NyseOne Music, The Early Years 1988-1997
The Early Years (1985-1988)
The first original song I ever recorded was on a 4-track in 1987. I was 16 years old and my squad of friends were inspired by both art and music, not so much by academics. We would hang out, ditch school, smoke weed, drink beer, and congregate at David's Father's condo in Woodland Hills. By this time I was already a prolific tagger in the West Valley, and I would roll by Dave's, where my friends would typically be recording their latest songs, editing video or just being teenagers.
There is unquestionably some epic footage from those days and some surprisingly good music that was made in that stinky little room next to the garage. Some is held in trust by one friend or another. Most is lost to the sands of time.
I always wanted to participate in their musical adventures, but between skateboarding, working, girlfriends, and graffiti - and those occasional days when I actually went to school - I had no time.
In retrospect, I had neither the courage nor self esteem to take music seriously as a teenager. Dave and I recorded that first song, a spoof rap song called "Word-Working Men" a gangster rap parody spoken in the words of a 'hardcore' finish-carpenter (that was me) and a 'down for life' lumberjack. Other then that, I stood on the sidelines, writing lyrics and whistling melodies that I never shared, feasting on my own insecurities - a far safer meal than my appetite for vulnerability. Yet, I was convinced that the stuff I wrote didn't suck and I promised myself way back then that I would release a record before my 30th Birthday.
The 1990's
I had promised myself a record. In fact, I actually did an ad for that album in Roger Gastman's, While You Were Sleeping Magazine. And I kinda, sorta, not really accomplished that.
I did work on music and finish a number of songs during the mid-1990's. The beats were mostly terrible, the production quality sucked, and many of the the musical instruments were slightly out of tune (sometimes much more than slightly). Yet I can say that I played every instrument on those songs. From guitars and bongos to turntables and piano. The one exception was the violin.
In the case of the violin (no pun intended), I translated the music to sheet music in a rudimentary fashion, created a scratch track on the synthesizer and was able to find a violinist studying at UCSD where I was going to school at the time that would play it.
Anyhow, of the 25 or so songs I recorded back then, I still have copies of a few of them. The first, embedded below is actually the second song I ever recorded on my own. It is Called "Worlds Apart" and the second was to be the first song on the record that I never released, called "End of the Beginning..."
Worlds Apart
This song is about the realization that what fueled me was not a very common propellant, so to speak. It was about my individuality and how it seemed that "Even though we share the same air, we are worlds apart." It wasn't about being better, more about valuing different things.
Streaming:
Download:
The World Moves On
The first song on the record, this was the 'Welcome song' that explained what my mission was about. I did sample that guitar but I cannot remember what from. I played every other insturment on this track, including doing the cuts.