Rokken Practice…

Yesterday night I had much frustration to vent:

1) Alleged back taxes the state of Oregon department of Revenue believes that I owe it for the 3 months I worked in California before moving to Portland in 2002.
2) Portland fire department charging me for a fire inspection that they performed in, what is now, my practice space more than a year before my occupancy.
3) Measuring and sorting 3 gigs of data that I collected over the past three years so that my boss can analyze it after my departure.
4) Several pieces of equipment in the lab that have failed for various reasons (mostly spontaneous in nature) within the past month.
5) Steady influx of medical bills for tests that I had a few months ago. Most of the bills don’t even include an explanation/justification of the charges. And, after all those tests, I’m not one iota better off than I had been before them.

It’s a good thing I have loud things to pound on on a regular basis. Sometimes I think, that without them, I’d resort to pounding on people.

My pent up frustration fueled a series furious syncopated beats the likes of which few other bands, especially one band in particular that practices on the other side of the wall, can even come close to emulating. My band, Clap Amp, generates 100% raw, and primarily improvisational, noise for which we make no apologies. We’re crass, we’re base and we pride ourselves on mocking musical convention (…what an original claim that is). Several times last night, the entire studio floor, the walls on which, ordinarily contoring under the strain of heavy vibration generated by three or four separate bands in simultaneous practice, fell silent to Clap Amp’s grooves. Don’t get me wrong. I make no claim that Clap Amp is the best band on the block in the traditional sense. However, whatever we may lack in ability, we more than make up for in enthusiasm.

Update!!! Check our TRMW‘s recent post about Clap Amp.