Composing under the influence

sherman · Post by **sherman** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 7:26 am

I have a friend who thinks he can't write squat without being blazed. Looking back, a fair chunk of my time at my keys is after a few drinks.. Just curious, who here compose sober, drunk, stoned, or anything else. Too bad there is no anonymous reply, not sure who will admit thier habbits here...

pepezabala · Post by **pepezabala** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 7:47 am

while I am able to write/improvise excellent stuff "under the influence" I would not be able to operate ableton live. So since I do mainly computer music I stopped taking drugs while making music.
This was different when I was operating an electric guitar and two or three stompboxes. I remember standing in front of an amplifier that spit out coloured waves of scream while I was drowning in cables, staring with my eyes wide open into the pulsating flashes of slideprojectors directed at me. Music often was crap, but big fun.
Nowadays when I get stoned I mostly stand in front of the computer, wondering why nothing is working, only to find out after 20minutes that I didn't connect the soundcard to the mixer or crap like that.

macmurphy · Post by **macmurphy** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 7:52 am

I voted high on life.. I don't take drugs these days because they clash with the hideous amount of meds i have to take (possibly as a result of taking drugs

). Also i haven't had a drink for nearly five months. Just haven't felt like it.
I don't think i EVER came up with anything even half decent when out of my tiny little mind, but then everyone is different of course.

sherman · Post by **sherman** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 9:43 am

Yeah I understand. I get more from 10 sober minutes than I do from a night wth a bottle.

Pitch Black · Post by **Pitch Black** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 10:23 am

"All drugs do is tweak the incoming data."
-William Gibson

"Write stoned and edit straight, or write straight and edit stoned."
-William Burroughs

Bagle · Post by **Bagle** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 12:03 pm

"Write stoned and edit straight, or write straight and edit stoned."
-William Burroughs

thats a nice old quote

UKRuss · Post by **UKRuss** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 12:11 pm

"whoa, what the fuck is THAT!, no seriously, what the fuck is it? Can you see that? It's a fox...no, no it's just a cat. What the fuck is it? Whats that noise?"

-my mate on the way to the studio, 1994, band productivity nil for the day.

noisetonepause · Post by **noisetonepause** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 12:30 pm

Last time I set myself up for a night of composing under the influence I ended up watching Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures instead...

Low Frequency Obstinator · Post by **Low Frequency Obstinator** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:04 pm

Just given up tobacco, only smoke weed in a pipe now, find i write more as i'm not stopping every half hour to skin up. Get less ash over my studio too.

Never been able to write drunk, seems to take any creativness away from me.

Wrote some stuff in 90's whilst on mdma, amphet etc.. tho all was basic head-down stompage that sounded shite the next day.

Think its all subjective anyway; we all react differently to recreational stimulants.

O

twitterytom · Post by **twitterytom** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:11 pm

a low dose of acid can really help listen from a new perspective. not the walls are breathing kind of dose. just a little to take a step away from how you normally listen to your sounds.

getting stoned just makes things really slow because one seems to get ultra critical and in the end nothing comes together. although can be the opposite

leisuremuffin · Post by **leisuremuffin** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:34 pm

http://www.mrwiggleslovesyou.com/rehab52.html

Hidden Driveways · Post by **Hidden Driveways** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 3:23 pm

a hot mug of tea and a doughnut + a full day in front of the DAW.

the potential possibilities is the drug.

kaffein · Post by **kaffein** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 3:26 pm

Caffeine is my drug of choice.

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 3:37 pm

Smoked every time I wrote for the last 12 years, then had to stop this past year completely. I won't lie, it's much harder for me, and there's time I realy miss it, made creating music a lot more fluid and fun for me. I can still write music, it just takes me MUCH MUCH longer now, and it's just not as fun for me. Still fun, just not AS fun. Oh well, I figure over time it'll get easier, I just have to get used to it.

smartass303 · Post by **smartass303** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 3:45 pm

I pretty much always have a few beers when making music with friends, sometimes we smoke and there are these sessions i dont really remember what we took and what we did.
Music is not so cool but we make nice pictures...
Alone im super-sober

303

Composing under the influence

I write alot of my stuff...

Composing under the influence