TURKAH!

Hey S.I.Q. fans!

I hope you all had an absolutely lovely and superfluous Thanksgiving Day!

This year I spentThanksgiving with my girlfriend Olivia and her family, since most of my family is off on a three week trip to England and then a transatlantic cruise (before you go judging them for leaving me behind, I couldn't go because of school). And it's completely all good too, because Olivia made some of the best stuffing I have ever tasted! I estimate that probably 50% of what I ate was that stuffing...

But hey, aside from Thanksgiving, there are a few other cool things that have happened lately (or will be happening soon) for me.

I played with Nate Randall's Bad Tuesday again at Pure Taqueria in downtown Matthews a couple Saturday evenings ago. It was a terrific time as always! Good friends always show up to enjoy food, drinks, and some recognizable music. For me, it is an outlet to practice playing in the pocket, really locking in with the drummer.

Also, do you remember Fall of Ashes? The band I praised in my previous blog entry? I have recently been forging a relationship with a few of their members, setting up jam sessions and hangage, that sort of thing. In particular, their guitarist Mikey Marrero and I have been working on a Dream Theater cover project since we are both such avid DT fans. We are currently working on two songs that we hope to video tape and post to Youtube. Keep on the lookout for that. Also, I was recently invited by Fall of Ashes' drummer, Fred Updegraft, to perform with him, his dad, and most of the rest of Fall of Ashes for both Sunday morning services at Morning Star Church in Fort Mill, South Carolina. It was a really great experience for me, though I haven't played praise and worship music in years. As a venue, the church was absolutely awesome. We all got to use in-ear monitors with our own custom mix, which made for a really enjoyable playing experience for me. It also gave me the chance to use my new pedalboard!

Indeed, I have once again made major changes to my pedalboard. Don't judge me. You know I have an addiction to new gear. And I'm not breaking the bank to do it, so it's all good. Anyways, here's what the new board looks like:

So here's the rundown from right to left (how signal chains run): Samson Series One UHF wireless system, which runs into my new Boss GT-100 effects processor (or sometimes, if I don't want to be wireless, it'll just be an instrument cable running into it), which then does its magic with my MXR Bass DI+ in its effects loop. It then goes from there into my brand new Markbass Super Booster and DI box. So it's basically a lot more simple to look at than the previous iterations of my pedalboard. Really, all the same complicated stuff (all that split signal chain mess that I explained in a previous entry) is going on, but inside the GT-100. Another beautiful thing about the processor is that I can use it to switch the channel on my Mesa Big Block 750 amplifier. Which is really freakin' cool.

I am certain another rundown video will follow, along with a tone demo video. Again, be on the lookout :)

Lastly, before I say goodnight and turn the computer off, I found out that Meshuggah will be coming to Charlotte on February 13th of next year, with Animals as Leaders supporting. You KNOW I will be at that show, no doubt about it. So, out of excitement, here are some of my favorite tunes by either band.

Meshuggah, "Dancers to a Discordant System"

Animals as Leaders, "Somnarium"

Have yourselves a good week! Metal on!

Cole Millward

S.I.Q. Bassist

Redemption of a Venue (ft. Fall of Ashes)

Hey S.I.Q. fans!

Our show at The Bonu5 Room was pretty awesome, and totally redeemed the venue for us. The last time we performed at The Bonu5 Room was for Jortsfest in July of last year, a show which went down in history as one of our worst shows ever. Lets take a quick trip down memory lane.

At Jortsfest of 2011, it was HOT. Prior to performing, we were all worried about what the heat would do to our instruments, whether or not it would do things to our guitars and strings, whether or not our amps would be affected, all that mess. We ended up setting up our stuff late due to the previous band playing over their time, James broke a string, Paul broke the head on his snare, and Phil and I had problems with power sources. Just not a good show for us.

This past show there, however, made The Bonu5 Room a legitimate venue in our eyes again. We played with a lineup of 5 bands: Preta, Paradox, Fall of Ashes, The Coming Dawn, and ourselves. We are good friends with The Coming Dawn and have performed with them before, and they put on just as good a show as they always do, thrilling us musicians in the audience with their awesome ethereal jams and intense musical movements. Props guys, I always enjoy watching you play!

We also made new friends with Fall of Ashes. What a group of musicians! Their chops seriously impressed us, and even I've been known to get an occasional case of musician syndrome. They gave us all a much needed serving of high quality prog metal. And they are some seriously cool guys too. A week after the show, I got in touch with their singer, Jason, and their guitarist, Mikey (who teaches at Streetwise Music Instruction, where James teaches, and who also attends CPCC with me) to arrange hangage. So Phil, James, and I got together with them and some of their other musician friends for an evening of video games, jamming, and stimulating conversation. We'll have to do it again soon fellas!

There are some S.I.Q. shows and events in the works for the near future. I do not know any details yet, but I will be sure to keep you updated! Until then, the boys and I are working on writing new music which I believe you will like, as well as learning a boatload of 70's, 80's, 90's cover songs for a cover project we are working on. However, if you want to see me play with one of my other musical outlets, I will be at Pure Taqueria in downtown Matthews on Saturday, November 17th, with my buddy Nate Randall's Bad Tuesday. There's food, friends, and alcohol, so come out and party with us!

I updated the photos section of my main blog page, so check out the more recent live photographs!

Also, as a follow up to my video showcasing my rig, I recorded a video showing you the different tones and sounds I get with it! Here it is:

 That's about it for this little blog entry. Please remember to check out Fall of Ashes and The Coming Dawn, go show them some love! Have an awesome week!

Metal on.

Cole Millward
S.I.Q. bassist