I shot this twenty years ago at the now-defunct Green Room, in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
July 19th 1997.
Man, time speeds up as you get older!

Knurl

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Knurl is the noise music project of Alan Bloor, Canadian experimental composer and sculptor. Based in Toronto, Ontario, Bloor has been performing and recording Knurl material since 1994, when his seminal harsh noise releases “Nervescrap” and “Initial Shock” were recorded and released. He has released over twenty albums internationally, and has collaborated with sound sculptors such as Jim O’Rourke, Thurston Moore, and Aube.

Biography

Bloor, originally from Windsor, Ontario, was involved in several bands in the early 80s, including a Hardcore punk band called “Binge of Violence.” After the band’s breakup, he pursued a career as a solo musician, studying jazz bass, as well as classical and flamenco guitar. In the late 1980s he began performing noise backgrounds at poetry readings in Detroit, Michigan, in which he experimented with his bass guitar by placing metal objects on the strings to produce the sounds (a technique often called prepared guitar).

Since that time, Bloor has delved heavily into experimentation with found objects as sound sources, which have included fan blades, typewriters, scrap metal and car springs. He has also supplied musical scores for performers Andrew Hammerson (ex DV-8) from the UK and Jake Brown, Montreal. Since the beginning of 1995 he has been performing solo as Knurl in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Detroit, and has explored a less harsh side of noise music in his acclaimed ambient music project called Pholde.

Music

Knurl’s objective is to take music and strip it entirely of what we know music to be: it’s rhythm, melody, vocals, even production quality which is most associated with music today. Bloor records and performs without the assistance of computers, synthesizers or samplers. Labels that have released Knurl material include Alien8 Recordings, RRRecords, Solipsism, Harshnoise, Troniks, Gameboy, and Obscurica.

I’m not sure how reliable some of these tests are.

I previously scored as an INTJ.

This time, it says INTP-T.

Maybe it is more detailed.

Hey Mike Nobody – you are “The Logician”.

THE LOGICIAN

Code: INTP-T

Role: Analyst

Strategy: Constant Improvement

MIND

This trait determines how we interact with our environment.

6% EXTRAVERTED

94% INTROVERTED

Introverted individuals prefer solitary activities and get exhausted by social interaction. They tend to be quite sensitive to external stimulation (e.g. sound, sight or smell) in general. Read more

ENERGY

This trait shows where we direct our mental energy.

77% INTUITIVE

23% OBSERVANT

Intuitive individuals are very imaginative, open-minded and curious. They prefer novelty over stability and focus on hidden meanings and future possibilities. Read more

NATURE

This trait determines how we make decisions and cope with emotions.

54% THINKING

46% FEELING

Thinking individuals focus on objectivity and rationality, prioritizing logic over emotions. They tend to hide their feelings and see efficiency as more important than cooperation. Read more

TACTICS

This trait reflects our approach to work, planning and decision-making.

30% JUDGING

70% PROSPECTING

Prospecting individuals are very good at improvising and spotting opportunities. They tend to be flexible, relaxed nonconformists who prefer keeping their options open. Read more

IDENTITY

This trait underpins all others, showing how confident we are in our abilities and decisions.

29% ASSERTIVE

71% TURBULENT

Turbulent individuals are self-conscious and sensitive to stress. They are likely to experience a wide range of emotions and to be success-driven, perfectionistic and eager to improve. Read more

LOGICIAN PERSONALITY (INTP, -A/-T)

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.

Albert Einstein

The Logician personality type is fairly rare, making up only three percent of the population, which is definitely a good thing for them, as there’s nothing they’d be more unhappy about than being “common”. Logicians pride themselves on their inventiveness and creativity, their unique perspective and vigorous intellect. Usually known as the philosopher, the architect, or the dreamy professor, Logicians have been responsible for many scientific discoveries throughout history.

The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living

Logicians are known for their brilliant theories and unrelenting logic – in fact, they are considered the most logically precise of all the personality types.

They love patterns, and spotting discrepancies between statements could almost be described as a hobby, making it a bad idea to lie to a Logician. This makes it ironic that Logicians’ word should always be taken with a grain of salt – it’s not that they are dishonest, but people with the Logician personality type tend to share thoughts that are not fully developed, using others as a sounding board for ideas and theories in a debate against themselves rather than as actual conversation partners.

This may make them appear unreliable, but in reality no one is more enthusiastic and capable of spotting a problem, drilling through the endless factors and details that encompass the issue and developing a unique and viable solution than Logicians – just don’t expect punctual progress reports. People who share the Logician personality type aren’t interested in practical, day-to-day activities and maintenance, but when they find an environment where their creative genius and potential can be expressed, there is no limit to the time and energy Logicians will expend in developing an insightful and unbiased solution.

Wisdom Begins in Wonder

They may appear to drift about in an unending daydream, but Logicians’ thought process is unceasing, and their minds buzz with ideas from the moment they wake up. This constant thinking can have the effect of making them look pensive and detached, as they are often conducting full-fledged debates in their own heads, but really Logicians are quite relaxed and friendly when they are with people they know, or who share their interests. However, this can be replaced by overwhelming shyness when Logician personalities are among unfamiliar faces, and friendly banter can quickly become combative if they believe their logical conclusions or theories are being criticized.

When Logicians are particularly excited, the conversation can border on incoherence as they try to explain the daisy-chain of logical conclusions that led to the formation of their latest idea. Oftentimes, Logicians will opt to simply move on from a topic before it’s ever understood what they were trying to say, rather than try to lay things out in plain terms.

The reverse can also be true when people explain their thought processes to Logicians in terms of subjectivity and feeling. Imagine an immensely complicated clockwork, taking in every fact and idea possible, processing them with a heavy dose of creative reasoning and returning the most logically sound results available – this is how the Logician mind works, and this type has little tolerance for an emotional monkey-wrench jamming their machines.

Let Those Who Would Move the World First Move Themselves

Further, Logicians are unlikely to understand emotional complaints at all, and their friends won’t find a bedrock of emotional support in them. People with the Logician personality type would much rather make a series of logical suggestions for how to resolve the underlying issue, a perspective that is not always welcomed by their more sensitive companions. This will likely extend to most social conventions and goals as well, like planning dinners and getting married, as Logicians are far more concerned with originality and efficient results.

The one thing that really holds Logicians back is their restless and pervasive fear of failure. Logician personalities are so prone to reassessing their own thoughts and theories, worrying that they’ve missed some critical piece of the puzzle, that they can stagnate, lost in an intangible world where their thoughts are never truly applied. Overcoming this self-doubt stands as the greatest challenge Logicians are likely to face, but the intellectual gifts – big and small – bestowed on the world when they do makes it worth the fight.

LOGICIAN STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

Logician Strengths

• Great Analysts and Abstract Thinkers – People with the Logician personality type view the world as a big, complex machine, and recognize that as with any machine, all parts are interrelated. Logicians excel in analyzing these connections, seeing how seemingly unrelated factors tie in with each other in ways that bewilder most other personality types.
• Imaginative and Original – These connections are the product of an unrelenting imagination – Logicians’ ideas may seem counter-intuitive at a glance, and may never even see the light of day, but they will always prove remarkable innovations.
• Open-Minded – Logicians couldn’t make these connections if they thought they knew it all – they are highly receptive to alternate theories, so long as they’re supported by logic and facts. In more subjective matters like social norms and traditions, Logicians are usually fairly liberal, with a “none of my business” sort of attitude – peoples’ ideas are what matter.
• Enthusiastic – When a new idea piques their interest, Logicians can be very enthusiastic – they are a reserved personality type, but if another person shares an interest, they can be downright excited about discussing it. More likely though, the only outward evidence of this enthusiasm will be Logicians’ silent pacing or their staring into the distance.
• Objective – Logicians’ analysis, creativity and open-mindedness aren’t the tools of some quest for ideology or emotional validation. Rather, it’s as though people with the Logician personality type are a conduit for the truths around them, so far as they can be expressed, and they are proud of this role as theoretical mediator.
• Honest and Straightforward – To know one thing and say another would be terribly disingenuous – Logicians don’t often go around intentionally hurting feelings, but they believe that the truth is the most important factor, and they expect that to be appreciated and reciprocated.

Logician Weaknesses

• Very Private and Withdrawn – While Logicians’ intellectualism yields many insights into their surroundings, their surroundings are ironically considered an intrusion on their thoughts. This is especially true with people – Logicians are quite shy in social settings. More complicated situations such as parties exacerbate this, but even close friends struggle to get into Logicians’ hearts and minds.
• Insensitive – Oftentimes Logician personalities get so caught up in their logic that they forget any kind of emotional consideration – they dismiss subjectivity as irrational and tradition as an attempt to bar much-needed progress. Purely emotional situations are often utterly puzzling to Logicians, and their lack of timely sympathy can easily offend.
• Absent-minded – When Logicians’ interest is captured, their absence goes beyond social matters to include the rest of the physical world. Logicians become forgetful, missing even the obvious if it’s unrelated to their current infatuation, and they can even forget their own health, skipping meals and sleep as they muse.
• Condescending – Attempts at connecting with others are often worse than Logicians’ withdrawal. People with the Logician personality type take pride in their knowledge and rationale, and enjoy sharing their ideas, but in trying to explain how they got from A to B to Z, they can get frustrated, sometimes simplifying things to the point of insult as they struggle to gauge their conversation partners’ perspective. The ultimate insult comes as Logicians give up with a dismissive “never mind”.
• Loathe Rules and Guidelines – These social struggles are partly a product of Logicians’ desire to bypass the rules, of social conduct and otherwise. While this attitude helps Logicians’ strength of unconventional creativity, it also causes them to reinvent the wheel constantly and to shun security in favor of autonomy in ways that can compromise both.
• Second-Guess Themselves – Logicians remain so open to new information that they often never commit to a decision at all. This applies to their own skills as well – Logician personalities know that as they practice, they improve, and any work they do is second-best to what they could do. Unable to settle for this, Logicians sometimes delay their output indefinitely with constant revisions, sometimes even quitting before they ever begin.

LOGICIAN RELATIONSHIPS

• When it comes to romantic relationships, Logicians have an interesting mixture of traits that often pleasantly surprise their partners. People with this personality type are always full of ideas, but they have few opportunities to explore their more romantic notions. As with any of their theories, Logicians love sharing with others, and in finally meeting someone where romantic thoughts are appropriate, they show themselves to be excited, enthusiastic, and even playful, flirting with word-play and intellectual games.
• None of this is to say that these relationships come easily to Logicians – they are shy and withdrawn individuals, and getting out and meeting new people, risking rejection and making themselves the center of attention in emotionally delicate situations are far from being their strengths. It is more likely that Logician personalities will leave a trail of breadcrumbs for a potential partner, allowing them to make the first move and committing to their partner as an act of reciprocation rather than bravado.

Marry! A Good Wife Makes Happiness, A Bad One, Philosophy

• From the start, Logicians take their relationships seriously – their imagination and vision, and the challenge of getting to know new people, make them all too aware of how important it is that they’re involved with someone, and they will prove themselves surprisingly loyal. Even early in the dating phase, Logicians are unusually direct and honest, doing their best to express their mindset and create mutual understanding, believing that this shared knowledge will help to minimize misunderstandings and avoid conflict.
• As their relationships progress, Logicians’ daily needs prove remarkably simple. Gifts, surprises, complex social plans and date nights are all fairly unimportant to people with the Logician personality type, but this is also one of their chiefest weaknesses – their partner may very much need these things, and it won’t even occur to Logicians to plan them out. For all their analysis and attempts at mutual understanding, Logicians are notoriously bad at picking up on others’ emotional needs.
• When it comes to conflict, there is a certain willful ignorance for Logicians, and they often set aside their partners’ feelings, and their own, for far too long.
• When these conflicts do arise and are inescapable, Logicians will do their best to find a logical solution. But this hardly helps if the problem is logic itself, that Logician personalities aren’t meeting their partners’ emotional needs. Logicians should keep this in mind, and try to meet their partners halfway by communicating on an emotional level – if they make this effort, understanding partners will recognize and appreciate the gesture, clumsy though it may be. After all, they need to afford Logicians the same benefit, and meet them halfway with logic and simplicity as well.

Beware the Barrenness of a Busy Life

• All this material asceticism and conflict avoidance support one primary goal – to free up mental resources for more important things. Logicians’ creative, vivid imagination make for a surprisingly enthusiastic, passionate, and romantic partner. While Logicians may prioritize their inner world too much, imagining interesting and exciting intimate situations that are never expressed to their partners, they also use this rich inner world to achieve as much as possible in intimacy – they rarely want for ideas.
• Physically, intellectually and with a little effort emotionally, Logician relationships are rich and rewarding connections. Partners who share the Intuitive (N) trait are usually best, along with one or two opposite traits to create variety and balance, but so long as Logicians remember that they are with people who have their own, independent wants and needs, and so long as their partners remember the same of their Logicians, these are long-lasting and satisfying relationships.

LOGICIAN FRIENDS

• Many of the usual motivations for making friends – emotional support, social validation, shared routine – simply don’t apply to Logicians. More likely, these concepts are met with disdain, as people with the Logician personality type prize intellectual depth above all else. It is not easy to become good friends with Logicians, but if there is a common interest and a common train of thought, the connection is likely to spark instantly, surprising everyone else who thought they had this distant personality type pegged.

Be Slow to Fall Into Friendship…

• Logician friendships are knowledge-based, defined by the exchange of ideas, theories, and concepts, and those who aren’t able to keep up with this, or who have sharply differing tastes (don’t talk to Logicians about celebrities) will find stony faces that border on rude. To Logicians, communication is often more of a nuisance than a pleasure, and conversation is reserved for topics that they find meaningful, or for people they already like enough to stick it out.
• Unless there’s a natural affinity for this intellectual style, few have the patience to try to penetrate their shields, and Logicians are left with a naturally small circle of good friends.
• Other Analyst personalities are a natural fit for Logicians, who share their passion for new ideas, riddles and solutions. People with the Logician personality type are knowledgeable and intelligent, and have a great deal of respect for those who can keep them on their toes in this regard. They will gladly help to tackle any dilemma thrown their way, offering up sound advice and rational solutions. As valuable as these qualities are though, they are not always the best approach – when it comes to emotional support or advice in dealing with matters of the heart, Logicians are at a loss.
• It’s not that Logician personalities don’t feel – quite the contrary, they actually have very strong sentiments. But this is not their strongest suit, making Logicians’ emotional reactions strong, untrustworthy and naturally in need of being tempered by their well-trained logic and rationalism.

…But When in Friendship, Continue Firm and Constant

• While they may not be able to help directly with these sorts of problems, Logicians help indirectly with unambiguous and reliable friendships. Logicians’ friends need never worry about power games or emotional baggage – they are liked for their minds and abilities, not their status or possessions. While it may not be easy to establish true friendships with Logician personalities, once the link is made, they will provide years of understanding and thought-stimulating ideas, making them well worth the effort.

LOGICIAN PARENTS

• In parenting roles, as with many social roles, Logicians find themselves facing a robust but healthy challenge. Not a naturally sensitive type, Logician personalities struggle to identify with the raw emotions and irrationality that are often the standard with young children, who have yet to develop the sort of self-control and logical thinking that Logicians take for granted.
• People with the Logician personality type are nevertheless incredibly devoted – perhaps not in the traditional, emotionally supportive sense, but they are parents who are committed to encouraging their growing children to think and act independently, seek out new knowledge, and voice and defend their own opinions.
• For Logicians, knowledge is key, and they will do their best to give their children the tolerance and freedom necessary to acquire it. Logician parents take a relaxed, intellectual approach towards their children, allowing them to explore the world around them and overlooking the more minor offences along the way.
• Having no interest in exerting control over other human beings, Logicians are likely to allow their children to form their own principles – though they may take the opportunity of the “why?” phase to share their own perspectives and ideas, just in case.
• Logician personalities are not particularly demanding parents, at least not in the sense that they expect their children to live a traditional life of school > career > marriage > house > kids > retirement (and in that order, thank you very much). Rather, Logician parents are demanding in an intellectual sense – they want their children to ask if this path is the best path for them, and how to go about following a different one if they need to. This level of personal freedom can be daunting, and can take a long time to come to terms with, but Logician parents are prepared to stand by their children with support and advice for as long as they need.
• While there is hardly a better parent for having rational, intelligent discussions with their children, there is hardly a clumsier example when it comes to providing the emotional support that many children need, especially as they approach their teenage years. In this area, Logicians will need to either rely on a more capable partner, or to take themselves far out of their comfort zone in order to empathize without trying to clear away the tears with an endless series of rational suggestions and blunt truths.

Not Just Life, but Good Life

• Logicians want nothing more than for their children to grow up smart, independent, and tolerant, but if they want them to be well-adjusted too, they must make this effort. Logicians’ parenting style affords a great deal of latitude for their children, but with this freedom comes responsibility, and it is Logicians’ responsibility to ensure that it is used constructively. Though it’s a challenge for people with the Logician personality type to teach empathy alongside rationality, if they are able to pull it off, their children will grow into confident adults who know how to ask questions, use their minds, and take care of themselves no matter what comes their way.

LOGICIAN CAREERS

• Logicians are solitary, eccentric, and independent – none of which is listed as desirable for corporate positions, which are usually designed for very different personality types. Logicians duly struggle in finding careers that meet their needs, but what they do bring, qualities in much higher demand, are creativity, a passion for theoretical methods and ideas, and an entrepreneurial, innovative spirit. If they are able to put this better foot forward to secure a position in a suitable line of work, people with the Logician personality type will find that, whatever the job listing says, these “less desirable” qualities will prove an asset after all.

A Poem of Numbers

• Chief among Logicians’ interests is exploring and building models for underlying principles and ideas, even going so far as to find these concepts, in their own way, beautiful – this makes them natural mathematicians, systems analysts, and career scientists, especially in more abstract fields such as physics. There are many other careers that allow Logicians to explore these interests, but many of them are far too rooted in uninteresting practical applications. As useful as it is to develop a better vacuum cleaner, it is no Large Hadron Collider.
• Logician personalities are self-driven and have very high personal standards – “good enough” is never good enough – but have few environmental needs. Despite this relative simplicity, they are often hard for more people-centric types to understand. Logicians live primarily in their own heads, and have little interest in social distractions like chitchat and motivational speeches.
• All Logicians really want is to immerse themselves in an interesting project, and anything that interrupts that, be it overactive managers, the need to manage others, or office parties or meetings, are simply unwelcome burdens.
• For this reason, the flatter the workplace hierarchy, the better, making small, technical workplaces and fields such as law, forensics, and laboratory research very desirable for Logicians. Insightful and open-minded managers who can accommodate these needs will find their Logician subordinates to be a tireless generator of brilliant and unique ideas. However, many people with the Logician personality type may do away with the immediate hierarchy altogether, opting instead to provide their services on a freelance basis as consultants.

Emotional Values: A Mere Illusion

• Where Logicians do not thrive is in workplaces that require them to provide a high degree of emotional satisfaction – cruise ship masseuses they are not. Logician personalities struggle to understand emotional exchanges, and service-oriented positions will prove baffling and exhausting for them. Though Logicians are talented analysts who are perfectly capable of understanding the theoretical importance of customer service, the day-to-day application of such a scheme is simply better left to more people-oriented personality types.
• Business is growing more complex every day, and this complexity is managed with technical systems, economic theories, and data. The need for novel approaches is stronger than ever for people and organizations to distinguish themselves. Though general people skills are often phrased as a must, it is the technical work that creates something to talk about, and it is in this pursuit that Logicians thrive.
• Work as business analysts and corporate strategists is well suited to Logicians, but they can also move things forward as data analysts, mechanical, electrical and software engineers, and even as technical writers and journalists, provided the field is interesting enough. If they can smile and shake hands just long enough to establish themselves as the brilliant innovators that they are, people with the Logician personality type will find that whatever the expectations for social conduct, it is the qualities unique to them that are truly in demand.

LOGICIANS IN THE WORKPLACE

• The running theme for Logicians is their desire for solitude, need for intellectual stimulation, and the satisfaction of the final piece of a puzzle clicking into place. Whether in subordinate or management positions, with colleagues or working alone, these privileges and the freedom to pursue them unfettered by social obligations and progress reports are about all people with the Logician personality type look for in their workplace.
• Though Logicians may scoff at the notion, they actually function best when paired with another person. Their position determines which personality type best fits their needs, but Logicians’ tendency to live in their heads and vent inspiration and creativity seemingly at random demands the presence of an implementer to ensure that no stroke of genius goes unnoticed.

Logician Subordinates

• Under the right conditions, Logician subordinates are innovative, resourceful, and hard-working, easily wrapping their minds around whatever complex problems are placed in front of them and delivering unorthodox but effective solutions. However, these qualities require a great deal of freedom, something stereotypical managers are loath to cede. It is difficult to quantify these qualities on a resume – several other characteristics, like a relative indifference to job security and to being liked, exacerbate the challenge – and it can take time to grow to trust Logician subordinates enough to allow this latitude.
• Logician personalities prefer to work alone, but at the same time they despise “grunt-work”. Their focus on conceiving new and exciting ideas and ignoring the details of execution means that Logicians need someone alongside to keep things in order and actually put into practice their often unrefined ideas. Such a condition can’t be forced on Logicians, but a few logically phrased criticisms (certainly not emotional appeals or pep talks about working as part of a team) and clever management can make it happen.

Logician Colleagues

• For Logicians, colleagues aren’t so much a group of people who they socialize and work with as they are a series of obstacles and diversions with occasionally useful knowledge. Mingling, chitchat, drinks after work – these make Logicians want to work alone, not get up in the morning. Despite this distance, people with the Logician personality type are unusually good at developing insightful and unbiased interpretations of others’ motivations, though sometimes they overthink it, becoming unnecessarily suspicious of others’ goals.
• What they do enjoy are riddles and patterns, and any Logician would be proud to be the guru who is sought after as arbiter on the validity of an idea, or for their insight on how to apply a principle to novel situations. Logicians love discussing theories, at least with “proven” colleagues, and are almost always available as impromptu consultants. This, however, does not apply to emotional riddles and conflicts, Logicians’ Achilles Heel – in these charged situations, Logician personalities have no clue what to do.

Logician Managers

• While Logicians don’t care for managing other people, it is likely the most rewarding position as it provides the opportunity to direct concepts and theories while others handle the logistics. Logicians have a very tolerant and flexible style, characterized by an openness to logical suggestions and relative freedom for their subordinates. But this freedom comes at a cost – Logician managers have very high standards, and they expect others to grasp their insights instantly, and to provide their own in equal measure.
• As well as their demand for innovation, Logicians are better than any other type at noticing logical discrepancies – their tendency to ignore others’ feelings means that their criticisms often come hard and fast as they direct projects to their own perfectionistic standards. Here again Logicians do best with a partner, this time a delegator who can filter their thoughts and direct their team in more socially productive ways. A liaison can also help to deter schmoozing and attempts at emotional manipulation, a sure mistake for anyone who tries.

LOGICIAN PERSONALITY – CONCLUSION

• Logicians’ intelligence and logical reasoning skills are a force to be reckoned with. Be it a minor debate or a life-changing decision, Logicians will find it easy to entertain multiple ideas and keep a cool head. This allows Logicians to overcome many challenging obstacles – yet they can be easily tripped up in areas where careful and rational thinking is more of a liability than an asset.
• Whether it is finding (or keeping) a partner, making friends, reaching dazzling heights on the career ladder or learning to make difficult decisions, Logicians need to put in a conscious effort to develop their weaker traits and additional skills.

https://www.16personalities.com/profiles/5848b8d1b0b2e

I’m working on a schedule.

Dunno if I can stick to it.

But, at least it is a goal to strive toward.

I would like to write and record a new song each week. I have a terrible habit of only getting parts of things done before depression kicks in and I do absolutely nothing.

I would like to book at least two shows every month, one as Mike Nobody and one as Mike Damn Nobody. But, I SUCK, SUCK, SUCK at booking gigs. I think that nearly all of the shows I have played were booked by someone else or I was invited to perform.

I would like to publish a new zine about every three months, quarterly. But, I’m always broke. If I set aside a few bucks each month ($20-30), maybe I can build up a fund for music & art projects. We will see about that. I am currently (at least) $7,000 dollars in the hole.

I would like to release a new video blog, at least monthly. Maybe also a music video to coincide with each issue of the zine? I dunno. I tried to make vlogs weekly. But, I couldn’t do it.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles returns to TV soon. So, I am definitely making each Sunday “Pizza & Ninja Turtles Day.” A TMNT marathon ALL DAY LONG.

Mike Nobody
Theee Urban SpaceCat
P.O. Box 1201
Taylor, MI 48180
USA

http://www.MikeNobody.Com

I never felt like I had a particular “style” of playing or a specific tone. Maybe I do and cannot hear it. But, I always looked for little things in other players that would be useful in the way that I play and add them to my toolbox. Everything became another color to paint with, whenever I needed it. I generally use whatever the given song needs. But, I try to combine things together in unusual ways, if possible.

I prefer ground wound strings over the more commonly used roundwounds. They’re easier on my fingers and have a smoother tone, almost like flatwounds… but, a little brighter. If I use distortion or any effects I am more likely to use a pick. I prefer 1mm recycled copper/nylon picks. If I use my fingers, it is usually to get more subtle tones from the actual strings. I typically play with three fingers (ring, middle, index) instead of two. It makes triplets and odd-meter pieces easier to play. I sorta wanna learn to play a bit more like country guitarist Danny Gatton, who had a banjo-like fingerpicking style using four or five fingers on the guitar.

—————–

Tim Commerford (Rage Against The Machine);

Lemmy Kilmister played guitar in the psychedelic band Sam Gopal and, for a while, roadied for Jimi Hendrix. “I’ve never come across a better guitarist than Jimi. Within a couple of years, I’d seen all the tricks but I wasn’t good enough,” he admitted. “That’s why I gave up the guitar and picked up the bass.”

Hawkwind‘s rhythm section of Dave Anderson and Terry Ollis was replaced by Lemmy and Simon King, both of whose style differed notably from their predecessors. This changed the band’s overall musical direction. Lemmy was a self-confessed inept guitarist who used volume and stagecraft to cover his lack of ability. He became a bassist by accident after joining the band, thinking he was replacing Huw Lloyd Langton. Lemmy said
“ I knew the guitarist because he took eight tabs of acid and then we never saw him for five years. ”
However, Dave Brock decided to play lead and continue without a second guitarist. Hawkwind’s bass guitarist failed to turn up and Lemmy was available. He said:
“ I learned to play bass onstage with Hawkwind… I go out onstage with this bass around my neck, and it was a Rickenbacker, too. The bass player, like an idiot, left his bass in the truck. So I’m learning. Nik Turner says to make some noises in E. “This one’s called You Shouldn’t Do That.” Then he walks away. ”
This led to Lemmy’s very unorthodox technique. Lemmy stated:
“ I just don’t play like a bass player. There are complaints about me from time to time. It’s not like having a bass player; it’s like having a deep guitarist.”

“You don’t tweak Lemmy’s bass sound,” producer Tony Platt noted from the get-go. “There’s a story that goes with that actually.”

He went on to explain how Lemmy’s Marshall amp blew up during one of the recording sessions. It was Friday and the boys needed the machine back on Monday. Seemingly lucky, the guitar tech managed to find someone who can get the job done in super-short notice.

“So off he went and we came in on the Monday and I said, ‘Did you get the amp fixed?’, and he said, ‘Yes, absolutely no problem.’ I said, ‘What was wrong?’ and he said, ‘Oh, it was just a couple of things that had burnt out. But while he was in there, this guy had all the original circuits and there were a few bits in there that were strange so he’s kind of put those right.’

“I said, ‘He’s done what?!’ The guitar tech said, ‘Yeah, there were bits of the circuit that weren’t the way they should be and he’s put them back to where they should be.’ I said, ‘No, no, no, no. Lemmy’s amp has been modified by a series of guitar techs over the years to sound like Lemmy’s amp. You don’t put it back to a normal Marshall. You leave all this stuff in there.'”

He continued, “Of course we plugged it in and it sounded limp and it just wasn’t the right thing. Fortunately this guy could remember what it was he changed to get it sound like it did. It was one of those moments of, ‘Oh, my god. No. This is terrible.'”

Greg Ginn’s guitar tone evolved from the fact that Panic / Black Flag had no consistent bass players.  So, the guitar needed to fill up the lower frequencies better.

With a modified lucite Dan Armstrong guitar plugged into an old Peavey PA, he would overdrive the shit out of it, making it sound more like a very deep guitar amplifier.

Ginn’s guitar sound is distinctive, often recognizable within a few notes. His guitar tone is typically characterized by a lack of highs and a high amount of mids, which creates a muffled sound. Black Flag singer Henry Rollins has repeatedly compared Ginn’s playing not to any other guitarists, but to free jazz saxophonists Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy. These may initially appear unlikely comparisons, but a closer examination reveals some similarities: Like both saxophonists, Ginn tends towards highly emotive playing and has a thorough grasp of musical harmony, though often choosing to play notes that are technically “incorrect” but which frequently carry a greater visceral impact than “proper” playing. Ginn is an avid jazz fan, stating he generally prefers music by saxophone or piano players.

He and bassist Kira Roessler gradually moved to using solid state preamps, notably early models made by Roland.

Dee Dee Ramone / CJ Ramone (The Ramones);

Bootsy Collins has an interesting setup. Each pickup signal is dedicated to a separate effects chain and amplifier. So, he is able to use a wide combination of elements to get different sounds when he needs them.

Likewise, Chris Squire (Yes) separated the bridge pickup from the neck’s signal, splitting them into stereo, using both bass and lead guitar amps. This gave his sound some overdrive without muddying up the low end.

Geddy Lee (Rush) abandoned live amplifiers altogether. Since 1996, Lee no longer uses traditional bass amplifiers on stage, opting to have the bass guitar signals input directly to the touring front-of-house console, to improve control and balance of sound reinforcement. Faced with the dilemma of what to do with the empty space left behind by the lack of large amplifier cabinets, Lee chose to decorate his side of the stage with unusual items.

I kinda added this concept to the Chris Squire / Bootsy Collins practice of using multiple amplifiers. So, one line goes from a DI, straight to the mixer.

I don’t slap nearly as much as some bassists. But, I still like using some of these techniques when I need them.

Norwood Fisher (Fishbone);

Flea;

Larry Graham, originator of the slapping technique.

One thing I like about Jaco Pastorius is that, although he is highly regarded as a great bassist, he never slapped…at all.

I also love me some groovy effects as much as the next guy.

Juan Alderete + Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (Mars Volta);

There is another post about my supposed “sound” and “look”:

https://mikenobody.com/2016/04/08/is-there-a-sound-or-look/

I am listening to some old school beats, trying to get into a mood to use my drum machine sounds on something.

It isn’t something that I just jump into.

I have to be in the right mood for drum machines, I guess.

Without a reliable drummer, this is the best that I can do, I suppose.

Growing up in Detroit, during the birth of Hip Hop and Techno, it should be no surprise that this had an influence on me.

As kids, many of us would tape The Electrifying Mojo off of the radio at home and then breakdance to it during recess.

Breakdancing!

Remember that?

Daft Punk and Fatboy Slim are the closest things to it that I listen to nowadays.

I just don’t hear much happening in that genre that interests me much, lately.

Thirty years ago, it was much, much, different.

I still like all of that stuff and the groups that inspired it (Kraftwerk, Parliament-Funkadelic, etc.), although by and large I am pretty much a punk rocker at heart.

I first got into Faith No More around when Introduce Yourself came out.

Punk rocker Chuck Mosley stood in stark contrast to the professionalism of the rest of the band.

They were a tight musical group, with this strange guy who could barely sing as their vocalist.

I loved it.

He had replaced Courtney Love as lead singer a few years prior.

Can you imagine what that must have sounded like?

Courtney Love?

Anyway, the difference between when he was replaced by Mike Patton is night and day.

It is like two totally different bands.

In turn, he replaced HR of the Bad Brains a few years later.

I think he was an excellent fit right there.

But, I guess it didn’t work out between them for some reason.

Like the David Lee Roth / Van Hagar dispute, Chuck showed me how important a lead singer can be.

Even if the vocalist isn’t very good, it is extremely difficult to replace them.

So, I always tried to take the lead singer position, when it was available.

Not that I have a great voice.

But, I couldn’t afford any instruments, at first.

As long as I was in tune and sang in the correct key, I felt that bands would have little reason to get rid of me, despite my personality flaws.

True, I was never kicked out of any bands.

But, people quit a lot.

Damn.

While I was still a teenager, performing in shitty cover bands, I tried to teach myself to sing like Mike Patton.

He is a damn good singer, with lots of range and diversity.

How many other vocalists can blend Frank Sinatra with Sade and Justin K Broadrick of Godflesh / Napalm Death?

Unfortunately, I just don’t have the pipes for it.

I have always hated my voice.

I am told that it is because I use cheap microphones.

But, I guess everyone’s voice sounds weird to them when they hear it played back to them.

I think that I am finally beginning to get used to it.

The less I try to sound like someone else and just be myself the better that the results are, I believe.

Still, it is good training to mimic something, at least at first.

I used to be an excellent mimic of voices and sound effects.

I did a lot of impressions as a kid.

Maybe it does help your singing voice.