The First HonestKyle Show Is Set

Posted: 4th December 2011 by admin in Shows
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The first HonestKyle show is finally set and I’m super excited (and nervous) for the big day. However, this show is not until July of 2012. (So don’t start bugging me for tickets right now)

Now, from the beginning of this music’s conception, I imagined putting on my very own massive album release show to kick off the band and establish myself as a major contender in the area, but late at night this past week, while browsing Facebook, I saw an opportunity that I decided I couldn’t turn away.

A good musical friend of mine named Brian has made it his goal to continually raise the bar as far as the representation and performances of the northeast Ohio local music scene and he does a hell of a job. He’s a cofounder of an independent music production company called Beardcore Productions that hosts a number of high-production shows in my area.

When you attend one of his shows, you can expect at least a dozen bands, possibly on multiple stages, and a turnout of at least a couple hundred people. These shows are pretty great to say the least.

But late one night last week, I was browsing Facebook and noticed that Brian had decided to put on a massive show planned for July spanning 3 days with multiple stages, featured touring acts, and a bill containing almost every reputable band in the northeast Ohio area. And all this is happening right in my hometown of Newton Falls, OH.

Now, my first response was to simply view the event, give my continued support, and then go to bed… but… when I laid in bed, my mind was racing at a hundred miles an hour. The next day at work I was practically a zombie with how much sleep I had lost the night before.

And I began to weigh my very own plans for HonestKyle’s debut.

Would I be able to put on a show with the same turnout? Would I be able replicate a similar intesified atmosphere for my very own album release?

I finally realized that even though I do have great confidence in my own skills to put on a show with a large turnout, I knew that this event being hosted by Brian is just too much to pass up.

So I threw my hat into the ring and I’m super excited! I’m planning to go all out for this show to provide a performance that people will be talking about for a long time.

To prepare, I’ve been working even harder to finish my album in the next couple months so that I can focus primarily on my backing band. So keep an eye out for more music updates to appear!

 

 

Song 9 Teaser Clip For Listening

Posted: 21st November 2011 by admin in Recording
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The end is near! Repent! Repent!

A joke, yes. I’m drawing ever closer to finishing this debut album and things are started to really heat up. Down below, you’ll notice that I have a teaser clip of my most recent composition. I believe that I have a title for this creation as well… “Walking Blind Through A Blizzard”.


So I guess this big question is “Is this the final song on the album? Are you starting to wrap things up?”

Well… almost. The very last bit of tracking that I’m doing is for a very short melody track that I believe will start off the album. It’s catchy, simple, and shouldn’t take very long to get done. Plus, I think it’ll sound awesome done live.

Recently, I’ve had a few friends asking “When will this get done?” I’ve thrown out answers like “in a month? a couple months?”

Honestly, I’m not sure. It’ll get done when it gets done. I’m just not ready to toss out something to the public that I’m not happy with.

And when it comes time to start putting a band together to perform these things, I hope that I find some good vocalists to help me out on stage.

To those that are patiently waiting, my advice is to sit tight. Everything will be done in due time.

Thank you all for caring :)

The band that I’ve been a part of for close to a year, Purple Are Forward, had possibly its last show this past Thursday at Cedar’s Lounge in Youngstown, OH. It sure was a fun ride with these guys and I’m positive that we’ll still be seeing a lot of each other still.

It may not have been the best show to end on seeing as how all of us were dead tired after working/going to school all day only to come out and be as rockin’ as we possibly could, taking the stage at 11:00 pm. Even with the odds against us, we brought it. Oh did we bring it.

The crowd wasn’t massive, but it was still great to see all our regulars bobbin’ their heads and enjoying the show. Even if it’s only a handful of people we know, we always expect to have a good time.

The video below was taken again by our friend Nick Serra. Be sure to give him some good comments on YouTube where these videos are posted please. I’m sure he would appreciate it.

You’ll also notice that I have a few pictures of me and my fiancee Zombified! We attended the yearly Youngstown, OH Zombie Crawl. We’re first-timers so we had to have our friends Matt and Angi help us with our makeup. Did they do a good job or what?!

Danielle all ghouled up

Danielle all ghouled up

Danielle And I
Me as a Zombie for the Youngstown, OH Zombie Crawl

Me... Dead

Mind you the picture of me standing in the dark with my hood up is after only getting 4 hours of sleep from playing the PAF show the night before.

So what’s happening with HonestKyle…

Well, I’ll tell you what I worked on this past weekend and it wasn’t music. It wasn’t even fun.

Since I’m a big boy now with a big boy job, sometimes you have to meet deadlines with your projects and get those TPS reports out before someone comes and bothers you and this was one of those times. I’m a software developer and I had to have a new feature in the company’s test system by the end of the day Monday and it wasn’t ready so I actually had to put in a 6 hour work day on Saturday and another 8 hours on Sunday. I at least got to work from my laptop at home, but it was still disheartening knowing my guitar was so close by and that I couldn’t touch it!

I’m happy to say that I got the project in on time. And hopefully, I don’t have anything that urgent to do for awhile so I can buckle down and feed you guys some more sneaky peaks of what’s happening in the HK music world as I get more time to crank out this final tune for the album.




(Song 8 Teaser #2) Song 9 Is On The Rise

Posted: 16th October 2011 by admin in Recording
Tags: , ,

I have another 20 second teaser track for you to listen to from my most recently finished song simply called Song 8 for the time being. Now, the song isn’t completely finished as I didn’t do any mixing for this tune, but I figure that I’ll probably go back and do all sorts of mixing for each song once the entire album’s tracking is over.


That leaves only one more tune… Song 9. Dun dun dun.

One thing that I wanted to accomplish with this album is to give every single song its own identity. I want you to be able to identify each tune on the album as having its own personality as it were.

Have you ever listened to an album where every tune, one after the other, started to blend together and it wasn’t until a couple listens that you finally began hearing the colorful differences between each track? That really bothers me.

I picked up an album like that recently. It’s a metal band that kind of switches back and forth from prerecorded beat tracks and metal riffs. You know the type. Well, I’ve eventually come to really like this album, but it wasn’t until listening to it maybe 3-4 times that this happened. Yikes.

Here’s a question that I’d like to ask you…

Do you feel like in the late 90s and early 2000s that music was simpler? I’m talking about in the early days of Blink 182, Sum 41, Something Corporate, and Story of the Year.

I’ve been so hooked on Does This Look Infected because of the intoxicating singing melodies and the simplicity of composition. I’ll always be amazed at how powerful a few simple well-placed 4-chord guitar riffs can create a tune that you’re not likely to forget.

This sets the mood for Song 9. Powerful, simple, and hopefully unforgettable.

 

First, make sure you listen to this clip while you can because I plan on removing it in a weeks time! FYI!

Since I’ve been in such an ambitious mood for the last few weeks since finishing song 7 of  9 (Watch Me Go) for my full-length album, I cranked out the music to song 8 in almost no time.

What I love about this song is that I tried a bunch of new ideas and attemped to incorporate a multitude of styles. There were times I would listen to my riffs and think, geez, I really wished that this sounded more like so-and-so instead of what it really is.

However, I’ve come to be proud of some of the subtle tweaks that I put to the typical post-hardcore/rock/metal/punk/whatever-the-hell-you-want-to-stick-in-there genre because that’s what it’s all about right? Make something appealing that traditional listeners of the genre can identify with, but twist it into your own personal creation.


This sound clip that I have for you to listen to isn’t anything stupendous, but I at least wanted to give you a little taste of my next tune without handing over the whole pie. The section I have for you is the third verse and most of the bridge.

I’ve written out all the lyrics to this piece as well and I’ve decided that the topic is sort of “Life Commiseration“. Heck, that sounds like a pretty sweet song title too.

But the message of the song is this:

Everybody struggles with major problems and simple day-to-day obstacles, but there should be comfort in knowing that this applies to everyone. And if one person can survive, then we all can.

Now, if whether or not I can actually convey that message in this song successfully… well that’s another story.

Go ahead and leave a comment to tell me what you think of either my song concept or music clip. And keep checking back because I hope to continue providing more consistent updates and sneak peeks at my music as things unfold.

Matt creeping in my photo acting as the Headless Horseman

Here are just a few video’s of last week’s show at The Lemon Grove in Youngstown, OH if you couldn’t make it. We had a great time and we’re just happy that we actually got to play this time! lol

If you didn’t know, the last time we had a performance at The Lemon Grove, the headlining band just stepped in and stole our spot because the show was going too late. Some really nice guys I know. But this time, we got in, did our thing, and had a pretty good time.

What’s interesting about this show (and you may not have known this) is that we hadn’t had the chance to practice for over a month! Yea, we were going in to this one cold.

You might spot a couple flubs, but I think that we did alright considering the circumstances. Thanks to Nick Serra for taking some great high definition video. Enjoy!


[Seth and Matt carrying out Seth's cabinet while Chris and I look pretty.
This video was taken with my phone]

Up until the time that I actually get HonestKyle in its completion to play some live shows and start touring the area, I’ve been doing my musical duty and playing with other fine musicians. Well, at this very moment I’m still apart of the very talented group Purple Are Forward and we have a show coming tomorrow!

Purple Are Forward at house show

Purple Are Forward rocking out at Matt's old house at a shutdown house show

Purple Are Forward rocking out in Matt’s previous house at a shutdown house show.

Honestly, I would have created this post sooner, but I kind of forget about the show itself (whoopsy). We’re all busy guys in this group. Seth, the writer and lead guitarist spends his time trying to finish school and bring in a few bucks. Matt is working as a mechanic in Cleveland while still living in the Youngstown area. I’m surprised he doesn’t have a cot in the back of his Jeep. Chris is working hard to finish school as well so he can move on from his college life. And me, I work 8 hours a day as a thriving software engineer.

It’s difficult for us to remember when it’s time to have fun.

But enough about us, let’s talk about this show!

All we really know right now is located at the Event Facebook Event Page.

  • Location: The Lemon Grove in  Youngstown, OH
  • Time: 7:00 pm

Bands include:

It was a member of Braille that actually landed us this show so I’d like to show my appreciate to that individual. Thanks buddy!


[Here's what you can expect at our live shows. Video courtesy of Nick Serra]
But I encourage everyone to try to make it out if you’re in the area for another reason. Our drummer Chris is moving on to other things after our next two shows. It’s been great having him along and laying out all the beats that have really shaped Purple Are Forward’s live show, but he’s gotta do what he’s gotta do.

If you’ve ever gone to a show at the Lemon Grove before then you probably know how the schedule usually goes. If you’ve never been there then heads up because the show usually gets pushed back up 2 hours. No joke. That doesn’t mean we still won’t rock the fuck out even when it’s 1am.

I’d really love to see all your awesome faces there and I’ll post a video of the show if our friend Nick Serra decides to film the event as he usually does. Time to rock out!

Well I’ve been diligently working hard to finish this HonestKyle album (8 or 9 songs) and today I just finished the drum tracks for Song 8. There’s no title yet since I really have no clue as to the lyrics or subject of the song, but that doesn’t really matter at this point.

What’s really cool about this one is that during my writing process, I was constantly second-guessing myself to make sure that I wasn’t confining every riff and section to the traditional Intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, etc. scheme. I’ve noticed that most of my tunes follow that sort of “predictable” structure and well, I want to cut it out.

It’s interesting how much you really need to pay attention to… yourself in order to spot your own stagnant habits and consistencies. Only after you notice your own patterns are you able to change them.

For those that don’t know what a “scratch track” is, I’ll explain. A scratch track is typically a very rough track of one of the main instruments in the song used to get another musician started in the recording process. For instance, I like to program the drums first for all of my songs, but it can often take a very long time when I’m trying to imagine the song as I put in each drum section… SO… I record a scratch track. I plug in my guitar, set the metronome to the bpm (beats per minute) of the tune and play the entire song. Then, I program the drums in while listening to the rough track. Ta da!

In this scratch track, I’ve included both the drums and the guitar so you can pretty much get an idea of what the song is going to sound like. A very thin version anyway.

And something that I noticed on my little hiatus (that I’m quite embarrassed about) is that when people have been signing up for my e-mail list, the link that takes them to my welcome video is GONE! Whoops!

I honestly don’t know where it went. haha

So I’ve shut down entry to my e-mail list for the time being until I can get that back up and running again. And for anyone that’s recently signed up and expected free songs only to click on a broken link, please contact me (honestkyle@gmail.com) and I would be happy to get you the songs that you were expecting.

Follow my twitter and facebook updates to keep constant watch on my progress as I complete these tunes. The day that I announce my need for actual musicians to play these songs will be here before you know it!

Matt Seifert band photo for Chasing OctoberI attended the Matt Seifert BeardaFit last night in Newton Falls, OH. It was pretty great what Brian Markle and Jason Kovach put together for the family of Matt Seifert.

If you don’t know, Matt Seifert recently passed away after taking a devastating drop at Nelson Ledges. It was extremely unfortunate and I give my condolences to his family. However, the show that was put on was a fantastic way to support the family and provide some compensation for the hospital stays that probably were quite expensive.

I think that some of the highlights of the night were seeing They Promised Escape, Brian Markle’s new band, A Damn Shame, Steal The Spotlight, and the young but very talented group Burkley. I met up with my old friend Scott from a previous group I was in, Let All Prevail.

Overall, it was a fun night and I’m sure that Matt would be pleased that this was how we remember him. As a talented, clean-cut drummer, that was loved and respected by many.

Jason Kovach of Steal the Spotlight

They Promised Escape

So I started recording my 7 of 8 new HonestKyle songs this week and I’ve really made some great progress that I didn’t expect to accomplish thus far. Let’s hear it for productivity!

I didn’t want to leave you hanging and I enjoy feedback and comments on my music all during the entire composition process so I posted the unmixed rough instrumental version of song 7, “Watch Me Go”, to my reverbnation music player that appears at the top of this site.

For the past 6 months I really haven’t done any sort of writing or recording new music for myself since I’ve been involved with an awesome full band, Purple Are Forward. We played at the Youngstown, OH Vex Fest only a couple weeks ago.

And what’s interesting about this new song of mine is that it definitely has the sound of the most recent HonestKyle songs that I’ve presented to you, but at the same time, it hints at a more chaotic style that I hope is to come. Song 8 will exhibit this style even more and I’m very excited to share it with you.

I’m hoping to record some vocals to this song in the coming weekend, but it might be tricky. Currently, I live in an apartment and I’m not sure if my fellow tenants would appreciate me yelling my head off for a chunk of the day so I can lay down these tracks.

My plan is to load all the recording data and everything that I need onto my new Dell XPS laptop and move my little “studio” over to my parents house and just spend an entire day hashing out the vocals. I guess this is one of the downsides of not owning a house :(

But go ahead and listen to my new track. I’m excited to complete this thing and move on to phase two… live shows.