Unstoppable #thebandred #musicmonday

#Music #Monday, #LinkinPark and serendipity

Every Monday I like to post a piece of music that's either inspired a story, that I could see as part of the soundtrack to one, or what I'm listening to at the time. Today is a little bit different. Tonight I'm off to see Linkin Park live for the first time. Woo hoo! Not only is that something that's been on my wishlist for a while, but on Friday I released a book very much inspired by a Linkin Park album - Living Things - a coincidence I hadn't even tried to engineer. Clearly it must be fate. :P

So today I give you not just one song, but the playlist that acted as inspiration and soundtrack to my superhero romance When Dark Falls. And hopefully I may hear a couple of those tracks live tonight. Enjoy!

And when you've finished that, maybe the music might tempt you to check out the book. I wonder if you'll be able to spot any themes from the songs in the story? :)

EXCERPT | GOODREADS
Available at... Breathless Press
All Romance eBooks | Bookstrand
Amazon US | Amazon UK

#Music #Monday #1 Darkfall #inspiration

Every once in a while I tweet a music track or two that I'm either listening to as I write, and/or that has inspired whatever I'm working on. This week I thought I'd do something a bit different and talk about why and how a particular track sparked ideas. The track is Burn It Down by Linkin Park, from the album Living Things.

Living Things essentially became the unofficial soundtrack for Darkfall, my decopunk superhero romance novella that has just been out to beta readers. Darkfall started off as, of all things, a scene in my head that came across far more as Urban Fantasy than scifi. I haven't read a lot of UF, and the idea of writing one just seemed too far outside my comfort zone. But I stuck with it over CampNaNoWriMo August 2012, until another idea helped me morph it into scifi. Then I started listening to Living Things, and the whole focus shifted. The almost industrial sounds in the music bled into the story. It became dark and gritty, like the UF it started as, but various elements of tech and almost X-Men style superheroes snuck in. Images from Dark City, Sky Captain of Tomorrow, and an element of Underworld coloured it, and especially my fondness for the whole Art Deco period. It might sound an odd mix, but the music gave it that feel. Lastly, Burn it Down and an image of a flaming oil rig gave me a signature piece of tech that helps shape the Art Deco city of Nephopolis I'd created, and gave the story the almost noir feel I wanted. Music, especially that song and that image, transformed Darkfall from a tenuous UF idea into a fully fledged decopunk. Amazing what music and pictures can do.

One Man, a #Violin and a Laptop (#music)

Over the past few years I've been privileged in meeting some very talented people. None more so than Ian Peaston, a musician and author of epic scifi at whoiskai.com. Last year I flew from Essex to Edinburgh to watch him perform at the Fringe as essens:1 with clarinet player Per Johansson. This year Ian went solo at the Brighton Fringe as Violin Variations. Here he is on stage!

Photo credit Brian Peaston

Oh, you can't see him? Sorry about that. When you have one man essentially playing the part of many, and on an instrument that may well look like a violin but can sound like a variety of strings and percussion, you expect some kind of blur or time distortion. Or maybe a group of musicians hidden back stage to perform some  of the magic. After all, one man can't possibly perform like an entire string orchestra? A rock band? A traditional trio?

But that's exactly what Ian can do. Using looping and a laptop, he mixes classical music such as Bach with pop like Bjork and Muse. He performs traditional La Folia with its three elements of chords, bass and melody, but specially composed for looping by Stefan Klaverdal. He can rock out Teardrop by Massive Attack. And do it all solo with just an electric violin, a bit of tech and a pair of stripey socks. :P Between pieces you'll be treated to his soft Scottish accent as he describes his creative process or gives you some background on each section of music.

If you thought classical music and violins weren't for you, think again. Stop by violinvariations.com or essens1.com and listen to a snippet or three. I can recommend Stockholm Syndrome right now if Muse is your thing (or even if it isn't!) You might be surprised.

Unfortunately I don't have any footage from the Brighton Fringe to share. Both my camera and my phone ran out of battery at the essential moment. *cries* But I do have a video of Mogadishu Blues (still one of my favourite pieces, although I've been told this may be evolving in the future) taken at the Edinburgh Fringe last year. Enjoy!




Stalk Ian here -

Twitter
Facebook - Violin Variations, essens:1, Who is Kai?
Websites - elucian, Violin Variations, essens:1

 

About

One violin. One laptop. Endless creativity.

A concert-talk about the violin, music and creativity.

How can one violin sound like a whole band, seamlessly blending all genres into one?

How can musical creativity inspire you to challenge limitations and increase productivity?

Violin Variations is a concert-talk about music and creativity by the Scottish violinist Ian Peaston. With an electric violin, pedals and a laptop, Ian performs everything from Bach to film music by Hans Zimmer, trip-hop by Massive Attack and Brazilian electro-samba!

Every sound you hear — strings, guitars, drums and bass — is produced from a single violin, and Ian loops together layer upon layer of these sounds until there is a twenty-piece band playing from the speakers! And all completely live!

Ian then weaves this eclectic mix of music together with thought-provoking insights on creativity from his own experience as a musician, customising each performance to maximise the relevance for the specific audience.

For a concert audience, Ian blends this exciting fusion of musical styles with a personal account of what led him to create music in this way, deepening and enriching the concert experience.

For students, he shows how music from a wide range of cultures has inspired him, opening pathways to new ways of thinking that can help motivate students in their own academic and artistic endeavours.

As an inspirational speaker at corporate events, he utilises his eclectic collection of music to illustrate concepts of creativity to help stimulate innovation and productivity.

To book Violin Variations and to discuss how it can be adapted to suit the specific needs of your venue, school or company, e-mail booking@elucian.com.

essens:1 - Music Worth Flying For

I suppose that to some people it might seem a little mad to fly the length of the UK and back again in one day to watch a one-hour performace. I guess it depends how badly you want to see someone play live. In this case, very, very, VERY badly. :)

I've been following essens:1 since I friended one part of the eclectic duo on Facebook through his book page Who is Kai? I don't know a lot about classical music - I wouldn't know a piece by Mozart from one by Mendelssohn without looking it up - but I do know when I hear something that I like. essens:1 attempts to broaden the appeal of classical music and to put their own special stamp on it in a way that is both captivating and innovative. Using two laptops, an electric violin, an electric clarinet, looping, and a lot of talent and enthusiasm, essens:1 create their own unique twists. To prove their point, their performance at the Edinburgh Fringe this week was entitled From Mozart to Muse. Yes, you read that right. If you think classical music isn't your thing, these could be the guys to change your mind.


A live cover of Muse's Hysteria by essens:1 -- Ian Peaston (electric violin) and Per Johansson (electric clarinet). The entire piece is looped live, with all sounds produced electro-acoustically on violin and clarinet via Ableton Live. Not taken from the Fringe performance

From playing two pieces especially composed for them - Tobias Broström's evocative Dreamscape, and Stefan Klaverdal's pulsating Bach remix Misrau Ca - to film scores by Hans Zimmer and Yann Tiersen, and on to We Will Rock You by Queen and Muse's Hysteria (my personal favourite), the duo prove the versatility of their instruments, and their skill at using technology to play pieces that would normally require a full orchestra or fully equipped rock band.


Live at The Bongo Club 23rd August 2012

These guys love their music so much, and are so passionate about what they do that you can't help but be drawn in by their enthusiasm and their energy. They deserve greater recognition for it.

You can check out more of essens:1 work and forthcoming tour dates via their site here or their Facebook page here. You can also look up Ian's solo work as Violin Variations here, and for the scifi fans Ian's writing site is here. Also follow @elucian on Twitter.

essens:1 will be performing today and tomorrow at 14.30 at The Bongo Club, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh as part of the Fringe Festival. Go along with you!

A Playlist for Keir

A few weeks ago I published a post about how a Finnish rock band - The Rasmus - came to be such a huge inspiration on my writing, particularly with Keir. Although I was listening to their three latest albums at the time of writing, there were some specific songs that I feel relate more to Keir and his story than others. So while the music influenced the theme overall, I thought I'd share a few of the special songs that I would (if I could) choose as film tracks if I imagine Keir made it there. :)

Main theme - Justify. So close, so far - I'm lost in time.



Love song - Silently. Okay, so this is a track by Elliot Minor and NOT The Rasmus. So silently you will make this day so unreal and never-ending, standing on the edge believing, that this will never end.

Simply for these lines - Ghost of Love - I'm fading, I'm barely breathing, can't hold on, I'm dying, I must be bleeding, won't be long...


Secondary tracks -
Open My Eyes


Shot


Run to You


Lost and Lonely This feels like the end of time, like something bad is coming, you've been living in a world of lies...


Unaffected by Hoobastank (although this was added AFTER I'd written the book). So what should I do, but lay next to you as though I'm unaffected...



And although this has become one of the main themes for the sequel - Lost Serenity - this song sparked my confirmed devotion to the band -
Livin' in a World Without You. Something inside me called freedom came alive...


And of course the song that got me hooked into them in the first place - In the Shadows.


One for Quin - Sail Away. Remember when I swore our love was never-ending, that you and I would never die...


With all of these songs either the tone and/or the lyrics have in some way influenced the feel of Keir, or echoed a theme in the story. The concept behind the main album - Black Roses - was based on keywords such as 'martyr' and 'warrior', and the darkness of it suits Keir perfectly. And yet inside it all, there's always an element of hope. :)

Do you have a theme song for your stories? Do you listen to a particular style of music or band for your books, or more specifically for certain scenes? Or do you find it too much of a distraction?

The Rasmus - live

The 21st May 2012 now holds a special place in my heart. It's the day I finally got to see my favourite band live at last. Woo hoooooo! After missing their UK concert in 2009, I never expected them to ever come back. They aren't huge here. So as soon as their tour was announced at the start of this year and with a London stop listed, I hung on the computer waiting to buy tickets and shrieking in frustration as I saw others getting theirs early!

For those of you who don't know it already, I'm a huge, huge fan of The Rasmus. They rock! It's the one thing I will get silly over. Not all screaming throwing-my-underwear-at-the-stage-and-fainting-in-a-puddle type silly (as happened at the concert) but enough that I go a little weak at the knees when I hear them play. And not only do I love their music, but listening to it again was a part of the inspiration for Keir. I owe them big time. For helping to save my sanity and prompting me to once more put my pen to paper - or at least my fingers to the keyboard.

So how was the concert? Amazing. Fantastic. Awesome! In fact, I'll save you some time and trouble here. Just go to Thesaurus.com and type in 'fabulous'. All the words that come up will cover my feelings over watching the guys play live. :)

Sadly, my new super smart phone wasn't so super at taking photos and video, despite the fact I wasn't far from the front. My view was a smidge better than the camera shows.But here's one semi-decent shot of singer

Lauri Ylönen.

And since my recording of Justify (the song that I'd have as Keir's main theme) was so poor, here's a couple of youtube videos instead. You can't see me, but I'm in there. Somewhere. :-P

No Fear



And the song that some consider their trademark - In the Shadows. Lauri's microphone failed just before the end, but we carried on singing without him, and then all finished together. This was the one that really had everyone going! (I'm somewhere in the second 'everybody on the side' shoutout).



And one of the best thing about seeing them live? Lauri announced another tour coming up very shortly - with another stop in London. I'll be watching, I'll be waiting...

Oh, and this is me. I don't often like pictures of myself or post them - I'm not that much of an exhibitionist. But it was a nice one - for a change.

It's been a euphoric month for me. Seeing The Rasmus live. Having my first full length novel published. My short story reaching its first birthday. And celebrating 19 years of marriage. Can June match that? Only time will tell... :)

Thanks to The Rasmus

In 2004 I was heavily pregnant, suffering horrible morning sickness, and bored out of my mind. I started watching the music channels on the digital freeview since I was finding daytime tv beyond tedious. A song caught and held me, something a bit different and from a band I'd never heard of, in a style of music I'd never listened to before. The lead singer looked a bit odd, and the video seemed very surreal, but it caught and held me.

The song was In the Shadows, and the band was The Rasmus. I don't know why the song got under my skin so much, but it did. I listened to it repeatedly. I bought the album it came from - Dead Letters. Around the same time I woke up one morning with a character in my head and a name - Keir. I wrote twenty pages of story, not having written much in the five years before, despite having been an avid writer all through my teens. Then baby number two arrived, I became chronically depressed, and both music and story sank into the background.

Shift forward another five years. My three children playing happily in the garden over summer. Me, hugely overweight a year after the birth of my third child. Bored, miserable, tired. Feeling as though my identity was slipping away, aside from being a wife, a mother. Losing the person I'd been under labels that, although I was proud of them and took joy in being those things, had me wondering who and what I was any more. I needed something else. I needed my passion back.

I dug out the short story about Keir. I'd left him sitting in a dungeon, alone, dying, with no hope. Could I save him from that? And so save my own sanity? I started to write again. Once I'd started, I couldn't stop. I scribbled and typed endlessly, frenziedly. The words poured out of me. My husband thought I'd gone crazy. Maybe I did a little, but it felt so much better.

And as I wrote, I listened to music. I listened and I sang. In the years since I'd first heard In the Shadows, The Rasmus had two new albums out - Hide from the Sun and Black Roses. I LOVED them! So much of the feel in Keir is down to that music. It inspired me and kept me going. I'd found my passion again.

So Keir has come out of the shadows and into the world, and took me with him. Music carried us there, and for that I will always be grateful. I'm writing again, and I'm published. I've been to see a few bands over the last year and loved it, but now the chance has come to see The Rasmus live at last, and that is the biggest to-do on my list. I have my tickets! The past year has been an utter blast, and sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe that it's real. I'm finally the person I want to be - mother, wife, friend and author - and I couldn't be happier. :)

(Oh, and on the wildly unlikely assumption that this should ever get back to Lauri Ylönen - I apologise for saying you looked 'odd'. I should say 'distinctive'. Blame it on pregnancy hormones. :)  )

My Halloween Celebration.

Hi all! Apologies for the sudden silence that's fallen over my blog. No, I haven't been eaten by pumpkins or anything else appropriate to the season, but I'm deep in edits and with a deadline looming. So, as a very brief tribute to the day, here's my favourite Halloween film!

Inspirations - Scifi/Fantasy Films

Staying with inspirations, these are my top five scifi/fantasy films that I wanted to share with you - let me know if you agree or what your alternative listing is! :)

1.Star Wars. Okay, slight cheat here as this refers to all three films of the original trilogy (and not the later-made prequels). If you want me to stick to the 'rules' then I'd put The Empire Strikes Back in the top slot. For me, this film is 'the Trials of Luke Skywalker' in the finest tradition of testing a young hero, and his struggle to deal with his new-found powers and his dedication to the Jedi religion while still being true to the people he loves. These were the films that converted me from my early love of fantasy to the world of science-fiction. Well, that, and a small crush on Luke Skywalker.<blushes>


2.The Fifth Element. Although I think the story is a little weak and Zorg (Gary Oldman) comes across as one of the most ineffectual villains I know, I love this film. Visually entertaining and with some fab music, it has redeeming features, the feisty and yet fragile Leeloo for one. There's also some great humour in this, and Zorg's crowning moment is his reaction when, having deactivated his own bomb, the device set by the Mangalores activates and explodes. The clip here is the Diva's performance - and it's probably not what you'd expect if you haven't seen the film. I love the mix of classical with funky electronica in this piece. Also evidence that I'm not the first person to have blue aliens, and to do so is not simply 'copying' Avatar. :-/


3.Galaxy Quest. A parody of Star Trek and similar scifi shows, this has some fantastic humour in it, but also rather poignant. If you were famous for a particular scifi role and the show got cut and you couldn't find another job, what would you do? Tim Allen as Jason Nesmith, the actor who played Cmdr. Peter Quincy Taggart, throws himself whole-heartedly into conventions and playing to his fans, only to discover that his 'crew' hate him. Just as he loses faith in himself and everything he's done, a group of aliens who have taken the show as reality - 'historical documents' - seek him out and ask for his help. The show's catch phrase of 'Never give up, never surrender!' is a cry all aspiring authors could adopt. :) The one down-point in this film for me is the death of Quellek. :( Strangely for me, I didn't feel my general nerdiness was being mocked - as scifi geek Brandon in the film says; I'm not a complete nutcase, you know, I understand it's not real. :-P

4.A Knight's Tale. Okay, this appeals more to my mushy side I'm afraid. I love the medieval era and have used touches of it in my writing. I adore Heath Ledger's character in this - a young man striving for his dreams, prepared to take any risk to achieve it, and despite the odd tantrum, he does so with the same nobility of the high-born knights he hopes to emulate. In fact, his behaviour is a darn sight more noble than some of the so-called champions he meets. The use of some classic rock music rather than the more historically-accurate kind makes this stand out for me, and the romantic elements are enough to touch my heart without making me cringe. Sir Ulrich and his lady Jocelyn are well-matched, and his heart-felt belief in himself and determination to succeed are inspiring!


5.The Dark Crystal. I adore this film. For me, it's unique and special. The skill that was needed to make it, the weird and wonderful characters - the whole concept of it. At a time when computerized special effects were laborious and still required the use of models and blue screen, in the early days of animatronics, this film is iconic. To this day, I still collect Brian Froud's fairies, and I even have a couple of the figures - Jen and Kira - that my husband bought me as a birthday present one year. My first full length story was based on this film. Am I gushing too much? :-P


So tell me your top inspiring films, and why they did it for you. :)

Find the words and let it out.....

For a long time now, I've had this song in my head. My husband found it and thought I might like it. Like it? I LOVE it. It calls to me. It gives a voice to the frustrated writer in me, the tortured soul that's been driven to write. I close my eyes and sing it. The words say it all for me.

'Let it out, let it out,
Fill the empty space....'

There's a blank page in front of me. It needs to be filled. I need to find the words I want to share.

'Staring down, staring down,
Nothing comes to mind....'

Where are all the words? What shall I write?

'Let the feelings flow...'

Ah, but how to translate that into words? Can I choose the right ones to share them with you? In the right way?

'Lure it out....'

How? Do doggy treats work?! Hmm, maybe not.

'Still this barrenness consumes me,
And I feel like giving up...'

No way! For twenty years I didn't write, and it left an emptiness I couldn't fill. I won't give up again.

'So I wither....'

Exactly!

'My words come crashing down,
And all my best creations
Burning to the ground...'

Keep going. I have to keep going.

'The thought of starting over,
Leaves me paralyzed...'

'I break it down
And let the story guide me...'

The words are there, scrawling across the page, almost as if the story is writing itself. But that can't happen, can it? My hand can barely keep up with the thoughts in my head. I hope I can read it back!

'Light reflections on the page,
The worlds which you create.'

It's done. It's written. And then, in a little while, I'll do it all again....

Do you have a personal theme song? A song or poem that 'says it all' for you, or inspires your writing? Please feel free to share - I'm curious....

Song lyrics are taken from 'Wither' by Dream Theater and copyrighted to them. Listen to it here.