Cesar Chavez: Dead or Alive?
Ever since I got my first guitar (a 1981 Fender Bullet) in junior high school, I've wanted to be in a band. Unfortunately, while years spent sitting on the edge of my bed meticulously learning Pink Floyd solos made me a fairly competent guitar player, and I did make a few attempts at playing with friends from school, I was never able to make a band work. This was due mainly to a combination of my own hyper self-criticism, and my difficulty working with people whose musical taste I considered less than perfect (I once went on a tirade because a prospective bandmate suggested that Primal Scream's "Medication" sounded like "Money for Nothing"). In other words, I was probably taking the whole thing a little too seriously.

Now that I'm squarely in the world of professional software development, I've more or less left behind any real aspirations to rock stardom. But I still get the itch to create music every now and then, and working on Soundtrack Pro and getting to see the NAMM show really rekindled my old interest in audio engineering and production.

Until recently, one of the only things stopping me (besides a general dearth of time) was the lack of a focused idea about what kind of music I really wanted to make. I have fairly diverse musical taste, running the gamut from minimal techno to country, and my enthusiasms tend to shift depending on my mood.

Fortunately, inspiration struck me very unexpectedly a few weeks ago, during Edinburgh Castle's pub quiz night. One of the trivia questions asked that night was simply "Cesar Chavez: dead or alive?," a phrase that struck me as having a surprisingly nice ring. I immediately remarked to my friends Michael and Kristin that it would make a great band name, in the tradition of "Death from Above 1979," "I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness" and "...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead." They agreed, as have all of the other friends I've mentioned it to, and mere name itself has suggested an interesting sound to me: a sort of cross between Calexico and Joy Division. In other words, a fusion of bleak new wave/post punk with Morricone-inspired "desert rock."

This may sound like a strange combination at first glance, but I think a lot of Calexico's darker, more experimental songs already hint at it. And heaven knows it'd be a great way to take advantage of my amplifier's awesome built-in tremolo and reverb.

So, we'll see if the motivation sticks with me long enough to actually write anything or recruit some bandmates (anybody know any candidates?).

In the meantime, here's a list of songs I think of as hinting at the kind of sound I have in mind. Enjoy!

Blue States: "One Night on Tulane"

Arab Strap: "Girls of Summer (Live)"

Calexico: "Black Heart"

Calexico: "Crystal Frontier (Widescreen Version)"

Spiritualized: "No God Only Religion"

Mercury Rev: "The Funny Bird"

Twilight Singers: "King Only"

Twilight Singers: "Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair"

New Order: "The Perfect Kiss (Live Version from Video)"

Joy Division: "Love Will Tear Us Apart"

Interpol: "The New"

Interpol: "NARC"

Ennio Morricone: "Man with a Harmonica"

Ennio Morricone: "Il Tramonto"

Ennio Morricone: "A Silhouette of Doom"

Luis Bacalov: "Summertime Killer"