John's first bass cover!

Hey this is my first bass cover!  Give it a listen! It's "The Trooper" by Iron Maiden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrkM09y6HME&feature=youtu.be

Cross Country 2013: Cedar City Inviational

This weekend I had the privilege to go down to Cedar City with my cross country team for a race. Even though it was fairly short, it was packed with activities that I enjoyed. We took a scenic route on the way up, which included a stop at the highest village in the USA, called Brian Head. We also took a stop at Cedar Breaks. After that, we had a long lunch and headed to the race. It was a really windy day, and the wind chill brought the weather to freezing temperatures, so you can imagine how cold we all felt with the skimpy shorts and uniforms on. I ran my race, and got a 19:25 5k, which is roughly 3 miles depending on the course. After that, we got to our hotel and watched the BYU vs. Utah State game while eating our dinner. BYU played a great game and won 31-14. We went to bed shortly after that, and I slept too well. I woke up at about 7:15, and we were leaving at 8. I had to throw everything together and go down to get breakfast. Once we got on the road, it was a smooth trip back because we only stopped once. I'm really looking forward to the California trip coming up in December!

 

Here are just 2 pictures, so you can look on my Google+ for more.

Reed's Top 10: August/September

10: Evolution (The Grand Design) - Symphony X

9: The Divine Wings of Tragedy (last song) - Symphony X

8: Blind Faith - Dream Theater

7: Home - Dream Theater

6: The Trooper - Iron Maiden

5: Strange Deja Vu - Dream Theater

4: The Wicker Man - Iron Maiden

3: Fatal Tragedy - Dream Theater

2: Rediscovery - Symphony X

1: Hallowed Be Thy Name - Iron Maiden

High School Update

Since school started, neither of us have had very much free time at all. Homework, cross country, and lawn mowing have taken up pretty much all of our time. High school is going really well, and I'm enjoying the freedom of it. Everything has taken a bit of getting used to, but I'm adjusting fast. This weekend we had a merit badge activity where we had the opportunity to earn 3 merit badges in an overnight trip. That helped me a lot to progress towards my eagle. I'll be trying to post a little more often now, and hopefully that works out.

Reed's Top 10: July 2013

10: Far Cry Live Cleveland - Rush

I had been looking for the name of this song and when I saw it live I knew it was the one. It's a great softer Rush song in a way but also very progressive.

9: The Root of All Evil - Dream Theater

This song was written in behalf of Mike Portnoy's road to recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. The song is executed very well and written great, because it has the perfect heavy tones to match the meaning.

8: Shine On American Dreamer - Joe Satriani

This is a great instrumental with very catchy riffs in it. I would recommend this song to anyone who is getting into the metal genre because it is a way to slowly progress into the genre.

7: Forsaken - Dream Theater

This song is written from a fictional standpoint, but the musicality is great. The piano intro from the first second is a perfect way to grab whoever is listening.

6: Can't Go Back - Joe Satriani -

Not only does this song highlight Joe Satriani's songwriting ability, it also is accompanied by great drum tracks.

5: Light Up The Night - Symphony X

Coming from a very heavy album, this song is the perfect "break" from that. I love how Symphony X executes their music because there is no "boring part" in their songs.

4: Harper Lewis - Russian Circles

A new band that was introduced to me this month, and they did not let me down. They are instrumental, and they can keep you hooked even without vocals.

3: I Walk Beside You - Dream Theater

This is a great catchy song with very meaningful lyrics. This is one of those songs that will send chills down your spine in a good way.

2: Station - Russian Circles

This track is very good, but it is even better when you listen to the full album in a row, because it starts great and only gets better.

1: These Walls - Dream Theater

I had known about this song for awhile, but only really listened to it a few weeks ago. This song is perfectly written, with great vocals and instrumentation. The mood changing is great as well, because all the instruments fit together exceptionally well.

Fourth of July pictures

I tried posting the pictures on the post about our Fourth of July trip but it didn't work so here are a few.

There's a deer

July 4th Weekend at the Cabin

These past few days have been filled with tons of action, surprise, and fun for the whole family. On Thursday (the 4th) we left for the cabin at about 1:30. We arrived at around 4:00. At first we unpacked everything, and then we played a few games of Kubb. We then had some fun playing paintball for the first time, which we ended up doing all three days. Dinner was great, even though it was just simple tin-foil dinners. During that night, we decided to all sleep on the deck. Well, it was just our luck when it started raining at about 2 in the morning, forcing us to sleep inside where it was stuffy. The worst part was that we couldn't open the windows because the rain got inside. Well, once we braved that through, we slept well and woke up the next morning. Our breakfast was a nice mountain man breakfast, which was very filling. That was followed by more paintball and such. We then went to our cousin's house in Springville to have lunch and take them all back to spend time with us at the cabin. During the time they were there, a huge storm cam through in two waves and was pretty booming. After that, several of our cousins left, and only two of them slept over with their dad. That next day, we played some more paintball before we left, and if was pretty awesome. There were welts and everything all around, especially because John and I decided to play with just a t-shirt and shorts. Anyway, it was great to spend the weekend down at the cabin, even through all the rough storms.

Gold Cup Doubleheader at Rio Tinto Stadium

Cameron (a friend of ours) invited us to the gold cup at rio tinto.  It was a doubleheader with the first game being the US men's national team reserves vs Cuba national team.  We got there just before halftime and as we were driving up the score was 1-0 for Cuba.  When we walked in everyone started cheering and we soon discovered that Landon Donovan from team USA had scored.  So that left it tied 1-1 at halftime.  A couple minutes later, a field crasher jumped the wall and ran over to our side of the stadium.  Everyone was cheering him on and it was really funny!  Soon after, the security came and got him.  Shortly after the game started up again, corona from team USA ( I don't know his first name) send a dart right into the back of the net. 2-1 for USA.  It went all downhill for Cuba after that.  Chris wondolowski scored (assist from Kyle beckerman from real salt lake) and later scored another.  He also had two more opportunities to score but didn't finish.  Final score 4-1 for USA.  The next game was Costa Rica vs Belize.  It was a very boring game to be honest.  I don't have much to say about it except for that the only goal scored was an own goal in favor of Costa Rica.  I was cheering for Costa Rica because Alvaro saborio from real salt lake was on the team, so I was pretty happy, but didn't care too much for the game overall. Here are some pictures.

The field crasher in the middle of the picture

Days of 47 Youth Parade

John and I are in the marching band for Kearns High, so we had a parade this morning. We got to the high school at 7:15, and left at around 7:30. The parade didn't start until 10:00, so that was a little long just to wait. We warmed up and everything, and finally got in line. We were 32nd in order, which is pretty early for a parade. The two songs we play for the parades are "Armed Forces on Parade," and "American Scenes," both of which are compilations of patriotic songs. We only had to march a total of 4 blocks, which took about 15 minutes in total. I was surprised that it was that short. We only played through each song about three times, and then everything was done. After we finished everything ran smoothly, and we left soon after. When we got back, we got some cold water and cookies which was really nice because I'm sure hardly anyone ate breakfast before coming. We have two more parades this year, one in Bountiful and then the Kearns Hometown Parade.

Ensign peak July 17 2013

So for mutual this past Wednesday we went to hike ensign peak.  It was a very short and easy hike but there was a lot of cool scenery from up top.  There was a bit of a storm so that made it even better.  I got some pictures of some of it and hopefully they turned out well.

80's Classic Rock/Band Controversy Pt. 1

When most people think of the 80's, they don't think of a lot of the bands that I enjoy right off the bat. Most people think of ACDC, Aerosmith, Poison, Guns N Roses, and many other bands like that, because of their fame during that time. As you have read from my posts, I am more of a fan of the heavier bands of the 80's. I will first say that honestly I could go without the bands mentioned above, and I actually dislike several of them. What about the other bands of the 80's? It wasn't all just metal sort of stuff. Right now I'm going to touch up on some of the other 80's music I enjoy. I may not listen to it as much, or play it as much, and I'll get to why that is later.  Of course U2 is one of them, being my overall favorite band. I also enjoy bits and pieces from bands like Boston and Kansas, the classic rock of the 80's. Of course you wouldn't see my bed room stocked up with Boston and Kansas posters, but that doesn't mean I don't at least like them. The main reason why I personally enjoy 80's classic and general rock is because that is overall the highlight of the vocals in the music I like. Take Journey for instance. Steve Perry was an amazing vocalist, which is such a relief to me when I'm looking for that to mix with my taste of music. Now compare that to Dave Mustaine of  Megadeth and you'll see what I mean. Going back to why I might not play and listen to this music as much as other music is basically because it's not as challenging as other stuff. When I play music, I like to break songs down into bits and pieces and practice each part with each technique, so then I really have to focus on what I'm playing. As far as listening, most songs are just not as "pump up" as some of my other music. Now for some more controversy... Kinda...

Liking a band to me boils down to:

-Talent

-Band Members

-Song Meanings

-Overall Sound 

Those are the main points I look for in a band, because to me that's what music should be. They should be writing music to write music, and to enjoy the fun of that, rather than trying to become popular or anything like that. Even with popularity, it should still ultimately be the band's decision what they want to do. Now that I'm starting projects, I know that there will be stress, but that stress will usually go away if everyone just remembers the main point. Not popularity, fun! When each person can put in their opinion and not have to worry about being ripped on for it, then you really have something going. You'll notice that most popular bands nowadays get worse and worse as time goes on, and why do you think that is? Personally I think they let popularity get in the way of their main focus at the start. That's not necessarily a bad thing unless you let it be. That's about all I have today, so thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment if you wish. I'd love to talk music anytime I can. 

Album: Unstoppable Momentum by Joe Satriani

Today on the drive to Orem I was able to listen to a full Joe Satriani album titled "Unstoppable Momentum". I thought it was totally awesome, and three of the tracks stuck out to me the most. The tracklist is below. The songs that are the best for me are Unstoppable Momentum, Can't Go Back, and Shine On American Dreamer. Those three just have great riffs accompanied by amazing instrumentation, and this album is definitely recommendable to anyone who likes any genre, because it covers such a wide variety. I hope you all enjoyed this brief review, and we'll try to put out more as we listen to full albums. Thanks guys!

1.	"Unstoppable Momentum"	5:14
2.	"Can't Go Back"	3:58
3.	"Lies and Truths"	4:44
4.	"Three Sheets to the Wind"	3:22
5.	"I'll Put a Stone on Your Cairn"	1:42
6.	"A Door into Summer"	4:16
7.	"Shine On American Dreamer"	4:46
8.	"Jumpin' In"	5:11
9.	"Jumpin' Out"	3:51
10.	"The Weight of the World"	5:07
11.	"A Celebration"	2:47

Here is the full album on YouTube with the tracklist to what time each song is at. Enjoy!

Pool/Ping Pong Table

Well today my dad and I went down to Orem to pick up this sweet new pool table with a ping pong table top. The slate was a beast to carry in, so I'm glad I didn't have to take the bulk of that. So now we have a lot more fun ahead of us!

iOS Essentials #1

For all of you that have iPod touches, iPhones, and iPads, here are some app and game suggestions for you. I'll be posting one of these every so often when I find enough new stuff to post.

Top 15 Games:

15- 4 Pics 1 Word: Trivia game, free.

14- Topple 2: Stack objects to make a huge tower, $1.

13- Flow Free: connect the pipes of matching colors.

12- Line Birds: fly through obstacles and unlock new birds, free.

11- Temple Run 2: run, jump, duck, and turn to collect coins and get as far as you can, free.

10- Tiny Heroes: tower defense game where you defend treasure, free.

9- Doodle Jump: bounce off platforms and avoid monsters, $1.

8- Fix It Felix: wreck it Ralph game, free.

7- Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader Free: just like the game show.

6- Impossible Test: try it and you'll see, free.

5- Jetpack Joyride: avoid obstacles and collect coins whil flying, free.

4- Fieldrunners: the best tower defense game, $3 I think, but possibly less.

3- Plants vs. Zombies: defend your yard! $1 

2- Family Feud and Friends: just like the show, free.

1- Fieldrunners 2: the best tower defense game taken to the next level with 4 scenarios and all sorts of layouts, $3.


Top 10 Apps:

10- AFV: Watch all the funniest videos on your iOS, free.

9- Mematic: Make your own memes, free.

8- Action Movie: Take a video and add awesome effects to it right on the spot, free.

7- Amazon: Browse products easily, free.

6- Bump: Share photos easily between iOS devices, free.

5- YouTube Capture: Record and upload videos to YouTube, free.

4- Food Network: Watch your favorite Food Network on iOS, free.

3- CamWow: The easiest photo editor, free.

2- Pandora: Discover new music and listen to your favorites, free.

1- VDownloader: Download YouTube and other videos right to your camera roll, free.

In my opinion, all of these games and apps make your iOS device more enjoyable and more useful. 

Back on Vlogging

So we figured that sometimes it would be easier and more fun to do vlogs instead of posts. Since it doesn't let us post videos straight to here, many of you know we have unlisted YouTube videos of our vlogs. Here's the first one:

Reed's Vlog #1

Youth Conference Trail Run

Read all about our trail run experience here:

http://orangetrailmonkeys.blogspot.com/2013/06/summer-trail-series-215-youth.html

My Basic Philosophy on Music Pt. 1

So this is where some debate is going to jump into my posts on music. As I've mentioned before, I've developed a strong passion for music from playing music mostly. The main music era I listen to right now is the 70's to late 90's and early 2000's, and the main genres are progressive rock and progressive metal. A lot of the progressive metal bands I listen to are completely underground because they are newer. These are bands such as Angra, Symphony X, Excalion, Masterplan, Nocturnal Rites, Kamelot, Circus Maximus, Thunderstone, Silent Force, and last of all: Dream Theater. I thought to myself why these bands are underground. It didn't take me long to realize that they are because all of the modern "music" that mostly solo artists are putting out. I don't think this is fair at all. People who push buttons, talk into a microphone and "play" instruments are getting more fame than these bands who put out what music was from the beginning. This isn't the way it used to be, so why did it change? I guess people just go for attractive artists and catchy riffs in order to be considered "good music". I'm not saying that every single mainstream artist and band these days fits this category, but 90% of them do. I really can't put into words how I totally feel about this subject, because it's so unreal that people with no musical experience or talent can make money by simply buying a guitar and trying to play it. I'll get more into this general topic later, but the next topic I want to go to is something that draws a lot of controversy: Screamo music. A lot of people are seeming to love it nowadays, and I really can't understand why. Does it relieve stress to some people? I don't see how it could. A lot of these bands do have a fair amount of musical talent, but throw it in the trash when the vocalist with no distinguishable vocals comes out. I really don't have much else to say about this topic, so we'll jump to the next: The evolution of heavy metal. I guess you could say that heavy metal was started (or at least influenced) by Led Zeppelin, who passed it on the Iron Maiden. They started bringing out some power metal in their music, which has influenced all sorts of bands from all sorts of genres to this day. Some of Iron Maiden's "sons" were Fates Warning, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Black Sabbath/Ozzy (the oldest), and many many more. This is where heavy metal hit its peak in my opinion. Remember that progressive metal is not included in this particular topic. As is progressed through the 90's, you started to get branches off of heavy, power, and thrash metal of the 80's which we all enjoy. You started to get bands like Slipknot Lamb of God, and Witchery. These three branches are known as speed metal, death metal, and black metal. That's where metal should have stopped. Death metal is pretty much screamo 10 octaves lower, speed metal is just a knock off of thrash metal, and black metal is just pure evil. You can even tell in the band's names. All though there are some bits and pieces of bands that are alright, are they really worth looking for. Fighting through growling, evil lyrics, and profanity is not what I'm looking for to discover new music. I don't see why so many people throw the 80's greats under the bus to make room for the new death metal musicians on board. Yes, they do have musical talent. No, they didn't choose the right path to take that talent, which results in straight up noise, and nothing else. Well that's it for today, but I will definitely touch up on these topics more as time goes on. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this.

John's top 10

Alright here are my top 10 favorite songs from the month of June (not really in any order)

10: Metallica- The Four Horsemen- a nice heavy song with awesome dual guitars and solos

9: Iron Maiden- Fear of the Dark- a classic metal tune with VERY catchy riffs and solos

8: Symphony X- Domination- a very heavy song with lots of awesome stuff going on! It blows my mind that Michael Romeo (guitarist) can do that all by himself!

7: Megadeth- Symphony of Destruction- A simple but awesome main riff!

6: Iron Maiden- The Wicker Man- not too heavy but nonetheless another classic and awesome one by Maiden!

5: Metallica- Creeping Death- awesome riffs and solos and awesome the way that they made a bible story into a metal masterpiece (Moses and the Israelites)

4: Megadeth- Hangar 18- one of their most loved songs.  I love it for the precise guitar riffs and solos often found in Megadeth songs.

3: Tool- Lateralus- starts off calm and builds up to an awesome main riff!  Then has 7 more minutes of pure greatness!

2: Metallica- One- a classic metal ballad by Metallica that I never bothered to listen to very much until this month.  My favorite part is pretty much when the singing stops and the heavy kicks in. Great song.

1: Dragonforce- Through the Fire and the Flames- to start off, I appreciate this song much more than the average person who only knows of this song from Guitar Hero.  I also appreciate it much more than I used to!  I decided to bring it back this month and I never loved the super fast instrumentation as much as I do now.  I am definitely gonna check out more of their stuff.

Reed's Top 10

Here is a list of my top 10 favorite songs from the month of June, 2013.

10: The Glass Prison- Dream Theater

A great heavy song which calls for extreme talent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSX86zPnUkY

9: For Whom the Bell Tolls Live in Mexico City- Metallica

Personally I think the studio version drags a bit, so the live version takes care of that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpbulTaJXhM

8: Kick the Chair- Megadeth

A nice smooth power metal song with great guitar solos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY8psvAB7wY

7: Universal Mind- Liquid Tension Experiment

I wouldn't call this song heavy, but its flow is so great matched with great orchestration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEZC0ZJ1AW8

6: A Nightmare to Remember- Dream Theater

16 minutes of heavy to soft and back to heavy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADX9DdURn8o

5: Through the Fire and Flames- Dragonforce

I had heard this song many times years ago, but at that time I didn't enjoy music like I enjoy it now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdiKAa0_Ay4

4: Set the World on Fire- Symphony X

A nice and heavy song with a deep grungy voice which I like in this case.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LusBXwf74E

3: Wounds- Masterplan

A new band I discovered this month which I totally love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfx9_sBnG18

2: Still Alive- Nocturnal Rites

Another band I discovered this month which has a little more Dream Theater to them than Masterplan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoKTYucxtAo

1: Paradise Lost- Symphony X

A very soothing song with great vocals and instrumentation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyvOJlX4ZkE

Youth Conference 2013

Well this past week was youth conference on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It was my favorite youth conference so far, because we had the perfect balance of relaxation and activities. We saw the Manti Pageant and beforehand had their hosted dinner consisting of barbecued turkey and mashed potatoes. We played a lot of games, and slept a lot (four hours for John and I.) We went on a trail run the next day for 8 miles up to the summit of the Manti M mountain. We were going for 3 miles up and 3 miles back, which would've taken a little under 2 hours. Instead we decided to summit and reach about 4.1 miles down and back, which took just shy of 3 hours. This is the sorest I can remember ever being, because of the killer uphills rather than the distance. I now hold the trails and mountains in higher respect, I would be kicking myself if I didn't go, even though it was very tough. I was dehydrated after, so I drank plenty of water and got feeling better by the time we went swimming and a local pool in Manti. I loved this year's trip and hope next year's raises the bar!

Major Influences as a Musician

Hey guys, it's Reed again, and I just want to make some lists of my major influences as a musician and why they are my influences.

Bands:
Dream Theater/LTE: Dream Theater is arguably overall the most talented band of all time, in competition with others such as Rush. The pure essence of musicality goes straight to these guys. Crazy time signatures, rhythms, and outstanding musicians make it this way. 90% of guitarists, bassists, drummers, and keyboardists with over 2 years of experience have heard of Dream Theater.

Rush: A threepiece who blew everyone away. Neil, Alex, and Geddy can really put up a show even now when they are clear out of their prime. Rush is also very influential to bands like Dream Theater, so they definitely deserve credit for that.

U2: My all time favorite band. I grew up with these guys, and I'll never forget it. I saw them on May 24, 2011 during their 360 tour, which totally blew me away. They were my beginning inspiration for music.

Symphony X: A newer progressive metal band influenced mainly by Dream Theater and Apocolyptica. The great orchestration of Apocolyptica matched with the extreme talent and instrumentation by Dream Theater makes for one great sounding band.

Progressive Metal: In my opinion the overall best solid genre ever, even though it is completely underground. Even though all of the bands aren't super famous, they get my vote for making genuine instruments sound so good.

Drummers:

Gavin Harrison: My favorite drummer, mainly because of his outstanding techniques and playing styles, matched with one of the best sounding setups of all time.

Marco Minnemann: An extreme drummer, not in the spectrum of blasting and speed, but insane techniques incorporated with his creativity.

Mike Portnoy: Dream Theater's old drummer. He did so much for the band and wrote great drum parts to songs. Most people would be happy being half as good as him.

Buddy Rich: In my opinion the greatest drummer of all time. He was the pioneer of drumming. As a jazz drummer who played traditional style, he did more on three drums what most people today do one 7+.

So those are my main influences, and if I forgot any, I'll definitely post them later on.

My Experiences as a Musician

Hey everyone. This is Reed, and I'm going to try to post more often starting now. One of the big subjects will be music. As a musician, it's natural to develop a passion for music, obviously, so I guess I'll start with my experience as a musician. In my very early years, my parents bought two hand drums, as well as a beater drum set. I would always be drumming, because I loved it. Well, school started and I didn't really keep that up, but I would still listen to a lot of music. I'll get more into my influential music in later posts. When I was about 7 or 8 years old, I started taking piano lessons. I learned how to read sheet music fairly well and I was able to play pretty decent stuff. After maybe 3 or 4 years, my teacher moved and I wasn't able to continue taking lessons. In fifth grade, I started band class by playing clarinet, which I continued in sixth grade as well as seventh. Toward the end of the year in seventh grade, I tried out the bass clarinet, which I ended up playing for 8th grade and some of 9th. There was one other event that happened at the end of 7th grade which has really influenced me up to this day as far as music goes. After the last concert, we didn't really have much to do during band class, so my friends and I would all just mess around. One day, I decided to just go jam on the school drum set for a bit, so I started playing some of our jazz band songs that we had played that year by ear since I heard them over and over many times. The school drummer and a good friend of mine (Zach) was pretty surprised that I could do that without any formal practice or lesson prior to that. He taught me some basics, and then I was off. I purchased a drum set that year oh July 4th, 2011, and have since made major and minor upgrades to it. I'm now planning to buy a new drum set made out of higher quality wood, which will sound a lot better. I'm also planning to perform at school next year for the talent show or whenever I can with whoever wants me to be their backbone. The reason why I like the drums so much is that it is explainable when you are just jamming with your best friends, either doing covers, or just playing improv. You just can't beat that.

Updates, random music stuff, etc.

John here. It's definitely been a while but I'm finally back on!  Everything has been going well, and my interest in music is increasing far beyond what I have expected.  After listening to Metallica's first album (Kill em all) I've had the desire to now pick up electric guitar in addition to the bass, tuba, and trombone.  I then realized how many other songs I loved the guitar in.  The precise solos of "Kick the Chair" by Megadeth, the smooth and classic but still metal riffs of Iron Maiden, and the amazing musicality of Dream Theater, especially "A Change of Seasons."  It's amazing some of the talent you find in metal music as well as some of the people.  Most people think of Metal music as satanic, evil, and violent.  I'm Mormon. I'm not satanic, evil, or violent but I do listen to metal music.  It's true that a lot of metal bands are evil, but that's not what I listen to.  People are very ignorant.  I enjoy some songs by Megadeth for example.  Some would think that Megadeth is an evil band, but they haven't done their homework.  If they had, they would know that both Frontman Dave Mustaine and Bassist David Ellefson are Lutheran.  They have families, and they stand by their beliefs.  Ultimately, metal has its fair share of people that aren't too great, but at the same time, has some incredible people and personalities. Ellefson and Mustaine are just one example of this, and I always love discovering people's stories.