daniel_v

On the issue of the media, Matt actually made a good point regarding it last month. On top of his original point about how Youtube algorithms (which are scarily enough generated by A.I) lead to polarizing echo chambers, he was responding to a message in private that I sent him and it was regarding his post about the comment I made about the Guardian/his views on that news organization. In it he quoted a passage from Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman's Manufacturing Consent: “The greater profitability of the media in a deregulated environment has also led to an increase in takeovers and takeover threats, with even giants like CBS and Time, Inc., directly attacked or threatened. This has forced the managements of the media giants to incur greater debt and to focus ever more aggressively and unequivocally on profitability, in order to placate owners and reduce the attractiveness of their properties to outsiders.” And what creates profitability? Hyperbole, sensationalism, conflict and demonization. That's not to mention doing incredibly one sided and laughable reporting. To that end, I agree with you that I worry what they will do without Trump to continually dump on (even though he does absolutely feed them). Most likely, as Mike noted above, there will probably be an even increased shift towards the racial angle that has already been ballooned and over exaggerated by critical race theory narratives. This will, as usual, lead to even more violence and death. That all considered, I do honestly fear how Biden will respond to the social demands of the far left (especially with someone like Harris as his VP) or just downplay their violence if he does indeed win this election after the dust has finally settled. These are two people who- like a lot of people- will not take context into account at all. The refusal of both politicians to differentiate between the cases of someone tragically killed like Ahmaud Arbery vs. someone like Jacob Blake was incredibly telling to me. Arbery was simply minding his own business when two red neck hicks decided they were going to do a armed, citizen's arrest; Blake, on the other hand, violated a restraining order that had been issued against him due to past sexual assaults, apparently was trying to kidnap a child, fought with police, shrugged off two taser shots, and ignored the commands of the officers he had been fighting when he went to grab an unknown object out of his car. While everyone understandably decried the need to shoot him seven times, most people have never been cops themselves and don't understand that even after being shot multiple times, suspects can still be an incredible risk. This has been sadly proven over and over. Ultimately, both Biden and Harris come off as career politicians who look great on the surface and tell the public what they want to hear, but do not try to get or want their supporters thinking deeper. Likewise, when one does dig deeper, they will find disturbing things on both Biden and Harris. The "cult" comment reminded me of this.

Agree? Disagree?

Lol, ??

Yeah, they definitely added their own flavor into the covers. Everything from the drumming, the synth, the guitar rhythms and leads, the bass, the piano, and just the general progression of each song is amazing. Together they managed to keep the original spirit and soul of each song by maintaining the general melody, but also made them their own by rearranging/re-imagining each individual instrument and the general progression of each song. That is not an easy thing to pull off and they seemed to have done so beautifully. Honestly was a surprising pleasure to discover and listen to.

Came across some pretty impressive full band covers this weekend that three brothers recently put together. Each does vocals on a different song. I was taking to them online and they said MGB and Matt solo are the only band that they can all agree on. Thought I’d share them here if anyone wants to check them out. Fated, Black Helicopter, and Running For Home On that topic as well, if anyone here has any personal covers (or ones they know about) that they want to share please feel free.

@adam_777, u have any info on this subject? I've never used Elgato- or even done VHS to digital transfers- but with regards to the video/audio being out of sync, if u can't find any other solutions there are other programs you can use. I had a similar problem with the one I used to record the interviews I did with Ian and John this past July. It's called "Debut". After the interviews were done I would play them back and the audio/video would be out of sync. As such, when I would upload them into VideoPad to do the editing I would just separate the audio/video tracks and then move one or the other backwards or forwards so they could be placed back in sync. Admittedly with the second interview the audio was still slightly out of place, but that had more to do with the extra clips I spliced in during the interview moving the video and audio out of place again after I had originally fixed it. For your problem, if all else fails, you could download VP, upload your converted material from Elgato into it and then fix the sync issue from there. https://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/download-now.html Keep in mind though VP is really only good for short projects (like 20-30 minutes) because the export time from the program once you're done editing can be rather frustrating.

Wow, do you mind me asking where you work, Mike?

Matt was kind enough to respond very diplomatically and "Socrates" like to a message I sent him last night in private discussing this topic some more. As as I said yesterday- and I'll say again- I think we all really appreciate getting to hear his thought process on such topics (regardless of whether there is always full agreement or not). So again, thanks for sharing your thoughts, Matt (both in public and private) ? Keep your chin up, man. While all of us should always be conscious of any possible bias we might have, if someone (regardless of who they are) is resorting to ad hominem attacks without evidence or coherence based on emotion, that says far more about them than it does about you (regardless of how many of them there are). And indeed, ad hominem attacks by themselves are the last resort of someone who has no legitimate arguments in their tool box. The topic of the police in Western societies is an interesting one. Even though Trevor Noah seems to have gone off the deep end this year along with a large pool of other once logical and rational people, he wasn't wrong back in 2015 when he initially said "If you're pro-black lives matter, you're assumed to be anti-police, and if you're pro police, then surely you hate black people....when in reality you can be both pro-cop and pro-black which is what we should all be." That is to get at the point that one can absolutely be against police brutality/making sure people of color don't suffer racist tragedies, while at the same time acknowledging and supporting the fact that there are also countless numbers of good police officers who risk their lives everyday who should not be maligned or stereotyped in with those who abuse their power. Likewise- with regards to polarization- even though all of this is probably going to get worse before it gets better given the presidential election coming up, all things do pass and so will this eventually.

I've had both the nasal test and the throat test done because of where I work. They're not horrible, but to be honest they're not pleasant either. Just as a warning to prepare yourself, the nasal swab has to go pretty far up your nasal cavity and it is pretty awkward/unpleasant. Most people (myself included) cough and sneeze as a result. As such you might want to have some Kleenex and hand sanitizer available for yourself right after. Keep us updated how your test goes if you feel comfortable sharing that info. I'll keep my fingers for a negative result for you.

Hi everyone, glad most of the people who watched this enjoyed it. Definitely happy I could share something that was of interest to people here. With regards to the confusion on the release of Apparitions, it happens. It was so long ago I don't blame Ian for having a slightly mixed up memory about it, especially when their lives were so busy. But yeah, upon rewatching it the Much Music clips I spliced into the interview when we were discussing it even lists that it was the third single. With regards to Ian, Dave, Geoff, and Rich- and how all of them contributed to the band in their own ways that some people miss- I definitely don't disagree that I miss their contributions too and wish the three surviving members could find a way to work through their issues (if for no other reason than peace of mind for themselves because they all do truly seem like honestly good human beings). After all, baggage is called baggage for a reason. However, as I've stated before, I do have a lot of respect and admiration for all of the players that have worked with Matt since MGB broke up, and I also feel lucky that as a fan base we've all gotten to be exposed to so many amazing musicians who have each brought something unique to the table. For example, as undeniably amazing as MGB were live (and as utterly grateful I am that I got to see them live) I also think it's undeniable that Christian, Pat, Mark, and Rich were a part of some of the most amazing live shows Matt ever did. The extended versions and endings of certain songs were just out of this world. Christian had incredible texture (as seen in his live performances of Advertising on Police Cars), Mark was a beautiful pianist (as heard in Apparitions when he played with them in 2002) and Pat was just an atomic bomb of energy behind the kit. I also think Jimmy, Milos, and Anthony (along with Blake) brought amazing songs like Garden of Knives and Empty's Theme Park into even higher levels than they were in the studio. Or think about the amazing, Daniel Lanois like guitar work Stu did in helping remake Running For Home. Or the Beautiful bass work that Pete does on the new version of Born to Kill. And as I've said before, as much as love Ian and Pat as drummers, there is no denying how kick ass Blake is. The work he does during the bridge of LMU in that clip, for example, is just unbelievable. So I guess my point is that while people are definitely free to feel however they feel, I hope my appreciation and discussion about MGB with Ian doesn't also lead to people forgetting how amazing all the other people Matt has played with (and still does play with) are too, because they really are. And at the end of the day, Matt seems to be really happy with the current people he works with, and that's the most important thing, imo. Anyways, just my two cents. And again, glad people enjoyed the interview and thanks for all the kind words. Cheers, folks ?

I missed the last one of these he did so I was glad I caught this one for a first. Never really watched an artist do a session in this kind of format before and getting to watch most of it (save for the visual/audio glitches from my TV in the middle) on my flat screen in bed was cool. Highlights for me were Radicals, Selling You My Heart (two of my favorites from the album) and the accapella ending to Apparitions. It was also nice to hear Matt talk a little politics too. I know that’s always risky for artists but one of the things I respect about Matt is his willingness to discuss issues even if it might ruffle some feathers. I’ll admit I don’t agree with him as much as I used to (especially when it comes to current day North American social politics) but I completely agreed with his comment about the two party system in the U.S and about internet/YouTube algorithms leading to echo chambers and feedback loops (for both sides) which have helped to an extent lead to the current day, lamentable polarization we find ourselves in (even if that comment was admittedly a little ironic for a guy who seems to get his news almost exclusively from an outlet as far left as The Gaurdian). But yeah, over all this was pretty cool. I liked the set up, Matt looked really happy doing an acoustic show as usual and hopefully he’ll do more of these in the future! Thanks Matt!

Got it fixed. Just had the refresh the page on my TV ? Lol, I saw your “Into a wall of bourbon ? ” comment during Strange Days ?

Pretty cool little set up he has in his garage for this. I also like the format of playing a few songs and answering a couple questions. However, is anyone else having issues with choppiness and screen/audio freezes? There have been “a lot” of those so far on my end (even for up to a minute or longer) and I’m not sure if it’s my connection (which usually isn’t an issue) or the website.

Yup, I just had to refresh the page. He was playing Sort of a Protest Song when I entered the stream and is just finishing Empty Road as per a request he got ?

Yup. All it shows me is the front page with MG where it says “You’ve got a ticket!”

Alright. Finally done. Again, my apologies for the delay to the few people who might have been waiting for this. Hopefully it's enjoyable. Anyways, I'm tired so I'm going bed now. I'll be back tomorrow afternoon to clarify a few things. Hope everyone is well. Edit- Okay, so- a few clarifications and explanations for anyone who might wonder: -As I note in the introduction, most of this interview is focused on Ian's time with MGB, hence why I shared it in the MGB section on the Bored here again. -We had some technical problems connecting on FB Messenger originally so before the recording starts we were actually talking on the phone a little. Part of our discussion touched on Edward Snowden and cell phones which is why I was laughing a little at the start of the interview. Ian had mentioned he's not a fan of using FB Messenger in general for private conversations which is why we had trouble connecting at first. I thought we were going to have to try and connect on Google Hangouts again, but he simply realized he had to enable the microphone and camera on FB Messenger and that's the point where the interview starts recording. -From about 1:10:00 to 1:21:30 the video becomes rather choppy. I believe this is simply a flaw that occurs in the conversion upload process to Youtube because that was not in the original version we recorded. It passes after about 11 minutes. -Big shout out to Chad for letting me use picture content from his website that I spliced into the interview. I also used a little bit of video content (without audio) from his Youtube channel. -Like the last one I think the vast majority of this interview stays on a positive path of reflection and I was glad for that. The last thing I would ever want to do as someone who is grateful for the music that Matt- and everyone he has ever worked with- has helped create, is facilitate and produce something that causes any more unneeded tension between people. It's been a crappy enough year for most people (especially Matt based on his Instagram posts) and I wouldn't release this if I thought it would cause him or anyone else to feel angry or bad in general. Again, I think the vast majority of this interview is positive. And yet, as is the case when people talk for hours on end about a large time period of their life, not "everything" is reflected on in a way that is 100 percent positive, and I think that is definitely understandable. After all, very few people are lucky enough to be able to look back on their lives and be happy or content with "everything" that happened. With regards to the very small amount of content in this interview that wasn't 100 percent positive, the question I had as the producer and editor of this was whether I had the right to edit someone else's freedom of expression in the name of preventing any possible extra tension in the future. Now, in the previous interview all three of us agreed there were a couple small parts that were best edited out. Given what happened literally a week later we definitely made the right choice. In this interview, upon review, there was nothing Ian flagged that he felt needed to be edited out. However, there is a small section in here where Dave's influence on the music is discussed. Most of it is positive, but there is a little that is not completely positive and I'll admit I was uneasy about leaving it in because I am never comfortable discussing someone else when that specific person is not around to offer their own perspective on everything as well. However, everything that was discussed has, for the most part, already been discussed publicly by both Matt and Dave, so that played a part in why I chose not to edit it out. Likewise, that's why I included a small section of Dave's talk at 1:35:00 that he gave at the Nimbus School of Music back in 2016 where he discussed his time with the band a bit. As I said when I originally shared the full link to the talk on the Bored here over 3 years ago, I thought he came across as very humble, mature, introspective, and even somewhat regretful. Lastly, in the end I ended up leaving in the full section about Dave because to have edited it out would have meant editing out Ian clarifying that he didn't feel it was really accurate for himself to have been lumped in with Dave as having been around simply because he was supposedly only interested in money at that time period. Indeed, Ian took the time to do this with me and since he has never really spoken publicly about that time period I felt it would have been rather unfair to cut that section out. Ultimately I was glad that specific part of the interview is immediately followed by an interesting discussion about Dave's positive influence on the albums too. Anyways, while it might seem strange to some people, that is also why I'm posting the entire interview that he (Dave) did as well back in 2016- because if someone is going to be discussed I think it's only fair to share their perspective too: -All that considered, I know in the past that Matt has commented how he is not crazy about the fact that people sometimes focus on the past at the expense of the present, and that is completely understandable too. As such, I hope that me posting all of this here doesn't bother him because I honestly believe the majority of us here are able to appreciate both the past and the present at the same time (in most cases). Aside from the fact that Ian is just a really interesting and easy guy to talk to, the fact that we've never really heard much from him about his time with the band was also another reason why I felt this was worth doing and sharing. Anyways, as usual if anyone has any questions feel free to share them and I'll do my best to answer them. Cheers.

Thanks, William. Glad u enjoyed it? Anyways, I tried uploading the new one 3 different times today straight from VideoPad and had no luck, unfortunately. Gonna try a few different things tomorrow. In the meantime- just as a teaser for anyone waiting- I figured I’d share 2 things. The first is the intro I created for the actual interview. I uploaded it to my personal channel last week after finishing it so I could review it myself. As will be noticed by some, the intro is of course composed of clips from a lot of different sources. I don’t know if it’s necessary but regardless most of the substantial clips will be linked and credited in the final and full video that is eventually published. They include Chad’s clip of AOE playing live, the article I quote discussing the importance of drummers, Andy Herrin’s interview with Ian from earlier this year, and the full video of the clip I use at the end of this introduction (on top of the EITS and BW video referenced too). The second is just a 6 minute clip of Ian discussing Apparitions and what the song writing process was like in MGB. And of course, the actual, full finished product though will be on the same channel I published the first interview on (Reveries) and not this channel I’m sharing here. It’ll clock in at around the 2 hour and 10 minute mark.

Okay, so, another update: Everything is finally finished and ready to go. As usual the only issue is uploading. This time I can't even get the finished product out of my video editing program because the file is so large. Really, I've come to learn that VideoPad isn't a great editing program for large projects. As such I'll either have to break this up into two parts or just give VideoPad access to my Youtube channel and upload it straight from VideoPad itself (neither option is optimal). Anyways, regardless of what I do hopefully sometime this upcoming week I'll have the full thing online for everyone to check out.

Yeah, thanks for posting this, man. I would have probably missed it again if you hadn't. I got my ticket yesterday :) Flashdance II would be interesting to hear acoustic. Has he even played that song since the HLAHG tour back in 2001? I'll put in a request for that and the Inescapable Us.

Edit- mean to say "It doesn't feel like the original universe".

Check your P.M box.

I'll watch anything Nolan comes out with just out of respect for the man's previous work. That said, I'll probably wait till it's available on demand. Not too keen on going to places with large amounts of people around, even with social distancing measures.

Spoilers Pretty much agree with everything you said. I've watched all of the episodes up until the season finale just out of curiosity (and there are some good aspects) but I've felt like I've been forcing myself to do so just out of respect for Patrick and the original cast. Like most people have said, it just does feel like the original universe. I get that things always change in real life, but I'm more so referring to texture, tonality, and feel of the show. For example, the whole torture/gore intro- where they reintroduced Seven of Nine back into the series (and where they show Icheb having his eye ball pulled out)- was just far too over the top. Like Folksinger said, it felt like a bunch of network execs thought it would be "cool" to make things more violent and while that works for certain shows, it just didn't work for this series.

Me too, lol. I'm hoping to get it up by the end of the month as I'll have a nice stretch of time off starting on the 22nd of August. Thanks for the patience everyone :)

Never Let You Down sounds like an incredibly interesting cover. After you mentioned it was a Depeche Mode song I immediately went listened to it (it's in my iTunes library now) and I can definitely see the influence they would have on Matt's sound as he continued on, so I guess it's not a surprise he would choose to cover that one. They way you describe it sounds like a lot of thought and energy was put into its construction and with the description you've given it really does help when imagining how impressive the end product must have been. I made a post not too long ago talking about all the great musicians Matt has worked with over the years and Ariel really was no exception. I've always said I think his bass work was so unique and inspiring. I can see why Matt needed Geoff to replace as him because if he was going to have any new musicians join him after Ariel, Eran, Steve and Judy, they would surely have to play at an equal level. I think we're all lucky that he kept working with you and also knew Geoff, Ian and Dave afterwards. Speaking of Dave...do you remember how he was brought into the sessions in the first place? By that I mean did Matt or one of the other band members know him from around the city, or did you happen to recommend him to the rest of the band? Anyways, thanks again for the in depth description ?