Author: James McQuiston

Ph.D. in Political Science, Kent State University. I have been the editor at NeuFutur / neufutur.com since I was 15. Looking for new staff members all the time; email me if you are interested. Thanks!

UniversalDice sits down with NeuFutur

Today, we are speaking with UniversalDice. Can you give us a little background information about yourself? How did you get into music?

I’ve played music since I was 5 years old; in elementary school, my family was offered a choice of instruments for my musical education – accordion or guitar.  Of course, they chose that I learn the accordion.  I always joke to myself that if they had chosen guitar for me, I’d be Pete Townshend today.

Accordion did not turn out to be the answer for me but in a few years, I was in the school orchestra playing 1st violin.  I was not the best violinist in the school but I was OK.  At some point, I suffered 3 broken arms and that was it for regularly playing violin.   That was probably it for being a virtuoso string instrument player as well.  I broke my left arm one more time as an adult for good measure.

In late high school and early college years I started fooling around with an old acoustic guitar I found in my parent’s house and eventually bought a really cheap Univox guitar while in college with money I won playing pinochle.  Almost immediately it was obvious I wanted to write songs even before I knew how to play.  The rest is history, such as it is.

You have just released a rock album, birth, love, hate, death; what was the writing/creative and recording process for the album like?

The process begins with ideas; I had written some songs over the years that suggested some characters, a young man and a young woman who interacted in an interesting way.  The idea was to grow these couple of songs into a rock opera and tell a story about love; in this case from birth to death and all the love and hate in between, hence “birth, love, hate, death.”  It was going to be a tragedy because it’s more compelling and more real, in my opinion.   After writing more songs, it became apparent what gaps existed in the story; when that happens you then become motivated to fill the gaps and complete the story.  Telling a story definitely (for me) makes writing songs easier.  Having a story to tell brings focus to the writing process.

We’ve recorded all of the UniversalDice albums ourselves.  The first two CDs, bassist Sam Cimino and I shared the writing, recording and production duties with help from keyboardist Tom Beckner.  I’ve handled the production of the last two CDS myself with help from lead guiatarist Bob Barcus on many songs and on “blhd” from Vin Crisci on 4 tunes.  The first two CDs were analog, the 3rd was both analog and digital, and “birth, love, hate, death” entirely digital.  We did it all from recording, mixing and mastering.  Bob and I usually handle the artwork, with Bob handling the more technical aspects. Sam played bass on much of the first 3 CDs, and Eddie Canova has handled it since then.  On “blhd” both Vin Crisci and Walt Sargent handled the keys.  Thank goodness for digital; you can do so much more without breaking the bank.

The album art is fascinating; what significance does the hand/design hold for you?  How does birth, love, hate, death differ from your previous music? What sort of things are a hold-over from earlier recordings?

The hand imprint of the cover represents “birth.”  It’s the imprint of an infant.  It seemed to be a good way to start the experience of the rock opera, “birth, love, hate, death.”  It happens to be my daughter’s imprint.

This album is different because it’s about love, and pretty much only love.  Previous albums dealt with faith, reason, religion, social issues, war, peace, etc. with some loves songs scattered about incidentally.  This is about love.

What will always be the same in UniversalDice albums is humanism; the theme of caring about what happens to others will always be the philosophical underpinning.  This may seem typical, but it really isn’t.  These songs are NOT obeying a god, a moral code, scripture, social norms or other commonly held beliefs; they are about caring about others, what happens to others and trying to contribute somehow to a better world.  In this album, the point is that love is NOT something you merely feel; love is a pattern of behavior of helping the ones you love.

How supportive is the Long Island/NYC music scene in furthering your career (e.g. radio stations, magazine, venues)?

One local magazine, Good Times Magazine, has always been nice to us but generally it is most difficult to get something going in the local music scene with original music.  People need to know your songs before they come to see you and additionally our material is not well suited for playing the bars and clubs.  It may rock but there’s a little too much going on.  Part of what we do is provoke thought – that’s difficult in a club setting.

I’ve played clubs – CBGBs to Malibu Beach Club to Great Gilversleeves to My Father’s Place in the NY metro area.  It’s just not our optimal setting.

 What does your recording set up look like (what do you use to record, what are your favorite tools)?

I use a PC running SONAR for recording and use SoundForge to master.  I have all kinds of effects from Waves and other companies.  I use the POD and SansAmp for guitar sound and Bob uses a miked boutique amp for his sounds.  We used a SansAmp for bass with Eddie to go direct.  I know Vinny uses a Korg for his keyboards and I have other various modules for keys with Walter.  I also use a Seck mixer for routing my set up and the whole thing occupies about 30 or 40 square feet in my den.  I own only 2 electric guitars and one acoustic – I am not a collector.

Which artists are the greatest influences for you and your music? Is there a dream lineup of performers that you would like to perform with if given the chance?

The Beatles, the Who, Pink Floyd, Cream, Simon & Garfunkel and other bands from the ‘60s and ‘70s form the basis of my musical education.  I love bands like Muse, the Killers, Green Day and Radiohead from more recent times.  I would love to play with the Who, but I am not worthy.

Which sort of social media website have you had the best successes with? What about these online services are different from the traditional face to face meeting and performances that musicians utilize?

Facebook seems to be the best format for me to communicate with potential fans.  Twitter’s 140 characters would be totally inadequate.  I am not visually oriented so other photo/video based social media is not my strong point.

What should listeners expect from your music in the future? How can interested NeuFutur readers locate samples of your music?

We have a 5th album in our future – it will be about “family.”  It will rock.

Our music is everywhere it can be, iTunes, Amazon. Spotify, CDBaby and 20 or more other outlets.  Our first 3 albums may be attributed to “UniversalDice.com”, which are “My Name is Thomas…”, also a rock opera, “mostly True Stories” and “Out of Many, One.”   Our latest CD, “birth, love, hate, death” will be listed under “UniversalDice.”  You can get physical CDs via CDBaby and digital everywhere.  The best starting point is our web site; www.UniversalDice.com .

What does the rest of 2017 hold for your music and tour date wise?

Since our rock opera is best enjoyed as a rock opera, we are working with a local theater/performance art school to get it staged and take it on the road to appropriate venues as a real production.  To get that done would be a dream come true.

Thank you so much for your time. Finally, do you have any additional thoughts about life and the universe for our readers?

Our new CD begins:

I’m sure you want to know where did we all come from
You want to know what comes after this?
The secret’s in the way you live, not in kingdom come
May you live to taste your love’s sweet kiss
My sweet darling, my sweet child
The road is winding and the weather’s wild

And it ends:

Love is the warm embrace
Love is the saving grace
We need to love each other…
Now truth is a mystery and love is the clue

6 Tips to Help you Carry Out an Uncontested Divorce When You Have Children

An uncontested divorce is one where all parties have agreed to the terms and issues of the divorce, including property division, visitation, custody, alimony and child support. As such, there isn’t anything for the court to intervene upon, except if the children’s best interests are at stake. Basically, having resolved all issues, the couple is just requesting the court to review and approve the agreement and then end the marriage legally. Continue reading “6 Tips to Help you Carry Out an Uncontested Divorce When You Have Children”

Nootropics – How They Act and Their Benefits and Disadvantages

Even though nootropics have been receiving a lot of attention in recent times, they have actually been around for a long time in traditional medicine. According to studies, nootropics increase the blood flow in the brain that acts to improve the health of the brain and its function. Continue reading “Nootropics – How They Act and Their Benefits and Disadvantages”

Mistakes to Avoid While Growing Tomatoes in Planters

Growing tomatoes in planters could be pretty thrilling. It could be immensely rewarding in most cases but sometimes it could be a total flop show. Sometimes disaster could take place for reasons that may not be under your control such as Wilt or Blight or even an extremely wet or relatively colder summer. However, you must be aware of the common tomato growing mistakes and learn ways to avoid them. This would surely help you to grow tomatoes in a container without facing any major concerns or challenges. Continue reading “Mistakes to Avoid While Growing Tomatoes in Planters”

10 Tips for painting with oil pastels

Artists who are new to pastels can have a lot of questions. Things like what kind of effect will the color have on the painted surface or what kind of canvas best goes with pastel colors are important to understand and answer. You need to exactly know how the end product is going to turn out to be creative with your pastels. We artists, definitely, want to keep things loose and more importantly, fun. If you are looking to learn more about pastels, this guide on The Talent Bank gives you detailed information and tips on improving your abilities.

Let’s take a look at the basics, for starters:

  1. The surface color matters: Painting surfaces come in a variety of colors and are not necessarily white. It is important to understand that this permanent background color will have a deep effect on the resultant pastel. To create balance and harmony in the art, you should be choosing a color that will show throughout or having something contrasting to add energy to the work.
  2. Combining firm soft pastels: It is advisable to buy two sets of pastels, one with softer sticks and the other one with firm colors. Combining the two has been a time tested way to creativity.
  3. Rework depends on the surface: With pastel colors, you cannot choose to rework anytime. While sanded surfaces do give a degree of flexibility in the time of your rework, but it is important to remember that the colors will fill the grains fast.
  4. An eraser is a must: depending on the tooth of the paper surface, an eraser can be put to creative uses. In fact, eraser is the best way to come up with a clean and bright surface.
  5. Working on wet yields: Wet underpainting allows for colors and gradients to migrate and consequently offer interesting effects. Experimenting and practice helps you understand the trick.
  6. Thumbnails to experiment: Since you are rather new to pastels, thumbnails are the best way to practice and let go.
  7. Get a viewfinder: It will help you divide your canvas into quadrants and also assists you in duplicating the same. This makes the final drawing much easier.
  8. Plan before you relax: It is very important to come up with good compositions, values, designs and underpainting. Once, you have established these, you will have fun in creating your artwork.
  9. Don’t overwork: Regardless of what kind of color you are using, it is never true that the harder and longer you work, the better is your painting. Overworked designs are easily noticeable and don’t look great either.
  10. Be selective about photos: Photographs are a great way to jog your memory. They will help you remember and establish a worthy scene and the precise colors you will need to create. Further, they will also tell you about the things you will need to focus upon and you won’t have the obligation to try and remember every minute detail, howsoever, insignificant to the work.

Lastly, enjoy your work. Pastels can be great if you have been able to understand and gain control over them.

Brian Mackey “Learn To Be”

Brian Mackey’s “Learn To Be” begins with tremendous passion, with Brian providing a vocal-heavy foot forward on the onset. When the guitars and synths enter into the mix, greater nuance is shown. Mackey’s adoption of sounds and styles like 1990s alternative, Maroon 5, and Soul Asylum is given a new lease on life through contemplative instrumentation. Learn to Be is perfectly polished pop-rock, with a tremendous amount of care taken to make for a well balanced effort. The track stands up to repeat plays, while fans need to hear the secondary set of vocals that enter into the mix at the 2:45 mark to find the true beauty of Brian’s latest effort.

Brian Mackey “Learn To Be” / https://twitter.com/brianmackeynyc

John Tracy “Midnight Moon”

John Tracy’s “Midnight Moon” is a powerful track that draws upon the vocal work of John Denver and Paul Simon; the narrative that is weaved during Midnight Moon will keep listeners on the edges of their seats. The track’s instrumentation is similarly strong, with a drum / guitar dynamic that pushes each to an entirely higher plateau. A hint of bass guitar, and Midnight Moon is given a polish that ensures it hangs on radio rotation for months after its initial play. John Tracy’s Midnight Moon is hooky, catchy, and will keep itself in the forefront of listeners’ minds long after the last note resonates.

John Tracy “Midnight Moon” / 2017 Self Released / http://www.facebook.com/johntracymusic

Last of the Giants: The True Story of Guns N’ Roses

You could build a library solely dedicated to books written about Guns N’ Roses, the genre is that deep. Band members Slash, Duff McKagan and Steven Adler have all written books about their time in the infamous band. Slash’s childhood friend Marc Cantor was able to cash in on a book, even Adler’s mom was able to get a publisher for Sweet Child of Mine: How I Lost My Son to Guns N’ Roses. So, did the world need yet another book about GNR? Probably not, but I’m glad Mick Wall decided to write one. Continue reading “Last of the Giants: The True Story of Guns N’ Roses”

Slayer / Lamb of God (7/21; St. Augustine, FL)

When this year’s Slayer tour was announced I was on vacation out at sea on an eight night cruise and got the fan club email after the various presales and general ticket sales had already started (which translates to all the good seats were already taken – since I am now older, wiser, wear glasses and no longer consumer adult beverages I opt for a seat at shows instead of the general admission pit). The closest tour date was in St. Augustine, just over three hours away, but with the announcement of Lamb of God opening AND going on hiatus after this tour, as much as I wanted to go see this pure thrash metal combination I just did not see it happening. Continue reading “Slayer / Lamb of God (7/21; St. Augustine, FL)”