Where Is Bandgard Headed?

So in which direction is the Bandgard ship headed? Bandgard is currently in the choppy seas of Indie bands, trying to get it's bearings to reach it's final destination. However, the adventure is more of a journey. It's a challenge to keep the band afloat when your resources are little and your time is limited. However, success can be achieved, even for an obscure Indie band called Bandgard.

Bandgard started out by one individual, and is still one individual making all the big decisions. That is a dangerous recipe. There are so many aspects of an Indie band, even one that doesn't perform on a regular basis. Bandgard records in a simple home studio. It's all he can afford right now. He's got a hundred dollar microphone that he records on; and that works for now. He makes the best sound that he can from it, thanks to reverb effects on the computer.

Bandgards, frontman (and backman for that matter, Riley, plays various instruments to various levels of skill. His best instrument would likely be his voice. In fact, the voice is said to the best instrument anyway. He also plays the piano, keyboards, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, and drums. However, for the moment he doesn't own a full drum set. He did, however, buy a hi-hat and a cymbal from ebay that he uses for some of his songs. While he can get away with some computer drum loops, it's hard to fake cymbals. That's why he bought himself a few cheap ones.

Bandgard uses what he has. He's records using Pro Tools that he was trained on at an unmentioned local community college. It was at those Pro Tools classes that his passion for recording grew. His teacher gave him and a friend the code to the classroom that had all of the Pro Tools equipment and microphones in. If administration knew this, the teacher would probably have been let go. However, he trusted Riley and his friend, Mac. Riley and Mac would come into the Pro Tools room with all the computers, and records as often as they could. They'd come before and after other classes. One time, Riley was approached by another teacher when he was in the Pro Tools room all along, and told to stop singing. There was a class that was being taught next door, and Riley was recording one on his originals, that is still unreleased, 'Spark of Freedom'. After the teacher left, Riley finished recording the song, but didn't quite sing as loud.

So to answer the original question to the blog, 'Where is Bandgard headed?' Great places. That is all. Right now, the future seems a bit foggy for Bandgard, but it is still moving forward. Riley has silos of songs waiting to be finished and recorded. It's just a matter of squaring away time to do just that. Life has many distractions, both effective and non-effective. One by one, track by track, Bandgard will get more material released, and the best material that one man can possibly do.

The Summer of 2010; Oil On My Wings

The Summer is moving fast! As an Indie artist and musician, I am busy with composing music in my spare time to balancing the duties as a father and husband while working full time at my day job. In order to find time to compose and record, I've got to wake up earlier than the rest of my family, and before work, or isolate myself in my home-made recording studio. I am always seeking to improve my musicianship, whether it be to practice my instruments, sing, record, or self-promote my music. There is so much to do and so little time. The trick is to doing the things that are most effective and yield the best results. This picture is the cover art to a song is the latest by Bandgard, entitled 'Oil on my Wings.' By now we've all seen the pictures of the birds in the Gulf of Mexico due to the BP oil spill. If those birds could speak, what would they say? We probably know exactly what they'd say, and it wouldn't be nice. However, there is hope for some of them returning to the wild and flying yet again. This song is about them. It's a simple song that I recorded at about 5:30 in the morning. Hence, my scragily voice. No, actually I added that effect later to the song.