Blog of Sal

Remembering Three Years of Zouch Magazine Three members of The Rolling Stones have been playing together for over 50 yrs There's an old adage in rock and roll that goes something like: "A band that plays together stays together". This adage has certainly held true for me in my life, in more ways than one. Some of the bands I was in in my teens and early 20s seemed as though they might be successful. Yet in the end, all save one of these music projects crumbled without achieving anything at all. One group quit because a band member went away to college, another time we lost a jamspace, etc. The reason these projects failed was simply that we did not follow the adage. There were no dramatic breakups for me, only a series of gentle decampments mostly owing to logistical difficulties. I've been running an online magazine called Zouch Magazine for three years, and I just now realized that the old adage has a parallel to my publishing experience. It relates to pub...

I think a lot of Canadian artists and musicians are influenced by the CBC to make music that follows well the narrative of other music that has been featured extensively on the CBC. In other words, the CBC programming directors manipulate creativity in an attempt to construct a narrative that communicates effectively to the government the value of the CBC as a true expression of the Canadian narrative, so that they can receive a maximum of public funding. Don't get me wrong, I like the CBC, and listen/watch often. But I mostly enjoy them for their documentaries, and I think any alternative media that can stand on its own two legs in the free market is more valuable and more likely to be a demonstration of true art, and an expression of the true Canadian narrative.  Some cling to the classical ideal that art and commerce shouldn't mix, but this is an attitude of complacency that suppresses creativity in favour of conserving the status quo. In 2013  artists are allow...

Think about how being an artist has changed. Back in the 20th century works needed a big release to have a chance. If this push wasn't big enough to blast something immediately into the mainstream, then it often faded quickly into obscurity. Now, everything lives on the web to be shared and experienced at any time, by anyone, in any instant. Of course, we still see the phenomenon of brand new things trending and dominating the media space. But overall, works are less likely to feel like wasted efforts simply because they've failed to immediately find a large (paying) audience. Most 20th century artists never cared about the big media outlets, but these were necessary evils. It isn't advisable to bite the hand that feeds when you're right in the middle of trying to accomplish something. It was  more useful than it was demeaning to be complacent. But today, thanks to the good ole internet, an artist can share their voice with everyone forev...

We rode out into the heat of the New York sunshine towards the original site of Woodstock. My '81 Tercel hatchback as our transportation (the $240 car that always "smelled like gas"). I was chasing the ghost of Jimi Hendrix, and the dream of a political movement I thought I was supposed to care about. At the border crossing we were grilled and forced to empty our pockets. The was my first experience with the senseless power-tripping of US border officers (and not the last). All the while my best friend Surge had his marijuana safely rolled up in the leg of his pants. "They never look there", he told me later. I wonder how it would have affected us if they had found it? The turnout was good that year. There were a thousand hippies on Yasgur's Farm. The authentic kind too, old, with real flowers in long grungy hair. I met a man with a bag full of dog-ends who said he hadn't littered a butt since he returned from Vietnam. I was told that some were l...

I recently said on a facebook post that I never ever used to play cover songs, but that recently I've been working on my version of Orbison's  Mystery Girl (I dig how it was released post-humously) and After the Gold Rush by Neil Young ( listen ). But I've been thinking, and I realize that MANY MANY years ago I used to play some Bob Dylan songs, I used to play the theme from Cheers, plus I a few Nirvana songs. Remembering back to those days I think the fact that I CAN'T play Wish You Were Here is the greatest testament to the idea that I hate playing covers. Being 15 felt like the whole world was conspiring to make sure that everybody played that song everyday, but I resisted successfully. Pink Floyd is really cool, but it's unoriginal to play their shit. Just like it's unoriginal to play music by The Doors... BUT the following tune has lyrics lifted from 18th century poet William Blake's  Auguries Of Innocence , so it's a double ripoff, and I th...

I just had the chance to hear the only two Neil Young interviews in the CBC archive. In one he speaks with Daniel Lanois about one of his latest records " Le Noise ". The other one is from 31 years prior. It's fun to listen to a young Neil rail against the music industry :) You also get to hear Scott Young (Neil's Dad) speak a bit about Neil. I highly recommend these interviews:  http://goo.gl/TslVm . He also speaks at length about the breakup of Buffalo Springfield. It appears that when Neil found those guys in '66 he really loved their sound. But by the end, creative rifts formed, and the energies were out of whack. Neil was producing some of the songs by himself, and he became increasingly indifferent to the work of the other members. Remember Buffalo Springfield? Neil also implies that at the age of 21 when he first showed up in LA, he already knew he really wanted to be a solo singer/songwriter. I often wonder how creative geniuses co...

~~~~~{~~<@ excerpt from youtube: This video memorializes the Screw The Status Quo Zine, which published creative content online from February 2009 to Sept 2010, and stayed live until Aug 2011. The images featured are of STSQ contributors, slogans, remnant website images, and a bunch of art from the zine. The first song was by The Flowers Of Hell, the second by Heroin And Your Veins. Sal, the STSQ editor decided to discontinue work on the zine after starting a new project with writer Jeff Campagna. The new project is called Zouch Magazine and some of the original STSQ writers, including Meghan Clarkston and Kyle Gallagher have also joined the new posse. The editorial duo agreed to carry forward Sal's original publishing philosophy, which is to work as a team, assisting indie artists and writers disseminate their work to a broader audience, ignore the mainstream as much as possible while building out of the creative energy of the team, organically and serendipito...

Ever had a song stuck in your head? When you listen to music you're interpreting sound waves in your brain. Turn the sound waves off to find the energy in the music transposed, and still functioning in your mind... The name No Sound Mind has been around since I was a 20 year old bohemian musician living in a basement apartment in Montreal. I used black electrical tape to spell out the words NO SOUND STUDIOS above my bedroom door. My first digital recording ( Fjord EP ) was produced there. I soon after returned to university to study philosophy, and developed fragments of my own answers to traditional problems like Determinism vs. Free Will, What is God? What is the mind? Why are we here? And so on. I also discovered Functionalism , a theory I consider provides our truest picture of the nature of the mind. It proposes that while the brain is home to thoughts and impulses, the mind is the  configuration of the brain . In other words, the mind is a non-physic...

Last year my buddy Kris Gillis from back in Toronto sent me this track and asked me if I felt like trying to add some vocals. The ensuing demo turned out ok. You Have Control (simple version)

EPISODE 4 - December 6th, 2009 Our first podcast post-relaunch, featuring the tracks: So Sick.. by Maki Arrival by Disease Summer by Your Heart At First Sight by Chris Donner Holly Wood by Letters To Jonah You are My Home by The Rivulets . Download podcast 4 Andrew from Your Heart will write a custom song for you, go here. EPISODE 3 - October 31st, 2009 The Halloween special, this show features music by: Inverted Grace Virtual Light Felicia Atkinson & Sylvain Chauveau Swail Unleash The Archers Vengeful Download podcast 3 EPISODE 2 - April 28th, 2009 This one features original music from across Canada & Europe, artists include: Heroin And Your Veins Whip Jill Zmud Alan Cooper The Flowers Of Hell Download podcast 2 EPISODE 1 - March 23rd, 2009 This puppy features music from across Canada and a track from Australia, artists include: Bob Cole RKX Toykult Migrating Birds Inverted Grace Swail Download podcast 1