A lot of times, a lot of people wonder why I’m so outspoken, controversial and brutal. The answer is quite simple really. I’m just a guy who is not afraid to speak my mind. Whatever’s on my mind, it’s gonna get said. There are way too many people who are afraid to speak their mind. Mainly because they’re too nice and afraid of offending others. I’ve always learned that it’s okay to speak your mind about anything you please. Whatever’s on your mind, just get it out of you. Don’t hold it in you or you’ll go crazy. The more you express your thoughts and your honest feelings, the more human and the more real you’ll be.

Speak your mind even if it’ll hurt and offend some. Yes, speaking my mind has costed me getting kicked off of message boards in the past and today has costed me to lose some facebook/twitter followers. Speaking my mind has hurt some people admittedly but that’s okay. You’re not here to please everyone, you know what I mean? You’re not here to make everybody happy so just be real and be yourself.

Which is why I post on an internet blog and it’s why I do youtube videos to speak on ’cause these things are my complete freedom to speak about anything I want to. There’s nothing wrong with speaking your mind. Like I said, it makes you real and makes you more human. It lets people know that you have feelings too. Everybody lives in a delusional world that everything has got to be “positive” and “friendly” most of the time when you know it’s not going to be.

I’m the kind of guy who is not afraid to be honest no matter the consequences. Be real even if it gets you in trouble. I’ve had that attitude for years now and still do. Which is why some people call me a negative person or an “internet troll” which I’m used to being called that but I consider it a compliment. It seems like anytime somebody wants to be brutally honest on the internet, they are always called a “troll”. It’s unfair really but it is what it is. As you can see, I was never afraid of the truth and this is what this blog is all about. Being real as possible on almost every topic. I tell the truth as much as I possibly can and not afraid of it at all. You shouldn’t be afraid of the truth either and it’s really sad that a lot of people are.

Kev

There’s a lot of guitarists out there that neglect “ear training” and “improvising”. When they learn songs, they would rather look at guitar tab or learn from other people. When they write songs on the guitar instead of applying what they hear on their head, they would just noodle around until they find something that sounds good. I used to play guitar like that. As I got older, though, I finally realized that “ear training” and “perfect pitch” is pretty important. I wanted to improve myself on that. Learn how to have a good ear in music which is what I’m working very hard on.

The only way to master the art of improvising is not reading through instructional books. The only way around it is memorizing the sound of the notes inside your head. That’s pretty much it really. It can take hours & hours. Days & days. Months & months to memorize each note in your head. The more you work at it, the better your ear improves. I realized that you’re a true musician when you’re a good improviser. You know what each note sounds like in your head. You can play everything you hear on the guitar. When you jam with a band, you can come in without other people telling you what to play without struggling. That’s the kind of guitarist I aim to be.

I’m still not the best at improvising yet but my ear has improved greatly. I just want to become a real musician. I want to be good at both rhythm guitar and lead guitar. My rhythm guitar work has improved greatly. I can play along with a metronome and a drummer quite well now. It’s just that my lead guitar playing still needs work. I’m working on it, though. I want to be able to jam on guitar solo’s and be able to stay in key. Just to jam and rock out. I want to be able to jam with other musicians & bands.

I’m not an improvising wizard yet but I’m getting there, though. One day, though, I will become an improvising wizard like Jimmy Page, Hendrix, T. Anastasio, J. Garcia, etc. Yep, you guess it… I want to be the “jam rock” kind of guitar player. I’m so focused on guitar playing. “Improvising” is important ’cause you’ll be able to come up with better songs, better riffs and most importantly better guitar solo’s too.

I fucking LOOOOVEEEEEEE lead guitar. It’s the whole reason I picked up the guitar to begin with ’cause I want to play lead guitar like the greats: Hendrix, Page, Anastasio, Satriani, etc.

A lot of people don’t enjoy long guitar jams but I love ’em. It’s why I listen to bands like Led Zep, the Allman Bros., Hendrix, Phish, Grateful Dead, etc. That’s the type of music I want to play when I get a band of my own going.

Kev

For many years of the internet, I’ve always had people try to dictate everything I say online. They’ve always tried to tell me what I can and can’t say online. People has been going at it for years and people still do. Ya know, getting offended or mad at everything I say. It’s been going on for a little over a decade. It goes back to when I used to post on local music message boards back in the day… I think some of you remember that, hey? Even the music scene tried to dictate the things I say online. Those guys treated me horribly… oh man, I’ll never forget it.

I learned over the years that you should never allow people to control you. I’ve always learned that there is nothing wrong with being yourself and knowing from my own experience people will try to change you if they don’t like who you are. The trick is, “don’t”. Don’t allow people to think it’s okay to change you. I wished I never listened to people and I still don’t. Whenever people try to change the way I speak or think, I just ignore ’em and continue to be me. That’s the way to be, ya know?

I’m not here to please every person on this planet even though I try. I don’t have to be like everyone else and I’m not going to be. I don’t have to have the same opinions and views as everyone else whether it’ll be topics on politics, music or whatever. No matter if you try to do good things for people, someone will always be around the corner to get mad at something. That’s why you gotta stop pleasing everybody and just be yourself, ya know?

I don’t give a rats ass if people don’t like who I am and I do know I have a lot of haters & bullies out there still but that’s okay. They’re just troublemakers with nothing else better to do.

I’m just who I am. What you see is what you get. I won’t change for anyone and neither should you. Being strong and tough is the way to be. Just be real and stick to your guns. You may get a lot of haters but the more you stay above ’em, the more people will respect you for it. Trust me. You’ll get even more support and love from people the more they see you can be strong & tough. Not letting the haters & negative people get to you. I still get negative people all over me even to this day. I just ignore ’em. Let the negativity slide and just go about my day.

Never let people tell you how to be how they want you to be if you know what I mean. Be yourself… no matter what anyone says or thinks. They can get pissed all they want to. I’m still gonna be me and that’s the end of it. I don’t give a rats ass if people don’t like me or not. Don’t get me wrong, though… I love getting fans & supporters too but if I get haters, that’s fine too. I’m good either way.

Kev

This meme is so true and I agree with it. I know ’cause I’ve experienced this a lot myself over the years of my life. You know that you thought a large group of people support you and you thought you had their love & support? Well, when drama & shit goes down all of a sudden… that’s when people start taking sides. They’re either on your side or not. When they decide not to side with you, they’ll never side with you. They’ll always side with their team always no matter what you do or say. This is how “cliques” are formed. Friends will always side with their friends. That’s how it’s always been and it’s quite sad really.

Throughout the years of your life, you’ll always get stabbed in the back by people who you thought was your friend or a supporter. It happens. I deal with that shit all the time. Whenever drama happens around me, sides are always taken. Always. People will always side with their loved ones and not you.

You’ll know who your true friends & supporters are when they stay by your side through everything… even through all the negative bullshit. You’ll know that people are fake when they turn their backs on you. This is what this meme is trying to say.

When things like this happens, don’t feel bad. It just lets you know who your real friends are and you are also helping to expose all the douchebags & assholes that are out there when negative bullshit happens in your life. Trust me, though, I’ve had many people stab me in the back who I thought was a friend but I don’t care, though. It just lets me know that they were a douchebag & asshole all along. They never really cared for me. When some people stay by your side and stick with you, they’re letting you know that they really care for you.

Even though I’ve dealt with a lot of negative bullshit throughout my life, I have many kind people who supported me through everything and I thank them for that. You should thank your supporters too ’cause they stayed by your side.

Kev

Back when I was young, there was no internet around. There was no such thing as social networking online back in the old days when I was a young teenager. To get validation and to socialize, we had to do that at school either that or go outside to make friends. That’s how it was in the old days but when these smart phones and Iphones started coming out, that’s when peoples lives started to change. These days people are getting their validation in social networking like FB, twitter, instagram, snapchat, etc. Where ever they do that stuff from. These days people have to bring their phones every where they go. It seems like their life is on social networking 24/7… they can’t stay away from it.

It’s a good thing that I don’t own a smart phone or a cell phone. I’m not really good with that stuff anyways and I would want to have my privacy everywhere I go. Sometimes I would bring my Ipod Touch to public places that has Free Wi-Fi but that’s about it, though. I don’t do Smart Phones or Iphones (not sure if the two are the same thing) and I don’t do text messaging either. Everybody’s doing Apple “text messaging” and I’m probably one of the very few who doesn’t do text messaging at all.

If someone wants to get a hold of me then I’m just an e-mail away or get a hold of me in FB if you’re on there. Everybody wants me to jump on the “text messaging” bandwagon but I won’t do it. I think being on social networking everywhere you go is kind of lame. I just want my privacy and to enjoy life.

The companies that make these gadgets wants you distracted from life on purpose ’cause that’s how they make their money, I guess. That’s what they keep you addicted for.

Kev

Enjoy!

Kev

I usually don’t use the internet to post a lot of selfies. I’m not a “selfie whore” like a lot of people are these days so here is one by me.

Is image in music important? In a way, it kind of is. Especially for a live performing musician. If you want to play live on stage or release promotional material… you gotta be looking good and recognizable. Well, here’s my look. My new makeover. I think I’m gonna keep this look as this look is already getting a lot of feedback.

Who does that photo remind you of? Buddy Holly? Elvis Costello? Rivers Cuomo? Michael Stipe? They all wear those similar glasses with the black frames.

That’s the kind of look that I was after so enjoy. I want to do a photoshoot for my music this year and this is how I wanna look for it.

Kev

I’m not an expert at producing my own music. Mixing and mastering and all that stuff but I definitely would like to learn. I’d like to improve on that stuff but is a perfectly good sounding mp3 or a Demo need to be perfect? Not really. I just want a decent enough sound that sounds pretty clean, ya know? When I’m talking “clean” sounding… I’m talking no background noises like hissing, buzzing and other background noises. I never wanted any of that stuff. That’s why I had to get myself a whole new recording rig. I finally figured out how to make my music sound like they aren’t “clipping” by staying out of the red most of the time so that’s taken care of. I’ve been doing a lot of research on “mixing” and “mastering” ’cause I want to teach myself how to do that stuff.

All mixing is it’s pretty much if you have more than one tracks recorded, you gotta use the mixer so one track doesn’t sound louder than the other. You can also add in other sounds like compression, equalizer, reverb and all that stuff. “Mastering” is putting on the final touches which doesn’t seem that hard. I could probably figure out how to do both just fine.

When I start recording again on my new rig, I’m gonna try to make my next batch of songs as best sounding as I possibly can. They’re probably not gonna turn out all the way perfect but they’ll be good enough for the listener. I read somewhere that “mixing” is important but “mastering” not really. I’m not a professional musician. I’m admittedly a hobbyist who just enjoys making music for the fun alone. I just like to make original songs and perform covers for friends, family and fans. I also like to make music for myself pretty much. I read that “mastering” is only used for professional bands & musicians like if you’re going to sell your music professionally which I’m not gonna do so “mastering” probably isn’t important anyways.

So when I start recording music again on my new home recording rig, I think you’re going to hear a big improvement in sound for sure. I just haven’t started recording on my new rig yet ’cause I haven’t came up with new song ideas yet but I will.

I just want to make music for the internet, ya know? I want people to download my songs so they can listen to them on their Ipods, Mp3 players and listen to my songs in their cars or where ever… that’s why I’m dying to make the internet album to happen so people can listen to my music at home or on the go. It ain’t like I’m gonna be a full time musician or anything like that. I just make music for fun and that’s all. I don’t really want a real career in music. I don’t live under the delusion of becoming a rock star like so many musicians live under these days. I’m just happy where I am right now.

Kev

I never understood why a lot of people get off on trying to make me look bad on the internet but it is what is. I can’t do anything to stop trolls and cyberbullies. They’re all dead to me really. I just try my best not to give ’em any attention. I’m always getting people dropping me negative and hateful comments about me all the time. I’m always getting people creating fake anonymous pages attacking me all the time. I just don’t give a fuck about any of it.

Usually when I look at this when people do nothing but treat me negatively, they are usually people who aren’t happy in life. I’m almost right most of the time about that. I don’t know what it is. Maybe these people have personal problems in their lives, not happy or they just have nothing better to do but to talk shit about people online?

Yeah, I’m always gonna get trolls and cyberbullies. I’ve always had and still do to this day. Can you all understand why I’m so strict at moderating everywhere I go online? My blogs, youtube, twitter/facebook, etc. I just don’t allow trolls and negative people in my life, ya know? I have a choice. I know they don’t like me censoring but that’s tough. That’s why they give you these “moderation” features to begin with so you can have complete control of what you do online. You can say hateful things about me everywhere else but you can’t do that on my watch. No freakin’ way.

Sometimes I’ll admit that it’s kind of hard being popular on the internet ’cause you have to watch what you say all the time, haha. I don’t care, though. I’m always gonna get a bunch of assholes that do nothing but treat me negatively. That’s fine with me. They can think and say what they want about me. I’m gonna stay above the haters and not let ’em bring me down. I’m a strong and tough dude. I’m just gonna continue to be who I want to be and not care if anyone else doesn’t like it. Just give them all the middle finger and continue to live life the way you want to and continue to be happy.

Never listen to negative people and just be yourself. Don’t change for anybody. Continue to do that and the more people you’ll piss off. They hate it when you stay above them. That’s why they continue to do what they do. They want to see you get upset and get hurt. It’s never gonna happen with me. I’m just gonna continue to be me and that’s the end of it. Getting haters, trolls & cyberbullies just continues to make me more stronger and makes me want to feel more confident about speaking louder. The more they get pissed off, the more I’ll piss ’em off. That’s how it goes. I don’t mind getting haters & trolls ’cause I see it all as a big compliment for the most part.

Kev

I’ll be hitting the big 40 later at the end of this year. Even though I’m hitting 40 soon and getting older… still though, a lot of people don’t see that I’m 40. I don’t look 40 and people think I look like I’m 20 years old. Getting older but still looking young. Not sure why that is. A lot of people don’t treat me like I’m 40 but many treat me like as if I’m still a kid. That’s okay, though.

Also, as I get older, many people have been giving me nice compliments about my looks lately. I was never one of those who brag about how good I look like most people do these days ’cause I never thought I was good looking, handsome or attractive but more women and even some guys have been complimenting me about my looks lately which feels really good. The more people say things like that, the more it makes me want to be around people more and feel more confident with myself. I don’t post a lot of selfies on facebook/instagram and all that stuff but when I do, that’s when all the nice compliments will start coming in. I never thought I was good looking or handsome but if others want to think so, that’s fine. I’m not saying I’m god’s gift to women or anything but it does help me realize that I should have no problem getting women in my life, though.

You just gotta stay positive about yourself. Not listen to negative people badly judging you all the time and a lot of people has badly judged me. You can’t listen to negative people. Just continue to live life the way you want to and continue to be happy. Keep on keepin’ on. You know what they all say? The older you get, the happier you get which is true.

Kev