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.