| BRADLEY HANAN CARTER of Pistol Youth - guest blog! |
| Written by Bradley Hanan Carter | |||
| Tuesday, 27 July 2010 23:43 | |||
Its 5:47pm on a muggy hot Los Angeles Thursday afternoon, Summer finally arrived this week. I am lying on my bed half asleep with my laptop open, and the base of it so hot that I have to make sure it doesn't burn my legs.
Outside the sun is heading towards the end of its rotation for the day, and the stoop at the front of my craftsman style house is fortunate enough to catch the last portion of its city cycle, as it sets out over in the west. I live in an artistic suburb of Los Angeles called Echo Park, where numerous other creative types dwell, resulting in pretty interesting yet random conversations/interactions at any one of our many local cafes or house parties we find ourselves at. It's inspiring to say the least, floating in a stream of young people who are going 'all in' on their respective creative dreams. I find just knowing that these individuals are all around me, giving it everything encourages me to work that bit harder, to get the most out of my days..
Currently I have a slew of musical projects on the go... keepin' me busy, but it keeps me pretty happy too! Right this moment we are making a video for Steriogram's new song 'Movin On' which is due out in about six weeks, followed closely by our third studio album and a movie. Yes, somebody actually made a feature film about our band. It's a mockumentary, so if you have seen 'Spinal Tap' you might understand what vein it's in, but you will have to check it out none the less. Steriogram who incidentally celebrated our eleventh birthday last month, are hoping to tour back in New Zealand later in 2010, so it will be really nice to hang with all the guys again. As well as stop in and dose up on all those Mrs Macs mince 'n cheese pies I've been missing out on.
Then there is PISTOL YOUTH, a project I created with my friends across the Internet in 2007, based loosely on four of my favorite early 90's albums: 'Gish' - Smashing Pumpkins, 'Pinkerton' - Weezer, 'Definitely Maybe' - Oasis, and 'The Bends' - Radiohead. I managed to coerce three of my good friends from across the planet to make a band with me over the Internet. So from Sweden, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S.A., we then made this EP called 'Smiling Can Backfire' without ever even meeting. Shortly after in 2008 we all hung out in L.A. and wrote a bunch more tunes. Some of those recordings are on the album 'My Own Private Amsterdam' that came out in NZ this week. You can listen/download here: http://pistolyouth.bandcamp.com/
Now I am living back in L.A. and hanging out to play with people in the same room again, so I decided to start a new project. I have spent the past six months writing heaps of new ideas and lyrics and been working with some Los Angeles people to make it happen. I can't tell you much more about it just yet, other than that we have decided to call this band 'NO' and we have a demo up on this link http://youarenoweareno.bandcamp.com - you guys are the first people I have mentioned this too, cause it's super new.
The next time I will be visiting New Zealand is next month, to play a Pistol Youth show at the Powerstation on August 13th. We are opening for Irish band General Fiasco and also The Jury And The Saints are playing it too.
Something I wanted to share on this blog entry in case it can help somebody out, is that even though for me over this past decade I have been really fortunate to have had a number of amazing experiences through doing what I love with music, there was actually a period a few years back that I really hit the wall emotionally and developed a crazy battle with depression. On one hand I had everything, and really should have been on cloud nine, yet on the other hand I still struggled to feel happiness or purpose in anything I was doing..
No-one could tell this by looking at how I was living, and I hid it pretty well, but I was really lucky that a few of my friends from other New Zealand bands got around me and encouraged me to go see a doctor and get some help... Another positive result of this 'musical family' sorta help I got, is that there is now a few of us who have contributed to this website http://www.thelowdown.co.nz to encourage others of you who may be struggling with these same battles... It's a great feeling to know that it's not just you that's processing those sorts of feelings - and as cliché as it sounds - it's actually really comforting to know that there really is a great big light at the end of that tunnel.
Anyway that's all from me, for now... keep waking up, keep falling forward - BHC
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