Glad to be back working on the Vintage Blue blog, as it has been quite a few months since our last post and this seems to be a great platform to share our thoughts, experiences and even opinions, GASP! What has happened since our last post: we had a killer show at Lincoln Hall, we played with Paper Arrows at Martyrs, our Rock Boat friends set sail with Sister Hazel, Matt and Will celebrated a birthday, and the band began serious work on writing for a new record.
Apart from all those great things, as a band we have also decided to take on some regional spring tour dates, which we have dubbed the VB Spring Fever "tour." We have already played a great show up in Madison, Wisconsin and are looking forward to dates in Cincinatti, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Ann Arbor, Ft. Wayne, Champaign, St. Louis and Nashville. It is the natural next step for our band to continue to spread our music and we hope you all will keep checking in with us on our new dates and letting your friends in other cities know when we are coming through.
One of the other great things that has happened since we last posted is SXSW. The band was inches away from heading down this year, but decided to save money to put together these regional trips. One of our favorite people in the music industry, Dave Grohl, delivered the keynote address, and it was nothing short of fantastic. Dave delivers, not only in being his geeky and funny self, but he delivered a message that should hit to the heart of every musician, about finding "your voice." It cannot be overstated enough that what makes music so great and so personal, is the ability for each artist to express themselves as they desire. We should all be thankful that we have the tools to create, share and experience our music together in a community, as well as on a personal level. It was a great talk, and in case you missed it, you can click here: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/dave-grohls-sxsw-keynote-speech-the-musician-comes-first-20130314On a personal note, 19 years ago today, a huge shockwave reverberated through my life. See, I picked up a guitar for one reason and one reason only, chicks man. No no no ... kidding. I picked up a guitar to play Nirvana, the Doors and the Beatles. That was it. Those were my bands and the first song I ever learned was "Come as You Are." As a long-haired pimply teenager, so easily molded by my peers and surroundings, I found the music of Nirvana to be a release of energy through song that I simply had not heard before. It was the album Nevermind that first convinced me I needed to get a guitar and it was my dream to follow in the footsteps of those bands. But on this day in 1994, my entire point of view changed, when the fragility of life was taught by the working end of a 12 gauge shotgun.
I will never forget when I heard about the end of Nirvana and Kurt's death. They had been my musical mentors, my guides, my guttural response to MTV's "The Grind" and Whitesnake. They taught me how to deal with teenage angst and anger, and to focus my fears and thoughts into song. I had written my first tune while learning to play Nirvana songs, but after April 8, 1994 I did not write another song for 17 years. I had not really thought of it until today, after reading Rolling Stone's re-publishing of an article from 1994 ... but I lost a part of my musical soul when Nirvana ended. I cried for months. (The article can be found here: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/kurt-cobains-downward-spiral-the-last-days-of-nirvanas-leader-19940602)Today I can say that this band, Vintage Blue, continually inspires me to write and to grow and for that I will forever be grateful to them. They encouraged me to open a door that I had not even knocked on for over 15 years. There is still a lot of Nirvana in my soul and their music can take me back to some deep down places, but today I am happy to have the ability to access my inner writer and to share it with all of you. As always, we appreciate your support and everything you all do for us. It is not just lip service, and at least for me, it validates that pimply high school kid, who just wanted to inspire others and find his own voice.
-Ben
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