Santollas Verden #2

Nu kan du læse om hvordan Ralph arbejder, når han producerer nye sange og hvad han lavede 11. september 2001.

Hi everybody, welcome to my second Devilution column.

I'm at home in Tampa writing music, making movies, and learning music software. As soon as I figure out how to use the recording studio on my computer, I'll start working on my second guitar cd, the follow up to 'Shaolin Monks in the Temple of Metal'. Whenever I start a new project, I listen to a lot of music, and barely touch my guitar. I write everything in my head and remember it until I can't go any further in my mind. THEN I start working on my guitar, my sequencer, and other musicians. I've found that the longer I wait before I actually try to play what I'm hearing in my head, the more of the piece of music is already complete when I think about it. It's like my subconscious writes it for me. On this album, the music will be almost 100 % instrumental . With instrumental music, there are no limits with arrangements, the music doesn't have to fit into any particular format. On the other hand, it's more difficult for me to write interesting music without a vocal to carry the song.

I'm writing this on Saturday, september 10. In the U.S., the television and news is full of commentary and remembrances of 9/11. For an older generation, the assassination of JFK was an event that was indelibly stamped on their consciousness and memories. 9/11 is that event for my generation. Every American old enough to remember that day can vividly recall where they were and what they were doing on that morning. I was in my living room recording a guitar solo for 'Shaolin'. I heard on the radio that a plane had hit the WTC, so I turned the TV on to see, thinking it was a small private plane. I saw the smoke and went back to recording. Then I heard them say a second plane had hit, and I started watching. I'll never forget that moment. I immediately went and took my then 7 year old son out of scholl, as a precaution. At that time, no one knew if that was the beginning of a series of attacks. We went to Morrisound recording, and watched the news all day along with Tom and Jim Morris.

I was recently in Sardinia with Trevor Peres of Obituary when we heard that the SEALS finally got Osama Bin Laden. We had a major celebration, trust me. Next week I'm going on tour with Grave for a week, and Trevor is tour managing them! My next blog will be a recap of whatever adventures happen during the week.

See you then!

Ralph