Hey all, hope life is sweet. Just thought I would remind everyone that Barricade Rise can be found in a few places across the web. Obviously if you are reading this then you are on our main website and here you can find out and view just about everything however, if you want to get to know us a little better then here is how. . .
Facebook
Come 'Like' us and interact with us and our fans. We post quite a bit on here about the band and other things.
Twitter
Michael has been tweeting for quite a while and loves it. Follow him here. I (Jonathan) have just jumped on the band wagon (thanks to Michaels constant ranting) and you can follow me here. Twitter is just about the most personal of all the social networks and you can really get to know us both on there.
Ta
Jonathan
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Sunday, 22 January 2012
You Own My Songs
“Once you record it you have to just let it go, because at that point it doesn’t even belong to you . . . as it is now in the world and floating around.”
This is a quote from a video interview with Canadian singer/songwriter Dan Mangan that our friend Stylusboy introduced me to. He is referring to the process of songwriting and is basically saying that once a song is put out for all to hear, it is not no longer the property of the songwriter. The ownership passes to whoever's ears receive it. Mr Mangan uses the analogy of a piece of artwork, that once sold, is gone from the artist and never seen by him/her again and what happens to it will never be known to the artist. It may be passed down through generations or shipped across the world. Essentially it no longer belongs to the artist.
As a songwriter myself, it is a view that I found extremely interesting and one I had never considered before. . I spent last night pondering if what I considered to be ‘my songs’ were in fact not my songs anymore. Obviously in a legal sense the songs belong to me as I own the copyright. However we aren’t talking about binding contracts here, I believe we are discussing a ‘sense of ownership’. Previously I would have said that as I choose to use a particular chord sequence, rhythm, instrumentation and dynamics and the lyrics are from my own experiences/feelings, the song belongs to me. The listener may own a physical CD disk or MP3 file that is legally theirs; but the song is still mine.
Think of it like buying a holiday to Greece. You buy a ticket and that ticket it is physically yours. That ticket allows you to go on a journey to a part of the world, yet you don’t own that part of the world, you experience it. By flying to Greece you don’t take ownership of that country; it still belongs to the Greeks. The CD is the ticket and the music is the holiday. I will come back to this analogy later (stay with me it does make sense).
The more I thought about what Dan Mangan said, the more I started to change the way I thought about ‘ownership’ and more importantly what constitutes ownership.
Music is different to most things as songs themselves are not physical objects. You can’t hold a song in your hand. Yes, they can be put on a physical disk, piece of vinyl or stored on a physical hard drive; but that’s not what we are talking about really, we are talking about the song itself. So, if you can’t physically hold a song, how can you own it?
My interpretation of what Dan is saying is that as a listener you start to form your own meaning to someone else’s song. The song then has a different meaning to you than to anyone else. It may become a soundtrack to your summer, a song that evokes memories of a loved one, help you through a break-up, help you with a make-up, it may bring you closer to someone or it could simply brighten up a sad day. All of a sudden you have attached yourself to the song and you have a connection to it. Ultimately you feel that the song is yours because it is now personal to you, regardless of what feelings or memories I originally wrote about.
How many times have you heard someone say 'This is totally MY song' or a couple stating that it's 'OUR song'? Has ‘Ownership’ now passed to the listener? And does that song still belong to the songwriter? Yes & Yes!
After my night of wonder I have come to the conclusion that ownership doesn’t pass, it is shared. It is shared from the moment the songwriter puts it out to the world. I or any songwriter can’t really take credit for the things I outlined above ‘chord sequence, rhythm, instrumentation, dynamics’. We can take credit for how we use those things and how we fit them together but we didn’t create these things, they are all used in every song ever written. Even the lyrics, we didn’t create the words, we just put them in an order that represented the feeling or experience we wanted to express. Basically the finished product becomes the exact same thing to the songwriter as it is to the listener which is a non-physical piece of music that evokes his/hers own meanings/feelings/experiences. Although the original meaning/feelings/experiences contained in the song are put there by the songwriter, the listeners own meanings/feelings/experiences that he/she creates when listening to the song are as real or as valid as the songwriters original ones. I say ‘As real or as valid’ because they are not ‘more’ than the songwriters, which gets to my point. . . I believe that ownership of the song is now shared. It never passes away from the songwriter to the listener but rather shared between.
Going back to my holiday analogy, we can now look at it in a different light. Yes, the ticket is still physically yours but is that bit of Greece now yours? Yes, you have associated meaning/feelings/experiences with that bit of the world which makes it as much ‘yours’ as anyone else. You can’t alter or steal the land you have staked your flag in as that would be illegal, much like if you steal my lyrics or melodies that would be illegal (and I would hunt you down), but you now have a ‘sense of ownership’ with your special part of the world.
I guess what I am trying to conclude from my night of contemplation is that of near agreement with Dan Mangan. I do believe that once a song has been put out by a songwriter that the listener now has ownership of that song but I don’t believe he has sole ownership or that the songwriter must “let it go” as the ownership never passes, it is shared. The meanings/feeling/experiences are “as real or as valid” to them both. The beauty of music and it’s non-physical form, is that the slice of the ownership pie that is taken by each listener is never ending and no-ones slice gets any smaller.
Go forth and own more
Jonathan
This is a quote from a video interview with Canadian singer/songwriter Dan Mangan that our friend Stylusboy introduced me to. He is referring to the process of songwriting and is basically saying that once a song is put out for all to hear, it is not no longer the property of the songwriter. The ownership passes to whoever's ears receive it. Mr Mangan uses the analogy of a piece of artwork, that once sold, is gone from the artist and never seen by him/her again and what happens to it will never be known to the artist. It may be passed down through generations or shipped across the world. Essentially it no longer belongs to the artist.
As a songwriter myself, it is a view that I found extremely interesting and one I had never considered before. . I spent last night pondering if what I considered to be ‘my songs’ were in fact not my songs anymore. Obviously in a legal sense the songs belong to me as I own the copyright. However we aren’t talking about binding contracts here, I believe we are discussing a ‘sense of ownership’. Previously I would have said that as I choose to use a particular chord sequence, rhythm, instrumentation and dynamics and the lyrics are from my own experiences/feelings, the song belongs to me. The listener may own a physical CD disk or MP3 file that is legally theirs; but the song is still mine.
Think of it like buying a holiday to Greece. You buy a ticket and that ticket it is physically yours. That ticket allows you to go on a journey to a part of the world, yet you don’t own that part of the world, you experience it. By flying to Greece you don’t take ownership of that country; it still belongs to the Greeks. The CD is the ticket and the music is the holiday. I will come back to this analogy later (stay with me it does make sense).
The more I thought about what Dan Mangan said, the more I started to change the way I thought about ‘ownership’ and more importantly what constitutes ownership.
Music is different to most things as songs themselves are not physical objects. You can’t hold a song in your hand. Yes, they can be put on a physical disk, piece of vinyl or stored on a physical hard drive; but that’s not what we are talking about really, we are talking about the song itself. So, if you can’t physically hold a song, how can you own it?
My interpretation of what Dan is saying is that as a listener you start to form your own meaning to someone else’s song. The song then has a different meaning to you than to anyone else. It may become a soundtrack to your summer, a song that evokes memories of a loved one, help you through a break-up, help you with a make-up, it may bring you closer to someone or it could simply brighten up a sad day. All of a sudden you have attached yourself to the song and you have a connection to it. Ultimately you feel that the song is yours because it is now personal to you, regardless of what feelings or memories I originally wrote about.
How many times have you heard someone say 'This is totally MY song' or a couple stating that it's 'OUR song'? Has ‘Ownership’ now passed to the listener? And does that song still belong to the songwriter? Yes & Yes!
After my night of wonder I have come to the conclusion that ownership doesn’t pass, it is shared. It is shared from the moment the songwriter puts it out to the world. I or any songwriter can’t really take credit for the things I outlined above ‘chord sequence, rhythm, instrumentation, dynamics’. We can take credit for how we use those things and how we fit them together but we didn’t create these things, they are all used in every song ever written. Even the lyrics, we didn’t create the words, we just put them in an order that represented the feeling or experience we wanted to express. Basically the finished product becomes the exact same thing to the songwriter as it is to the listener which is a non-physical piece of music that evokes his/hers own meanings/feelings/experiences. Although the original meaning/feelings/experiences contained in the song are put there by the songwriter, the listeners own meanings/feelings/experiences that he/she creates when listening to the song are as real or as valid as the songwriters original ones. I say ‘As real or as valid’ because they are not ‘more’ than the songwriters, which gets to my point. . . I believe that ownership of the song is now shared. It never passes away from the songwriter to the listener but rather shared between.
Going back to my holiday analogy, we can now look at it in a different light. Yes, the ticket is still physically yours but is that bit of Greece now yours? Yes, you have associated meaning/feelings/experiences with that bit of the world which makes it as much ‘yours’ as anyone else. You can’t alter or steal the land you have staked your flag in as that would be illegal, much like if you steal my lyrics or melodies that would be illegal (and I would hunt you down), but you now have a ‘sense of ownership’ with your special part of the world.
I guess what I am trying to conclude from my night of contemplation is that of near agreement with Dan Mangan. I do believe that once a song has been put out by a songwriter that the listener now has ownership of that song but I don’t believe he has sole ownership or that the songwriter must “let it go” as the ownership never passes, it is shared. The meanings/feeling/experiences are “as real or as valid” to them both. The beauty of music and it’s non-physical form, is that the slice of the ownership pie that is taken by each listener is never ending and no-ones slice gets any smaller.
Go forth and own more
Jonathan
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Create our next front cover!
We in camp Barricade love making our music, but we also love making the whole design. We thought for the next release or two we'd have you put your two cents in. We have a remix EP and our second 'live, covers and demos' album out in the coming months and need some artwork.
If you fancy having a go at it then simply email us at band@barricadesrise.co.uk with your ideas/photos/artwork/anything you have and we'll consider it. Alternatively, go to our Facebook site and let us know there.
As we are a hard working, dedicated yet skint band, the work will be unpaid but it will be credited on the release and we'll push you to our fans for the rest of our natural lives, then onwards after too.
Here is the artwork for our last releases.
Monday, 9 January 2012
Oh, you will thank me
So it's the start of a new year and if you are reading this then you must be hoping for some big Barricades Rise news. Something mega, something huge well . . .. . .We got nothing at the minute. Michael is busy with the baby and although I have been writing new stuff, there is little planned for the next month or so. Don't get me wrong, we have plans and 2012 will see Barricades Rise gigging and releases will happen but just nothing to report this very minute.
So, you are probably asking yourself 'Why blog with nothing to say?'. Well I have got something to tell you about and that is Rice!!!! Not just any rice, but the super wicked rice dinner I made today. Oh yes, it was a sensation of the taste bud variety. I have christened it 'Spicy tomato rice thingy' and this is what you need
Serves 2
White Rice – Three quarters of a mug full
1 x Tin of chopped tomato's
1 x Tin of Chilli beans in a chilli Tomato sauce
6 x Cloves of garlic
2 x Red onions
1 x White Cabbage
1 x Red Cabbage
1 x Jar of Lazy chopped chilli
1 x Carrot
How to prepare
1) Cook rice in saucepan until fluffy
2) Whilst rice is cooking, very (very) finaly chop onions, carrot and garlic. Put this to one side
3) Grate about a handful of raw white cabbage and the same of red cabbage and put with the Onion, carrot and garlic.
4) Once rice is cooked, throw it in to a wok and add the whole tin of chopped tomatoes and chilli beans.
5) Once heated through, throw in the carrot, onions, cabbage, garlic and a tablesspoon of lazy chilli.
6) Heat for about five minute and serve with whatever you like
7) BOOM – Taste buds have a party
Thank me later
Jonathan
ps – will have band news soon, I promise
So, you are probably asking yourself 'Why blog with nothing to say?'. Well I have got something to tell you about and that is Rice!!!! Not just any rice, but the super wicked rice dinner I made today. Oh yes, it was a sensation of the taste bud variety. I have christened it 'Spicy tomato rice thingy' and this is what you need
Serves 2
White Rice – Three quarters of a mug full
1 x Tin of chopped tomato's
1 x Tin of Chilli beans in a chilli Tomato sauce
6 x Cloves of garlic
2 x Red onions
1 x White Cabbage
1 x Red Cabbage
1 x Jar of Lazy chopped chilli
1 x Carrot
How to prepare
1) Cook rice in saucepan until fluffy
2) Whilst rice is cooking, very (very) finaly chop onions, carrot and garlic. Put this to one side
3) Grate about a handful of raw white cabbage and the same of red cabbage and put with the Onion, carrot and garlic.
4) Once rice is cooked, throw it in to a wok and add the whole tin of chopped tomatoes and chilli beans.
5) Once heated through, throw in the carrot, onions, cabbage, garlic and a tablesspoon of lazy chilli.
6) Heat for about five minute and serve with whatever you like
7) BOOM – Taste buds have a party
Thank me later
Jonathan
ps – will have band news soon, I promise
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Baby BR
Michael and his wife welcomed their first child in to the world on January 2nd. They are now proud parents to a baby boy who they have named Oscar Joseph McEntee.
I'm sure Michael will post on here soon and tell you all about the joys of fatherhood but for now it's nappies and feeding for a while
Jonathan
ps - As it is our first blog of 2012 - Happy New Year
I'm sure Michael will post on here soon and tell you all about the joys of fatherhood but for now it's nappies and feeding for a while
Jonathan
ps - As it is our first blog of 2012 - Happy New Year
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