So, what have I been doing these past few weeks?
I haven't been updating my stories, and I apologize for that. If I have left you hanging, I totally understand and apologize for the frustration.
I have been dealing with 12 hour workdays, long commutes, and on top of it the threat of layoffs that take the joy out of life. It tends to darken my stories.
I started making AI music a few weeks ago. It's mostly Pinoy themed Jrock and Country ballads, withs some Irish rebel songs and sweet soul gospel planned. I have the songs created, it's the videos that take the longest.
https://www.youtube.com/@DoctorVelon
This is my page.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TewN2ZmJ7Lc
When I first began, you'll see that my original intention was just to have a little eye candy while you listen to the music. Most people just put a single image or some pulsing beats and call it a day. I began with a single Filipino lad with a beat up white guitar. He morphed into "Panday" (Which means Smith) because he creates and forges metal (Jrock Ballads).
I found a host of these amazing skate punk pages all from Philippines. They take these old songs like Lionel Richie's Endless Love or Peabo Bryson's "If ever your in my arms again" and rock the fuck out of them. I think even the orginal artists would say "Well, damn....thank you. I am flattered."
Fast driving bass and drums, precision guitars, high tenor singer that just sings his motherfucking ass off. My first videos aren't much to watch but when I got to Raspberry Beret I went all out. I gave him a storekeeper (That is played by his father) and a girlfriend. It was at that point, Doc (my alter ego) and Pulani (AKA Lil Red) was created.
One thing I like about AI music is it allows someone like me who has literally no musical ability or tools to finally make the songs I've heard in my head for years.
It also brings the artists and lyrics to a new audience that may never have listened before. I do not like covers that sound like the original. I always say you can't out Steve Perry, Steve Perry. He's the original motherfucker and one of the greatest vocalists of all time. If you are going to cover one of his songs then do it differently. Don't try to BE Steve Perry.
Granted, the current front man (also Pinoy) Arnel Pineda is amazing but he is just copying, not creating. He has one of the rarest gifts on the planet to sound LIKE someone else but at best he can make you feel like you are listening to Steve singing live.
You can't outsing Freddy Mercury, out Charisma Elvis or David Lee Roth, so don't try to do them doing their thing. If you are going to make music like them, do it with something new in a different way.
Naturally, I like Country and I wanted something between Dave Fenley and Jamey Johnson. It took a while of listening to the lyrics but I found that Jamey Johnson has grit and smoke in his voice only when he wants it. He has enough control to be smooth when he doesn't and that's not an easy thing to script.
As Doc took shape in my mind, I imagined he used to be a session musician and eventually joined a band called "HOTDOG" (Which, believe it or not was the hottest band in Philippines and defined the genre called "The Manilla Sound"). I gave him a wife and at first it was just to do one video.
I was making "The Black Parade" by Chemical Romance. It's an amazing song but I thought it was just about his father passing away and asking him if he will be ready to defend the broken and the beaten. There is one line "Sometimes I think she is watching over me" that made me wonder - who is she?
So, I gave him a mother named Lilah. A wife that Doc doted on and then I began to make country songs that played on that bittersweet loss. As an example, If you listen to Bertie Higgins Key Largo, it seems like the definition of Yacht Rock. When he sings it as he looks back on his life and asks "Didn't we almost have it all" it takes on a new meaning to me.
https://youtu.be/HG-Z-l49KJ8
I wrote to Bertie on Youtube (yes, he is still alive) and told him that if I ever get monetized (fat chance) then the money from that video would be donated to a charity of his choosing. I am not making this for money, just like I do not write to make money. I write to share and inspire. I want others to create and I always think that maybe if they see an old perverted fart like me can do it - they can do it.
I've been getting better and better with my videos. Editing fast cuts without confusing or aggravating the viewer is an art form. The holy grail is lip synching. You can pay a shit-ton of money or do it a few seconds at a time. I am still relatively infantile with it but here is my latest;
https://youtu.be/TewN2ZmJ7Lc
It's Tenacious D's "Fuck Her Gently" cover in Jrock (PH) style. This is my first explicit video. Well, not entirely true. At first, i made videos with my own likeness that were very saucy but I took those down. This one is Panday's girlfriend Pulani doing what she does. She's a bit much.
It took a lot longer than I thought to create.
conversely, this one (is the country version)
https://youtu.be/9PZhnntldQw
It's not quite as explicit in terms of video, it's just an old man that looks a fuck-ton lot like me. He's singing and having a good time.
You should too. Life is too short to work 12 hour days with 2 hour commutes, and still have nothing while getting offered jobs that paid what you made 10 years ago (but can no longer cover the cost of living).