I absolutely loved doing this interview!Thank so much TLS!It was amazing ^_^
w/TonightsLastSong


MM:So tell us a little bit about your self.

TLS:I'm 21, living in Nicholasville, Kentucky for the time being.  I was born in New York though, so I'm not a real Southerner   I lack the accent..I've been recording music for maybe a year and a half, once you account for my 2 year absence in the recent months.

MM:What's your favorite kind of music to record/make/sing?

TLS:Well, I've been tackling the Acoustic guitar thing recently, which is what I'm mostly capable of, given the equipment-ical circumstances.  My "favorite" would have to be something very similar-- upbeat acoustic guitar.  I've always loved singing to anything punkish or generally alternative.  Stuff from Minus the Bear to 30 Seconds to Mars... I can be flexible hehe... short answer, though:  acoustic guitar.  With a dash of solo piano.

MM:Might I mention that your re-done song 'Lock Down,Move On' is amazing!

TLS:Hey, thanks   I woke up one morning a few days back and the underlying melody was just pumping in my head, so I had to get it out.

MM:Well it's nothing short of amazing.But where do you get your inspiration for your lyrics?

TLS:That's a good quesiton   haha... I suppose it comes from my plans for the future... Is that weird?  To write songs about the future instead of the past?  haha..  I write them with the intention to accentuate what I look forward to.  For instance, in Lock Down, Move On, it's about a trip I'll be making in December to meet someone.

MM:Well it is quite an unorthidox way of writing lyrics,but hey who knows?It may be on the Top 40 charts!

TLS:Perhaps one day   Bands that existed in the 80's never got big until the mid 90's, so I suppose anything is possible.  (It gives hope to us hopeful musicians who render ourselves to our chairs on a regular basis, chanting "I think I can, I think I can...!")

MM:True..what if someone from the AMP(or yourself)got famous,what would you do?

TLS:I'd make them sign my pants or something... unless it was me, in which case such a gesture would be less than acceptable.  Seriously, if someone on BandAMP really made it big, I would be so completely satisfied that I even was a part of reviewing their songs and being part of the community.  It wouldn't bother me much if I never get popular.  I have a side of me that feels very comfortable as a face in the crowd.

MM:What's your favorite piece of equipment?

TLS:I keep my pistol nearby at all times, but ... nah, I'm joking.  I don't own anything like that   Screw gun control, though.  *ahem* oh, what?  Yes, yes, the interview.  Um, it's between my simple hand-me-down guitar and my spiffy (IMO) speakers that I bought recently.  Both are very dear to me

MM:Well without speakers then you can't hear the ampers/yourself so spiffy is good for the speakers ^_^
                   So who,what,where etc. do you gain inspiration from?

TLS:When it comes to melodies, it's always improvised... my best melodies are always on the spot recordings that I then memorize and practice... But that's not helpful, in light of the question, haha... Um, I find inspiration in what certain words mean to me.  I can be picky about words, because words are how we communicate, and I want my words to be EXACT to the meaning I'm searching for.  So, when I come across a word that makes me stop and think of something, I write it down someplace and let it mill around in my head until something comes out.  As far as WHO inspires me, I'd have to say that my closest friends do, as I get to see them all act from on the outside, and it makes me think of new words to use to describe them.  From other musical sources, I'd say that I get my inspiration from Eisley, old New Found Glory, Brand New, Nobuo Umatsu, and... (a list of 3 is too cliché... I need a fourth!) and Coheed and Cambria.oops, I'm silly.  i made a list of 5, not 4

MM:well I'm sure we all know what you mean

TLS:One can only hope
 
MM:well were not busting chops here.and you don't seem like the Coheed and Cambria type

TLS:Oh no?  I'm dynamic, like I said.  I think what they've done to music is intriguing

MM:Why did you come back to bandAMP after the 2 years.when you could have just as easily left?

TLS:BandAMP has been my little link to the music world since I began back in June of '05.  I sat down at the computer one day and wanted to find a music site where I could post a song that I planned to record, and BandAMP caught my eye.  Since then, I've always thought of BandAMP as a place to go to, for friends and for fun.  When I came back, I planned to record some songs and merge back into the community, knowing that very few of the AMPers I knew from back in the day would still be active.  It was for the music.  ... Not just my own though-- for others' as well.It's like a little family, this bandAMP thing.

MM:I agree.I love the community.Gives the feel of a 'home away from home.'

TLS:It really does.  I can't get enough of it, even if I'm only reading the posts, and not replying.

MM:Well what do you like most about the AMP?

TLS:The food.  (??)  No, probably the chance to interact with other real people who have the pure desire to be heard, just like I do.  We're dealing with real people here, not with jet-puffed sell-out dolts who could make it on pop radio if they cried into a microphone by accident.  Maybe we're not as good as some of those "dolts," but we deserve to be heard too, as the AMP lets us do that.  We're like the ugly kids in highschool that never get a date.  We need friends!  We've got each other, though!!

MM:lol!I completely agree!

TLS:BandAMP is the musical equivalent of an online dating service minus the "Interested in [men/women]" part in the profile.

MM:LMAO!!!
     So if you could change anything about the AMP what would it be?

TLS:Hm... I'd love to see some sort of system get started where we could have personal lists of users that we tag to be "recommended" for a site-wide "Recommened" list... such a list would A) be available to the users to see what the users think is hot potatoe-spankin stuff, and then B ) be used to try to get the attention of record-label scouts.  I'm not sure how to go about setting up such a scheme, but it would be really useful for some of these artists who have that edge that are really looking to be seen.  Not everybody would want that sort of exposure, so perhaps it could be an option in your profile, to be allowed for "Recommendation".The site's "House Mix" for the AMP is something similar, but it's not user controlled, and it's not used for anything beyond a good listening experience, predetermined by one of the mods.

MM:So basically more user-control friendly stuff?

TLS:basically, yes-- and then the bonus idea of making the users' controlled thing visible to the rest of the music world, somehow

MM:Well I'm sure it can be figured out somehow.

TLS:I'm not in a rush or anything-- I'll be around the site for a while yet to come   I can be patient.

MM:now to what we're all here for!What's one thing that the AMP doesn't know?

TLS:Well, one or two members used to know, but they're not active anymore...  I'm actually a member of the LDS church, popularly nicknamed the "Mormon" church.  It's because of this that I chose to go off to Canada for 2 years.  I was a missionary there, and learned french to do it.  Now that I'm back home, I'm a more "normal" member of that church, not wearing a nametag or anything fancy.  Now I'm a member of BandAMP, just like the rest of you!I'm sure that raises a question or two from whoever might read all of this, but I don't have a problem with responding to any of those questions if they come my way.

MM:I think I'll leave it at that ;] Thank you for the awesome interview!It was a pleasure.

TLS:it sure was, thanks!  your efforts are appreciated, by me and by the others who read all of these

MM:aww :] and thank you to all the others who read them ^_^

Well, that sheds some light.  Good interview.

How did you "crash course" in French in such a short time and come out as fluent as you are?

i spent 2 months in "crash course" status before going into Québec, and from there, it was just talking with people and studying a little bit every day.  I was just there and focused on it.  those mssionaries don't go out and have a party on friday nights, or sit down and watch tv when they're bored... it's a FULL time thing, litterally.  they're up at 6:30am, and in bed by the 10:30-ish mark, and then next day it continues.  There's no "relax" time where they just do whatever they feel like, such as going out with friends or other things.

i don't mean to make it sound like a slave program, because it's not-- it's just that the people who are there are dedicated to what they do, and so they see results, such as with the language    it was a ton of fun!

That was a thoroughly enjoyable interview,
MM: your getting much better at this interviewing game. Please keep it up.
TLS : Good to get to know you a bit better. I really like your reasoning behind your inspiration for lyrics, sing out what you want not what you had ! :]
So were a bunch of ugly ducklings ?? 

Hehe indeed, please speak for yourself, TLS! I view this site very differently to be honest. Hmmm I don't know how this House mix functions, but it's not predetermined by me or jim. I think it's depending on a number of listens/votes and rating to songs... I've seen songs come and go in the house mix, so there are changes of it's composition being made (or atleast, were being made).

Anyway, good interview! Now I know you are a LSD Moron... opps, Mormon, I mean! So what's it like, do you get to have multiple broads? Ya da []D [] []V[] []D !!

haha... not quite, Puppet--- that's the first thing anybody thinks of, and while I can't blame them (since it's a popular rumour), it's outright false   I don't see how that would work anyway, in a country where it's illegal to do that in the first place!

about the comment I made about the site.. :P  Take it in light humour, as I'm proud to be a member of bandAMP, myself, and wouldn't trashtalk it for any real reason!

as for the house mix.. I guess it's shrouded composition is exactly what makes it difficult to follow... if we could figure out how it works and then post that information somewhere in one of those About pages, that would be nice.  Heck, I'm doing over the info in the FAQ page (I'm slow, I know.  Ooo, even better: I'm a busy person.  (That spares me from the whole "slow" image, a little ) ), and I could put it in there once it's figured out.

thanks kings :] working on it!

Great job meow!!!!!!
TLS very interesting stuff!
Hope you stick this time around.

Another great edition of 'Interviews with Meow'.  We should put together some sort of newsletter..  We could put Meows interviews on it..  We could get a few 'journalist' to check out what members are up to (like new music, cd's, gigs...) We could even do reviews of hardware and software, sites, tutorials... it goes on and on.  Or maybe I just stumbled onto the function of Bandamp.us or something.  I dont know, I see alot of potential ....

We did have a newsletter feature for a short time, but it didn't function. And, no-one had any copy for it. So I think we have to stick to the front page post thing, maybe use it a bit more frequently. It would be cool to get enough dedication for a real monthly newsletter, with a featured artist writing about him/herself, and interviews, and some tech suggestions/how to's and stuff and all. But this will indeed require quite some dedication... Well we have a forum, what more do we really need

Great Minds ! Great Minds ! 

minds:maybe it could be part of the news section?

or maybe we could make it like:Featured song of the month,artist,interviews,equipment ish,an advice/question column,letters to the editor,and like random awesome pictures or something(to spice it up and make it not so dull you know?)

and then make it like a bandAMP mailing list(people would say if they wanted to have it sent to their emails or accounts or not and needed information would be given;full name,street address,pin number,DOB,and all that jazz lol)

PX:Not everyone is interested in the forums.at least with mail they'll be intrigued or whatever.but like I said,the willing would get what they wanted.And I'm sure there's enough dedication for the whole thing.

Hmmm, I like the idea of a Bandamp publication.

When I was in an active member of a (great) programming community, the cool thing in the 90's was to publish magazines.  Basically, a monthly publication would come out with user-submitted content, formatted into a nice (at the time TXT or HTML) document that would contain tips, tutorials, articles, interviews etc.  The last one to survive which I believe is still going on, highlights a particular programmer and his software every month.

I can see it being really easy to apply the same concepts here.

Writing copy is something I am interested it.  I may try my hand at the first publication.  I'll try make it as professional looking as possible; who knows, maybe after enough are out we could make a Bandamp book (it's cheap: www.lulu.com).

If you are interested in having something of yours published in what might be the first issue, please, PM me.