I can remember looking out the window, from the backseat of our vehicle, up at the night sky when I was a boy. Satellites tearing across the sky, and dreams starting to fill the horizon. There was music happening all around me. Everything was spinning towards a future filled with music, and boundless adventure, and the soundtrack of our lives was just starting to take shape, a grand theme to our great adventure was starting to play out.
The events of one's life, sometimes can't help but feel like it's culminating to the events that will define your very being. Your memories becoming like stars in the night sky, the brightest ones becoming a constellation representing your entire being. The music was building the entire time, while you have been traveling further down the highway, and late one night you see them all gather, and you're hearing the climax, and everything is as it was meant to be.
I find myself in the band van these past few weeks, that little boy all grown up, the heavens in their place, and us in our place. I look up at those constellations after a fantastic night of rocking, and I see the direction that we're heading towards.
As we navigate towards our future bearing, I hope your gaze is drawn to the horizon, as ours was, and you begin to see the stars, and hear the sounds that have captured our imagination. Hopefully, after the climax, we will all be resting comfortably together.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
The Ghost
Rewind, three weeks ago, back to the studio. Wes, our epic recording engineer feels a tingling sensation up the back of his neck, it's like someone is walking up behind him, when all that there is, is a rugged, worn Marshall cab, with a steaming Marshall head on top of it.
Dusk is upon us, and the song "Phoenix" starts to go down on the tracks. The machine captures every vibe in the room, and little did we know, there was more in the room than just us, and our sounds filling the air. But, we'll talk more about that later.
Two weeks ago, mixes have begun to flood my inbox, containing every consummate note of our previous weekend. While listening to the third song, around sixteen seconds, things start to get creepy. Wait...rewind, did I just hear that? The beginning of the song should only be guitar, but there's more. A sound resembling laughter, like the clown from "IT" meets the hyenas from "Lion King", subtle, but breaking the eerie calm of the lulling guitars.
One week ago, unsure of my sanity now, I start asking questions. Do YOU here this? You know when your driving down a dark secluded highway, alone, and you have to look in the back seat. You know your alone, but you have to make sure there's not a strangler just out of line of sight. Well, this could be worse. I'm listening to "Phoenix", and I let fear tell me, there's something worse than a strangler in the back seat, and you might catch a glimpse in the rear view mirror! I pull over, the lights turn on,and I call Wes,and he hears it too.
We all hear it now, and you will too, soon...
Nik - The War I Survived
Dusk is upon us, and the song "Phoenix" starts to go down on the tracks. The machine captures every vibe in the room, and little did we know, there was more in the room than just us, and our sounds filling the air. But, we'll talk more about that later.
Two weeks ago, mixes have begun to flood my inbox, containing every consummate note of our previous weekend. While listening to the third song, around sixteen seconds, things start to get creepy. Wait...rewind, did I just hear that? The beginning of the song should only be guitar, but there's more. A sound resembling laughter, like the clown from "IT" meets the hyenas from "Lion King", subtle, but breaking the eerie calm of the lulling guitars.
One week ago, unsure of my sanity now, I start asking questions. Do YOU here this? You know when your driving down a dark secluded highway, alone, and you have to look in the back seat. You know your alone, but you have to make sure there's not a strangler just out of line of sight. Well, this could be worse. I'm listening to "Phoenix", and I let fear tell me, there's something worse than a strangler in the back seat, and you might catch a glimpse in the rear view mirror! I pull over, the lights turn on,and I call Wes,and he hears it too.
We all hear it now, and you will too, soon...
Nik - The War I Survived
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
"Silent Cries" live video!
I just love watching Nik and Cole! They're like a couple of jumping monkeys! If it were a contest, who do you think wins this battle?
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Studio Stew: The Weekend That Changed Our World
Sunday, eight o'clock pm, a numb feeling washes over me after finishing an epic weekend of recording. My voice is raw and tattered after singing for seven hours straight. Just listening to the playback in my earbuds, while I sang my heart out with my arms flailing about, the excitement was overwhelming for the sounds penetrating my eardrums. The sense of accomplishment as we finished doing what we set out to do, bringing our lifelong dreams of making the best album we are capable of to fruition, is the closest we can come to being one of those rare, perfect moments in our lives, where everything just seems right in the universe.
It all began on Friday, around eight o'clock pm. We started setting up in a huge open room, that was filled with junk and rubble. The scene appeared like a post war building, attacked by time and neglect, filled with dust, and layered with peeling walls and exposed wood. We set up amidst the chaos, and began filling the air with the sounds of our instruments. The drums reverberated through the room, while the bass and guitars joined in, as the foundation of what we were building began to take form. We called it early that night, pleased with everything, and set out to prepare for a long day ahead.
Saturday, six pm. As the sun slowly faded, the piercing reds from the horizon gave way to the small red glow from our amps, and the fluorescent light emanating from a few, strategically placed colored lamps. We switched on and delivered a solid performance for the mics who had invaded our room. I played guitar all night, until my arms were completely numb, and our ears were on fire. We finished recording the instruments, completely drained, pouring everything we had into it. And it was good.
Everything was good. We dialed in every setting perfectly. From the room, to every last tone nob, everything was in order. Order formed from chaos. Someone once told me, the reason a band's first album is usually the best, is because everything in thier life up to that point, goes into that album. I can't wait for you to hear what the grand sum total of The War I Survived's lives has in store for you. All is well now, we've got this out of our system.
Hope you enjoy.
Nik Sorak - The War I Survived
It all began on Friday, around eight o'clock pm. We started setting up in a huge open room, that was filled with junk and rubble. The scene appeared like a post war building, attacked by time and neglect, filled with dust, and layered with peeling walls and exposed wood. We set up amidst the chaos, and began filling the air with the sounds of our instruments. The drums reverberated through the room, while the bass and guitars joined in, as the foundation of what we were building began to take form. We called it early that night, pleased with everything, and set out to prepare for a long day ahead.
Saturday, six pm. As the sun slowly faded, the piercing reds from the horizon gave way to the small red glow from our amps, and the fluorescent light emanating from a few, strategically placed colored lamps. We switched on and delivered a solid performance for the mics who had invaded our room. I played guitar all night, until my arms were completely numb, and our ears were on fire. We finished recording the instruments, completely drained, pouring everything we had into it. And it was good.
Everything was good. We dialed in every setting perfectly. From the room, to every last tone nob, everything was in order. Order formed from chaos. Someone once told me, the reason a band's first album is usually the best, is because everything in thier life up to that point, goes into that album. I can't wait for you to hear what the grand sum total of The War I Survived's lives has in store for you. All is well now, we've got this out of our system.
Hope you enjoy.
Nik Sorak - The War I Survived
Sunday, February 27, 2011
A Shatterday to Remember!
To Keokukians,
We arrived on the scene early at the Tipenecker Tap. Cole and and I furiously gamed away at Plants vs Zombies on our phones, while the bands and friends started to trickle in. Soon it became time to load in our gargantuan amps, and start setting up, while the booths, tables, and bar stools filled up with our fellow comrades. We immediatley felt at home amongst the tattoos, beards, and faded black band shirts.
As musicians through the ages have played the taverns around the world, this was one of those moments where the stars fell into place, and a defining moment was had between band and listener. There's nothing quite as intimate as having the band and audience trapped in a room, where you can see every eyeball and expression as every note and rhythm churns. We poured the music out untill our tap was dry, and left the listeners flooded with ample melodies to digest. And it was good.
The bands that followed only christened the listeners even further, and at the end of the night we were all equally drained, purified, and ready to go home with big fat smiles on our faces. It was a Shatterday to remember, can't wait to do it again.
Nik- The War I Survived
We arrived on the scene early at the Tipenecker Tap. Cole and and I furiously gamed away at Plants vs Zombies on our phones, while the bands and friends started to trickle in. Soon it became time to load in our gargantuan amps, and start setting up, while the booths, tables, and bar stools filled up with our fellow comrades. We immediatley felt at home amongst the tattoos, beards, and faded black band shirts.
As musicians through the ages have played the taverns around the world, this was one of those moments where the stars fell into place, and a defining moment was had between band and listener. There's nothing quite as intimate as having the band and audience trapped in a room, where you can see every eyeball and expression as every note and rhythm churns. We poured the music out untill our tap was dry, and left the listeners flooded with ample melodies to digest. And it was good.
The bands that followed only christened the listeners even further, and at the end of the night we were all equally drained, purified, and ready to go home with big fat smiles on our faces. It was a Shatterday to remember, can't wait to do it again.
Nik- The War I Survived
Thursday, February 24, 2011
An Introduction by Nik
I'd like to talk to you about a few things. Yes, you! I've felt like I've really been on the cusp of discovering my voice/guitar tone over the past year. The War I Survived has really allowed me to go unrestricted in developing a sound that I couldn't quite achieve in other projects. I'm excited to say that you'll get to hear that sound soon, with our upcoming album "The Tank".
As far as what my influences are, and what I've been listening to as a whole, I usually just put my iPod on shuffle. There's a little bit of Cursive, Sunny Day Real Estate, Oceansize, Bob Dylan, Beck, Cloud Cult, ACDC, and several others going on in my head right now. Vocally, I'm going for a Sunny Day/Thrice vibe. Guitar wise, think Angus Young guitar tone meets Deftones/Oceansize with a dash of Sunny Day in there as well.
I'm really stoked about The War I Survived in general. Jason's drumming really allows the guitars to breathe, while the band as a whole is really about finding the right mix of melt your face rock with move your mind melody. I feel like we're all getting to play the music we always wanted to play, and that the total sum of all our experience musically is allowing us to achieve that sound. Our voice as a band has finally caught up to that sound in our heads.
Nik-The War I Survived
As far as what my influences are, and what I've been listening to as a whole, I usually just put my iPod on shuffle. There's a little bit of Cursive, Sunny Day Real Estate, Oceansize, Bob Dylan, Beck, Cloud Cult, ACDC, and several others going on in my head right now. Vocally, I'm going for a Sunny Day/Thrice vibe. Guitar wise, think Angus Young guitar tone meets Deftones/Oceansize with a dash of Sunny Day in there as well.
I'm really stoked about The War I Survived in general. Jason's drumming really allows the guitars to breathe, while the band as a whole is really about finding the right mix of melt your face rock with move your mind melody. I feel like we're all getting to play the music we always wanted to play, and that the total sum of all our experience musically is allowing us to achieve that sound. Our voice as a band has finally caught up to that sound in our heads.
Nik-The War I Survived
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
"Phoenix" live at the Elks Lodge!
Here is another video from our show at the Elks Lodge in Ottumwa from back in January. I've been having fun putting these together. There will probably be more to come. -Jason
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