Over the years of my life, I’ve always been a shy and quiet person. Now I feel it’s finally time to put an end to that into hoping becoming a more outgoing person. I used to be this type of person who don’t like to talk to people admittedly — I’ll confess to that. I was one of those who wouldn’t talk to complete strangers and was only talkative to people I know. Well I need to start working on being more talkative and be more approachable with everybody and I’m working on that.

A lot lately, I’ve been using the gym as an excuse to practice my social skills with people more and it’s working really. I know the gym isn’t really the place to socialize but you don’t want to socialize with people during workouts. Usually before or after is a good time to socialize with people. It’s okay to talk to people while resting in between their sets as long as it’s not too long.

I’ve been going to the Battenkill Y gym for several years now and because of it, I’m starting to know some people that go there. Knowing their names and all. I gotta realize that people out there aren’t that bad and people won’t bite at all. A lot of people out there in this world are really nice. Yeah, sometimes you will run into assholes and rude shitheads but you just ignore them and move on.

Yeah, I’m working on my confidence and working on my conversation skills. Thing is, I’m not much of a talker. When I do talk, I don’t talk very long but I need to learn how to hold a long conversation and I’m working on that too. Trying to anyways. Working on my speaking skills, grammar and vocabulary too. It’s all about self-improvement, ya know?

Talking to complete strangers is not that hard. To start a conversation with someone, all you gotta do is say, “Hi, how are you” and that’s it. People like that when you say that to them and that’s how you start conversations that way.

I would like to make new friends and even start dating women. In order to be good with that, you gotta be good with starting conversations with people and I’m working on that and practicing. It’s time to transform myself. I hate being an introvert and it’s time to grow up.

Kev

I’ve been trying to build up my guitar pedal collection ’cause why? I want to start playing electric guitar on a full time basis and I want to start making some original rock n’ roll songs very soon. I’m just trying to get all the sounds needed for it. I have a wah wah, Fuzz pedal, Distortion, Overdrive, Delay and Chorus. There are still a few more sounds I need to get like a Flanger, Tremolo and maybe a Compressor pedal.

In order to play rock n’ roll, I’ll need to get pedals so I can have kick ass sounds for both rhythm and leads. I’ve always wanted a Fuzz pedal for a long time and finally got one just not too long ago. I went to Saratoga Guitar shop and bought it myself.

The kind of rock n’ roll music I want to make is jam rock music. I want to make long improvised jams in my original music and that’s the goal that I want to achieve. I want to make hard rock music and play face melting guitar solos too. When it comes to playing guitar solos, I’m going to improvise everything ’cause I don’t like solos that are written out.

When it comes to collecting guitar pedals, I want to collect as many pedals as I can. Just get whatever sounds that sounds very cool… however, I’m just going to get all the basic sounds first like wah wah, fuzz, distortion, delay, chorus, etc. I already have all that. Just need a flanger and tremolo.

When it comes to writing original rock music, I’ll try to write songs that rocks but I’m also going to be writing mellow songs and ballads too. I’ve always liked to write slow ballads and I’ve written plenty of those. Gotta mix it up, ya know? I’ll never stop writing on the acoustic,  though. I’ll still write acoustic songs too.

If I ever did my first album which I still want to, I’ll probably try to get a band together ’cause I’ll want it to be a full band album. If I did get a band together, it would probably be for recording projects only… I don’t think we’ll play live shows or anything. I’ve always wanted to make a full band rock album and I’ll make it happen somehow.

Kev

I was googling about music and songwriting and things like that and I came across this interesting blog. An older blog post that was posted a few years ago but this one part in the blog really hit me.

Yeah, I’m a musician and singer/songwriter myself. Even though it seems like I’m a cover song guy, I write a lot of original music too. I haven’t written new songs in a long time but planning on getting back into songwriting.

I remember when I did write a bunch of original songs in the past and putting them all out on the internet for all to hear, I had a difficult time trying to get people to support my music. I tried my best to get some of my friends and people I know… even my own family members to be more supportive of my music but not many of them cared. This could be why:

Why Most of Your Friends Don’t Support Your Music

1.More in likely, They Don’t Like Your music, And Just Don’t Want To Tell You

I stopped inboxing and telling most of my friends about my music and my band.

If they are not interested or not apart of the fan base, me trying to force my music on them is not going to do any good.

Unfortunately, most of them only support you when you make it. Or even worst, doubt you, then act like they supported you when you get it.

Do I hate them? Of course not. It might not be their cup of tea.

I’m just explaining one of the brutal truths.

https://medium.com/royaltivirtue/why-most-of-your-friends-dont-support-your-music-8c4f6595b444

So there you have it, that is exactly why your own friends, acquaintances and even your own family members are not that supportive of your music when you would like them to be. You try your best to get them to listen to your stuff and even get them out to your live gigs but they just don’t seem to care. Well, the truth is maybe they just think you suck and they’re just afraid to tell you so they won’t upset you, ya know?

Yeah, I know it’s really hard to get people to like your music as I have been there. When I was putting out original music, playing live shows in the past… I’ve even had some nasty critics who weren’t afraid to tell me that I suck musically.

Ya know what? All that is fine and good. When you’re a music artist and songwriter, the last thing you want to do is force your music on to people like this blog said.

What you want to do is keep making music and keep putting it out there. The fans will come to you on their own if they dig your music. Let the fans come to you, don’t force your music on others. It may seem like not many people like my music but I’ve had actual fans out there which meant a lot. When I used to gig live in the past, I’ve had complete strangers aka people who I didn’t even know come to my gigs and they ask for a photo with me and all that stuff. I’ll never forget it. It’s a wonderful feeling that you get actual fans that support your music and I’ve got some out there.

When you’re a music artist and songwriter, you’re definitely gonna get haters, critics and doubters. Best thing to do is ignore them and keep making music. In time, people will start to realize that you are talented after-all and you’ll have a huge following before you know it.

Truthfully, you don’t want to have an audience of friends and family as your fanbase ’cause that’s not how it’s done. You want people who don’t know you to support your music. If people don’t like your music, who cares. Fuck ’em, it ain’t the end of the world. Truthfully, I don’t care whether or not people like my music. If they hate it, fine. If they love it, that’s great. I do music for myself for the most part and that’s a great attitude to have.

The key is let the music speak on its own. So many musicians out there don’t know how to do that nowadays. When musicians out there are told that they suck, they get so defensive and that’s the last thing you want to do. A lot of musicians out there get so offended easily over negative criticism. Me? I don’t give a shit. I used to get upset having so many haters but I don’t care anymore really. Just gotta learn to stay above the negative criticism.

Just keep playing and keep making your music. You want to grow your own audience and fanbase. There are millions of people in this country. If some assholes out there aren’t cool enough to support your music and they want to be nothing but jerks, who cares. There WILL be some who will be kind enough to support your music.

Speaking of songwriting, I gotta get back into it ’cause I really miss it.

Kev

Yesterday when I went to the mall, I decided to hit Saratoga Guitar first ’cause Saratoga Guitar shop is right near the Wilton Mall. I wanted to see what they have for guitar pedals and see what’s good, ya know? I wanted to see what they have for fuzz pedals and the only one they had was the one you see in the pic above which I bought yesterday. So yes, the BOSS Fuzz FZ-5 is the latest guitar pedal to add to growing pedal collection.

I really love the Fuzz sound. The Fuzz tone can help give my lead guitar playing and rhythm playing a different sound. It can help give me a 60’s/70’s rock n’ roll sound which is what I’m after.

I really want to make some serious rock n’ roll music pretty soon. I’m just getting myself prepared and trying to get all the gear and sounds for it. I now have a solid body electric guitar and a pretty good small collection of pedals so I think I’m good.

I used to be against guitar pedals and effects but now I’m thinking they can be pretty useful. I want to collect as many pedals and effects as much as I can. I gotta get a flanger pedal at some point and I will. I would also like to get an Equalizer and Compression pedals at some point too.

Trying to start my own pedal board and I will soon buy a pedal board so I can put all the pedals together.

I want to start writing my own hard rock songs. Not exactly metal but sort of something like that. I want to write original hard rock music that sounds similar to Sabbath, Megadeth, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, etc. I want to write rock songs with big riffs and just regular singing. You’ll hear no screaming and no death metal growls from me. I just want to sing regularly… although you’ll definitely hear me sing some rock songs with a bit of grit/rasp only when the song calls for it.

I want to write rock songs on the electric guitar and I think it’s finally time to rock.

Kev

I’ve thought about doing this for a long time. Ya know, making a video about myself kind of like those biography documentaries you see of famous people on TV but it will be a short documentary about me. It’ll be mostly about my fitness and music life. I won’t get too personal about my life but it’s just gonna be about my fitness and music. I think that’s why I’m starting to take video footage of myself working out at the gym and footage of my power lifting competitions and all that stuff will be part of the documentary. There will be a lot of stuff about my music too.

I think it’ll be an inspirational video for my supporters and fans that I have out there. Yes I do have ’em, fans and supporters. The documentary film will be a good opportunity for people to get to know me a little better. I think it’ll be a fun project.

I’m thinking about working with a professional videographer to make this video with as I have a few good ideas. I would like this to be professionally made, ya know? I think this will be a cool idea. Kind of like a biography maybe, I’m really contemplating this idea. There will be music and an interview with me on it.

Not sure if a project like this would really happen but it would be awesome. I would wait ’til I get new original music out, though and then I’ll start planning on it. I probably will go for it.

Kev

While I appreciate that some of my supporters out there want to hear something original from me when it comes to music, I like continuing to do cover songs. I just like playing them. Why do I continue to play cover songs? Well for a few reasons really. First of all, they are fun to do. Secondly, I enjoy performing cover songs that people know well and love. Thirdly, I just want to sing all the songs that I’ve loved over the years. I’ve listened to so much music over the years of my life and I pretty much want to sing all my favorites. Another reason I play covers is to show people that I can play like a real musician. I learned that when you’re a musician and you can do covers well then you’re a real musician.

I want to learn as much cover songs as possible. From old stuff to new stuff yes that means music from the 50’s all the way to today. I have been learning a lot of cover songs lately. Right now I’m just trying to memorize all the lyrics by heart and memorize the guitar parts too. I’ve been learning a lot of stuff by Lou Reed & The Velvet Underground, I know a few songs by the Clash, know several David Bowie songs, a few Ritchie Valens songs, Buddy Holly, Johnny Cash, etc. A few weeks ago, I just learned Stone Temple Pilots “Plush” and Oasis’s “Wonderwall”. I’ve also been working on my own version of Van Morrison’s “Gloria” which a lot of cover bands play a lot.

I don’t know what happened… it seems nowadays that nobody wants to hear cover songs anymore. People want to hear nothing but original music from musicians nowadays which to me is strange. In my opinion, you should never neglect cover songs ’cause I’ve always believed it was important to do both originals and covers as I’ve always done both. I’ll get back to songwriting at some point when inspiration hits ’cause I only write new stuff when I’m inspired. For now, I’m just trying to learn and memorize as much cover songs as I possibly can.

Cover songs are awesome and I’m going to keep doing them no matter what anyone says. At some point I want to start learning some Kiss songs, Alice Cooper and I want to learn more Grateful Dead songs as well. Even though I know several David Bowie songs, there are still more songs I want to learn of his… I want to learn the Bowie songs “Heroes” and “Quicksand” at some point. I’m a Bowie superfan and I would like to put on a David Bowie tribute show at some point. I think that would be fun, I’ll figure something out. The Bowie tribute show would probably be live on the internet.

Kev

Well I purchased some albums from Itunes today. From old albums to new albums that were released this year. I try my best to catch up with the new music that’s out in 2018. I don’t know much about new music these days ’cause there’s nothing good out lately, ya know? I still happen to find good music this year the best I can but it’s hard. I really love the band Ghost though… they are the best thing going.

Yeah, I know I buy quite a lot of albums from Itunes but what else am I going to get music from since record stores are dying in front of our very own eyes? Since you can no longer buy albums on physical CD from Best Buy anymore, the compact disc is just about dead pretty much. Nobody buying CD’s anymore. Why? Obviously, the online music world is destroying the album for sure. Everybody have been buying albums and songs online mostly like with Itunes and Amazon. People also have been listening to albums and songs with online streaming services like with Apple Music and Spotify.

Really sad that no one cares for CD’s anymore. I still like CD’s ’cause it’s cool to have the album cover and all that stuff. Soon the CD will be dead for good.

I’m also noticing that a lot of people don’t buy full albums anymore like they used to. They only pick certain songs they like so they can use the shuffle on their Ipods and crap like that. I never liked to listen to music that way. I’ve always been an album kind of a guy. I’ve always liked to listen through the full album from start to finish. That’s how I always liked to listen to music. I continue to buy a lot of albums even to this day ’cause that’s who I am. I’m a music lover and gotta be around it. I’ve always loved supporting bands and artists ever since I was a kid and never stopped. When I’m not playing an instrument, I’ve got to listen to others music too to stay inspired.

Kev

I’m not a big fan of PJW of InfoWars but this is one of his best tweets. I totally agree with him 100% For many years of my life, I’ve had people come after me and yell at me for saying things that they found offensive. It wasn’t just in politics that I had that problem with. I’ve had that problem with all topics pretty much. If I say something offensive, people will let me know by calling me out publicly.

For this reason, I have been permanently banned off of many different message boards that I was a member of over the years. Most notably, I was kicked off many different musicians forums especially the local music boards. I remember being kicked off of local forums like CRUMBS and GlensFallsrock ’cause they didn’t like me creating a stir with the other members. Even though the message boards are a thing of the past now, I still get people coming after me ’cause they thought things I’ve said online was offensive to them. People still come after me on my blog, facebook and twitter… youtube as well.

I’ve dealt with this crap for years and still do even to this day. Ya know what? I don’t give a fuck anymore. I’m done trying to please everyone ’cause we’re now in an age where everyone is getting offended at everything lately, it’s ridiculous.

I do agree with PJW 100% is that if you can’t accept offensive speech then you don’t like the 1st amendment at all. If you want proof of that, people will argue that the 1st amendment doesn’t give you the right to say as you please and some will think it’s freedom of the press without government interference and blah blah blah. You get the deal. Many will try to make all kinds of lies that the 1st amendment doesn’t belong to you when it does. If this is you then you don’t support or respect the 1st amendment at all. You hate the 1st amendment and want to get rid of it. Liberalism today is desperately trying to get rid of the 1st amendment from our Constitution.

I never see how what I’m saying over the years is offensive. I just like to speak my mind and speak my truth. Unfortunately, that’s not going to make everyone happy.

When it comes to local bands and local music, there are many that don’t like my thoughts about either. All I’ve ever done was told the truth and just be honest. If I didn’t like a musician, I won’t be afraid to be honest about it and if there’s stuff that I don’t like about the music scene, I felt the truth needed to be said. If I don’t like a musicians attitude, the way they promote themselves and the way they do their gigs, I’ll be honest about all of it. I’m about keeping everything as real as possible ’cause I’m an honest man. I don’t sugarcoat things and I don’t try to be nice most of the time even though people want me to.

Yep, we’re now in a society where people get offended at everything. I know that has been a problem for years and it’s getting a lot worse now. It’s annoying and tiresome but I’m willing to deal with it. I now don’t give a fuck about others people’s feelings if they don’t like what I say. In the past, I used to apologize for being “offensive” about certain things but no more. Apologizing is weak. Just speak your mind and don’t back down to the easily offended… just stick to your guns, always.

As far as my thoughts on Alex Jones and Infowars getting censored everywhere, it’s no surprise really and there’s nothing to see here. My support for InfoWars has been on and off over the years. Sometimes they’re good and sometimes they’re not. I don’t agree with everything they say but they have the “free speech” to say what they want.

I just find it hilarious that the left calls InfoWars hateful and calls them “conspiracy theorists” nutjobs when the left are no different. The left can be just as bad when it comes to hate and conspiracy theories. Want me to give you some examples? I’ll gladly to! What about the left inciting violence and hatred to Trump supporters at Trump rallies and inciting violence toward Republicans which led to Steve Scalise being shot at a baseball game? Also, the left are the biggest conspiracy theorists out there… they are the ones who came up with the idea of 9/11 being an inside job and Iraq having weapons of mass destruction. They were the ones who came up with the silly Trump & Russia collusion and the Stormy Daniels affair. The left always accusing people of things and they are guilty of the same thing, more hypocrisy here.

Alex Jones getting censored off the internet is only the beginning though. It’s about to get worse. I wouldn’t be surprised if my facebook and twitter gets shut down ’cause of my “right-wing” beliefs. The lovely tolerant left really are acceptance of others views ’cause they’re different (sarcasm).

The left is getting much worse and getting even more unhinged.

Kev

Went to Cape Cod, Mass. for a week for a little vacation. Just to get away from everything and relax for a little while. Have some fun. Above are some pics of my vacation. Me enjoying the beach and me enjoying the Cape Cod rail trails on the bicycle.

It was a good time. Got to do a lot and got to see a lot. Yeah, I took a week off of lifting weights and bodybuilding over the week but I’m gonna go back to the gym tomorrow for arm day. Even though I took a week off of bodybuilding, I still tried my best to eat healthy most of the week and continued to eat a lot of protein. I also continued to do a lot of cardio throughout the week by going for a run on the bike trails, going for long bike rides on the rail trails and doing a lot of walking. I had to a lot of cardio while on vacation so I can keep fit and keep my muscular physique and not try to get fat. Of course, swimming in the ocean is considered cardio too, though.

What else did I do in Cape Cod? Well, ate a bunch of good food especially sea food, went to Heritage Park, went to Skull Island (which is a mini golf course, go carts and batting cages kind of park), went to Province Town (which I’m not a big fan of, btw) and I went to the Cape Cod Mall to do a little shopping for myself (picked up a few movies on BluRay and a few books).

If you want to see more of my Cape Cod adventure go to my Instagram ’cause I’ll be posting more this week:

https://www.instagram.com/kevbrockmusic/

Oh yeah and as you can see, I”m not afraid to go shirtless in front of everyone thanks to bodybuilding. I’m now being completely confident in being half naked in front of people and not afraid of it anymore like I used to be.

I also proudly wore my MAGA hat on my vacation. People don’t like it? No fucks given. Now that I’m back, I’m going to post more on the blog.

Kev