Bass player's aren't supposed to talk this much...

Hi again...taking a break from reading about MIDI and other cool sound and recording stuff (not really i'm kind of lost). Some of the stuff is really amazing though, the technology we have now...being able to produce a song without ever plugging in a guitar! Enough about studying haha...so today Levi and I were late getting back to class after our 15 minute break...it was pretty funny seeing Levi attempt to apologize while drinking his green tea with honey haha. And of course you have me...'dude, relax, it's our second class, he doesn't actually care,' yet he's the one on top of all the homework. But i better go...life of a student, studying stuff i don't understand...Peace out

Thoughts from the Drummer...

Hello! Hallo! Alô! Saluto! Det! Powitanie! привет! Hallå!

Language is an interesting thing. We all speak different languages but yet mean to say the same thing. Sometimes I view music in the same way. We have different styles, genres, tempo's, instruments, progressions, etc. But we all work towards telling a story with our music. There is some sort of meaning or statement to our crescendo's and allegro's much like the statements and questions used in our own language.

Some of you might hear music and just hear... well... music. But beneath every word, every note, there is an underlying message. Classical music is one of the greatest examples of these. We hear the music but sometimes don't catch the message portrayed by the notes and the tempo. Composers of the classical era relied on this principal that music was more than noise for the ears but a form of story telling. Next time you hear a song, really try to soak into the words... you might find that the great song you love on the radio really isn't so good, or that song you hate with no words is actually telling a vibrant story.

I guess what I am trying to say is we need to give music a deeper thought. Forgive me for my boldness but, music is a global phenomenon, there is no known culture in the world that hasn't created their own type of music... So with that being said, don't we owe it to ourselves to treat our ears and minds to something worth listening to? Something that makes us think? Laugh? Imagine? Something that provokes thought and emotion? I am not necessarily talking about the music they play at the Spa either...

All music that is good will provoke feelings and thoughts onto the listener, so remember this next time you switch on the radio or pop in one of your cd's. Because What I have found is that some genres we never thought could be emotional and deep can produce artists who are talented at writing music. Underoath is a great example. Not everyone appreciates their style, but dig into their lyrics and they are much better than anything by Lady Gaga. Listen to the words and melodies, good music.... your music should speak to you. Just some food for thought...


If you want to experience music like I just explained, try some of these songs. Break beyond the comforts of your own style and experience music they way it should be...

Artist: Gustavo Santaollala
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYTRBl5rdaI&feature=related

Artist: John Hopkins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5umlj3eyYk

Artist: Trentemøller
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DUCKGyojpE

Artist: Kate Havnevik
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRrPdDUqI78

Thanks,
Trevor

New band member...not

I probably feel like a new band member to whoever reads these crazy blogs...but yeah i am the same old bass player levi's been using for the last year and a half. I'm Matt Szkarlat...or 'Kobe' as some of my friends call me (only Levi). So the last months have been different. Transitioning from working full-time to having three weeks off (to 'prepare for school' , to moving to Cambridge (Mexico as Levi put it) for school full-time! So yeah, it's been different, but God's been solid as usual.

The last few weeks more specifically have been VERY different. Kind of got my heart broken, attempting to learn music theory, moving away for the first time (which has lead me to attempt to cook), meeting new musicians, going into major debt, travelling back and forth for different 'gigs'...lots of good stuff. But it's all been a great experience. Having to stretch yourself is never a bad thing i have learned...although it never feels good at the time.


So that's it for today...i have to be up early for a class tomorrow (haven't said that in about two years), then i get to lace up the skates and play some hockey...looking forward to it :)

Peace out dudes.

P.S. The songs sound great :)

A Break From CD Jibberish

Well guys.. It's funny because you've probably only seen one, maybe two, references to the upcoming album release.. But to me it feels like it's all I've been talking about/thinking about for years. So today, I take a break, and I give you a look into the plain old routine that is my life. You must think I'm terribly conceited.. lol But the reality is I don't suspect more than one person reads this thing, and that one person is my mom, (Hi mom :) and it's important to communicate with your mom.. so what's conceited about that? Yeah, I thought so.

So this past week I said goodbye to Stayner Ontario and I moved to Mexico. Actually I moved to Cambridge, but some days it feels like Mexico. Nobody's wearing a sombrero, and it's not very hot, and there aren't many tacos.. but it's not home. My family is somewhere else.. Amanda is somewhere else.. My church is somewhere else.. It's been an adjustment. And you may not know it with my hobby of choice, but I'm a shy dude. I'm hiding in my room like a turtle (I've heard they also hide in their rooms?) and I'm basically just playing guitar and basketball with Matt. For those of you who don't know, Matt is my bassist. He's the little soulful man in the band (He's not that little.. He could probably beat me up..) We have yet to kill each other, but in this cramped space it wont take long. I'm taking resumes for new bassists now ;)

It's nice to be in a place where I need to put a new hat on.. At home I'm a musician. I'm a musician with a pretty girlfriend, and it's easy to let those things define me. Now I'm in a place where everyone's a musician, and no-one knows Amanda. I've got to figure out who I am behind the guitar..
I was talking to a dude yesterday, and yes I said dude (go ninja turtles), and he was talking to me like I had it all together. It almost made me laugh out loud.. There's always something about ourselves we want to change.. I'm the sweatiest man you'll ever meet. It's really embarrassing. And I have a lisp.. And my hands are weird lookin'
If we focus on that stuff we're just never going to be satisfied. I have the perfect Levi image in my head, and I can't ever be that guy. But I believe in God. And I believe He made me just like this. That's enough for me now. It's easy to look confident when you walk around thinking like that. "I'm not ashamed of it, and I don't need to change it. This is me, and in God's own words, "It's good!""

I'm not a biblical scholar y'all. But it breaks my heart hearing someone tell me how ugly they are. Shake off all that junk. Life's too short. I may not have it together, and I certainly don't have all the fans and fame I'm "supposed" to have.. but I've got joy. What else do you need?

Raptors season starts soon. I'm one of the bigger Raptor fans you're ever going to meet and even I'm having a hard time getting excited for this season.. What a year this is going to be..

Back to the cd

CD Release Time :)

Well everyone.. I concede that I am terrible with this website. I don't stay on top of it, I don't keep it fresh, but you know what? Who's perfect? I'm trying with this whole technology thing, but I'm a pen and paper guy. It's going to take a while for me to enjoy sitting in front of my computer, but the conformist in me is determined to try.

That being said.. Hello! It's so wonderful to see you here again. You look about three months older than when we last talked. The band and I have been in cd mode (also known as broke mode). It's more work than we expected, especially putting on the finishing touches, but the cd is set to release this September. Basically, we saw the pained look on the faces of the children knowing that they were about to enter into another year of school and we thought, "Band, how can we bring joy back into the lives of the children?"

The answer.. Would You Go by the Levi denBok Band. Now I'm not saying that this album is going to make all your troubles go away, but look how much Matt Damon enjoyed it.. We've done studies and proven that buying/listening to this album will increase your quality of life by 15%. Now I don't want to brag, but when you compare that to the 3% increase caused by a job promotion, or the 7% caused by the bearing of your first child, you begin to see what a significant joy this album is really bringing. We've infused the mellowness of a moment of worship with the swagger of Kobe Bryant, and we've come up with something that's going to change your life.

Don't do it for yourself. Do it for your cd player. Look at the junk you've been putting in there recently.. Miley Cyrus? I mean really? Listen, like our music or not, at least it's local. :)

The album will be going for $15 a pop. I know what you're thinking.. "$15? Did he say $15?" This isn't just an album. This is a life investment. Also, it's a long album and I promise you'll get your money's worth.

Thank you for listening to my sarcasm. I spent too much time in the sun today.

Levi

ps. I'm going to be running through the songs in the album over the next couple of weeks. Posting lyrics and letting you know the story behind them. Why not right?

Raking in the Wind

First off, I need to say that I've been the biggest Raptor fan for three years now, and I've never been as upset with them as I am now after that game in Chicago. I will also follow that up with the acknowledgement that very few of you care about the Raptors or are aware of how important that game was.. I just needed to let you know. I am a broken man today :(


So I just got off my radio interview with life and I didn't say anything that could be misinterpreted or possibly offensive, so that in itself is a victory. I have a disease called "footinyomouth-anitus" and it leads me to say some pretty amazing things, but today it was on vacation, and I'm thanking God for that.


This brings me to my epiphany. The other day my mom asks me to rake the lawn, and being the wonderful son that I am, I got right on out there and started raking. But as I'm raking I notice that it's actually ridiculously windy outside. So I'm moving the leaves from where they were, but the wind is just scooping them up and putting them somewhere else.
"This looks a lot like my life" I thought to myself. And seriously, it does. Life is like raking in the wind. You see this chaos you've got going on in your life, and you think, "I'm going to make this into a neat little pile here, and make this into a neat little pile here.." But the wind will have none of that. If you want to move some stuff around than that's fine, but don't think for a second that you're going to decide how this will look in the end. And so God starts blowing on my plans, and starts making them look a little more like the plans that He had for me in the beginning.


So for this reason I will never rake a lawn again. Too much thinking.. I'm downright exhausted.. Also, does anyone know when the next season of the Office will be out on dvd? I'm starving here.
Obey your parents. This is my lesson for the day ;) Also, One Tribe is this Thursday (the 15th) at 7 pm @ Clearview Community Church in Stayner. Check it out.

Levi

Todays Adventure

Wow, I feel like I just put a blog up yesterday..
I think sometimes you just need to take a look at what your intentions were to decide whether something was a good idea or not. These are the latest words of wisdom that my wonderful girlfriend has taught me. As it turns out, sometimes I'm quick to speak and slow to contemplate. I'm gonna work on that.


So I've been drinking a tonne of coffee lately, (and if you know me than you know this is weird because I hate the stuff) just because the world is making me drink it. McDonalds was offering it for free, and it's not as if I'm going to walk into a restaurant and say no to something that doesn't cost me a penny.. and now Tim's is dishing out free cars so what am I going to do? Sip my iced cap while Matt, Drew and Trevor are zipping around in their free cars with their free donuts? I doubt it.
The thing is, I can't for the life of me seem to win anything.. Which brings me to my story.

Once upon a time I was picking a girl up from work. We'll call her Amanda. So I thought it would be sweet to pick her up a coffee on my way in. (also if I buy her a coffee I can justify buying two coffees thus multiplying my chances of winning by two) So I'm in the store and I think to myself, "Self, I never win with the larges." and I envisioned the Tim Hortons winning cup guy picking the winning cups and laughing, "I'll put it on a medium cup! They'll never buy the medium cup!"
"He thinks he's so smart.." I murmered to myself before proceeding to buy two medium coffees. That'll show him...

As we're leaving she has to shuffle the seat before entering because I just spent TWO and a HALF HOURS getting my tires changed and they were now taking up all the space in the car. We take off down the street and I hear something fall on my car.
"Ohh man!" I hear her exclaim. "I left my coffee on the car!" I give her mine, because she likes coffee, I hate coffee, and all I want is a free car. It's a loser, and now I'm going crazy, because I was so sure I had bought a winner and we had left that cup just sitting on the street..

We go through our night as usual, help with the youth group, watch the marriage ref (Jimmy Falon was hilarious!), and then I proceed to take her home. But as if through some kind of mind reading power she could sense my uneasiness with leaving that cup behind. My motto, "No cup left behind." So she turns to me and sais ever so sweetly, "Would you like to go back and find that cup?"

We pulled back into the parking lot and retraced our steps. I backed out, pulled onto the street, but we just couldn't see it. Amanda happened to notice a car parked on the side of the road that wasn't there earlier. Low and behold, behind the right rear tire there was a medium Tim Horton's coffee cup. The rim was still unrrrrolled. Surely any passerby would have seen the cup and thought, "It's already been rolled up." 99 times out of 100 they would have been right. But not this fateful night. They had walked right past this potential goldmine all day long.. If only they knew that that cup they had walked by was in tact and ready for rrrolling.

Needless to say after all of that it was a loser..

I'll see you in line tommorow at Tim's. This time I'm buying a large

-Levi