The Flanger - Clips from some of the songs

[Saku M]

The Flanger is a band from Finland and it's comprised of a guitarist, a bass player, a drummer and a keyboardist.Everybody in the band is about 16 years old except I'm 14.

Me and my brother, the guitarist of the band, built a "homestudio" and we have recorded some instrumental stuff there and we have posted some clips on our website (www.theflanger.cjb.net) wich is unluckily in Finnish so browsing the site can be a bit tricky :) but if you go to the "biisit" part ( "songs" ) then there ya have it!

We are preparing the English version of the site and we are going to post more clips at the site in the near future so make sure to check back often :D

The clips are quite short but if you can tell anything about them it whould be great to get some feedback, negative or positive!

[Deceit]

Well I can understand what's on that site quite well (by guessing! :D)...the clips are nice, you may need some more mixing but that's just a matter of time spent on those demos...you're not recording an album with them so nevermind.

I remember that when I was your age (about four-five years ago) I didn't even know who Dream Theater were, I listened to Queen and Led Zeppelin all the time...not very stimulating for keyboard sounds, maybe for rock piano playing but definitely NOT for leads and similar...

Anyway you've got a pretty nice gear, particularly for your age :) and you've a lot of time to make progress and learn those tricky parts (i.e. Universal Mind).
IMHO speed can be reached with training and effort, I admit there are natural gifts but I don't think music is based ONLY AND ABSOLUTELY on speed or technical skills. Music is something way beyond technique; actually, I wonder more about twisted song structures, never-before-heard sounds, experimental gear combinations and absurd progressions, but also kickass riffs and choruses than key-blasting solos...
I just started listening to some electronic rock productions and sounds, and I'm really getting influenced by the incredible quality and sound exploration - in specific, I'm talking about Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor is CRAZY and his sounds are AWESOME!

Keep rocking, you're on the way to be great...
Deceit.

[Saku M]

Thank you very much for the comments!

First of all; All the tracks have been recorded through my mixer and from there to our PC, so the sounds haven't actually been mixed at all except the volume but I seriously agree that the tracks would need some mixing! :)

Yeah! I'm VERY proud of my gear and expecially mu Kurzweil! My dad is real musicman so he is very supportive! :D

Of course music isn't just tecnique and fancy things! I listen to many, what I think are great bands like: Toto, Van Halen, Queen etc. and they are all great players and musicians and they make the music sound really great without any supermega solos and stuff like that, but considering the genre, Instrumental rock/metal, imho fast soloing and odd time signatures belong to them! As a keyboardist I'm not very experienced and haven't played for many years now, but I practise as much as I can!

And same goes for you! Keep Rocking! :cool:

[shakshooka]

well man, gotta tell ya,
i didn't have 3/4 of the skills u demonstrat in these clips when i was 14 years old... in my opinion, if u keep up in the hard training and not give up, u can go far....

and as it was already said, it's beyond beiong fast and having the best gear.... open urself to differnet music types, even if u don't like it now... i gotta tell u, although i'm a rock player heart and sole, and very much influenced by it, u can find in my house very very much jazz. thigs like Chick corea and Herbie Hancock, Pat metheney... tones of them.... u got it dude, but don't let urself go...
i would like 2 hear more of ur stuff..
good luck with the band...

[Saku M]

Thanks for your kind words! :)

As I said in the previous message, I try to use all my time in practising and exploring music involved things.

And you're absolutely right! Even the hardest metal players should listen to some country sometimes! :D And I DO listen to very different bands from Dream Theater, Symphony X, Space Odyssey etc. like Allan Holdsworth, Chicago, Eric Johnson, Jamie Cullum and other great bands or artists like that! And I'd like to take as much influense as I can from every genre! Exept NOT from rap! I can't stand it! No offence to rap listeners! ;)

We have almost finished recording your new instrumental and we will be launching our english website in the near days!

And again, thanks a lot! :)

[shakshooka]

i gotta agree with on the rap...
it pisses me off 2....

[Saku M]

Our bands English site is now posted and functional! Some parts are still missing, but that doesen't really bother the browsing! :)

We've got a couple of gigs coming soon, so there should be posted some live material and our 4th instrumental is almost ready, just the guitar- and keyboard solos are yet to be recorded!