Old time metal fan, new time musician (and struggles of it lol)

[Silan]

Hi, my name's Ivan, some of my friends like to call me Silan, that's also my very old username on metal archives. Also my name is Ivan4n09 on some other sites.

I've been listening to metal since 2010, and a bit before that ofc, if you count casually liking Black Sabbath and Motorhead on the radio. But what really got me into metal was Manowar - the band and the lyrics and themes were everything that I liked and identified myself with. Maximum power, absolute TRUEness, hail, hail, hail xD After that my interests evolved further, firsth to NWOBHM (specifically a lot of Saxon), then I went through a mighty obsession with doom metal and I still do love it, then, at some point, death metal, which at first felt a lot like guilty pleasure (my first ever DM band that I loved listening to was Kataklysm, then some dutch scene - Gorefest and Asphyx). Metal to me was always like a soundtrack to my life, a way to dramatize and theatricalize my life experience in the most exciting way. So, it's gonna sound funny/cringy - I got into doom after heartbreak, started listening to DM after experiencing loss, and it all started out with me wanting to change my life for the better when I first discovered Manowar.

Another important point - metal music ties in really nicely with my "physical education" philosophy, which can be mostly attributed to the legendary strength traning author Brooks Kubik, as well as a "very special" underground powerlifting/strongman scene in Russia in the early 2010s. That's a story for another day.

Another point in my musical delopment came to existence in 2018, when I discovered a magic app called Musescore - an easy way to write and compose sheet and MIDI music. It was something I've been searching for for ages! I got into it very much, that's how I slowly became interested in music for a creator's point of view, progressively writing more and more complex midi tracks / songs. After 1.5 years of just playing on my computer I managed to write a truly inspirational tune (at least for me) that I really really wanted to play. First I borrowed guitars from other people and tried playing it, until I finally ventured on the interned and ordered myself a brand new 20$ classical guitar (LOL - I know, I can't find any of those anymore either).

Couple months later I got high on coffee and finally ordered my first ever electric guitar - a simple Epiphone SG, trying to follow in Tony Iommi and Ross the Boss' footsteps. I'm so glad I didn't order a cheap chinese strat xD

Then I went through a long process of not just learning to play - still going through it, very slowly, tbh - but also recording music on my PC. Took me a really long time to find a proper free DAW, which was Cakewalk - over time I got really interested in mixing/producing side of things, as well as all things related.

Casually bought a semi-decent chinese bass some time later, really love playing it, sometimes I enjoy it way more than the guitar for some curious reason lol (I guess that says something about me, huh xD)

Started learning drums a few months ago, they're the hardest instrument so far, as well as the most expensive.

I came up with an idea of a band a long time ago, I decided to call it "Spire" - not realising that it's really not the most original name xD There's probaby at least eight bands called like that and at least a dozen that have a variation on the word "Spire" in their name.

I wanted to follow in Manowar's footsteps, so I was mixing up good ol' barbaric "sword and sorcery" themes with some of my personal life experiences in my song lyrics, and the name "Spire" came about when I was playing Elder Scrolls Online, going through Riverspire questline - the whole imagery definitely was and still is quite inSPIRational to me  haha

I've only "released" one song on bandcamp so far (Spire - Steel Of My Spear), but working on more, casually learning and experimenting with diiferent things. Almost every night I just plug my guitar in and jam either over midi drums or some of my own drum recordings. Sometimes I end up with curious little tracks that I'd like to share, so I was hoping I could find some experimental / jam thread somewhere on this forum where I could get some judgement or find something to learn, or acquire new ideas. Anyone have any suggestions for a thread like that?

[FatherAlabaster]

Playing and recording music is definitely a pursuit you can dedicate your life to if you want. Good luck with everything. Drums are super fun, learning how to program drum tracks might also be useful. If you want to share your music, please do it in the Promote Yourself section.

[Silan]

Thank you  Yeah, I've been super hyped recently, forgetting some of my old hobbies and getting more and more immersed into music. It'll take me quite some time before I'll be able to record any semi-decent drum tracks with the setup that I have. Obviously at first I was like "I gotta get the real drums", but after some time I realised that programmed drums aren' the worst thing in the world, since with them you can make some things that are unachievable in normal performance. 

I'll make sure to make a post in promotion section some time later.