Fender Startocaster: Tocs100 Hopes To Be Gearwire MVP With Literate, Heavy Music
Tocs100 is on a noble quest to link heavy music with literary vision, reconciling two genres that aren't usually imagined together. Tocs100 is a regular poster at the Harmony Central forums.
What is your background?
MULTIMEDIA DREAMS ... Good things happen when we're not looking. I found this out when trying to re-invent rock music in the '80s & '90s to encourage reading.
The first part of the problem was gaining approval from a recognized authority on both rock music and young adult novels: Michael Moorcock. But the main challenge was more about convincing my bandmates that my literary vision was true than gaining Mr. Moorcock's approval for future collaboration and to use the band-name Stormbringer - which he unexpectedly granted in 1988. To convince and better lead my San Diego bandmates, I: (1) underwent elective eye surgery, which improved my vision from legal blindness to functional blindness (loss of sight around age 13 really made me appreciate reading!), (2) learned how to copyright my 16 songs with the Library of Congress, and (3) produced and mixed our demo-tape. I achieved all this by age 18, with only two college-credits in classical guitar. But the approval I sought from my bandmates and audience - by approval, I mean heightened interest in both reading and promoting it as important - still didn't coalesce. So I decided that band didn't deserve to use the name Stormbringer (which some guys in Europe were starting to use too), and I disbanded it.
In Sacramento, I produced an even stronger portfolio which involved much legal and visual-design work. This was 1992, when I choreographed a pro-photo-shoot at the Sacramento Bee. My band at that time was called Bards of Fantasia, a heavy rock duo. This was years before The White Stripes convinced the masses rock duos were viable, so we got buried in criticism. A second good thing I didn't expect was when a "black-music" radio station played one of our "white-rock" ballads to calm down the near-riotous crowds who expected Rodney King's purported assailants might be acquitted. I didn't expect the literary-spiritual dimension of my song, "Lord of Mastermirror," to have such a calming, public influence, cerebral-music usually being private. (And I was only 23!) Oddly, a later concert to fund the re-opening of the downtown library was a financial letdown, being the final nail in our band's bankrupt coffin. And from 1995 through 1997 I was a full-time college student, working both a 20-hour phone job and another 20-hours-per-week designing an audio-production-system for a disabled neighbor. One would think something good would have come of those two grueling years, but my third epiphany didn't occur until I got the hell out of California!
In Pennsylvania I got another two years of general ed. that actually transferred to a 4-year University (vs. the runaround I got from SDSU). I made the Dean's List five times in a row, and graduated Cum Laude from LVC with a BA in English/Tech Writing. Relocating to Utah to pursue a MA in multimedia/instructional design, and possibly make an animated submission at Sundance, I received an unexpected acceptance from the owner of DreamToneFx. I'm currently co-designing two fx boxes with him: the Samurai Amp Sim and the Mic Master Eq. I hope the small design royalties from those will cover my tuition and board at a graduate school before I'm 40. (I turned 38 in April 2007.)
How did you get started in music and what advice would you give to someone who just started?
When I was 15, I started with a cheapie electric guitar, a broken Tube Screamer pedal, and a home stereo as an amp. The pedal was discounted 'cause someone had dropped it; fortunately, the drop had caused it to make a uniquely "heavy" distortion, which worked for a year or two! A year later I added a cheap Sunn 60-watt amp and learned a bunch of Iron Maiden and Metallica songs with a 4-piece band. I also had to learn to sing 'cause we could never find a singer. Even then, I never could afford a PA to sing through, so we just did drums/bass/two guitars. So all one really needs to start is a couple bands that inspire you, and some cheap gear that works.
Who are your musical influences and what genre do you listen to most?
These bands influenced me in every way: guitar / bass / vocals / drums / writing / producing / theatrics ... 1970's: Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix 1980's: AC/DC, Ozzy, Black Sabbath, Dio, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica 1990's: Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains, Tool
What's your inspiration?
Showing how heavy music blends with lit., drama, and art to make the healthiest society possible.
What's your motivation for helping people out on forums?
To add to an advice-database I WISH I'd had as a young player.
What's your favorite piece of gear and why? What gear do you use?
8-PEDAL SET-UP: Stock Squier Strat/Stagg Stingray Bass -> tuner -> 2 Boss Metal Zones (one modded for fuzz) -> Samurai Amp Sim proto (marketed soon through DreamToneFx) -> SIM'S PARALLEL HI LOOP: Arion Phaser -> Dano Fab Dist. -> Behr. Reverb -> Dano Fish Eq -> clean monitor (a small boom box!). Cost around $800 total. I'm a guitarist before a bassist, so my fav is the Strat. (I went though so many guitars before I found out I was a Strat guy.) But if I could only use one pedal + amp, it would be the amp sim I co-designed because of its ability to tone-shape. (And the amp I'd love would be a Peavey ValveKing 1 x 12 or a Mesa Road King with 2 x 12 cabinet.)
What are your favorite sources for gear-related information?
All over, including premierguitar, geekchat, talkbass, etc. But Harmony Central is my favorite.
What's the best music related advice you've ever given?
What's the best music related advice you've ever received?
Steve Harris of Iron Maiden told an ex-bassist of mine he used an electronic crossover to get his detailed sound. I've since investigated c/o's, over the last 15 years, for more than speaker-splitting, as actual tone-stacks for all instruments.
What's the best and worst thing about being a musician?
The best is experiencing the immediate cheers and energy of fans at a show--any show. The worst is years--even decades--of poverty: not being able to experiment with needed gear to get that dream sound.
What is the best and worst thing about online forums?
The best is the pool of tens of thousands of musicans you can chat with 24/7. The worst is mods who are too strict.
What music-related topic do you think is most neglected on forums?
The Art & Business of Music. How are both necessary? Where does the one end and the other begin?
What are the 5 forum posts/threads where you are most proud of your contributions? (Give actual URLs)
A. (Some industry analysis related to the Boss study mentioned above):
B. (Which in turn links to this thread):
C. (More effects industry analysis):
D. (This thread collects my best posts on college-writing for success in music):
E. (Public service for Harmony Central forumites - I can't believe the moderators didn't think of this):
Anything else you would like voters to know? Any interesting music related stories?
Before themetalguitarist.com shut down (the owner was a high-school-hobbyist), I started a category called The Art & Business of Metal. And within that I had the highest-viewed thread called "Gothic Action Films with Metal need more Metal!" It traced my theory that the approx. 1,100 USA-semi-pro-guitar-bands could find good employment by joining together in groups of 12 to score/produce Gothic Action Films. Just three new films per summer, from an indie company, would provide exposure and royalties for all 1200 bands within 30 years, one generation. Maybe someone reading this interview will have some resources to start that project, and will contact me.
I also had a monster-journalistic-thread at thegearpage called "Boss Has Sold Over 70 Million Pedals?" which started-out skeptical, but worked-out in favor of the claim (from the BossArea website.) But the thread and the claim on the Boss site have since inexplicably vanished.
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