MadCraft Goes Wanuvarock 2013!

Juho

Okay, it was friday and we were going to play in Wanuvarock! Since it was in Varkaus, and we’d have to drive almost four hours to get there, we had to leave early. We agreed that we’d be at Otto’s place somewhere around five, since our showtime was somewhere around ten. Tom even said to me “be on time”, and I sure did.

I was there 15 minutes before Jesse arrived. We talked about some iPhone apps or games (of course) and about our spreadshirt page. We thought we should take a picture with which we could show to you guys what you could buy from there. So here it is, go and get your own and post a picture of it to instagram with #madcraft hashtag!

After a while Otto came, and the only one that was missing was Tom. And not so surprisiginly he was stuck in a traffic jam, which would delay our departure. Well, we had to figure out something to do. Obviously Otto came with an idea, and soon he started asking do we smell anything. He asked it several times until we checked out what he was actually doing... he was burning hair from his hands and legs. Even though that smells awful we encouraged him to continue with his quest.

Thank god Tom arrived soon, and we could leave. We went to get our stuff from our rehearsal place and thought we would be just in time. Sadly that’s far from the truth, since we got stuck in traffic jam again and it took something like an hour for us get out of Helsinki. But we were hopeful that we will still be early enough in Wanuvarock.

Everything went fine until we noticed that at one point we had taken a wrong turn. We had to figure out an alternative route to Varkaus, and just hold our breath and hope we would be on time. Sun was going down and we were in the car missing the golden hour. We checked all the time from the Google Maps how much time it still takes, and had to take some calls to the organizer and inform them about current the situation. They told that the place must be silent at half past ten.

In the end, we were there about the time we were originally meant to start. There were guys waiting for us and we put our stuff together on the stage in 15 minutes and had 30 minutes playing slot. We had an awesome show, the stage was great, the weather was cold enough and we were just able to end it before the place had to be silent. Well, actually one minute after that.

After the show we hanged out there for a while meeting our fans. It was awesome to see that there were people in the audience that could sing along all our songs. That’s something I couldn’t do, since I really don’t know the lyrics... After a while we were ready to leave back to Helsinki. If you want to see photos of the rest of the trip, head to our Instagram profile @madcraftofficial. I can guarantee there’s some weird stuff over there.

Top 3 Best Pop Punk Basses

Jesse

Ok, so everybody knows I'm a real gear-head and always checkin' out for new stuff. Now, I would like to talk about basses. Yes, more bass-talk.

But not just about any basses, I would like to talk about THE BEST basses for Pop-punk! Today I will list top 3-best basses that dominate the world of pop-punk!

#1 Precision bass

In my opinion this is the holy grail of pop-punk bass! You really can't get bad sound from it. Single pickup, volume and tone controls. It sounds really aggressive with pick and really cuts thru the band (in a good way!). It can also be very mellow sounding if you play it with your fingers. My personal favorite version of precision bass has maple fretboard, just to give it a little more treble and bite to the sound. Almost all of the greatest punk bass players use precision, including Matt Freeman, Joe Principe, Mark Hoppus and Ian Grushka just to name few!

Fender Precision bass... mmmm....tasty...

#2 Jazz bass

Jazz bass was first introduced as a "deluxe-version" of Precision bass. Two pickups, two volumes and a tone control gives this bass really nice array of bass sounds. The  basic sound of this bass is a little more middle-scooped and sophisticated. More low-bass and treble. This bass can sound HUGE when you play with your fingers, just listen to All Time Low! Jazz bass also has much thinner neck and more curved body to make it more comfortable for the player. I think that's why Mark Hoppus combined jazz bass neck and body with precision bass electronics… Best of both worlds! 

Classic example of a jazz bass with rosewood fingerboard.

#3 Stingray / Ibanez ATK

I put these two basses under the same number because basically they are almost the same bass. Both have active electronics and single pickup. Stingray has one humbucker style pickup with dual-coils and ATK has triple-coil pickup. I wanted to include ATK-bass in here just because one of the most iconic bass players in pop-punk scene, Grek K has been playing one in Offspring for tens of years now! These basses are really treble-heavy sounding and will cut thru the band like a knife! Equipped with active electronics these basses can sound really hi-fi and modern, but still theres something magical on these basses. These just sit really great in the mix! And they look cool also! ;)

MusicMan Stingray. I really dig this color scheme!

Ibanez ATK

This is just my 10 cents on the subject. It really doesn't matter what bass you use, as long as you play the hell out of it! There are so many options and brands today that it might be overwhelming sometimes so I created a little list to (hopefully) help somebody out in here :) 

Playlist: Best Blink-182 Songs

Alright! Time for another playlist. You guys ready?

We're continuing with the Best-Songs-formula. This time it's all about the Best Blink-182 Songs.



Subscribe to the playlist here.

Juho

1. Wendy Clear
Totally awesome intro and verse in all their simplicity. Intro is just one riff which sounds dull when played alone, but with bass the combination is just awesome. This approach would have also worked on the other parts of the song, sadly guitar doesn’t stay on only one chord during the verses.

2. What's My Age Again
Intro/verse riff could be considered as a tutorial of how to make a Blink-182 song. Or at least that’s what they told me in YouTube before I made my own.

3. Happy Holidays, You Bastard
Compared to all those new 4 minute long Blink-182 songs, this feels fresh since it’s so short. It was also one of the nicest drum covers to shoot.

Jesse

4. The Rock Show
I think this is the right way to do pop-punk song! Just listen to this?! C'mon, you just can't beat it! I just love how the bass sounds on this one, gnarly!

5. Don't Leave Me
Full of energy, good melody and great lyrics! What else do you need? I also love how the bass drum plays 8th notes on the verses!

6. I Miss You
I remember listening to this when I was younger. I bet I had it on some mixtape and I didn't even know what band it was, But it was awesome! I always have had a little soft-spot for lovesongs...

Otto

7. Anthem
For me it's obvious that Enema of the State is the number uno of Blink-albums. It has the right mix of punk and catchiness and it's still played with amazing skill. As the last song of the album, Anthem is also one of the most versatile tracks of Enema. It's got almost the best fast parts of any Blink song. A catchy chorus with nice twin vocals by Tom and Mark. The main vocals by Tom represent the best output Delonge has ever offered. Served with nice teenage punk lyrics the dish is perfect!

8. Enthused
Dude Ranch is a punk album, even the mainstream haters have to admit that. But it sure is Blink even without Travis. Enthused has a perfect fast punk vibe, just listen to the intro and fall in love. Especially the guitar parts are heavenly good right from the start. Actually I think Delonge couldn't play them nowadays with his cello-looking emo guitar. ;)

9. Heart's All Gone
Take Off Your Pants and Jackets -album is a classic, sorry for not picking a song out of it. I tried to tackle the obvious by including a track off from Neighborhoods. I think Heart's All Gone, out of all the tracks on the album, becomes the most close to older Blink-songs. From the moment I saw Barker play this song on the music video, I knew that he hasn't rusted at all. He just keeps on getting even more brilliant and stays ahead of my skill.

Tom

10. Not Now
This is my favorite song from the self titled album. And it's so weird that it's a bonus song since it's one of the best Blink-182 songs ever. It's a good example of the style I wish they would've taken more on the recent albums.

11. Please Take Me Home
My definite favorite of Take Off Your Pants And Jacket. I love the beat in the verse. It's different and so groovy. No one besides Travis Barker can come up with something like that. The song is the perfect Pants and Jacket era Blink song.

12. Dumpweed
The opening song of one of the best pop punk albums ever. The drum beat in the verse is again great and the chorus is an awesome fast but catchy chorus.

New drum cover: Blink-182 - Go

Hi folks! Here's a new drum cover from the same old Blink-182. The track is entitled "Go"!

Otto

I've been listening to Blink's self-titled album pretty much lately. Me being a fan of older Blink, some of the songs on the album lean towards a bit too experimental domain, but it has some really cool drum parts. Having said that I have to admit that Travis experiments a lot on those songs too, but for a drummer that’s only inspiring. He’s got a nice loop style going on. So let’s conclude that the self-titled is an inspiring album from a drummer’s point of view.

Now I guess we’ll have to do more drum covers from that album in the future. “Go” was an easy track I learned quickly to fill in the extra time we had during recording the drum cover for MadCraft’s own track “Happy Song”, which I hope you’ll check out immediately!

“Go” has a very relaxed groove with the straightforward quarter note bass drum pumping. It enables you to concentrate on the arms better. My favourite part on the song is definitely the little bridge on 0:59. The ride pattern is a simple but very cool paradiddle, where you play the left hand accent on the backbeat snare. It’s a great example of Barker using subtle rudiments on beats.

The toughest part was the snare roll after the aforementioned bridge. The end of the roll is really supposed to be played with alternating hands with left hand leading the accenting, instead of the flam type thing I’m doing on it. I’m not sure if it’s easier that way though.

Timo Tolkki puhuu asiaa

Tom

Otto linkkas tänään KaaosTV:n tekemän Timo Tolkki -haastiksen kesäkuulta. Katoin sen läpi huvikseni vaikka en niin iso Tolkki- tai Strato-fani ookaan kuin esim. Juho tai Otto. Ja olipa miehestä mitä mieltä tahansa, puhui kaveri ihan asiaa pariin otteeseenkin.

Pääasiassa haastiksessa puhutaan Tolkin uudesta metallioopperaprojektista, jonka kolmesta ilmestyvästä osasta ensimmäinen on ilmeisesti juuri julkaistu. Tai siis viimeinen osa. Se, että tarinan viimeinen osa julkaistaan ensimmäisenä on sellaista, mitä voi odottaa, kun kuuntelee Tolkin hämärämpiä tekeleitä.

Kiinnostavaa on se, miten Tolkki päätyi ylipäätään tekemään kolmiosaista metallioopperaa. Muistan, kun Tolkilla oli jotain hyvin leutoja videoita PledgeMusicissa omaa soololevyä varten. Haastattelusta selviää, että kampanja kiinnitti Italialaisen Frontiers Recordsin huomion, josta otettiin yhteyttä ja pyydettiin miestä tekemään kolmiosainen metalliooppera.

Joukkorahoituksesta puhutaan paljon ainakin pelien tapauksessa. Ja oon huomannut silloin tällöin muutaman isomman ja pienemmänkin bändin yrittäneen saada joukkorahoitusta levylleen. Lähes poikkeuksetta bändit ovat jääneet tavoitteestaan, jotka on kyllä olleet monessa tapauksessa aikalailla yläkanttiin. Tolkin tapauksessa kuitenkin homma poiki vähän eri tavalla. Ja vaikka tukijat eivät saaneetkaan Tolkin PledgeMusicissa lupaamaa levyä, saivat he rahansa takaisin ja kolme täysin uutta levyä. Joukkorahoituskampanja ikään kuin osoitti, että Tolkin musiikkille löytyy vielä yleisöä, jonka pohjalta levy-yhtiö uskalsi sijoittaa Tolkin projektiin.

Toinen mielenkiintoinen kohta haastiksessa oli, kun Tolkki kertoo mielipiteensä musiikin - ilmeisesti niin laillisesta kuin laittomastakin - lataamisesta. Hän sanoo, ettei musiikin lataaminen mielestään vahingoita levymyyntiä. Ja päinvastoin sellainen "noitajahti", jossa metsästetään lapsilta läppäreitä yhden levyn lataamisen seurauksena, tuottaa vain vastareaktion musiikin ostamista vastaan. Oon täysin samaa mieltä tässä asiassa.

Niinkuin Tolkkikin sanoo, on kaikkien mukauduttava muuttuvaan maailmaan. Ja onhan se niin, että jos musa on tarpeeksi hyvää, tulee kaikki muu perässä.

RoadWorn - Ibanez TS808

Juho

This time we’ll check out the TS808, which is Otto's favorite pedal alongside with Boss NS2. When compared to Ravelle it is as good as new, but even though I have used it on my rig all the time, there are only few scratches on the corners and random mess on the top. Explanation to this could be that I press it on during the soundcheck and leave it that way to the end of the show.

I use TS808 as a booster in front of my amp, and as I said, it's on all the time. I feel that it’s totally useless to start changing any sounds during a gig, since there can only be one best sound. Only sound changes are done with pickup switch, which is set to neck position when notes go over the 12th fret and otherwise bridge pickup is used all the time. This is exactly the same as what Yngwie does, so it has to be the best solution. Additionally, when there’s no need to step on the pedal board, it can be kept next to the amp and away from the feet.

Duck Tales: Remastered

Tom

If you know anything about me, you know I'm a fan of retro gaming. I mean look at our latest music video, it has Mario and Mortal Kombat in it. So you can picture me looking just like the dude on the left here when I heard Capcom was re-releasing the NES game Duck Tales.

But it wasn't just a re-release, it was a total remake - graphics-wise at least. An HD remastered version. I'm not exactly sure how to feel about that. I love how the new Rayman games look like for example but I still love pixel art on retro games. I kinda hoped they would've redone the graphics with more respect to the game's 8-bit roots. But still the game looks great even if it's not all pixel art.

I didn't get to play the original that much. I know I played it once or twice but never beat it on NES. So playing Duck Tales: Remastered was pretty much a new experience for me.

The first thing I noticed after getting into Duck Tales: Remastered was just how steep the learning curve of the game is. They do show you the core mechanics of the game in the opening level and you can beat it pretty easily. But after that... It gets hard as hell pretty soon. It's not hard because the game is unfair or because it's broken. It's hard because you just suck at it. At first that is.

The game was originally made by the people behind the original Megaman games and that definitely shows in the level design. The game let's you choose between five different locations but don't be fooled into choosing the first one on the list first. I ended up playing the stages in pretty much reversed order after getting sick of trying to get through the first two levels.

Once you master the controls and the mechanics of the game, it's pretty straight forward. I like how the controls are really tight unlike on some more recent platformers. The game can be pretty punishing like a retro game ought to be. You start with three hearts as health and when they're gone, you're gonna have to start the level all over again. No checkpoints. I was glad to find out they do give you an extra heart on every stage. Well, almost every stage. I couldn't find one in the Amazon stage - the one first on the list. And that just proves my point about not playing the stages in the given order.

The gameplay is one thing to like about this game but the other is definitely the soundtrack. The music on every stage is simply amazing. The perfect mixture of retro 8-bit tunes and modern sounds. Music must be the one thing motivating for a replay since you can unlock the songs as extra content once you'll get enough money in your bank.

I played through Duck Tales in just two sessions. That's pretty quick for a $15 game. It is a remake so they couldn't just add more levels, I get that. But they could make it like $10 cheaper.

Still, if you're a fan of retro platformers - or just platformers in general - Duck Tales: Remastered is probably worth your money. And hey, maybe we can show Capcom it would be profitable to bring us a remastered Megaman game or two!

Friday Playlist: Best Pop Punk Songs pt.1

If you've been listening to us on Spotify, you've maybe seen that white little tick next to our name on our Spotify page. That means we got an official Spotify profile for MadCraft some time ago. You can follow us and find out whenever something new is happening. We can also create playlists you can subscribe to.

So we got an idea! We're gonna create an awesome playlist for you guys every week and write something about why we decided to go with those songs.

For the first playlist we decided to go big and wide. Best Pop Punk Songs is the name of the game. I don't think you can fit best songs of any genre into just 12 songs so we'll probably have a pt.2, pt.3 and pt.100 later. But let's give it a shot. Here goes!

Subscribe to the playlist here.


Tom

1. Forever The Sickest Kids - Take It Slow
This was the first song I heard from FTSK and they quickly became one of my all time favorite bands. It's an awesome song on an awesome release and has one of the best hooks ever.

2. A Day To Remember - All Signs Point To Lauderdale
One of my favorite songs from A Day To Remember that fits nicely under the Pop Punk genre. The song has great vocal harmonies throughout and the break down in the middle still gives me shivers every time.

3. Hit The Lights - Drop The Girl
I could pick any song from this album here. That's just how awesome it is. Just like FTSK, Hit The Lights is one of those bands that have amazing melodies on their vocals. And the hook in the chorus is just perfect.

Juho

4. Last Day Before Holiday - Explosion (feat. Fabry from Melody Fall)
Just listen to that chorus, vocal hooks just can't better than that. This song is also a proof of what happens when you use featuring vocalists - at the same time it's the best song of Last Day Before Holiday and Fabry / Melody Fall, which is kinda sad.

5. New Found Glory - Hit or miss
This was my first touch to New Found Glory, and introduced a way how breakdowns can be used in easier music. In the end this is not their best song, but at least it’s the one that made me watch every American Pie (except the last one which really sucks) and Orange Is The New Black (which is almost like American Pie because of Jason Biggs).

6. All Time Low - Lost in stereo
I think Nothing Personal somehow defines the whole pop punk genre, and it is really impossible to go better than that. I chose this one out of the first four tracks, because it’s the most straightforward, and its chorus has also gotten its place in my vocal soundcheck.

Jesse

7. All Time Low - Dear Maria, Count Me In
This one is the perfect Pop Punk song that stays in your head for weeks. This is the song that introduced me to the rest of All Time Low.

8. Fall Out Boy - A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Litte More "Touch Me"
For me it's next to impossible to pick a best song from Fall Out Boy. But if I have to pick one this song has always been the real deal for me.

9. Four Year Strong - Tonight We Feel Alive (On A Saturday)
I'm not sure how much of a POP Punk song this one is but definitely one of my favorites. Enemy Of The World is an album that raises my spirits every time!

Otto

10. All Time Low - Weightless
The song that opens the album that introduced me to one of the best bands ever.

11. New Found Glory - Better Off Dead
If there's a list for best Pop Punk songs, there just has to be a song from NFG's self titled. And this song is a fast one so it'll do just fine.

12. Blink-182 - Shut Up
No Pop Punk list without a Blink song either. This one has the best drums out of any Blink-182 song.


That's it. If you guys have ideas of genres or bands we should make playlists of, hit us up with a suggestion. What's your favorite Pop Punk song?

Pics from Virgin Oil Co. opening for Bam Margera

So I finally got around going through the photos from Virgin Oil last week.

We played a show opening for Bam Margera is Fuckface Unstoppable. And I have to say that's what it really was. Fuckfaced and unstoppable. But even if half of the front row was naked and drunk as hell the rest of the band was really solid and on top of their game. So just the right mixture of crazy-assed unpredictability and tight rock grooves. This one is a rock show worth checking out!

Our show? Yeah, it went pretty well as well. One or two hiccups here and there. I managed to break a string on stage just before we were supposed to start playing. So I had to change to my Ibanez S-Classic and play with that one. No biggie. It's a real good guitar and I love playing with it. I actually recorded guitars on a song with it just now since my Jem is out for maintenance.

But all in all it was awesome. I mean what can you expect? The stage was bigger than the average stage we play on. The house was full and it's always fun as hell to play a show like that. We had some critics in the audience but towards the end even they started to bend. And everybody else seemed to have a good time the whole way through.

Hope you guys enjoyed the show as much as we did. And I definitely hope we get to play a lot more shows like that one!

Thanks goes out to Minja Smura for the awesome photos!

RoadWorn - Fernandes Ravelle Elite

I just read the custom-sounds blog, and especially the post about Von Herzen Brothers. Of course it’s nice to see what those guys are using on the stage, but demonstration of the buckle rash on the guitar made me smile. On the video they say it shows that this guitar is used for rocking. Well, after that I looked at my Fernandes Ravelle Elite, which I bought as used three years ago. Seller said he was sorry about the small crack on the neck, but well, today the whole guitar looks a bit different.

On the top there are only few cracks, but on the sides and back there’s a lot more damage to be proud of. I don’t know why the top is so hard to be worned, guess I just have to try harder.

As you can see, Ravelle has suffered a bit during these years, but still, and because of that, it is a my favorite guitar. Later we have to check out how other gear have survived roadworn, I’m sure there will be some marks of intentional accidents, except on the gear of Otto and Jesse, which I believe are still in mint condition.