  
• A New Nerd/Joke Song.. Bigger, Better & Funnier than Love 2.0
• Another song by the Killers.. seems to suit my voice
• I'd like to wear an amusing costume or dance an amusing dance
• The return of "Nhoj" or another "Late night special skill"
• Footage from one of my live gigs
• A Kylie Minogue track.. no really
  

I just came to the realisation that I'm rather self involved... it's all me, me, me! That's what I need, more visits from friends! Guest appearances! That's the ticket!

See y'all on youtube...

-johnnyOnline

Talk About a Big Weekend...

SO.. what did i get up to? I played lots of music, bought a bass, comforted a poorly animal and was featured on the front page of one of the most visited websites in the known universe. What did you get up to?

Friday morning I dropped my dog off to the vet to have some teeth removed, not a fun experience at the best of times if you're a human and can have the situation explained to you. This is what Jet the Labrador looked like BEFORE the ordeal.


He looks like a fairly happy camper, but I think he knew something questionable was about to go down. I could see it in his eyes. At the vet he wasn't too keen to get in his kennel (see "cage") which I totally don't blame him for. I've not sat in a cage, but I'd imagine it's not as much fun as digging in the yard. After cuddles and goodbyes I headed home a productive 2 hour rehearsal with Dan and a click track.

Have you ever played with a click track? I have. It can simultaneously be your best friend and your worst enemy. I've had more experience with the latter. After working with Dan through some 80's classics (see Lionel Ritchies "All Night Long") and some current chart floaters (see Gwen Stefani's "Sweet Escape") I began to warm to the steady "BEEP-boop-boop-boop-BEEP-boop-boop-boop" being driven into my left earpiece. Who knows, maybe I'll actually look forward to the gigs that use the click... one day.

So with the dog at the vet and my rehearsal over, I was free to finish that 100th youtube music video extravaganza I'd been planning! One small problem though. The song was rubbish. Still is rubbish by the way, thanks for asking. If you haven't seen it, and I hope you haven't, my 100th video is somewhat of an anti-climax, so don't expect me to link to it from here. I think it all comes down to the fact that I didn't use my orange amp. Because songs just rock a whole lot more when they sound orange. Trust me.



Saturday night rolls around and I'm about to head off to my gig and what do I see? My silly old mug on the front page of everybody's favourite website, youtube! Christopher Mast, a subscriber of mine and guest editor for youtube this month, felt that the world might want to see me sing myself an amusing, albeit morbid, birthday song. So there I was. Front page. This weekend only. Thousands of new views, comments, and subscribers. Been there, done that. *yawn* . HAHA, I'm such a jerk. No really, it's awesome. Thanks Chris.

With the knowledge of this virtual spotlight now in the back of my mind, I set off for my gig in the city, all the more able to play the roll of Rock Star drummer... a roll one must assume when heading out to play a night of someone elses music. The day I show up at a bar and the band is playing something I wrote, is the day I can officially smile smuggly as I sip my beer. Until then I can enjoy getting paid to play the music someone else went to the effort of creating.



Speaking of creating new music, this new found gig money has allowed me to pick up a new bass on Sunday from Cranbourne Music, Cranbournes favourite musical instrument store. Sure my staff discount does influence my decision to buy there, but you can't deny, a sweet, sexy Fender Jazz Bass which will look lovely along side my Japanese Stratocaster. Oh I can feel the musical inspiration oozing from it already. So what did you get up to this weekend?

-johnnyonline

Gigging, Youtube & Beyond

So i've rejoined the world of regularly gigging musicians. As a drummer of course, as it's the one instrument i can feel comfortable pretending i'm good at. The very talented Dan Melita has booked me in as his drummer for a handful of gigs in and around the city of Melbourne, to which I am very grateful. Gives me the opportunity to knock the dust of my drums cases and really challenge my playing again, something i haven't been doing for a LONG time. Anyone that wants to see me pick up sticks in the flesh can head down to the James Squier Breweries in the Docklands this saturday night

Those of you that follow my youtube goings ons may or may not know that i'm about to put out my 100th video! 100 clips! what a massive time waster of a hobby i've stumbled into! hahaha...
oh i have a love-hate relationship with my youtube account. on one hand i've found myself a fantastic creative outlet that has literally brought an audience of thousands to my amateurish music with very little effort on my part other than creating the videos and music in the 1st place, oh and uploading them i guess. On the other hand i get so many emails, messages and questions i feel like it's become a 2nd (or 5th) job just reading all of them.. i've all but stopped replying to most of them. i DO read all of them.. and reply to SOME of them.. but i just don't have the time, 12 hour days can take it out of me. oh poor me (can you hear the violins?). So i'm really sorry if you've sent me a message or left a comment or asked a question and i've ignored you like the selfish a$$hole i'm so well known for being. i'm known to be a bit full of my own self importance... so you'll get that.. haha. i'm such a jerk.

ANYWAYS... so what's next? write some more songs, make another video, play some gigs. Work all day as a tech and all night as a drum teacher, work in the music store on the weekends. Around that find time for this blog, my youtube stuff, my facebook addiction, the obligatory myspace account and what the heck, i'll try to engage with the real world too. friends, family, relationship... oh and my labrador would probably like to go for a walk.

Something's gotta give. but for now i'll just keep ticking along. thank goodness for blogs, how else would i vent my frustrations?

-johnnyOnline