New Video! You're Like a Cloud

A fun way to spend an otherwise lazy Sunday is to make a music video for a song, especially if you're a musician and have songs that might require videos. Since no one else is volunteering to make Zak Claxton videos, my label (Frothy Music) decided that we should have one. So in just a few hours of filming and editing, bada bing bada boom, we have a nifty video for "You're LIke a Cloud". It was filmed by my darling Kat, in and around my home. Enjoy!

The Notes Shack (03.26.09)

I'll start by saying I had a good time at the Notes Shack today -- I always do. But for whatever reason, it was a really small crowd today. The last couple of shows, though fun and well performed and all that, have been really small in the audience department. Some musicians get discouraged about that stuff, but I really try and connect with people on an individual basis when I do my shows. My main goal is letting people get to know my original music, so sometimes a small crowd can be more intimate and cool.

In any case, none of this mattered much, as I put on the same show at Notes Shack's small crowd today as I would have for a sim full of people. Well, except I probably wouldn't have had room to jump off the stage and play on top of a table. That was kinda fun.

The set list...
This Afternoon (Zak Claxton)
You're Like a Cloud (Zak Claxton)
Rikki Don't Lose That Number (Steely Dan)
Falling Down (Zak Claxton)
Time Never Waits for You (Zak Claxton)
Big Bad Bill (Van Halen)
Always Tomorrow (Zak Claxton)
Thanks Anyway (Zak Claxton)
Come Around (Zak Claxton)
A Day In The Life (Beatles)
Waiting For This (Zak Claxton)
Lines On Your Eyes (Zak Claxton)

Thanks to the folks who supported my show!
Ethem Planer, Mimi Carpenter, Isolda Imako, Alex Barth, and our host, Krakov Letov!

Back in the studio (03.21.09)

Epic.

That's the only word I have to describe my day at Phil O'Keefe's Sound Sanctuary Studio in Riverside, CA on Saturday March 21. Why don't you check out the video clips now, and then I'll tell you some more.



Okay, so here's what we did. Kat and I got up Saturday morning and started preparing to hit the road. We live near the beach, and Riverside is about 70 miles inland from us. We first stocked up on massive amounts of snacks and drinks for the day, and then hit the road. Arrived pretty much right on time, and (speaking of time) we didn't waste any; walked in and opened the case for the Martin. Phil threw a couple of mics up, and I did two passes of a solo acoustic instrumental piece called "Waxing Gibbous". The plan is for "Waxing Gibbous" is that it will be the penultimate song on the album, and acts as a long intro of sorts to "Waiting for This", which is the last track. Anyway, it came out nicely, and the Martin sounded great with shimmery new strings on it.

Bunny arrived a short while later (it was nice telling him we already had one in the can before he even got there), and we set up drums. He and I set up camp in the live room for a bit, going over a few runthroughs of the first song we planned to record, "Come Around". There are some tricky timing aspects to the tune, but as I could have predicted, Bunny completely locked into the vibe of the tune. That track was pretty punishing; Bunny was absolutely brutal on the drums, and I put everything I had into the guitars and vocals. But man, I love the result.

The last tune we did was really a blast. "Lines On Your Eyes" is a little more straightforward timing-wise, but has some interesting harmonic twists. Once again, we got to have contributions from Ken Lee, but this time he showed up with a Nord Electro 2 and played a great organ track. He threw down lots of good stuff, so it will be fun to shift through and see which parts can be used at various points in the song. The vocal lines for this song were much more complex, and as it got late that night, I found myself isolated and doing roughly 17,000,000 takes of harmony and background vocals. I told Kat this morning that I felt like Michael McDonald while cutting "Peg".

A couple of personal notes: really felt great about my bass playing and my guitar solos on both songs. I'm never really super happy with my vocals, but I think I did a passable job singing. Most of all, I spent about 90% of the day laughing. My musical collaborators are some of the best people on the planet... I'm convinced of this.

Great, great, great recording session. We'll post rough mixes to hear when they're available. Oh, and by the way: just two songs left to complete the Zak Claxton album, meaning after one more session at Sound Sanctuary, we're done with this one (and probably soon onto the next one, I hope).

My debut at the Vibe HQ (03.20.09)

Photos courtesy of Triana Caldera.

I've had a strange phenomenon happen to me. It seems that each of the soon-to-be four times I've gone into the studio to work on the Zak Claxton album, I've ended up being booked for a show in SL the day before. Keep in mind, I haven't tried in any way to arrange this specifically; it has, with complete randomness, happened three consecutive times, and as of today's show at the new Vibe HQ, it's happened again.

So yes, I am going into the studio tomorrow (Saturday 3/21/09), and I will have all kinds of stuff to fill you in after that. But for now, let's talk about my show today. It was one of the smallest crowds I'd played to in awhile... there were around 12 people there. But I will also say that they were terrific fans, each of them, and the show ended up being incredibly fun. As a huge confidence builder going into tomorrow's session, my voice has felt really good for my past few shows. I thought today was one of my better vocal performances of the year so far.

That's about it. Small but very fun crowd, good show, and a great way to get warmed up for tomorrow. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

The Set List...
This Afternoon (Zak Claxton)
You're Like a Cloud (Zak Claxton)
Any Major Dude (Steely Dan)
Thanks Anyway (Zak Claxton)
Come Around (Zak Claxton)
Jane (Barenaked Ladies)
Falling Down (Zak Claxton)
Time Never Waits for You (Zak Claxton)
California (Joni Mitchell)
Always Tomorrow (Zak Claxton)
Behind Blue Eyes (The Who)
Lines On Your Eyes (Zak Claxton)

Big thanks to the people who helped support my show!
Paula001 Goldschein, Triana Caldera, Fifi DeCuir, Cher Harrington, Alex Barth, Gretchen Capalini, and today's happy host, Bratt Lunasea!

Relay for Life Clothing Fair (03.18.09)

EvaMoon Ember takes the stage right after I finish my show.

I kept some very positive energy flowing for most of the day today, in sharp contrast to recent times dealing with illness, work pressure and all that stuff that tends to take away from the ideal mindset for music performance. But the winds of change seem to be blowing in, and it couldn't happen at a better time. Today, for example, saw me playing at Relay for Life's Clothing Fair, and it was a pretty great gig.

First of all, donating my time to support the fight against cancer? I mean, I have to get major karma points for that. That just has to be good, right? Second, I am finally feeling almost back to my usual healthy self after a few days of being pretty ill, and therefore sorry for myself and mopey and all that. So, getting closer to my normal mode put me in a good mood, and gave me more energy than I've had for some time. So I took that vibe to the show with me.

Had a decent mid-sized crowd, and people seemed to be enjoying themselves. I followed my current trend of sticking mostly to originals, and it went well. In fact...

Here's the set list...
This Afternoon (Zak Claxton)
Thanks Anyway (Zak Claxton)
Heart of Gold (Neil Young)
Falling Down (Zak Claxton)
Come Around (Zak Claxton)
Help Me (Joni Mitchell)
Time Never Waits for You (Zak Claxton)
Always Tomorrow (Zak Claxton)
You're Like a Cloud (Zak Claxton)
Ashes to Ashes (David Bowie)
Waiting for This (Zak Claxton)
Lines On Your Eyes (Zak Claxton)

So, just three covers for the entire set... not too shabby. And it all was fun, and all for a great cause. Thanks to everyone who supported the ACS by donating during my show today. For more info on Second Life's Relay for Life, visit http://www.rflofsl.org/.

Random Rant: Sickness sucks

Yup, it sucks to be sick. In other statements by the Master of the Obvious, the sky is blue and grass is green.

I had to miss a show yesterday... was scheduled to play at The Notes Shack. But after going to bed feeling dandy on Friday night, I awoke on Saturday morning feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. No rhyme or reason... I just felt like hell, and have been more or less feeling crappy ever since. Things got a little better after Saturday (which had me curled in a ball and shaking when I wasn't in the bathroom), but I am far from my usual happy self.

Anyway, I can't even pinpoint what's wrong with me. I guess this is stuff that generally lumped in as "flu", though that's what we tend to call any random virus that's not a head cold. I'm weak and shaky, my joints hurt, and my digestive system seems out of whack as well. Sunday rolled around and there was no way I could summon the energy to play a typical Zak Claxton show. So here we are at Monday, I'm up before dawn to get some work done, and lemme tell you; it's like climbing a mountain made of molasses while carrying a 100-pound weight. But I'm here, I'm alive for the time being, and I'm going to try and work so I can at least get my mind off this crap and stop feeling so sorry for myself. I mean, I can already tell you that this is a blog post I probably won't want to read in the future, with all this self-pity and whining and stuff.

To end this miserable moment on a high note, I will be performing for Relay for Life on late Wednesday afternoon, have a show at VIBE HQ on Friday, am going into the studio on Saturday, and have already scheduled a make-up date for The Notes Shack. As you can tell, I'm planning on this thing getting out of my system quickly, so wish me luck with that.

Bay Vista Rainforest (03.12.09)

It was a day of newness today. I can say I enjoyed it very much.

Right off the bat, it was my first time playing at the Rainforest stage at Bay Vista. I'd played there before, but on their Dragon's Pearl stage. So right from the get-go, it had that nice, fresh feel.

But then, the newness continued. See, I performed two new original songs in SL for the first time today; I did both "Come Around" and "Time Never Waits for You"! And, as if that wasn't enough, I also did my tune "Waiting For This" for the first time since it's been recomboobulated into its current incarnation. I believe that in terms of regular hour-long shows, I did more originals today than I'd ever done before. It's getting pretty fun, now that the stuff for the album is 100% written and much of it already recorded. The majority of the songs are very performable as a solo artist in SL, and I'll be very glad to have the two new additions for subsequent shows.

While I was pretty apprehensive before the show about playing the new tunes, I shouldn't have worried. Ironically, I probably did better on those than I did on many of my other tried-and-true originals today! I know, I'm my own harshest critic in that regard. But at least the new stuff proved their mettle in front of a live crowd, and that's what I was looking for today!

Song Sample #1: The worldwide debut of "Come Around" (Zak Claxton)

Song Sample #2: The worldwide debut of "Time Never Waits for You" (Zak Claxton)

The whole set list at Bay Vista Rainforest:
This Afternoon (Zak Claxton)
You're Like a Cloud (Zak Claxton)
Jane (Barenaked Ladies)
Thanks Anyway (Zak Claxton)
Always Tomorrow (Zak Claxton)
Alabama (Neil Young)
*Come Around (Zak Claxton)
*Time Never Waits for You (Zak Claxton)
Falling Down (Zak Claxton)
*Waiting for This (Zak Claxton)
California (Joni Mitchell)
Behind Blue Eyes (The Who)

Big thanks to all who supported my show!
TenneseeJed Freiman, EvaMoon Ember, Persia Bravin, super Zak Fan Aurelie Chenaux, and the hostesses Charm March and Gretchen Capalini!

Another Demo Vid (03.07.08)

I thought I'd give you all a tune while it was still baking in the oven. Don't eat it yet; it's only half baked. It needs a special blend of words and melody before it's ready to serve, but you can have a little snack on it for now. It will, in any case, be one of the final tunes I record for the new album. Bon appetite, and enjoy.

Grand opening of StrangeBrew (03.06.09)

I'd met Alex Parsons a few times in the same way other SL musicians tend to meet... performing at the same venues or randomly catching each other's shows at various places. He seemed like a nice enough guy and obviously was comfortable commanding a stage. A couple of weeks ago, I received a general notice that Alex had opened his own venue, calling it Alex's StrangeBrew Coffee House. I went over and checked it out, and it seemed like a pretty cool-looking build. I like places that can feel jammed when there are 25-30 people there, and this is one of those places. Not that it's cramped or anything; it's nicely laid out, but the way the dance zones and seating areas are laid out, it feels like a fun party inside.

I congratulated Alex on the build and told him I'd try to come by on his opening night. He, in turn, asked if I wanted to play that night, and I said that sounded fun. It did turn out to be fun; his opening night had Freestar Tammas, Artel Brando, and Alex himself performing. I ended up taking the stage at about 8:00, and had a great time with a fun crowd of people.

And here's what I played...
Tribute (Tenacious D)
This Afternoon (Zak Claxton)
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Neil Young)
You're Like a Cloud (Zak Claxton)
Starman (David Bowie)
Stonehenge (Spinal Tap)
Falling Down (Zak Claxton)
I Am The Walrus (Beatles)
Always Tomorrow (Zak Claxton)
Any Major Dude (Steely Dan)

Thanks to all who came, especially those folks who supported my show:
Ariel Goldrozen, Kamisha Tyles, Sandi Benelli, Artel Brando, Aurelie Chenaux, AnnieBlue Octavia, Kat Claxton and the new venue owner himself, Alex Parsons!

A demo and a write-up

Howdy, friends. A couple of small news items to start this week. First, I finished the demo for my newest song "Come Around", and as has been the case for the last few tunes, I captured it for the first time using the not-very-high-tech method of turning on my computer's built-in movie recorder and playing it live in one take. I'm going into the studio on March 21, and this will be one of the songs I'm going to do with the full Zak Claxton band that day.



So, there's a demo. Keep in mind that a demo is merely a sketch of the song, and also helps you give other musicians the basic concept of the tune before recording it "for real". Hopefully soon you'll hear the version from the studio, with a full musical arrangement and so on. Sometimes it's fun being aware of the "before/after" aspect of the recording studio. I hope you enjoy it.

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In other news, as you read here just a couple of days ago, I played at the closing of Crystal Sands on Saturday 2/28. As I mentioned, despite the sadness of the reason for the occasion, there was some really good music coming off the stage that day, from a number of SL musicians. I felt really good about my performance that day, and directly after the show, JamesT Juno messaged me to tell me he'd liked my performance a lot, and wanted to write about it in one of Second Life's most popular publications, SL Newspaper.

Here's the article, if you want to see. You can check out all of the SL news at sl-newspaper.com. In an increasingly common case of media mirroring, the article links to this very blog, which I've just linked back to the article. Will we go round in circles, as the song says?

Anyway, I greatly appreciate the coverage from James and his publication. I'd rather not have to play venues that are closing to get a little press, of course! But mostly, I think James heard in my voice that I was honestly sad about the place closing down, and channelled that emotion into my performance that day. Thanks again to them for recognizing that.