BRIAN LEE

Bass, bass and more bass! @sterlingbymm #bass @markhaze12

Great action shot taken by a fan at a @MarkHaze12 show! Pigs can’t fly, bassists can.

Back in the game

It always seems to be a long time that passes between me posting on my blog.  But I have been busy and WOW has it been good to get back on stage recently.

Mark Haze has returned from Idols and is back in Bellville.  \m/

It was so good to have that man back in the rehearsal room, if i wasn’t a man i think ……

Anyhoooo, a couple of rehearsal later and we were back on stage.  First stop Firkin Centurion.  And was that a party!  I drove about 200km from Sun City Friday evening, rushed to set my gear up on stage and sat back and had a few red bulls and some whiskies.  After feeling human again after the long day we were on stage.  And did Centurion know how to make us feel welcome.  What a great evening!

The next morning it was up early and off to see Yamaha SA.  :-P  can’t tell you why just yet  - but i was like a kid in a sweet shop!

Last week saw us do our first show in our home town of Durbanville, at Blizzard Cocktail Lounge.  And it is always good to do a show “at home”!!  This was the first show I took my new 5 string bass on stage.  I had been playing on a Yamaha ;-)  6 string the last few months and felt like a real jazz bassist (so not me) so I headed off to Paul Bothner Music and got me a nice new shiney white 5 string.  All I am saying is “ lovin’ it”!!  Christmas came early. 

This weekend the band is performing at the Obsfest 2011.  As luck would have it, it is my 10 year high school reunion the same night.  So it will be a quick drink with the ol’ boys and then off to rock the socks off Obsfest.  Can’t wait.

And the news every musician dreams of hearing!?>    a record deal.

Mark Haze has been offered a record deal by Universal Music.  So we will be heading into studio early next year to start on the next album!  

Read more here > 

http://t.co/KwK8f813

feel alive again!!

WOW ! ! ! just surviving and “living”???  that is surely not life as it should be!  When days go by that life feels like a rollercoaster ride that forces you to regurgitate your breakfast seven time like a cow, you need to get off, find your feet, and decide if this roller coaster is the one for you!!

There are plenty of rides at the theme park, so why stay on the damn ride that makes you feel like you left your stomach and “lus for life” at the start of the ride.

That’s been my week.

How it all came to be what it is today

I figured maybe you want to know why i play bass?….

It all started as an innocent sibling competition. “if she can do it, so can I?” A few lessons from the primary school music teacher, some chords and a ¾ classical guitar from my mom and the dream was alive! The first song I learnt was Autumn Leaves, I remember the chords were A, D, E; D E A.  Tough song!! :-P

I continued to teach myself all I could learn from books and friends and eventually joined a church music team where I was inspired by many passionate musicians.  I have played in quite a few church bands since, and even started playing my acoustic  guitar while leading!

In high school, I bought my first bass guitar (which I recently bought back from a music store and restored it) with money earned delivering newspapers. I had found my passion!

Friends started a high school band that continued for 8 years, SitiS.  Marcel Rossouw was the lead singer and guitarist who ended up being my best man at my wedding and is still a good mate to this day.

And as the years go buy you buy more guitars, as one does!  Do you ever really have enough?  A Fender, a Warwick Rock Bass, an Ibanez, Cort, Tanglewood…. I think I am at 8 and still counting!! Maybe it’s time to see a doc about that.

Through the years I put together my own recording studio and found further joy creating digital art in the studio. I have recorded radio ads, educational material, sole artists, and most recently I recorded my bands self titled album, 12th Avenue.

The power that lies within music and the rush I get when on stage with my bass rig behind me and bass in hand is what drives me and inspires me to play bass.

Techno-social

Ok so it’s has been a little while since I have been back here. Aren’t our day-to-day lives just too busy? Loooong gone are the days of a quiet day or a chilled afternoon when you don’t do anything, and I mean NOTHING. No BBM, no Facebook, no twitter, no SMS, no calls, no….. and that’s just the social media stuff that you control from the palm of your hand nowadays.

This is the way of the future so we had better embrace it and roll with the times else you’ll find yourself a lonely, miserable soul (with a lot of time on your hands, I might add). Surely we need to find a balance between having our eyes and thumbs glued to our PCs, iPads, Tablets and Smartphones; and looking up for a while to see what’s REALLY happening around you?!

Similar to “Meat-Free-Mondays”, we should have a “21stCenturyTechnology-free-hour”, just once a week, and only for an hour otherwise you miss too much :-P Just a thought… #justsaying. Just a time to call someone on a landline and catch-up, or go visit the neighbor, just do some real life socializing.

We are so caught up in the techno-social kind of life style that we pass people by, without a smile or a simple hello, while we BBM an emoticon smiley face to that person. Call me old fashion if you like, but surely we need to just leave the damn BlackBerry alone for a while and have a chat to someone, giving them your undivided attention.

Wouldn’t that make you feel special if someone did that?

Blown away!!

I have finally made a long awaited return to my studio. It was the first job after recording 12th Avenues last album, so it was good to get back in the swing of things. It was a small job, a solo artist, guitarist  and singer.  Nevertheless - always good to be working in the studio again.

What a weekend baby!  I thought I was going to wake up this morning with a beautiful view of the sky from my bed. Winter is back with a vengeance! Thankfully they must have done a decent job of nailing the roof down when they built the house.

While on the topic of blown away…
The lesson for Idols “judge” Randall Abrahams - ‘When being blown away - just shut up!!’
Where on earth does it count against someone for being professional? Maybe if you are competing for The Wooden Mic then I would understand your criticism, but come on! Let’s get real now. 
After sleeping on it, when not being woken by the wind, I have realised that Randall’s judgment was in fact a massive compliment!    It is time that  SA is exposed to Mark’s talent, maybe Idols SA will be able to produce an Idol of international standard.   Now that I have vented!!!

The week ahead is going to be one spent mostly anxiously awaiting the Sunday night results of SA’s voting.  Hope I have nails left on my fingers by then.

On another note, it’s tough when your bands lead singer is away living the celeb life,  and the rest of the band is left in the jam room to try rehearse material without their lead vocalist-  but that’s what we’ll do for now. (miss you Mark) Bring on the chaos when Mark returns! We will be ready.  Maybe by then Gareth Haze will have stepped up to the plate and taken over lead vocals from behind his drums! That Haze can sing too you know!

We  can’t wait for Mark’s return, but I hope it won’t be soon. No offence buddy. Rock SA, go big and don’t come home.
 :-P

Today I am in awe of the beautiful city I live in, Cape Town.  From the ocean to the mountain, to the winelands that I am currently driving through! Beautiful, just beautiful. 
Take a moment to appreciate your surroundings, and sorry if that’s a 4x4 cubicle surrounded by 17 colleagues in a cluttered, noisy office.  Find your happy place!!! :-) and be blown away.

One more thing

IT"S THE WEEKEND BABY!!!! bring that on.

Mid night projectiles

So whats this blogging thing about ???  I guess I will find out soon enough.  Bare with me. 

Today was probably not the best day to start a blog because I was up half of the night last night!!  sleep deprivation is a nasty one.

Is it ever fair to be vomited on by someone else?  I am sure it ain’t.  No> I was not at a bachelors or a high school party last night.

When it’s your 7 month old son then I guess you have a little grace and wipe it off your t-shirt, PJ pants and  bedding while trying to not scream loud obnoxious PG18 words.  

What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger they say!!  I am waiting for this added strength - bring it on!! 

Oh but the projectile vomiting did not stop there, once more on the carpet and once more on the other side of the bed and twice more in the bathroom sink!!!

Can’t be pleasant being that small and these things randomly happen.

At least if that happened to us “big peoples” we know it is most likely self inflicted.

The doc says its just a virus and some supps should sort it out <snap on the gloves> and bring on the weekend baby!!

Meanwhile TeamMarkHaze is in Joburg for the Idols Top15 this weekend!  I will support from my couch this week and be voting my 100 votes via Mixit.  Good luck Mark!! Make your 12A boys proud!