Music | Destructing David

Feb

John Mayer and the “N” Word

John Mayer bugs me. I wish I could blanket ignore him the same way it's so easy to do with other arrogant narcissistic people in the spotlight, but he makes it very hard to do for a couple of reasons that sort of Intertwine.

1. He is an excellent pop song writer/singer. He genuinely can write a good song and couple it from time to time with a nicely turned lyric. and unfortunately I'm objective enough to enjoy good music regardless of how much of an idiot there is behind said music.

2. He punches far above his weight musically. Now granted I'm jealous and I make no bones about it! I would probably use and abuse my success too if I was in his position. But he wants to be a blues guitarist, and I'm afraid at that, he's mediocre at very generous best. Yet, by cashing in on his star status he's now starting to be talked of in the same sentence as Clapton, John frickin scofield!! etc etc. How and why? Because he's capitalized on the genuinely good pop music he's made to jam with jazz and blues guys that run not only circles, but full 3 dimensional spheres around his pentatonic box shape noodling.

3. He's doinked Rachael from friends. This stings probably more than jamming on record and stage with Scofield. Lol nah I'm just kidding…no seriously he stole my 13 year old self's dream girl. Bastard. No I kid I kid…..

Room For Squares was a great acoustic pop record, and whilst his subsequent discs have been getting more and more chilled and tinged with his wannabe blues vibe there have still been some stand-out gems. Belief, Slow Dancing in a Burnng Room, Gravity etc awesome stuff, and the production is always gorgeous. And he's commandeered Pilo Palidino and Steve Jordan, one of the most awesome rhythm sections in the world. Like I said, punching above his weight. You couldn't make a bad record with those two laying down the groove.

So I like some of the music he makes. I'm not a hater on that account. However for ages I've heard very suspicious things about his character and personality that have led me to think he may be an utter narcissistic egotistical arse hole. Yet ultimately that, thing for the most part is irrelevant, a lot of talented creative types are dicks. It's just the way it is. It only matters to people (particularly immature or youthful fans) that are extreme fans of a certain person, people that have lifted their idols onto some godly pedestal so that when they fall off it, the fan can't separate the art from the human that created it.

That being said his recent playboy interview is a real shocker. If you haven't heard about it already then the short versed media hyped bit is that he said "nigger" during interview. But that really isn't the worst part about it, the whole thing reads like the rantings of the most sef-consumed, self-loved man child in the music industry. You can read it here

Now I know this is Playboy, and you expect the tone to be raunchy, and I'm certainly no prude, but it just comes off as embarrassing. The way he talks sexually about his ex's, flipping between them in neighbouring paragraphs with as much respect as a pimp, is truly shocking. Even his semi-acknowledgement of this seems calculated and purposeful.

Everything is about him, him, him, and the interviewer prefaces this in the lead up/background to the interview text, but it's remarkable how few words the interviews actually gets in (granted it could be edited this way, but I'm assuming they didn't make entire cascading paragraphs up for John, so the point still stands).

The problem with the forbidden word he uses is not actually the word itself, but everything that surrounds it. He is talking very disparagingly about black people whether he thinks he is being ironic, intellectual, self-aware or whatever. He's doing it not with the intention of making a thought provoking point, or commenting on anything of worth, he is simply massaging his own ego. And regardless of whether he is a racist or not, that's exactly as it appears.

I actually don't think he is racist, I really believe he was speaking in the way he was for effect. It was ill conceived and completely insensitive, but more about "look at me, listen to me, aren't I a great social observer?" etc etc. I don't think he could be that cognitively dissonant to actually harbour racist tendencies towards the people that created and developed the music he so wishes to cannibalise and mangle.

But to some up the N-word/white supremacist dick comments; he basically could have saved an awful lot of trouble by saying "I haven't yet slept with a black woman" or "I guess I'm generally not attracted to black women". This is not racist, just talking candidly about his life/preferences. Just because you're not attracted to a certain age/weight/high/race/colour/gender, doesn't make you bigoted. However the words that he uses in the interview to explain that preference make it seem like he thinks he is better than others, and with that context it does turn into racism.

But even if he hadn't gone in the deep end with his racial comments, the full thing is appalling to read. One of the most interesting things of note is that he talks several times about "only being 32" and that "he needs to act like a 32 year old".

Now I'm not for one saying that 32 is old, not in the slightest, I think it's a youthful adult age. And I'm not supposing to tell people how they should act or behave at any particular age. But the strength of emphasis that Mayer puts on only being 32, or needing to act like a 32 year old would make you think its a misprint and should be 22. It's like he's trying to use his "young age" as an excuse for his particular lifestyle. 32 isn't old by any means, but it's also not a teenager any more. It's adulthood. Now, how a person lives their life at 32 is completely individual, whatever you do some people will criticise, others wont or will sympathise. But you have to handle the fact that tweeting about your farts will give people a certain impression about you at any age, so don't get bent out of shape.

So John, here's an only-27-year-old "kid with a terrible blog" calling you a doucebag,

P.S If you do happen to read this, I urge you to listen to this guy. He has managed to roll up artistry, commentary, humour and fantastic musicality into one beautiful song to make a point that soars far above thoughtless, insensitive,immature drivel you conjured in that interview. I hope you're sincere about shutting up and making music, drop the blues and listen to Room For Squares with fresh ears. You're a great pop artist.

Tim Minchin – Prejudice

Nov

Steve Vai – Where The Wild Things Are – Live DVD Review

I have to preface this somewhat by stating that I am one big admirer of Vai. I have all the music, transcriptions, and even the Jem, but I'm not blinded to the fact that he is indeed fallible, and I'm just going to be as honest as I can with this.

First the good, which is that I enjoyed it far more than I was expecting too. I had sort of set my hopes on this far lower after seeing the admittedly impressive trailer. Cynical? Maybe, but the last 10 years have been rather disappointing for me on the Steve Vai musical output.

So yes, not withstanding the somewhat cheap physical media and the packaging it ships in, this is an awesome product. It's been filmed very well (certainly a million times better than the 2001 Astoria filming) and the editing, whilst typically Vai-esque and flashy, manages to find a decent balance between focusing on the event itself (so you feel like a part of the concert) and focusing on the shredding star of the show. After all the majority of the people buying this are only looking for one thing. And in the testosterone fuelled world of stunt rock guitar pyrotechnics it is bizarrely not Ann Marie Calhoun's rather nice legs!

More good stuff…the song choice; it's pretty cool. Yes there's a lot of repetition but everyone is guilty of that from DVD to DVD (Mr Satriani!) however its also necessary, and what Vai does here is give a very long concert with enough new stuff and re-imaginings to make it a really great gig. All About Eve is a fantastic example of this.

Now the negatives. Steve Isn't an improviser. There…I said it.

Now this may hurt, (who I'm not sure, probably myself) but it's true. The reality is that Vai excels at creating, and re-creating incredibly impossible quirky guitar parts, and yes he composes fantastic guitar melodies. So when I watch Vai I want to see him playing the music as it was on record, not a half hearted attempt, and sort of ad-libbed.

Now extended sections and purposefully ad libbed sections are a different story, I can deal with those as they stand outside of the composition and can add wonderfully to a show. but this is not what is happening here.

Juice, The Audience is Listening, The Crying Machine, Taurus Bulba, Liberty. These are all examples of where he's sort of playing the solo's, or kinda getting the idea of the tune, but perfection it is not. And it is not as if the differences seem like conscious changes (baring the embarrassing Juice tap-out perhaps?!) that add to the music. It really does sound like someone just not nailing the parts.

Now please don't think I'm anti-improv! Not in the slightest. My uni degree was in Jazz, and for that reason improvising is close to my heart, and this is why I adore the likes of John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Wayne Krantz, just a few examples of phenomenal improvisers, who acknowledge that's what they do. It is not that I'm biased against improvising, it just that's really not what I want to see in a Steve Vai gig.

I know that there are many many factors that go into a live Vai show and Steve's performance is sometimes the smaller part of this (to his humble credit) however I feel that all of the flashy lights and stage antics can be detrimental to what I would consider his core skill, and what he has made his name on.

And I think this is why my Vai love has waned somewhat in recent years. Take some time to ponder on this: There has been only 1 studio record in a decade and all the live dvds are not performed as convincingly as I've personally witnessed him achieve in the past.

Other things to take into note; the Violin thing. Hmm not sure. Sometimes it works, most of the time it really doesn't. And Alex DePue's electric distorted violin sounds down right horrible at times. Ann Marie Calhoun's tone is much more pleasant, however the timbres very often clash with Vai. I do have to give credit to the arrangements and hard work of the two of them though. Some considerable time has been put into adapting the guitar parts for violin, and clearly they've had to work to get them. However I can't help but feel underwhelmed at best, and at worst turn down the volume because the upper frequencies are just screeching at times.

I'm still not a fan of Jeremy Colson's drumming, and really don't think he fits the Vai band very well. However watching the bonus features he comes across as a really nice guy and very humbled to be part of it, which is all nicey nicey etc etc but I just don't think he has the chops or the groove for this sort of thing. But as I mentioned before this isn't about a band performing, despite Steve's best intentions to present it that way, which he admirably does. This is about enjoying, or well maybe not enjoying as the case maybe, Vai s freakish fingers flying around the guitar neck.

I know I sound a little harsh with all this, but I think that ultimately I'm a little bitter that in 10 years Real Illusions has been the only studio record, and I was seriously underwhelmed by it. Don't get me wrong, I want to love Vai again. It's just he's making it hard for me to do so.

Next up, Breaking Benjamin's Dear Agony album.. ha ha more negative things to say…I really need to find something I like and review it, soon!