Hey Autumn's Descent fans. I wanted to let you all know what's going on with Autumn's Descent and myself. You are probably going to be seeing Trampas around playing bass more if not most of the time from now on. I hadn't mentioned anything about this yet, because frankly it's been kind of up in the air. I'm going to try and give you the full scoop though. Trampas hasn't been playing in a band for a while, but has been jonesing to again, and has been really interested in playing with Autumn's Descent more. However I have of course been playing bass, and it was made clear that therefore Trampas wouldn't be involved unless I decided to step aside. I've been enjoying being a part of Autumn's Descent, and so, though I wanted Trampas to have an opportunity to play somewhere, I wasn't ready to quit playing either.

However another thing happened that began to make me consider the idea: some long time friends of mine were re-forming a band I'd been involved with years ago. All the original members were together, except for the bassist. So they were kind of teasing me about when I'd start playing bass with them. (They didn't ask me outright, because they knew I was currently in a band, and respectfully didn't want to take away from that.) I spent quite a while considering the options, and finally decided to tell Trampas that he could play with Autumn's Descent, and that I would explore the possibility of playing with my friends.

The original plan was that Trampas would start playing shows with Autumn's Descent in March, and perhaps some unscheduled shows before that. However some personal commitments came up which put this in question. So, from my perspective at least, it's been uncertain if he or I would play the upcoming shows, which is also why I've not made any kind of announcement yet. Additionally, I've been wanting to play another show in Indianapolis so that some friends of mine could come who have not had the opportunity to see me play yet. However the last concert we had scheduled in Indianapolis ended up being cancelled. Also, while I think it's best for Autumn's Descent to have just one bassist, I'm open to and may end up playing some Autumn's Descent shows in the future if Trampas is unavailable. So I don't believe I've played my last Autumn's Descent show yet, but I don't really know what the future holds. And even if I'm not playing, I may be around running sound (though I am pretty busy).

As for my friend's band, I've begun practicing with them, but am not necessarily going to be their official bassist. I don't really know for sure what's going to happen there either, I just know I'm going to try helping them get going at least. We'll see what happens, and I'll make more announcements about that if and when appropriate in the future.

To make a long post longer, and to make sure that no one will read this because all of the two people who follow my feed have already stopped reading now, 8 D I'll go ahead and state that I've been feeling more of a desire to work on my own "solo" project again. I know it's cliche, but in a nutshell, I've been wanting to do more writing of music for over a decade, but still have yet to have all the tools I feel I need to really work in the way I want to. Part of the problem for me is that I'm wanting to do kind of complex music, in the sense of wanting to mix live instruments with programmed electronics. Technically, it's a bit of a trick to do. Actually, it's really relatively simple now days, but there's still a cost in equipment. I think I need around $900 in order to get going. My other problem is that I'm not a really naturally gifted composer. I don't believe that means I can't do it, it just means it doesn't just naturally pour out of me like it does for some people. Of course I'll let you know if and when I actually get any significant progress made in this direction. Thanks for the support, and I'll see you down the road.

Well since requests for interviews aren't pouring in, I thought it would be fun to interview myself. So, here Ground Zero Music/Media Productions caught up with Vaapour, bassist for Autumn's Descent.

GZMP: Tell us about your involvement with Autumn's Descent. You been playing with them for about a year now?

V: The first show I played with Autumn's Descent was about a year and a half ago, May '07. I think the first rehearsal was back in February. But I've actually been working with Autumn's Descent since June of '03. I was the live sound engineer, so I've been a part of nearly every Autumn's Descent concert in the past five plus years.

GZMP: How did you first get connected with Autumn's Descent?

V: That's an interesting story. The church I was attending at the time was having a concert put on by various musicians in the church. Ironically, most of the music was lighter than what the worship services were. Anyway, I was up front—I still had long hair at the time—and I was cheering and all—I must have stuck out from the crowd. This guy walks up and asks me what type of music I like. Since there is a wide range of stuff I listened to, I just said something like, "Heavier than this," referring to the concert. He said, "I thought so," and then handed me a cd. It turned out to be an Autumn's Descent CD, and the guy was Asche. He had walked off, but I caught up with him. His wife worked with one of the girls who was singing, and they had come to see her. I went home and blogged about the experience. Soon after, Asche was searching for "Autumn's Descent" online, to see who was talking about the band. My website came up, he found out that I did sound, and then asked if I would work with the band.

GZMP: That is quite a story. So how did the transition from sound engineer to bassist happen?

V: As those who have been following Autumn's Descent know, there has been some rotation of band members over the past few years. It's a little known fact that I actually first auditioned for the band in... I think it was '05. They decided to go with one of the other players, in part because they thought I did such a good job at sound and didn't want to lose me in that position. Anyhow, at the end of the summer 2006, some of the band members decided to leave. That winter Asche sought to replace the members who had left. After their first choice of bassists didn't work out, they asked me to step in.

GZMP: So you have experience as a musician prior to joining Autumn's Descent?

V: Yes. I started playing guitar around '94, and picked up bass in '01. I joined a different band in the spring of '04, but the band happened to break up after just a couple of months. After that I looked around for another band to play in. I talked to some different people, and did a couple of auditions, but nothing worked out. Before that I had spent a couple of years trying to get my own band off the ground from '01-03. I was playing guitar then. I've also played in various other contexts, such as church praise bands.

GZMP: There was a bit of confusion with another bassist playing a show recently. What was the story with that?

V: I've been going to school the past few years. I was studying recording engineering and music. I graduated in the spring. Audio engineering is really my main field and skill, being a musician is secondary to that. Anyway, there isn't a lot of work for sound engineers around here, especially for recording. I decided when I graduated to look for work in Southern California. If I had gotten a job and moved there, I obviously wouldn't have been able to continue playing with the band. I told them to go ahead and start looking for a replacement, because there was a real chance that I would be moving and not around anymore. If they didn't find anyone and I stayed, there obviously wouldn't be a problem. If they didn't find anyone and I left, they'd be no worse off than otherwise. If they found someone and I moved, great. If they found someone and I didn't move, I said I would go back to doing sound—it's important anyways.

There is another bassist who is friends with Asche and Rob, and they've been wanting to jam with him anyway. At the end of July and beginning of August, I was out in LA for a couple of weeks looking for work. Our concert in August was soon after I returned. They had a chance to practice with this other bassists, and decided to have him play this one concert just kind of to try it out, and because he really wanted to play that venue. They asked me about it and I was fine with it; I went back and ran sound for the show. It's funny because I didn't even think about the fact that it was different until almost the end of the show.

GZMP: So are you staying now? Have you found a job here, and/or what are you doing for work?

V: It looks like I'll probably be staying for a while, in part because I can't afford to move, though that's not certain because I still haven't found steady work. I interviewed at a studio near Detroit, and am talking to a studio in St. Louis currently. Right now I'm doing some freelance work, but I haven't had very much to be honest. I'm primarily looking for something here for shorter term, until I find a steady audio job.

GZMP: Back to the band, What Autumn's Descent memories stick out in your mind?

V: The shows we did with Celldweller, especially the first trip to Iowa. The Bandwerks show was crazy, mostly for personal reasons. Mixing in the U.S. Cellular arena, and driving out to Baltimore to play in the Thunderdome only to find out it was actually just a bar are some others.

GZMP: How about since you started playing, what has been your favorite show?

V: Hmmm... I don't think one sticks out above all the rest. My favorite shows have probably been the two we've done at The Ritz in Rensselear. We've had a good, enthusiastic crowd for both of them. I enjoyed playing our first shows at The Nite Lite in Chicago, and Sacred Grounds in Lafayette, and the only show we've done so far in Bloomington, because there were a lot of friends there (you know who you are!).

GZMP: What are some of your influences?

V: Well, I sometimes like to say that I listen to everything from Sixpence to Anaphylaxis, Sixpence being a relatively well known pop rock band, while Anaphylaxis is an underground experimental noise artist. My main influences are what I'd term "alternative rock" in the past and/or more indie rock more recently, bands like Glisten, The Prayer Chain, The Choir, The Violet Burning, All the Day Holiday, Ethan Durelle, hard rock bands like Skillet and Stavesacre, industrial and electronic rock bands like Mortal / Fold Zandura, Deitiphobia / Massivivid, Celldweller, NIN, Mental Destruction, etc., and electronic music such as Prophecy of P.A.N.I.C., Rhythm Saints, Apoptygma Berzerk, and Kraftwerk.

GZMP: That is a significant range of music. How does that affect Autumn's Descent?

V: As far as writing goes, nearly all of what we're currently playing had been written before I joined the band. Some of the songs Asche and Rob had collaborated on when Rob was first in Autumn's Descent ten some years ago. Asche has been the primary songwriter since then, with Rob being the other main contributor of ideas. I played on a few songs on Character Assassination, but mainly I've just been the live bassist. Asche does most all of the recording work himself.

GZMP: What has been one of the challenges of playing in Autumn's Descent?

V: Well it's interesting in a way. I'd say one of the biggest challenges is that the style of music is just a bit different from what I'm used to playing. It's ironic, because I like a lot of similar music, but Autumn's Descent a bit on the other side of rock. It's hard to explain, but it's like there is one genre, say hard rock music, but there are a couple of different ways to play it. In the end it comes out sounding like the same genre, even though it's approached differently. Autumn's Descent has a more rhythmic, palm muted "chunk" thing going on than what I'd done previously. I was used to playing open stuff more. I've learned that ones not better than the other, but they're just different ways of doing things that give you different flavors so to speak.

GZMP: Lastly, what's with the name Vaapour?

V: (Chuckles) Good question. There are two things to explain, why a pseudonym, and why this one specifically. I had wanted to use a pseudonym for a few reasons. First, a lot of industrial bands and electronic artists I liked had cool pseudonyms, second, in order to try and be more unique and recognizable, third, for some anonymity and mysteriousness. I came up with the idea to use Vaapour a while ago. Less common letters like X, Z and V seem cool, and I liked the idea of the mysteriousness and intangibleness. I liked the idea of shadow too, but that didn't make for a good name. (Laughs) The alternate spelling was again an attempt to be unique. I thought to use it with Autumn's Descent because of how we used to associate ourselves with metal industrial music. However now that we're mainly just a hard rock band, I think maybe a lot of the fans—and even half the band—don't really "get it". Oh well, what can you do?

GZMP: Yeah, I don't know. (Laughs) Well Vaapour, thanks for taking the time to do this interview. Any final words you'd like to add?

V: I'd just like to thank the people who have come out to shows and supported us. I was thinking recently, while people usually make a deal about the band, the fans are just as important. People want to hear the music, and the band need people to play for, so in other words it takes both of the groups to have a concert. Beyond that, I've decided that I really like trying to become friends with the people who support us, not just have a bunch of fans. So thank you to everyone who has been supportive!

I think this is kind of junk. Creation Festival has put together a tour which includes 9 bands and a speaker. It sounds like I pretty decent lineup, but I was trying to do the math. They are doing shows through the week, not just on weekends, so of course they have to start in the evening. But of course since it is "christian", I knew they wouldn't go that late. If every band plays just a half hour with no change over time, that would be 4.5 hours already, and you haven't even put in the speaker. I sent a message on their myspace asking how they were going to fit everything into one evening. Rather than answering my question, they just replied that "The total run time will be 4 hours."!

My feeling is that this has been put together just to make money. By using their name and getting a lot of good bands onto the lineup, they have gotten a lot of sponsors on board. Add to this the idea that they can charge >$20 for tickets and get a lot of people coming because of all the bands. However I'm feeling like this is going to be kind of a rip off for the fans who go to see one or two of their favorite bands. I wonder if they'll be disappointed when they only play like 3-4 songs.

This is absolutely the funniest thing I've seen in a long time:

Good news Autumn's Descent fans. I have resumed working on the new Autumn's Descent website here in the last few days. While I had started to work on it back in June, I had to set it aside for a month or two while I was busy looking for working and planning for and making a trip recently. I now have most of the database structure in place. I am going to try using a rapid deployment framework in order to hopefully speed the development of the web interface. There's no doubt a lot of work yet to be done, but progress is being made.

I've pulled one of my electric guitars out and played for a while both the last two nights. It's been nice, though I feel rusty. I haven't played guitar much in the past few years, especially not electric. When I got my guitar out yesterday, it felt like it had been forever since I pulled it out and played it. I have a couple of beautiful guitars, and it seems like ashame that I don't play them more often. I had wanted for years to get into a band and/or start my own band. I joked that I tried to start a band so that I could play guitar. There are so many guitar players out there, that bands aren't often looking for a guitarist, at least not so much as drummers and bassists. Sure enough, since I bought a bass I've played in several bands.

I felt that I never got that good at playing guitar, in part because there were things that no one showed me. Also my biggest influences at the time I was learning guitar mainly just pumped out a basic progression of power chords—at least the stuff I learned to play. I did get to the point where I could play some basic leads, but that's about the extent of it. I would like to be better, and I'm wanting to practice some in order to do that and to shake off the rust. I don't expect I'll ever really be a shredder, but it would be nice to get better and be able to do more than I can now.

It's so frustrating to be both a music fan and involved in this industry.
"Between the lawsuits, DMCA takedown notices and crippling web radio fees, you'd be forgiven for thinking the music industry is designed solely to stop you from listening to music.

And sad though it may seem, it doesn't look like the music industry will be satisfied until it has firmly knotted the noose and taken a last suicidal leap to its final resting place in the history of bad ideas."

Funniest spam subject line: "Update your penis". What's that supposed to mean? Am I supposed to download some new firmware or something?

Well, after being so busy and stressed, I'm feeling better about projects and so sort of had a break this weekend. I did go into the studio yesterday to mix, but last night the band had a concert. The venue was actually pretty cool—a lot nicer than expected. It was a pretty laid back atmosphere, so it was an enjoyable show. Early this afternoon, we taped our last Music Box program. After that, I went to a Cru party. We started off playing ultimate frisbee, which I'm not sure I've ever actually done. It was fun, and our team rocked. I am out of shape though, so I'm probably going to feel it tomorrow. Anyway, after that we went to someone's house and like a bonfire. It was a nice fun day, and felt good to have a break from the work and stress recently.

I still have a lot of work to do though. I'll probably spend most of the day in the studio tomorrow. I'm recording in the early afternoon, and I expect I'll mix after that. I still need to finish my orchestration project, which is due Tuesday. After that, it will just be a matter of finishing mixing the recordings. I'm almost finished.

After hitting a peak earlier this week, I think my stress level is beginning to recede. This is due to the fact that I'm making progress on mixing—one or two songs are pretty close to having a "first draft" mix completed. And the big news is that I now have two violinist and studio time all scheduled! That's certainly a relief, and I'll be even more relieved once it's finished. Additionally, I'm close to being finished with my orchestration project. I've actually figured out how I'm getting it onto paper, and how I'm getting paper. So the things that have been stressing me out the most are all starting to get taken care of.