Worlds Collide In A Most Pleasant Way
Paul was born in 1974 to a middle class family of 6 in Burlington Ontario. The son of a soprano mother and an organist father the musical gene was firmly entrenched at an early age.
As long as I can remember being able to hear I can remember loving sounds!
Loud sounds…….soft sounds……..weird sounds…….interesting sounds……
As my brain began to develop (the theory exists) I began to recognize patterns and melody in the cacophony of sonic richness all around me. I even began to discover ways in which, much like an aspiring Merlin, I could manipulate these random frequencies and even CREATE my own out of nothing but the mere pluck of a string or passing of air over my windpipe.
Having grown up in a very musical family I must give credit where credit is due.
Here are my biggest influences on my musical palate:
My Dad - organist, choir director and classical music maestro. It was his dedication and pursuit of perfection that shaped my young ears to seek out the truly exceptional.
My long lost brother John - rumor has it he still exists, kind of like Bigfoot or Yeti sightings but on a more local scale….like Stoney Creek…..
Anyhow, it was my big brother John’s glorious posters of Kick Axe, Black Sabbath and Eddy from Iron Maiden that scared me into action. I took every opportunity to sneak into his room, grab his guitar and had learned every song in the Black Sabbath Anthology guitar tab book before I hit high school . Thanks John for feeding my shadow.
U2 – I still remember being mesmerized watching the video for With Or Without You on Much Music when I was around 12 years old. There I was standing in my wreck room in my dirty foam goalie pads. The music had lured me from my solo game of ball hockey in the unfinished part of my basement and it was love at first….hear?
The passion of Bono’s voice, the shimmering guitar, that bloody bassline that worked it’s way like a sonic corkscrew into my brain and has remained lodged in there ever since.
Black Sabbath – now although this was not a popular choice with my parents, it was probably the most hear band in our house while the cat was away. The towering crunch of Tony Iommi’s guitar was as mesmerizing as it was scary.
The whole atmosphere of power, melody and danger was irresistible to my young malleable mind…..make some room U2….Ozzy is moving in.
Aha – hark! What is this bewitching arpeggio of synthpop brilliance? Are these spiky haired Norwegians I see before me?
Take On Me was and still is probably one of the catchiest pop songs ever written, it impacted my taste in music like no other song before or since. The Band would continue to release massive songs and albums enjoyed mainly by Norwegians and South Americans oddly enough…..New Order and Depeche Mode followed in what was a digital sonic revolution in my cranium.
Manic Street Preachers – right about the time when U2 stopped being the passionate, middle class pugilists that endeared them so much to me I happened across these 4 lads from Blackwoods, Wales. Armed with vitrol and political sloganeering, immersed in a medium of Guns and Roses savagery, Sex Pistols irreverence, U2 passion and the Clashes an-thematic song writing……this band combined everything I loved in the previous bands and mixed it with lyrics that read like a phd level political history course. They have since toned down the anti-culture look and put away the leopard print and eyeliner, but they remain as politically motivated and angry as ever…….Culture, Alienation, Boredom and Despair indeed.
All these and many more have shaped me, my music and my musical appreciation.
I may be the most bipolar music lover of all time.
Just like you would never watch only Steven Spielbergs The Goonies, and thus deprive yourself of the glorious Schindler’s List or Close Encounters, so I can’t simply stick to one brand of music only to miss out on the hundreds of thousands of brilliant artists out there.
My life has a soundtrack, it hasn’t sold very well, but it exists nonetheless.
I can literally recall events of my past easier by what I was listening to at that time then any mental picture or stimulus can provide.
Grade 4….Thriller
Grade 8……Joshua Tree
High school on the bus….Def Leppard, Hysteria
My Dad passing away……Guns and Roses…..
My marriage ……..Manic Street Preachers, U2 comeback album
etc etc.
I was always the kid burning disc’s for friends or buying them albums for their birthday that they had never heard of.
I was the one who would alway s dj parties and weddings.
I am the guy who posts a ton of music on Facebook with the hopes that the Great Unwashed as it were, would allow themselves to glimpse a piece of this wonderful world of music we live in.
I try, often in vain, to replicate my favorite sound, or to write that perfect song.
The one where the lyrics and melody mesh to create that pristine moment in time that no words, or picture can describe more perfectly”
Paul Vanhuisstede, 2016
As long as I can remember being able to hear I can remember loving sounds!
Loud sounds…….soft sounds……..weird sounds…….interesting sounds……
As my brain began to develop (the theory exists) I began to recognize patterns and melody in the cacophony of sonic richness all around me. I even began to discover ways in which, much like an aspiring Merlin, I could manipulate these random frequencies and even CREATE my own out of nothing but the mere pluck of a string or passing of air over my windpipe.
Having grown up in a very musical family I must give credit where credit is due.
Here are my biggest influences on my musical palate:
My Dad - organist, choir director and classical music maestro. It was his dedication and pursuit of perfection that shaped my young ears to seek out the truly exceptional.
My long lost brother John - rumor has it he still exists, kind of like Bigfoot or Yeti sightings but on a more local scale….like Stoney Creek…..
Anyhow, it was my big brother John’s glorious posters of Kick Axe, Black Sabbath and Eddy from Iron Maiden that scared me into action. I took every opportunity to sneak into his room, grab his guitar and had learned every song in the Black Sabbath Anthology guitar tab book before I hit high school . Thanks John for feeding my shadow.
U2 – I still remember being mesmerized watching the video for With Or Without You on Much Music when I was around 12 years old. There I was standing in my wreck room in my dirty foam goalie pads. The music had lured me from my solo game of ball hockey in the unfinished part of my basement and it was love at first….hear?
The passion of Bono’s voice, the shimmering guitar, that bloody bassline that worked it’s way like a sonic corkscrew into my brain and has remained lodged in there ever since.
Black Sabbath – now although this was not a popular choice with my parents, it was probably the most hear band in our house while the cat was away. The towering crunch of Tony Iommi’s guitar was as mesmerizing as it was scary.
The whole atmosphere of power, melody and danger was irresistible to my young malleable mind…..make some room U2….Ozzy is moving in.
Aha – hark! What is this bewitching arpeggio of synthpop brilliance? Are these spiky haired Norwegians I see before me?
Take On Me was and still is probably one of the catchiest pop songs ever written, it impacted my taste in music like no other song before or since. The Band would continue to release massive songs and albums enjoyed mainly by Norwegians and South Americans oddly enough…..New Order and Depeche Mode followed in what was a digital sonic revolution in my cranium.
Manic Street Preachers – right about the time when U2 stopped being the passionate, middle class pugilists that endeared them so much to me I happened across these 4 lads from Blackwoods, Wales. Armed with vitrol and political sloganeering, immersed in a medium of Guns and Roses savagery, Sex Pistols irreverence, U2 passion and the Clashes an-thematic song writing……this band combined everything I loved in the previous bands and mixed it with lyrics that read like a phd level political history course. They have since toned down the anti-culture look and put away the leopard print and eyeliner, but they remain as politically motivated and angry as ever…….Culture, Alienation, Boredom and Despair indeed.
All these and many more have shaped me, my music and my musical appreciation.
I may be the most bipolar music lover of all time.
Just like you would never watch only Steven Spielbergs The Goonies, and thus deprive yourself of the glorious Schindler’s List or Close Encounters, so I can’t simply stick to one brand of music only to miss out on the hundreds of thousands of brilliant artists out there.
My life has a soundtrack, it hasn’t sold very well, but it exists nonetheless.
I can literally recall events of my past easier by what I was listening to at that time then any mental picture or stimulus can provide.
Grade 4….Thriller
Grade 8……Joshua Tree
High school on the bus….Def Leppard, Hysteria
My Dad passing away……Guns and Roses…..
My marriage ……..Manic Street Preachers, U2 comeback album
etc etc.
I was always the kid burning disc’s for friends or buying them albums for their birthday that they had never heard of.
I was the one who would alway s dj parties and weddings.
I am the guy who posts a ton of music on Facebook with the hopes that the Great Unwashed as it were, would allow themselves to glimpse a piece of this wonderful world of music we live in.
I try, often in vain, to replicate my favorite sound, or to write that perfect song.
The one where the lyrics and melody mesh to create that pristine moment in time that no words, or picture can describe more perfectly”
Paul Vanhuisstede, 2016