Just wondering if everyone remembers the circumstances of when they first got hold of "Convergence" and played it for the first time?
Here's mine. Was obviously really bummed about Testament "splitting up" at the time, and had heard updates from James about this solo CD he was working on. I wasn't confident I'd be able to get hold of it where I lived though, so I figured I'd maybe own it a year down the track or whatever. I guess the other thing was I didn't have a lot of money being around 16 then and working only part time in a music store around college classes.
Also around that time I had sold my BC Rich Warlock and got my boss to hold onto the cash for me for a little bit so I didn't blow it on rubbish and end up with no guitar, but occaisionally I'd be at home bored and go in and dip into that money so I could get a CD. This is what I did the day I ended up with James' album. Went into a store called Sanity cause it was on the way, just killing time looking there. Now these guys back in my home city are pretty bad as far as stocking stuff I like to listen to. Used to do my shopping elsewhere. But I'm there going through their metal section, and was probably looking for Megadeth or something going through "M" and I see "James Murphy" on the rack!!!!! Couldn't believe my eyes!!!!! As mentioned earlier, I thought I'd have to import it in for sheeitloads of cash, but here it is on the shelf at a decent price!! Snapped it up straight away. Was stoked.
So I took it home and put it on immediately. Was looking after my little Bro. Parents were away for the night, so I took the stereo into the lounge, put my feet up, and cranked it. It was fantastic right off the bat!! No growing into this album required. Loved the sound (and playing come to mention it) of the drums and still to this day do, and "that dude" who sang on tracks one and three really stood out immediately too. Me being an annoying 16 year old at the time I emailed James asking about this guy. He gave me the heads up which I really appreciate, and can now claim to be a big fan having most of the solo stuff and a few Strapping albums too.
The guitar playing on this album was of course absolutely killer, and at the time we had just started working on some songs at the college studio. My brother and I had always loved guitar harmonies, but being really young again, it never really occured that you could do that with leads. I'm not sure why, but there you go. So I figured it was a harmoniser James was using. Again I emailed asking what kind of harmoniser it was, and the reply of course was "I don't use one, except on some things live to approximate the sound on the album". "WHOA" was my first thought. Wow, I couldn't believe this. It made sense in the end, because my Bro had a Zoom pedal with a harmoniser that just didn't sound anything like the leads on James' CD. I guess I knew what I was after, but didn't know enough about anything to get that sound.
But that email, and not to mention that album was a big fire under the arse for me. I started mucking around with harmonising leads on my 4 track immediately, and started getting into the band Queen heavily, which of course means more of a crash course on lead guitar harmonies.
Ended up doing quite a bit of that stuff on those recordings I mentioned, and I really owe that all to James.
I remember playing a couple of the songs to guys in our band too, trying to get them to cover the songs. Never ended up happening unfortunately. I think I wanted our singer to do "Since Forgotten' - poor bugger
But he wasn't a melodic singer, so i figured he'd be into the ballsy vocals of that song.
Anyway, the album still is in heavy rotation on my stereo. Played it yesterday before going to work, and have "Shadows Fall" on my mp3 player which is my travel to work music. Was a BIG influence to me then, and is still a BIG influence now. Just wanted to share my story. Feel free to post yours.
-Chris
Here's mine. Was obviously really bummed about Testament "splitting up" at the time, and had heard updates from James about this solo CD he was working on. I wasn't confident I'd be able to get hold of it where I lived though, so I figured I'd maybe own it a year down the track or whatever. I guess the other thing was I didn't have a lot of money being around 16 then and working only part time in a music store around college classes.
Also around that time I had sold my BC Rich Warlock and got my boss to hold onto the cash for me for a little bit so I didn't blow it on rubbish and end up with no guitar, but occaisionally I'd be at home bored and go in and dip into that money so I could get a CD. This is what I did the day I ended up with James' album. Went into a store called Sanity cause it was on the way, just killing time looking there. Now these guys back in my home city are pretty bad as far as stocking stuff I like to listen to. Used to do my shopping elsewhere. But I'm there going through their metal section, and was probably looking for Megadeth or something going through "M" and I see "James Murphy" on the rack!!!!! Couldn't believe my eyes!!!!! As mentioned earlier, I thought I'd have to import it in for sheeitloads of cash, but here it is on the shelf at a decent price!! Snapped it up straight away. Was stoked.
So I took it home and put it on immediately. Was looking after my little Bro. Parents were away for the night, so I took the stereo into the lounge, put my feet up, and cranked it. It was fantastic right off the bat!! No growing into this album required. Loved the sound (and playing come to mention it) of the drums and still to this day do, and "that dude" who sang on tracks one and three really stood out immediately too. Me being an annoying 16 year old at the time I emailed James asking about this guy. He gave me the heads up which I really appreciate, and can now claim to be a big fan having most of the solo stuff and a few Strapping albums too.
The guitar playing on this album was of course absolutely killer, and at the time we had just started working on some songs at the college studio. My brother and I had always loved guitar harmonies, but being really young again, it never really occured that you could do that with leads. I'm not sure why, but there you go. So I figured it was a harmoniser James was using. Again I emailed asking what kind of harmoniser it was, and the reply of course was "I don't use one, except on some things live to approximate the sound on the album". "WHOA" was my first thought. Wow, I couldn't believe this. It made sense in the end, because my Bro had a Zoom pedal with a harmoniser that just didn't sound anything like the leads on James' CD. I guess I knew what I was after, but didn't know enough about anything to get that sound.
But that email, and not to mention that album was a big fire under the arse for me. I started mucking around with harmonising leads on my 4 track immediately, and started getting into the band Queen heavily, which of course means more of a crash course on lead guitar harmonies.
Ended up doing quite a bit of that stuff on those recordings I mentioned, and I really owe that all to James.
I remember playing a couple of the songs to guys in our band too, trying to get them to cover the songs. Never ended up happening unfortunately. I think I wanted our singer to do "Since Forgotten' - poor bugger
But he wasn't a melodic singer, so i figured he'd be into the ballsy vocals of that song.Anyway, the album still is in heavy rotation on my stereo. Played it yesterday before going to work, and have "Shadows Fall" on my mp3 player which is my travel to work music. Was a BIG influence to me then, and is still a BIG influence now. Just wanted to share my story. Feel free to post yours.
-Chris
