the gig simulator

you should see what our band room looks like these days. formerly known as "elise and daniels' lounge", the Band Room is now, as daniel puts it, the perfect man-cave. guitar stand in one corner, the couches all shoved into the other. An enormous lighting rig which frames the drum kit. hanging from the rig is a lovely banner which says, "emerge".

on top of frank and lara's tank (they are bearded dragons), there's this awesome painting one of leon's friends did. all of us are in it and there's a symploic tree, the branches of which are the lyrics to City of Light.

Daniel calls the whole room "the gig simulator". he even makes us put the lights on while we practice. i must say, it's effective, although i'm sure the Williams' electricity bill is now a danger to saving the rain forests.

and in other news, the band is looking at recording some more before the end of the year. we're also making a guest appearance (read:free gig but we want to sound important) at Boys' High's matric dance. Kids will be slow dancing to end of your rope and the like...it's all very american romcom but fun none the less.

the Great Demo Exodus continues...please let us know if you'd like one or you know anyone you think we should send it to.

the gariep gig was awesome. once again, thanks to everyone who came out. while the gig itself was great, the politics as usual are sketchy...

that's all for now. over and out x

consider the possibility that you already possess all the things that you need to achieve success. you mind is a two-fold devise-your conscious mind and your unconscious mind. research has shown that the conscious mind "speaks" the language of logic while the unconscious mind "speaks" the language of feelings.
in my time spent googling these two parts of the mind, (i admit, my sources might not be that reliable) i came accross many articles written my doctors, philosophers, self-helpers and authors alike. many have said that the subconscious mind is the seat of the soul and of faith because it deals with emotions. another docotr believes that there is also a higher self which deals with those parts of humanity which cannot be explained by emotions or logic-this "Dr Eric" (one of the authors of The Secret) believes this to be the seat of the soul.
the debate about where the actual human spirit is situated has raged on for centuries-although over the past few decades or longer many seem to agree that is somewhere in the brain.
now, this may sound a little out there but it's an interesting theory nonetheless. consider the possibility that your conscious and subconscious mind create your reality. even if you don't believe it, consider it for a minute. if the idea goes against what you believe, it really shouldn't threaten you to read opposing views.
if this is true, several people have said that the key to unlocking the power of your subconscious is to understand that it does not understand logic.
positive thoughts, manifestations of those thoughts and consequently tangible change in one's life are all achievable. some believe these things are possible through a divine power, some say these things are possible through an untapped human potential. others say your humanity is the very thing holding you back from success-because you seek human success and not spiritual success-thus implying that the physical self and spiritual self, while intertwined, are fatefully opposed.
{while i must catagorically state that this blog is about my own personal thoughts and not the views of all the members of Emerge, i meant what i said in the first blog, that we are about positivity and i'm really just curious about where others stand on the issue].
So a thought occurred to me, about which i am still undecided, that perhaps tangible change is possible through a combination of both-untapped human potential by virtue of the fact that there is divinity in everyone.
the subconscious mind is trainable, some say. you can program it, for lack of a better word, to be a tool to achieve what you want in life, by practicing the emotions that you want to feel when you achieve your goals.
for example, if you desire success in your career, practice the feelings that accompany the success. visualise the success but train your brain to seek out those feelings in your life. (i hope i'm explaining this well enough)
this is because your subconscious does not understand names, places, numbers-logical thought, in other words.
the opposite must therefore also be true. negative manifestations-for example feeling disappointed about not getting a job before you've even gone to the interview will result in a manifestation of that feeling.
whether you attribute these things to science (the law of attraction), God, karma, Jesus or whether you simply like to toy with different theories in the search for the truth about life, i guess the beauty of it is that, as with an untruth-the lie will always reveal itself at some point-so it is with a truth-it will be right in front of you when your heart is ready for it.
peace and love x

so, the fully mastered demo is here at last. daniel cleverly uploaded it onto facebook (i say cleverly because i don't speak computer so its all greek to me) so check it out if you haven't heard it yet. www.facebook.com/emerge.

also, dan's made a lovely collage of photos to go with "giving it all"-a bit like a music video. this obviously influences the quality of the track so the sound isn't as great as it is on the actual recording. the demo is beautifully mastered by our superb sound friengineer/producer, Malcolm, from the SABC studios in bloem. what a cool guy...

so there we were, in the studio...daniel being a regular tourist with his camera, snapping away at everything in sight. i was supposed to make "pad kos" for the day but conveniently forgot-partly because i'm embarrassed about my cooking and partly because taking a lunchbox into a studio is not very rock 'n roll :)- the rhythm tracks went down pretty quickly-clive and orishion are such pros at this sort of thing. that's why we call him one-take-clive...

dan and leon of course know the songs inside and out so they're just naturally insync and creatively, the boys were on fire. one cool idea after the next...with a little help here and there from malcolm.

during lunch we got into a very interesting conversation with malcolm about the gigging scene in Kimberley and Bloem....the issue of sound equipment continues to be a hassle for everyone. unless you have the money for a decent rig-which obviously we don't-you're at the disposal of whatever crappy system you can afford to hire. also, some venues won't let you play unless you can produce a big enough system to make enough noise. which is understandable-venues need good sound-and that's exactly the point.

is it unfair to say that venues can afford to buy good sound systems (considering how little they pay the bands, the cover charge, crowds the bands pull ect)? for example, emerge played a gig a few weeks ago with a sound system that cut out everytime we went to the chorus.

it's a rig we use all the time but for some reason, it kept tripping. we managed to sort it out by turning everything down. now, we are musicians. not sound engineers. it's easy to assume that if you play an electric instrument you can work a mixer-but any musician will tell you that sound engineering is a specialised field. it's not any old fool that can do it--plus, inexperienced engineers can damage sound equipment if they don't know what they're doing.

wouldn't it be a lot easier if venues-especially those who frequently have bands- just invested in a good sound system, once off?

anyway, enjoy the demo and if you'd like a copy on cd, let us know. we'd love you all to hear it and tell us what you think.

peace, love and music xxx

how very rock 'n roll of us, jules

were you aware that all musicians sleep around, drink too much and are addicted to drugs? well, maybe in the good ol' seventies, when it was all sex, drugs and rock 'n roll. here our favourite song writer, julius, makes his age embarrassingly obvious.
clearly jules thinks its 1973 when musicians popped a cap of acid everytime they so much as looked at a guitar and had a good shag before, after and during every gig.
today he addressed (and one must reel with embarrassment at the thought that actual musicians invited this man to address them) the south african music conference in braamfontein, where he warned muso's to stop their evil ways. stop drinking, druggin and sleeping around! he said.
the first thought that comes to mind is, "it aint me, babe." really, of ALL the challenges that face musicians in this beautiful country, immorality is the least of my problems.
don't get me wrong, i don't condone any of the above and, i guess that makes jules and i "comrades" (shudder). however, when addressing the who's who of musical and corporate genius in the country, consider that they might not enjoy being insulted on a moral level?
this industry is as filled with challenges as it is with opportunity, which is what makes it so exciting and tough at the same time. it also lends itself to several topics of debate which could be chucked at the delegates.
jules however, felt that our biggest downfall as musicians is our inability to stay sober and keep our legs closed. yes, because that's exactly how you get to the top. no hard work, raw talent, hours of rehearsal and training...nope, we muso's are far too busy rocking and rolling.
then he goes on to say that we should use our music to spew political agenda all over the place. newsflash jules, musicians have used their talents to pursue political and so-called revolutionary agendas for a while now. it' s not a new concept to us. it's our business to write lyrics that we think can make a change.
i highly doubt, however, that those lyrics will ever include any policy which you've ever conjured up. sorry, i just find it so hard to concentrate on the ANCYL's policies what with all the LSD running through my veins...
p.s. singing struggle songs does not qualify you as a musician. changing the lyrics to a struggle song, even less so. enough with the cover songs, already.
peace xxx

hey guys...
this is the official emerge blogspot...
it's just a cool place where you can follow the band and find out what we're up to and when. also, it's a cool place for us as a band to fill you in on our seedy thoughts about life, gratitude, reconciliation and all the other feel good things that we're about. feel free to keep in communication with us, we love healthy debate:)
also, you can find out a lot more about each of us personally. for example, ever wondered what rhymes with orishion?;) exactly...
oh, i almost forgot to mention the most important thing...the music. please give us your thoughts about music, the music scene, the gigging scene, or anything else you can think of. we're really into positive change so let's use this as a platform to revolutionise the way things get done around here...
peace xxx