Cover Songs

So, when I put up this blog & my website I was primarily concerned with using them as promotional tools for my original music. However, I am looking to make some money playing music since I'm not working and to do that I'll need to play covers. A lot of them. I'm OK with this. I like playing covers. I think it helps you to learn & grow as a musician & writer playing other people's music. Songs that you know have succeeded in doing what you hope your own songs will do, captivate an audience. So I've been working on cover songs quite a bit, both solo and with another singer/guitarist to work as a duo. One thing that I've realized is that I need more songs and I especially need more uptempo songs. As an acoustic artist playing solo I've always found it difficult to come up with both original and cover songs that are uptempo. I miss the drums mostly. But, it must be done so, I'm trying. If anyone has any suggestions I'd greatly appreciate it.

Here are some new cover songs that I've been working on.

Jump - Van Halen
Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day
So Happy Together - The Turtles
Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles
Just What I Needed - The Cars
Paranoid - Black Sabbath
Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon
Panic Switch - Silversun Pickups
Inside Out - Eve 6

Life is a Rocket Ship

So, I'm pretty excited today. My website is up. It's not 100% complete but it's up & looks good. My blog posts are right on the homepage, which you may know already if you're reading this there. There's a phots page & an events page. My good friend Jose Gomez was up until the wee hours of the morning making these things work. Still to come is a page of song lyrics, a links page & an mp3 player. I also hope to put up a page of previous shows so you can see all of the great shows that you may have missed. :) I really owe Jose big for this. What a guy. The website finally hitting the web is a bright spot in a time where there quite a few things going on in my life which are not so bright but I'm trying to be positive. Being negative all the time isn't getting me anywhere so why not. This brings me to the topic of this post. I was going to blog some more song lyrics from my cd but instead decided to post the lyrics to a song I wrote a couple years age called "Life is a Rocket Ship". I wrote this during my lunch break (back when I had a job) on a napkin at Crispers in Trinity. It's a positive song (I know, weird right) that's basically about being happy with the things you have & giving back even when you don't have much in the first place. Check it out & tell me what you think.

Life Is a Rocket Ship

I took a trip to outer space
I stopped on Jupiter & mars & Gibsonton
I took a picture of a face
That was just a little different

I took a walk on Saturn’s rings
It wasn’t walking quite as much as it was wading
I thought about my favorite things
And how it seems they all are fading

I ate a sandwich on the moon
It tasted just like apple pie
Or whatever you are in the mood for at this time

I took a penny from a tray
I bought a window and I placed a dollar back
I want my life to be that way
I want to feel good every time that I look back

I ate a sandwich on the moon
It tasted just like apple pie
Or whatever you are in the mood for at this time

Getting Back on the Horse

So, up until that little gig sitting in on July 15th I hadn't played a set of solo music, cover or original, since last November. I've been preoccupied with the two bands that I'm playing with. Sometimes it's nice to just sit back and play guitar. Not to mention, booking shows sucks. But, I've been itching to do some of my own shows so I've sucked it up and started trying.

I love playing in bands. Always have. There's just something about throwing on the Stratocaster & cranking the ol' Fender Twin up to some blaring volume and let a few power chords go. I think that's when I'm the most happy playing music. I feel at home with that Strat under my fingertips, playing a riff that's a little bluesy, a little rawk. I will say though that there is something powerful about standing up in front of a crowd, big or small, and there's just you, an acoustic guitar & an honest, emotional song. This is probably where I'm the most comfortable as a singer. I like to belt it out as much as the next guy that grew up listening to Led Zeppelin & Jimi Hendrix but I think when you strip everything away and get down to the core of a song and it can still move you, mind, body & soul, that's saying something. I'm really looking forward to playing acoustic shows like this again.

Of course, having booked shows, I had better get to practicing. It's time to get to know my own songs again. We've been away from each other for awhile. I have my work cut out for me, the first gig is this Friday, July 23rd at Sacred Grounds in Tampa. It's a good night of music. Myself, Steve Vaclavik, Kirsten Campbell, Vanessa Brown & Richard MacLemale will be doing a sort of "in the round" kind of thing. That's good. Start slow. Three or four song sets. Sacred Grounds is located at 4819 E. Busch Blvd. Tampa, Fl. 33617.

I'm also really excited about a show that I managed to weasel my way onto in August. I was lurking in a corner of Facebook in the wee hours of the morning when I noticed my good friend Geoff's Evil Twin's status. It read, "Geoff Ford has nothing of consequence to report." The second comment was from an incredibly talented musician formerly from the area & now living in Atlanta, Geri X, taunting him to play a show with them at The Globe in St. Petersburg when they're in town. Geoff & I had been trying to set a date for a show there anyway & I'm a Geri X fan so I decided to see if I couldn't get myself on the bill. Just in case, I offered to supply the P.A. Geri, who also is apparently an insomniac, replied quickly with a "heck yes dude" and we proceeded to harass Geoff on Facebook while he lay in bed dreaming sweet dreams or whatever he was doing. The next thing I know I get a flyer emailed to me and not only are the three of us playing, but Dean Johanesen of area favorites Human Condition will also be there. Now I'm really stoked. And then, a correction to the flyer comes. Rebekah Pulley is in as well. Really? What a show. If you are a fan of Tampa Bay area music, heck just a fan of music in general, you don't want to miss this one. The Globe is at 532 1st Ave. N. St. Petersburg, Fl. 33701.



Last but not least, and actually this would be the first one that I booked, on Thursday September 2nd, I'll be at Tre Amici in Ybor City. It's their weekly Songwriter's Night, often referred to as the best in the bay. When I first started playing acoustic shows, this was one of the few places that I played. There has always been a good crowd. A crowd very receptive to original music. You're not just background at The Bunker. The Thursday nights here are so good that when I released my cd in 2008, I decided to have my cd release party at one of their Songwriter Nights. Yup, on a Thursday. Probably the best idea I had all year. Tre Amici is here: 1907 N. 19th St. Ybor City, Fl. 33605.

I hope to see you out at a show. Or all of them.

Solo for the first time again...

Last night, July 15, 2010, a friend of mine, Shawn Scheller of Save the Radio, had come out to Felonys in Spring Hill to do a few songs and meet the manager in an effort to get me a gig. I ended up playing about an hour's worth of songs broken up into two sets. I played all covers (it's a cover kind of place) but it felt good to get up and play again without the band behind me (or in front of me or next to me or whatever). That's not to say I don't like playing with the band because I love it. I prefer it actually, but it's nice to get up & do your own thing sometimes. I played a bunch of songs that I've played once or twice before, Elton John's "Rocket Man", Foo Fighters "My Hero", Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run", some covers that I've re-worked to make them more my own like "Beds Are Burning" by Midnight Oil & "I Want a New Drug" by Huey Lewis & the News and I even played a few songs that I've never played out before, "Ready For Love" by Bad Company, "Panic Switch" by Silversun Pickups & a re-working of Van Halen's "Jump". Overall I think I got a good response and was told by quite a few people that I was good. One woman told me that she liked my arrangements, especially "I Want a New Drug". One girl who had been singing along when I did my cover of Michael Jackson's "Dirty Diana" upon conclusion of the song said, "good jam". One guy even told me I was awesome. Positive reinforcement is good. Thank you to all of those kind souls.

Well, time to go. I have a show to get to. I'll be with The Woeful Ones tonight at Emerald Bar in St. Petersburg for another show with Barkin' Barney & the Tall Boys.

Shooting Star

Shooting Star is a song that I wrote probably 10 years ago about a girl who comes from a rough background but it doesn't stop her from dreaming big & a guy who wants nothing more than to see her achieve those dreams even if it means her leaving him behind. A recording of it is featured on my debut cd from 2008 'A Letter to My Old Self'.





Also, I've been playing it with my band The Woeful Ones and it's been re-invented a bit. That's the nice thing about playing music with other musicians. Sometimes they take a song somewhere you never really intended it to go but it turns out that it belongs there. If you've ever seen me live you know there's always a chance that I will forget some lyrics so here are the lyrics to Shooting Star. Learn them so that if you're out at a show & I drop a line, you can help me find me place again.


Shooting Star

Kylie sits down on the grass & waits
She tells me that the setting sun always hesitates &
If I want to join her for awhile
She says it'd be ok
Shooting stars are quite a thing to see
Kylie says a shooting star is what she wants to be
& If she could just flash across the sky
She'd wink down at me

She likes to close her eyes & raise her hands toward where the rain is from
& Chase each raindrop as it tries to find it's way back home

And I want to be the one that finds
She's not coming home this time
She is somewhere better, out there lighting up the sky
And I want to miss her every single minute that goes by

Kylie makes a friend out of a piece of string
She believes that laughter is the most important thing
& If you're smile is contagious
Some day you might grow wings

She likes to laugh about the sadness that is growing in her life
She says that once she gets it out she feels alright

And I want to be the one that finds
She's not coming home this time
She is somewhere better, out there lighting up the sky
And I want to miss her every single minute that goes by

Kylie smiles at me & says she likes my hat
But she blushes 'cause she can't believe she just said that
& Then she slinks back & hides
Just like a startled cat

She has an urge to go dance naked through the sunflowers by her house
& I can join her, but only if I can keep a secret

And I want to be the one that finds
She's not coming home this time
She is somewhere better, out there lighting up the sky
And I want to miss her every single minute that goes by

Kylie takes a peek through her mother's window
She says she can't believe the things some people just let go
& Just this once she'd like to spend
Her Christmas in the snow
Shooting Stars are quite a thing to hold
Kylie says that at nineteen she is already feeling old
& If I'd put her on my shoulders maybe she could feel young
Before her story's told

She holds my hand & shuts her mouth to not let any more words out
& I just smile as if to say I know exactly what she's talking about

And I want to be the one that finds
She's not coming home this time
She is somewhere better, out there lighting up the sky
And I want to miss her every single minute that goes by

A busy couple of weeks coming up

So, although I don't have very much else going on in my world right now, the next couple of weeks will be pretty busy as far as music goes. This coming Wednesday there's Woeful Ones practice in Tampa. On Friday I'll be at Emerald Bar in St. Petersburg for a Woeful Ones show. Barkin' Barney & the Tall Boys will also be there. We start around 10:00pm. Then, on Saturday, another Woeful Ones show. This time at J.R.'s Attic Door in beautiful downtown Winter Garden. This will be a more stripped down, acoustic set. This one starts at 8:00pm. Sunday, I'll be headed back to Tampa to jam with a guitar player that I have just recently met named Marc. We are working on some acoustic covers to play some happy hour gigs as a duo. Next week sometime there will possibly be Sofa Kings practice. The following Friday I'll be at Sacred Grounds in Tampa for my first solo acoustic show in a very long time. Steve Vaclavik, Vanessa Brown, Kirsten Campbell & Richard MacLemale will also be there. Follow that up with a Sofa Kings show at Shenanigan's in Pasco County on Saturday. My fingers will probably be sore and I'll more than likely be pretty tired (and cranky) but hey, I want to be a musician right. I'm not complaining. I hope to see you out there at one or more of these shows.

Brandon.

Blog Entry #1

Hello & welcome to the Brandon Ruck's Working ClassProject Blog.

Blogging. It's not something I consider myself to be extremely good at. I tend to write in brief discriptions. I like to summerize. It's why when I started writing years ago I chose poems & song lyrics. They don't rely on extremely large amounts of detail. I could never write a novel. I don't have the attention span. Yet here I am. Blogging. I guess it's just the way of the world (wide web) these days.

So, I'm a musician. Mainly I'm a guitar player & a singer. I do dabble in mandolin, drums, resonator, piano, bass and occasionally borrow a six-string banjo from my friend Steve. I write my own music & lyrics. I guess I'm trying to tell you that I'm a songwriter. You know, a singer-songwriter. I also do enjoy playing other people's music. I know. I'm opening up a can of worms there. There are those who are totally anti-cover song and believe me I resisted for quite a while. Here's the thing though, I'm out of work. I had been doing air conditioning work for like ten years or something and the economy took a dive head first into the toilet & took the work with it down the drain. Lay offs followed. I looked for work. Maybe not quite as hard as I should have but jobs are scarce. I need to make money somehow & I decided that if I have to make money why not do it playing music. I don't know if any of you have ever tried to make money playing your own music but in my experience, you're lucky if you get paid enough to cover your gas to the gig. Don't forget about drinks. Maybe a bite to eat. Oh, and then there's things like microphones, guitar strings, guitar picks, guitars, amps, tubes for the amps, effect pedals, pedal boards, cables, capos, tuners, slides...you get the picture. It's not cheap to be a musician. At least not one who goes out and plays. So, I joined a cover band (The Sofa Kings). At the time that I joined this band I was working, just not very much. Now, I'm laid off again and really need to bring in some money playing music. So, I sold some stuff, an old mixer & a 1986 Firebird that had been sitting in my driveway for two or three years and I traded in my prized Soldano Hot Rod 50+ guitar head and bought some P.A. speakers in an effort to play some happy hour type gigs. More covers. I'm ok with it. Would I rather play my own music & get paid for that? Yup. I'm working on that too. In the mean time, cover gigs that pay are top priority.

I do play original music too. I've been slacking but am working on getting out and doing the singer-songwriter thing again. I'm also trying to put a band together to play acoustic based alternative folk rock music. I also am a guitarist/mandolinist/resonator-ist/singer/kazoo-ist(maybe) for Tampa Bay area Twang Rock band Steve Vaclavik & the Woeful Ones. It's fun. It's different than the music I've played in the past. There's some twang involved. There was a time when I wouldn't even listen to music with the slightest bit o' twang but I'm open minded & the most important thing is that I like the songs & the guys in the band. Playing with them has made me a better songwriter & musician. It's pushed me out of my comfort zone & I'm better for it. You can see more about us @ our MySpace page .

To book me at your venue/party/event/wedding/divorce/corporate event/cruise ship/birthday party/whatever email me @ booking@brandonruck.com.

You can find my original music @ my MySpace page, a MySpace page that I set up for a band that I'm trying to set up & soon on my very own website that is being worked on as we speak (blog) by my good friend Jose Gomez.

There you have it. Blog entry #1. It's probably not my best work but I'll keep trying. Maybe I'll get better with time, er, age. Check back for more.

Thanks,

Brandon.