Maynard James Keenan (Singer for Tool) said it best, and I quote “Start from the basics of what it will take you to survive. You need a roof over your head, food, and clothes. Just start there. Everything else should go into your art.” Wise words, from a smart man. Yet I find it funny, just how difficult something as simple as that can actually be. Between paying the bills and everything else that life throws at us, you truly have to be commited to constantly keep on working on your passion/art day in and day out. Although, the beauty of it is that it never feels like work.

Now I could go into bullet point details of what I think it takes to be a great artist but truthfully, Maynard sums it up quite nicely. It’s just the commitment to act on your passion and make that your number one focus, all the time. It would also be nice if we we’re able to do that thing we love and get paid for it, I think they call that a utopian society? Which begs the question of “If every one got to do what they love to do all the time, then who would clean our toilets?”

So anyway, in my experience, trying to work on music all the time can sometimes feel like a delicate balancing act. Not the work itself, but making the time and organizing schedules. Some weeks are great, but there are some where you have to walk a tight rope while juggling flaming torches and puppy dogs. It’s quite the act, but ultimately, it always works out, assuming your heart is in the right place and it’s what you truly want to do. So being a great artist in my opinion, is pretty simple, you just have to make the time and DO IT!

With that, I’m going to go get my guitar and start playing.

Shane Lamotte
shane@livingillusion.com
http://www.livingillusion.com/wordpress/

Where to begin? The last week has definitely been a long one of many thoughts and contemplation. Getting an honest opinion on our new music from reputable producers in the city has definitely taken my mind for a ride in more directions than I would like to admit. Feeling like we’re back at square one would be an overstatement, although I think skipping square one is how we got here in the first place. Here being at a point where we need to go through our personal repertoire of new songs and tear them back down to basics.

See, the first Living Illusion album was mostly written on an acoustic guitar. It was just two guys sitting in an apartment downtown Edmonton pissing off their neighbours playing music.  We wrote lyrics, melodies and everything that we could, given that we didn’t have many instruments at our disposal. When we went into the recording studio for that first album we had a good 8 songs ready to be recorded, not really knowing our direction other than the fact that we wanted it to sound good, and be heavy. From there it was developed into what you hear today, sort of a combination of hard alternative and progressive rock.

With this new album we have sort of tackled the songcraft in an entirely different way. Whether it is because we have the capability to or simply because we found it to be more fun, it has differed in the sense that the driving force behind our new music has been mostly guitars and drums; compared to before where it was mostly acoustic guitars and vocals. At this point on the new album the guitars and drums sound freaking amazing and we have received much praise and many compliments for them (from producers, engineers, friends, etc), but there’s a Catch.

What is it? Well quite simply, by not focusing on vocals, lyrics, and melody lines first (as we did on the self titled disc), we now have to bust our asses hardcore to develop them. The songs are going to sound incredible when they are done, but if I had any advice to give to another song writer it would be: Get an acoustic guitar or a piano, and write Chords with Melody Lines, leave the rest for when you get to the recording studio. It simplifies the process to a degree that isn’t even comparable, trust me. Although, I must admit there has been a huge benefit to this new style of songcraft that we’ve been using.

HEAVY FUCKING GUITARS!

And I wouldn’t have it any other way, but maybe that’s just me.

Shane Lamotte
shane@livingillusion.com
http://www.livingillusion.com/wordpress/

It’s an odd paradigm that we live in right now, where more people than ever are listening to music, yet the value of music has plummeted drastically. This isn’t some attack on file sharing or anything of that sort; this is just a general observation which I’m sure you will agree. For instance, if the year was 1726 and you had an opportunity to hear a live symphony, I can guarantee you that the experience of hearing them would be utter magnificence; like traveling to the edge of the universe and back.

You see, back in those days, hearing a symphony or music at all for that matter was something that was not so common place, it was a rare occasion. So the few times that you did get to hear music it was amazingly wonderful and mesmerizing. You would embrace every moment like it was the last time you would hear music, because who knew how long it would be before your next taste. Now if you compare that experience to some ones experience of music in this day and age, it is a very different picture that is painted.

Almost everything we do whether we realize it or not has music playing during it. Eating, Sporting, Shopping, Elevating, Driving, Walking, Jogging, Talking, Bar Hopping, Computing, iPoding, TVing, Gaming, Blogging, Building, Surfing, Smoking, Drinking, Sleeping, Showering, Dentisting, and the list goes on and on and on. It’s like now a days; you have to make a conscious effort to NOT have music playing, whereas before it was the other way around. Hell, 200 years ago even if you wanted music playing you were probably shit outta luck… unless you were rich.

So here we are in the year 2008, where when it comes to music, we all live like the Kings and Queens of the past and have access to hearing it when ever and where ever we please. What an odd time we live in. With the click of a button I can access 1000′s of hours of tunes and put it on my iPod to go with me everywhere, and that is “normal”. Access to music 24/7, anything and everything is normal… no, not just normal, it’s expected. And what becomes of things that stay the same and we expect all the time? We take them for granted.

And I guess this is just human nature, to take things for granted. To see and hear the things that used to excite us slowly become dull and boring simply because of time and repetition. Sad really, how so few are awe inspired by a sunrise or looking at the stars. It’s a weird irony in that those things which used to make us excited slowly become dull and boring once you get them all the time.

In the end, where does this leave us? Well music isn’t really dead, although people’s level of satisfaction that they receive from listening to music has definitely gone down over the years. So what’s the real new excitement factor in music? What inspires them for more and sucks them in to keep listening? NEW MUSIC. That’s the key. That’s the future. The most quality music, as fast as possible.

But that’s a post for another day.

Shane Lamotte
shane@livingillusion.com
http://www.livingillusion.com/wordpress/

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R581fo7CiYU[/youtube]

Our friends over at Cold Driven have just released a music video for the single “Heavier than Heaven” from their latest album “Steel Chambers”. I must admit, I am really impressed with the production value, the video looks amazing, and it also does a great job of capturing there energy.

If you have never seen Cold Driven play live, what your seeing in the video is exactly what it’s like to be there in concert. Needless to say the video was great and I can’t wait to see it get some play on Much Music.

If you can’t see the video above go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R581fo7CiYU

And, watching the many ways for the band members to die was definitely a nice touch.

Fuck yah!

Shane Lamotte
shane@livingillusion.com
http://www.livingillusion.com/wordpress/

1) Apocalypse Now
2) Requiem for a Dream
3) Clockwork Orange
4) The Usual Suspects
5) Full Metal Jacket
6) JFK
7) The Matrix
8. Seven
9) Deer Hunter
10) Catch 22
11) American Beauty
12) The Godfather Series
13) Fight Club
14) Silence of the Lambs
15) Memento
16) Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
17) Casino
18) The Shining
19) The Doors
20) Pulp Fiction
21) Reservoir Dogs
22) The Corporation
23) One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest
24) Shawshank Redemption
25) Dances with Wolves
26) American History X
27) Gladiator
28) Citizen X
29) Swingers
30) Basketball Diaries
31) Butterfly Effect
32) A Beautiful Mind
33) Adaptation
34) Bowling for Columbine
35) Being John Malkovich
36) Snatch
37) Clerks
38) Star Wars Trilogy
39) Dr. Strangelove
40) Wyatt Erp
41) Lock, Stock, 2 Smokingbarrels
42) City of God
43) 2001: Space Odyssey
44) Taxi Driver
45) Rules of Attraction
46) Fallen
47) Scarface
48) Pi
49) The Last Samuri
50) Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Founding members, and brothers, Jason and Shane Lamotte had been born and raised in Northern BC, in a small town called Fort Nelson. Jason was born on June 1 1981 and Shane on April 30th 1984 to Shirley and Murray Lamotte. The two of them began their musical training at age 6 and both performed nationally at Music Fest Canada for there talents. When Jason completed his high school in 1999, the family decided it was time for a change of venue and relocated to Parksville in southern BC.

Jason came to that moment in life when he had to decide what to do with the rest of it. He was faced with the idea of leaving a town he had known all his life and going off to college. Always musically inclined it never occurred to Jason that he could be anything other than a musician, so after graduating he moved to Grande Prairie Alberta and started working towards his Bachelor of Arts. While there he met fellow musicians and had joined a band of his own. Jason only lasted two years in college but now a musical vision had begun to form. Dissatisfied with Grande Prairie and strapped for cash he returned home to Fort Nelson, home of many different oil rigs and mills (also known as money) while Shane was still finishing high school in Parksville. After being in a town of 50’000 for two years returning to a place 1/10 th its size was hard on Jason. Despite having grown up in Fort Nelson he now found the small town frame of mind something he could no longer understand. With Shane’s coming graduation in 2002 and the contemplation of a musical project with him, Jason jumped at the chance to get out of dodge.Music for Shane has been in his blood since he could walk. At age 6 he started playing the piano and by the time he was 13 he had expanded his musical interests to include the saxophone and guitar. In addition to playing in the school band he also formed his own band in Parksville with other like-minded individuals.

In addition to music Shane has a head for business, starting a web-based company by the time he was 16, it was not surprising when he began to use his talents for web design on the band. It went almost without saying that he would handle the financial aspects of the band, which include organizing and completing orders for their newly released, self-titled CD. Shane couldn’t have been more different than his older brother while they were growing up if he had tried. Soft spoken and thoughtful he was almost Jason’s exact opposite. It was well known that the boys had there differences growing up and so when they decided to let go of there past for the sake of something they both loved there were some who were surprised. The idea, however, paid off greatly when they found Owensound Studios and began to put their ideas to work. In music the boys found a way to bond, and the music world shall be grateful they did.

Both of these young men have been involved with music for as long as they can remember. Between them they play a variety of instruments including the piano, saxophone, guitar (bass, electric and acoustic), and trumpet. While they were influenced growing up by bands like Metallica they still manage to have a sound that is truly their own, instead of ending up sounding like a high paid cover band. The brothers had a talent not only for the musical side of being a musician but also managed to mix, record, produce, write, and well you get the picture. These boys can do it all. It will be nothing short of amazing if they DON’T find their way to fame. It is easy for any who know them to picture Jason playing music until he dies with Shane heading up a multi-million dollar record company.

Musicians and other artists have a responsibility in this day and age to rise to the occasion. To say the things that everyone is thinking and feeling but rarely communicate. They need to be the ones digging deeper, asking bigger questions, and bringing it all into the light for others to look at.

An artist should be able to encompass it all, from the need for social reform, thoughts of life, death and the things between, to observations on the nature of reality. They should be at the cutting edge of the evolution of consciousness.

Music should enhance society. It should help push the boundaries and dissolve the paradigms that no longer support the reality of a global community. With the plethora of un-evolved ideals ingrained into our current society it’s time to take action. We can no longer live as if we are only free to do as our governments tell us.

We have to stop accepting the fluff entertainment and garbage news that we’re force fed by the media. It’s detrimental to our society, culture, and life in general. It’s time for people to wake up, become educated, and be aware of the life that we create. We must push today’s minds so that people can realize who they truly are, and see life in a new way.

Our goals are to challenge perceptions and shine light on different ways of thinking; to assist in breaking away from that which holds us back, to inspire others to actively participate in the creation of their own way of thinking/feeling/being.

Change yourself and you change the world.

Supernova – Battle 2 – Edmonton AB July 22nd ’06 Past

Alright, well I’ll make this one short and sweet. Basically after winning the first Supernova battle of the bands we were invited back to the finals where all the winners from the first round compete to crown the best of the best. It took place at the TransAlta Arts Barns the same place as the Edmonton Fringe Festival. There were a slew of bands competing and lots of people whom we have played with before; the night essentially went like this:

Twelve bands playing in a 6 hour period, basically the style of this gig is “get on, play your shit, and get off”. Every one’s set was very quick roughly 25 minutes per band. I’m not going to go over the performances of all the bands, but we got play last and here’s a list of the other bands that played… I may comment on how they played…..

Here’s the order: Style Plus Grace, Lateslip, Last Chance Hollywood, Radio for Help, Unbalanced, Toast, Vanilla Villains, Methodical Breed (they won, and are heavy as hell), Cheat2Win (well these guys are basically our other half so playing with them is always awesome), Stereo Therapy (also another great band who did one helluva Rage Against the Machine cover), and last was us.

Needless to say in an odd turn of events the bands that won 2 nd and 3 rd didn’t win anything even though they were supposed to, which is odd… any way, we got to share our music with more people and had a great time playing.

The show was quoted as “It was the best Edmonton had to offer in a 4 month grueling competition spanning over 5 shows. Methodical Breed took home the championship and had the opportunity to open for Lynyrd Skynyrd in fall 2006.”

Nuff said.

Happy & Fulfilled,
Shane Lamotte

Cowboys 1st Annual Ex-Fest- Edmonton AB – July 21st ’06

The event was the Cowboys first ever Out Door Ex-Fest sponsored by Budweiser and we we’re honored to play. We played with a group of selected bands including Minority Music, From The Ground Up, and Disaster Bloom….. Now here’s some back story.

The morning of the show Jason decided to go to Sylvan Lake outside of Red Deer for the day… this of course was decided after pulling an all-nighter and getting zero hours of sleep the night before. By the time I got home from the daily grind he was passed out at my place and we had to be at Cowboys for our gig in the west end of Edmonton in less than an hour. So, we did all our running around (picking up gear etc) and met up at Cowboys with the rest of the band, we still had 30 minutes to spare, everything was going smoothly.

…Or so we thought…Once we arrived and scoped out cowboys we realized that the gear provided by cowboys was not going to suffice, so we had to drive back to the north end of Edmonton doing a good 50k over the speed limit to pick up some extra gear only to make it back to Cowboys with 5 minutes before we had to go on stage. Although the promoter was a little scared for a moment we hit the stage at the exact moment we we’re supposed to and everything was sounding awesome.

It was pretty damn good for an outdoor gig I must admit. There were a lot of people in the crowd, and every one was starting to perk up and listen to our music. We got a really good reaction from all those that listened and the promoter was ecstatic when she heard us play our tool covers. It was a really rocking time and I would totally love to go back and play it again next year.

After our set was done we loaded stuff into my car, and decided to take advantage of our 20 free drinks to get the night going. After pounding back a couple of beers and listening to the last couple bands play we decided to bail and hit up the liquor store, where we purchased a 26er of whiskey.

On arrival to home we figured it would be fun to play drinking games to the original Batman movie… the one from the 70’s… Yah basically the rule was, whenever any one says something completely retarded like say “a ball point banana” you drink. We were drunk within 10 minutes of the movie.

Happy and Fulfilled,
Shane Lamotte

What a wonderful concept patience is. I would define this as, the ability to experience “waiting” while being emotionally detached. What a beauty it would be if every one learned to be patient. I find that most of the time, when some one has to wait for something (no matter what it is) the longer they have to wait, the more emotions start to negatively take over. When ever I’m in a line I can see and feel all these people around me thinking: why is this taking so long, I have things I have to do you know, this is a complete waste of my time, I shouldn’t have to wait here for this. Every one just becomes consumed by there emotions.

Oddly enough, it reminds me of doing the dishes. I’m not talking about putting them in the dish washer and letting it do all the work for you, I’m talking about elbow grease dish washing, scrubbing the dishes hard and heavy, and getting them cleaned really well. I used to hate doing the dishes. I Despised it. I would always just hope some one else did them, but I couldn’t get away with it forever, I eventually had to start doing them myself. When it was time to begin, I would cringe, get irritated, frustrated, and procrastinate as much as possible…. Then one day a friend & roommate of mine (who also hated doing the dishes) said, “Why don’t we just consciously choose to enjoy doing the dishes? Why don’t we stop telling ourselves that doing the dishes sucks and just do them with out judging it in a negative way.”

This is the point where I stop the story I’m telling and take you some where else. Cleary we all know where the story is going, the power of thought, and the ability to change your attitudes and your emotional state by consciously choosing to think in a different way. We’ve all heard this a thousand times already. The reason why I’m stopping here is to make a point. Make the point that when ever a story like this is told, it seems stupid. Unrealistic. Hell I know some people that get angry when you say to them it’s all a matter of attitude and perception. It appears that most people don’t like to be told that they’re suffering is their own creation, and that the solution is within.

I’m sorry; actually no I’m not, because in all honesty YOU do create your own suffering. Get over it, let it go, and change your fracking mind. You have the power to experience what ever emotion you want. Suffering is an illusion created by you and experienced through you. It’s time to stop lying to yourself. You have the power, just believe and it will be so.

I have a quote that I’ve been carrying with me for the last couple of years. I take it every where with me and I think it’s an amazing quote. “You can’t rationalize, with those acting irrational”. This is something that I will never forget. It’s something that rings true in every experience I’ve ever had. I always rationalize things, I can’t not, I have no choice in the matter. It’s essentially my nature. I look at probabilities and statistics, I think things through, I weigh the pros and cons, and I never, never, choose to worry.

So I guess on that note, I shall end with; you get more flies with honey. It’s only but a choice between being happy and being frustrated. Between fear and love. Choose to feel how you want to feel, don’t give that power to some one else.

It’s your power, use it.

Happy and Fulfilled,
Shane Lamotte