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

Two chains are better than one

Hey S.I.Q. fans!

I LOVE gear upgrades and all the tone-hunting that goes with it, so this week has been very enjoyable for me. I upgraded my pedalboard with two new pedals and a whole new signal chain set-up, and it's my favorite set-up yet! WARNING: Non-gear junkies, just skip this next paragraph altogether. It will just sound like technical gibberish to you.

Alrighty, here goes. My old set-up (immediately prior to this upgrade) had my bass running into my Rocktron Tru-loop pedal, with a Mesa/Boogie V1 Bottle Rocket in its effects loop (blended back pretty far). My signal would then travel to my Boss GT-6B effects processor, followed by my ISP Decimator, then out to my amp. I decided to make a change based on some rig videos I had watched lately, videos which seemed to indicated that split signal paths were the way to go in the hunt for great tone. So here's what my new pedalboard set-up looks like: My bass runs into the input of my MXR m80 bass DI+ (new), which splits my signal in two. Signal A is effected by the distortion and EQ of the DI+, and runs directly into the input of my Rocktron Tru-loop. Signal B runs into my ISP Decimator, then to my Boss processor, then out to the return jack on my Rocktron Tru-loop. The Tru-Loop then combines both signals into one WITHOUT EITHER SIGNAL AFFECTING THE OTHER. Lastly, the recombined signal hits my BBE Sonic Stomp Sonic Maximizer (new), then runs out to my amp. Benefits of the new set-up? Certainly. A split signal chain allows me to explore sonic options in one chain without affecting or being affected by the other. Meaning my distortion will not affect how my chorus might sound, or the EQ on one won't change how the distortion might sound. Honestly, this is some of the best bass tone I've had EVER.

Here's a video explaining it, as well as showcasing the rest of my gear:

I'm sorry the video is so tiny. Somewhere between filming and posting, it got shrunk.

But let's see, what else is new...

My studies in music are going quite well at Central Piedmont Community College. My Applied Music study is especially challenging; it is a one-on-one learning environment, in which I am taught more about the bass in a way that caters to me specifically. I am challenged to stretch my horizons as a player, playing difficult classical and jazz pieces. For example, for my midterm, I performed an excerpt from Paganini's 16th Caprice. Very fast, very difficult. For all the music nerds (like me), it's in 3/4, in presto time (about 168 bpm) and it's aaaaallll 16th notes. Yeah.

I have taken on a challenge of a different sort, outside of S.I.Q. or school, posed by my dad. The challenge was to write an album's worth of Jazz material, all original.

Challenge accepted. I am already working on track one, which will be a Latin-Jazz piece, yet untitled.

Rather than leave you with music, this time I will leave you with a video of Phil, James, and I playing Super Smash Brothers: Brawl (one of our favorite non-musical past-times). I promise, it's not just a boring video of us playing a game. We say some of the weirdest stuff while playing it, and there are plenty of nuggets in this video.

Heck, I'll leave you with music anyway. Here's Meshuggah.

Balls. What more can I say?

Take care, and have a great week!

Cole Millward
S.I.Q. bassist

Quick! What year is it?

Hey S.I.Q. fans!

Been a while, hasn't it? Almost a year in fact! Truth is, my time has been occupied rather continuously for the past year, what with the band, my education, my day job, and my home life. Still, I have missed writing these entries, so I figured, why not? Why not pull out the old Bass Lines blog and give some details as to the goings-on in S.I.Q. land again? Well here goes!

I'm not going to try to elaborate on everything that has occurred within the last year; if you have been following our posts on facebook, you probably already know what we've been through (primarily the release of our first album, A Constant Struggle, and the departure of our lead singer, Ashton Johnston). I will just start by telling you that now, we are at a comfortable position with lots of potential for growth and development.

In the way of songwriting, we have begun to incorporate new elements into our style and sound, not the least of which is the new vocals of our own rhythm guitarist, Phil Rich. Aside from that, we have begun to embrace influences of more modern progressive metal stylings, notably that of the sub-genre known as Djent. So to all you Djent lovers (or haters) out there, yes, that means we have been listening to Periphery. Also, our writing process has undergone a metamorphosis; lately, we have been starting with a simple idea that one member may have, and we jam on it over and over until something evolves from it naturally. We continue on a string of ideas until we have a rough idea of the structure of the song, then we take each of the simplistic sections and flesh them out, writing parts for each member based upon what each section seems to demand. This has already been working quite well; we have already finished a song that will be appearing on our next album, and many more are being written.

As for performances, we have been playing out since the beginning of August, when we decided we were ready for people to see/hear the new lineup of S.I.Q. They have been going really well, with great crowd response. Also, our live sound has never been tighter, thanks to the great sound guys that we have encountered lately. Our next show will be a return to The Bonu5 Room (where we played at Jortsfest) with The Coming Dawn, Fall of Ashes, and several other great bands. If you're lucky (and you come to the show obviously), you might be some of the first people to hear a brand new song. ;)

I have had a few gear changes during the past year (you know me, I'm a tone monkey), so for those of you who know (or care) about what my rig is comprised of these days, here you go:

I am still using ESP Ltd basses, notably the B-206SM model, but now I have two of them! I keep one in Eb standard tuning for S.I.Q. and one in plain E standard for any of my other musical endeavors (school, Bad Tuesday, jazz).

I am actually about to have a change-up in my pedal-board. For a while now, I have been using a Boss GT-6B for effects (chorus, delay & reverb, flanger, octave, any special EQs), a Mesa/Boogie V1 Bottle Rocket for distortion, a Rocktron Tru-Loop for regulating the Bottle Rocket, and an ISP Decimator for noise reduction. Lately though, I've been wanting to split the signal path of my pedal-board, keeping distortion and effects separate. Therefore, I will be adding an MXR Bass DI+ for distortion, EQ enhancement, and signal splitting, a BBE Sonic Stomp sonic maximizer for frequency retention, getting rid of my Mesa Bottle Rocket (shocking, right?), and re-purposing the Rocktron Tru-Loop for rejoining the two split signals at the end of the pedal-board. A bit complicated, sure, but I believe it will do wonders for my tone. (Also, I'm asking for a Boss GT-10B, the next step up from my processor, for Christmas! Fingers crossed!)

I have also upgraded my stack! I made the switch from my old Mesa/Boogie M2000 to a Mesa Big Block 750, and I traded out my old-school looking 1x15 Mesa cab for a newer Mesa Powerhouse 1x15. But of course, as you can see, I am still a Mesa/Boogie man.

Lastly, here's some music that I've been listening to lately:

Enjoy!

Cole Millward
S.I.Q. bassist

Your chance has arrived. Now take advantage of it!

Hey S.I.Q. fans!

   I think it's obvious that I was not able to keep my promise of posting blog entries more often. I just have so many responsibilities at the moment, it is difficult to maintain a blog.
   However, I do believe that since our last show was a private affair, I promised that you all would have the chance to see us perform again soon. Well, that time has come.
   Sunday, December 11th, from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm, Streetwise Music Instruction is hosting a performance at Amos' Southend, and we were invited to headline the whole show. And how could we pass up that opportunity? So there it is. We will be the last band of the night to play, going on at probably about 8:15 pm.
   This show is a pretty big deal for us, considering that our last show at Amos' Southend (which was also our first) did not go so well, sadly. This will be our chance for redemption in the eyes of a venue which we happen to like very much. So please, come to the show and enjoy yourself! We plan on putting on one heck of a show, with lots of familiar S.I.Q. music as well as some unexpected bits thrown in. Tickets will be $7 presale, $9 at the door, and there is a $2 surcharge for anyone under 21.
   Just to give you a progress update on how we are doing in the studio, here's a list of where each song is at this point:
Track 1: Finished recording, needs mixing
Track 2: Done
Track 3: Done
Track 4: Almost finished recording
Track 5: Needs recording
Track 6: Needs recording
Track 7: Needs recording
Track 8: Needs recording

   And finally, as I always do, here is some music to jam to. I just bought the new Andromeda album a few days ago, so here is Lies R Us.

Cole Millward

S.I.Q. Bassist

You're the Freakin' Bassist!

Hey S.I.Q. fans!

   We have had a busy, but very rewarding weekend. Phil, James, and I hit the studio on Thursday to finish the leads, intro, and outtro for track 1. It was very productive, and we decided that James' solo in that song is probably the best on the album, at least in the way of technicality and difficulty. It is really shaping up to be one of my favorite songs that we have written so far.
   Friday evening and Saturday morning hosted practices at Paul's, the last two before our show Saturday evening. We focused very hard on making sure that our chops and our newer music was very tight.
   We got to the gig at about 8:00 PM. It was a private party, hosted by a friend of Ashton's step-dad, Jerry. The "stage" area was in the back yard, but we had plywood to set the guitar and bass stacks on and a home-made drum riser for the drums (thanks to Jerry and Ashton's brother Greyson!).
   Now for my analyzation of the show itself.
   We split our entire performance into four separate sets of about 20 to 25 minutes each. Mostly, this was done in an effort to make it last from 9:00 until 12:00, but it had the ulterior benefit of allowing us to warm up our hands between each set. It was cold! And we can hardly play with gloves on.
   This was the first show I've done utilizing my new Mesa/Boogie bass head. It proved its worth in gold; it was powerful enough to keep up with the cranked guitar stacks and the mic-ed drums, and it still kept its tone. I was getting a really fantastic growl out of it, especially when I used my lower strings.
   The crowd was definitely not a prog-crowd. Most of them (from what we could tell) were Country or Southern Rock fans. Fortunately for us, there was enough alcohol going around in the audience that we had them cheering without having to compromise our musical integrity. (Note to self: Progressive Metal takes intoxicated people on a wild ride.) However, this is not to say that we were not asked to play some Country music. One particular gentleman in a cowboy hat asked us before each set if we knew any "sweet home country music", and we politely told him that we are not a country band. In response, he would start singing country songs at us, as if to jog our memory. Keep in mind, many of the people at this party were not in control of all their faculties, so I doubt he knew what he was even saying to us. The only time when alcohol ever became a problem was when a few guys got behind the mic in the stage area and stumbled dangerously close to my pedalboard and amp. Just for good measure, I don't think I moved more than 15 feet away from my stuff for the rest of the night after that.
   All things considered, we put on one heck of a show. Nothing diminished our energy nor disrupted the vibe that we were all getting. For that, I want to thank/congratulate my band brothers for that. Way to go guys! We received rave reviews, and I even had some people come up to me and compliment my playing, which I greatly appreciate. "You're the [freaking] bassist aren't you? Dude, you [freaking] rock, man."
   The money that we were paid for the show is going straight toward studio time for the album. We are gonna knock it out!
   I was going to write something philosophical here, but it is looking like it is going to be a late night for me, so I'll skip on that.
   However, I am not going to close this entry without leaving you some music to listen to. Here, James found me this band recently, and I really like them.

Enjoy!

Cole Millward
S.I.Q. bassist

Greetings from Beyond the Computer Screen!

Hey S.I.Q. fans!

   We five in the S.I.Q. machine have all been so very busy over the past couple of months. Most of what we are doing, however, is a lot of the same stuff over and over to achieve our goal, which is why there hasn't been much for me to tell you. At this point, though, I have enough happenings to update you on to make this post very interesting, and hopefully exciting, for you.
   First, an update on our album. We are still in the studio recording and mixing, working our collective butt off to produce the best possible product. We have already released two singles from the album to show you just how much progress we have made. The two singles are "Slightly Out of Breath," and a re-recorded version of "Stasis." "Stasis" is one of only two songs from our 2010 demo CD that will be making a reappearance on the album. Can anyone guess the second? Post which one you think in a comment. Also, take the time to go and listen to both singles. You can listen to them either on our info page on facebook or on our reverbnation page, both links of which are listed here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SIQ/270139033114?sk=info
http://www.reverbnation.com/sinq
   Here is an updated list on the progress of each song in the album:
Track 1: Being recorded
Track 2: Released as a single
Track 3: Released as a single
Track 4: Waiting to be recorded
Track 5: Being recorded
Track 6: Waiting to be recorded
Track 7: Waiting to be recorded
Track 8: Waiting to be recorded
We will release the official track list (song titles) soon.
   A few of us in the band have had gear upgrades since my last post. Phil now owns an OLP John Petrucci style guitar, which sounds terrific, and it even has him eyeing the real thing, the MusicMan John Petrucci guitars. As for me, I have finally achieved something I have wanted since I learned what good bass amps sound like: a Mesa/Boogie bass amp. The specific model is the Mesa/Boogie Basis M2000. It has two preamps (one tube, one solid-state) built into it, and both have a ridiculous amount of tone-shaping options to them. This works perfectly for me, being a "tone-monkey." I have sold my solid-state Peavey amp, but my Peavey 4x12 bass cab is still up for sale. I plan to purchase one more Mesa cab, then my Mesa stack will be complete.
   For anyone who did not understand a single word of that whole paragraph, I have new stuff, and it makes me happy.
   And now for some music sharing. I haven't been listening to a lot of new stuff lately, but since my last entry, Dream Theater released their new album, A Dramatic Turn of Events, so I am going to post my top songs off the album.

Bridges in the Sky

Outcry

This is the Life

Breaking All Illusions

   But really, the whole album is fantastic. I highly recommend it to everyone. Go buy it, and support an amazing band.

   Everyone have a great evening. I hope to be writing with the same frequency as before. Be on the lookout!

Cole Millward

S.I.Q. bassist