Join the Band!

This is the ad I posted on http://www.joinmyband.co.uk/classifieds/southampton-prog-metal-band-needs-guitar-keys-and-drums-t430956.html ,asking Guitarists, Drummers & Keyboard players if they would like to join the Progressive Metal band =)

'Calling all young musicians who want to write, record and gig! We really need Great musicians to enter the band, who will be devoted, disciplined and dreaming big! We (1 bassist + 1 guitarist & frontman) have written a load of tunes already, and never really stop writing, and would love to form a band that plays minimal covers and is constantly righting new material to be recorded, distributed and gigged. We are based in Southampton, and have a rehearsal space readily available for us most days. We would be willing to travel a bit (or a lot if we get to that stage!) for gigs and such. Main inspirations; Dream Theater, Opeth, Tool, Trivium, Metallica, Mastodon, Rush, Shinedown, Etc Etc... Interested? Drop us a line, lets have a jam =) Maybe you've got some stuff on Youtube, SoundCloud, etc that we could check out? That'd be sweet! We have a dropbox folder & a soundcloud with some incomplete recordings of some of our earlier stuff in. if you would like to check them out, just private message me and when listening, bare in mind we've better tunes in the works at the moment that we'd very much like you to be a part of!Please reply if you're interested or intrigued! Elliot'

Fancy Responding?
Do so on joinmyband.com or onto the blog =)
If any musicians in Southampton are reading, anyway...

For those who are following for the sake of being followers, I'd lie to present this as my way of making efforts towards securing a band asap!

Check the soundcloud URL i posted in an earlier post to listen to some incomplete recording samples of my stuff!

Thanks,
Elliot

Running. Why is it so hard?!?

So i began no.3 of the life plan this week, aiming to get fit without either suffering a heart attack or failing to push myself at all.
Monday i put on the silly poor runner's clothes - White t-shirt, Jogging bottoms, faded-white running shoes, wooly hat, white earphones - and jogged home. It was okay, run for 1 minute, walk hunched over panting for dear life for 2 minutes, repeat the cycle until home. It took me 45 minutes (give or take some seconds) to get home monday, as opposed to a 1hr 10min walk, which i think is good. Well I do, because I felt like I was pushing myself whenever my heart had slowed, even sprinting down the last 200m street. Unfit, but taking my first steps, and not being a sissy about it.
Tuesday - my legs. oh goodness, my legs. My weak knees were okay, but my thighs and various other leg muscles were not able to fully relax at any time.
Luckily, Wednesday presented me with few obstacles in the way of torn tissue and disheartenment. I was looking forward to my 2nd jog home, despite the reports of hefty winds battering the south, knocking down trees here and there, when the majority of my route is right through Southampton Common. So lots of trees.
Trouble was, I had forgotten that i was going to meet my granddad for lunch today, as I had no guitar lesson this week (We meet Wednesday lunchtimes as he helps me pay for them because he's a good Granddad. A bit of a rude git, but I wouldn't have him any other way. I'll probably let fly some stories about him soon.)
So i wandered south along Shirley high street for some lunch, which i demolished due to no breakfast (BAD when you're going to nog on that particular day!) As soon as i bin the rubbish, Gramps texts me:
"You comin' to subway Bruv?" (we talk like Chavs on the phone because he works for a local secondary school driving minibuses and we mock the kids all the time).
So I peg it down to subway, thinking 'I'm going to have such a stitch when I'm going home tonight' all the way. I did only have a 6-inch sub when i got there, but it was still too much.
He informs me he has a new girlfriend, probably the 5th this year, who "doesn't beat around the bush", whatever that means. Actually, I'm not sure I want to know. He's nearly 70 but acts like he's 21.

So after work, I adorned the humiliating gear of the ammeter jogger once again, and proceeded to walk up Shirley high street with some Dream Theatre in my ears to get me psyched for it, doing some stretches when i turned off the main street, and proceeding to move in a more brisk pace.
Surely enough, when i got to st. James' park (300yrds), I have a stitch. Or two. Ouch.
'Just turn up the music, Ellie' I tell myself, 'Pay no attention to the people giving you funny looks because of the sound of your rapid, deep breathing...'
Stiches all the way home, and it feels like i've run less than i did last time (45mins to get home 1st time).

But when i arrive home, i find i've done it in 30mins.
WTF BODY?!?!
You're stuffed with food, cold, stiff from previous run, and you improve by 15 minutes?
By that logic, i'll be home in a quarter of an hour on friday (which i doubt)!
Anyway, i suppose it's all progress.
Ooh, and Asthma hasn't showed up yet, so that's good!

Thanks for reading!
Elliot

A Song =)

So I said there might be music, and here's a little bit for you. Its called Goodbye Kiss, as the lyrics are to be based on a true story, Internet!
It's incomplete at the moment, but it still kicks some ass if you love your rock music!

http://soundcloud.com/elliot-miller-4/goodbye-kiss-incomplete-rec

Sorry it's a link and all. Blame Blogger for not having music upload enabled, which is silly because they have video, picture and text uploads -_-
Anyway, enjoy, and let me know what you think =)

Elliot

The Life Plan

Not so long ago, I made myself a short-term layout of things I wanted to get done or at least work towards. I made it out of frustration at myself. My problem is that I'm too lazy. When things are difficult, I just want to drop them. When there's a chance of failure I don't even bother trying. Well, except for when it's someone or something I utterly couldn't live without. So, it's like a load of early new years resolutions that I've started. Personally, I can't see any flaws in it as such, and i haven't been 100% true to it. I don't have to be, but I do want to be, otherwise what's the point?
So here it is.

1. Learn to drive – Pass theory & practical test.

(at least take one of each test before new year)

2. Finish recording the Album

(Nathan's bass, My/Simon's/?'s Guitars, Synth, Drums, Vocals, Effects, Mixes, Mastering, Artwork, Photography, Names, etc.

Get it al done by early 2013)

3. Get Fit
(Jog or Cycle for at least 1 Hour every 2-3 days. Mind your knees)

4. Give up junk food

(for at least the rest of the year. Does NOT include Subway! Or Pizza, at Dad's request)

5. Focus on your gifts

(Practice guitar regularly, for a decent amount of time. Rehearse with as many bandmates as you have regularly.

Be inspired by sounds, sights and emotions. Do not be afraid to pour your heart onto the lyric page, despite the stigma or scepticism of others.)

6. Honour God in all you do

'Be still, and know that I am God'

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and Love your neighbour as yourself'

'No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us'

'casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you'.

(Lead Cell group well. Help Aisleen with the youth work. Help Simon, Alan, Nathan and the Church Leaders and keep them in your prayers.

Give everything God has blessed you with back to him in prayers and in the way you use those skills, gifts, talents, abilities and blessings.

Repent; be sorry in conviction and changed in forgiveness. Read the word and take it to heart. Prayer is a two-way thing; speak, then listen)

7. Get Her back.

(Okay Ellie – you had a bad moment. But now it's time to pick yourself up, stop giving up on the things you love, and follow your heart. There will be those who will try and stop you and will try to stand in your way. But you can be stronger. If you follow your heart, nothing can get between you and your Moog. Nothing.

8. Make Her proud.

(It could take time. Longer than you'd like. But you're going to get somewhere if you keep on looking forward. And keep going until you can't give any more. To the day that she says “That's my Ellie, and I’m proud of him; and I love him”, and beyond.

9. Stop and assess where you are/where you are going

(are you sticking to the plan? Do you need to add to it or take things off of it? Can your current path be one that the Father would set out for you? How could you make your current situation any better/greater/more successful/more loving?)

10. Beat this thing

(Seriously now Elliot. It's time to end this. Put it in the ground. It is your enemy. It comes to destroy and leave you in the Void. Get out, keep running, and draw your sword against it. It took the person you loved more than anything because it grew stronger and stronger. But now you are stronger. Nothing can stop you now. Because your looking forwards. Your righteous anger that burns throughout your soul has set you free from old shackles. Now Go. Do these 10 things and more.)

You have the Gifts;

You have the Right.

You have the Heart and Mind;

You have the Strength.

And God will bless you and rejuvenate you all the way.

Now go get 'em Tiger.

Actually, re-reading it puts fire in my soul. I'm glad i did this, even the petty bits towards the top.

I started jogging today. I'm fitter than i thought i was, but my goodness does sprinting the last 200 metres or so hurt my insides. My knees are inherantly weak too, but they're alright at the moment. Will just have to watch them.
The fast food thing has had interesting results. I managed to stay off it for nearly a month, and one day i pretty much had McDonalds or nothing. It didnt fill me up, and i felt sick after it. Makes ya think really.
Number 10 is about beating my 'Voids'. I'll explain these in a future post, because it's sleepytime now for me. That is, if my brain will let me sleep tonight, and not wake me up with dreams of Her.

Goodnight =) x
Elliot

And after the introduction comes...

Something i wrote last night whilst thinking about everything that's happened to me recently. Those close to me will understand, others, i'm sure that if you really read it, you'll understand.

'Halfway through my first year of being an adult as of today, and i have realised one of my rare life lessons.
Sometimes, things become more and more grayscale in our daily lives. but there are always those things or those people that are the colours upon the canvas of life. Sometimes, you can get so caught up in the grayscale of life that you forget these colours, and then when they're gone, you r

ealise you loved them, and needed them to get by, every single day. Because without them, the black and white repetition of life forms a fog that follows you, envelops you and will ultimately turn you to dust & sand.
This is not a chain thread. It's me, telling those who bothered to read this that you are the colours of my canvas. Thank you. But there's a shade i'm missing from my pallet right now; and she was my favourite. And always will be.
This is not a chain thread. It's me, telling those who bothered to read this that you are the colours of my canvas. Thank you. But there's a shade i'm missing from my pallet right now; and she was my favourite. And always will be.'

To be fair, I did first post this on Facebook. Sounds pretentious, I know, bit it was written as a thank you to my friends for their constant support for me in a time of heartbreak that is still ongoing for me. Thought you may Apreciate the read, Internet =)

Elliot

So, first post onto the blog. Better make it a good one... Oh bollocks, I can't think of anything.
Well, fist off, my name's Elliot. I'm 18, decided not to go to Uni but am still debating weather or not to go in the future; I'm a musician and have been playing guitar for nearly 5 years now, and have written many songs with my good pal Nathan, whom i've known all my life. Unfortunately, we could never find like-minded musicians that would be staying around long enough for us to share our music & overall vision with, in order to create a unique and devoted ensemble - in other words, it would seem that for some reason, we can't friggin' well form a band at this moment in time.
I've made this blog as a place to write down thoughts and feelings that i may want to share on an appropriate platform, but also as a way to put into words the thoughts & feelings i find hard to externalise, in order to escape something i call Voids. I will explain these, in due time, but i'm afraid that i'm just not ready for that stage in our relationship, Internet.
I'll be posting mainly observations and thoughts, lamentations that could be confused with the witterings of an emo chick. sorry if that offends you somehow. but, you have been warned, and non-abusive feedback would be a nice thing to receive once in a while.
I may post some music up in here too sometimes. double it up as a band page (when/if i get there).
Oh, ignore my 'other' blogs. They were made for college A2 projects. booorriiinngg!
Thanks Mr/Mrs/Ms/Mz Interweb!