Jezen Thomas Creativity //. Ideas

Day One.
Leaving London, the weather is typically miserably. The underground was dirty, the crowds in a hurry, the bus journey uneventful, and Stansted airport full of other cheap travellers. There was an Indian family lying down on the sofas designated for laptop users, and of course they refused to move despite lacking any intention to use a laptop (or perhaps even owning one). I removed them, though I won't reveal how. The plane journey was also rather typical, until I decided to try and eat my packed lunch pasta. I didn't have a fork, so I asked the wonderful(!) RyanAir girls for one. They declined my request, explaining they only have drink stirrers. Foolishly I said "No, I need something I can stab with." The passengers around me stared, horrified. Upon arrival, a short Italian man held a plaque bearing mine and Sharron's names. This man enjoyed his driving; so much so that he exhibited the brute power of his car by overtaking five cars at a time. He chauffeured us in a black Mercedes to the World Ducati Week circuit, where we gazed upon a seemingly endless number of red motorbikes. After a modest dinner, we rendezvoused back at our grand beachside hotel with the three members of our team who drove from Newcastle with our equipment. We hit the Sax Pub which had karaoke, drug dealers, a piano, snakes, and pornography decorating the ceilings of the men's bathrooms.

The weather has been rather nice for the past week or so in central London. Highs of around 24˚C, light wind, 40% humidity. Where have I been? Bartending. Inside. It's not the life for me.

I have since resigned, and I will devote my attention to writing full time from whereever I happen to be. There is one confirmed upcoming gig in Dunfermline, Scotland, and another yet-to-be-confirmed short tour in Misano Adriatico, Italy for a motorbike racing event. This means sun, sea, and umbrella girls.

Becoming sick of being turned down again and again for pitiful menial labour that I am too over-qualified and over-skilled to partake in anyway, I decided the time is nigh to make the leap of faith into the entrépreneurial world of going-it-alone business.

So, the sheer magnitude of brilliance exuded by Zsolt Korompay's, Lutz Mayer's, and Terry Branam's transcription powers have just short of brought me to tears. I can barely comprehend the patience and persistence involved. I am not worthy.

However, this is no reason to keep my humble efforts to myself. I had been working on this piece for quite a while, but to be honest, I lost interest half way through. I don't know if this is because my eyes are bigger than my stomach, or because the solo is a bit too far on the chopsy side. Nevertheless, here we are.

Not to be outdone in the transcription community, and as a sort of christmas gift to all online drummers (the reading ones anyway), I am releasing my transcription of Ronald Dorsey Jr's solo at CymbalFusion in Houston.

I recently spent a couple of days with a Swedish bag design company called Walk on Water, filming their latest bag review/advertising campaign. It features some Butterfly Imp music, a water slide, a big truck, and an olympic boxer.

Butterfly Imp's first studio album entitled Walking Tall is now available to listen to in its entirety, absolutely free.

Here's a little excerpt taken from Sunday night. I thought it would be nice to learn more about how the recording studio works so I booked it and together with the help of some of my friends, we set the mics up and had everything working. I recorded my playing over a Billy Cobham track called Street Urchin from a play-along book/CD called 'By Design' (which corresponds with the album of the same name).

The following three journal entries are from a tour I was doing in Spain in 2008. I don't ordinarily keep a journal, but I tried to make a habit of it whenever I was travelling.

Butterfly Imp's album 'Walking Tall' is finally finished. It isn't pressed yet, so until further notice the music will only be available online. The official release of the Walking Tall single will be on the 24th when we play at Havsbadsparken, Lysekil, with Swedish rockers Takida.

I'm not too impressed with the audio quality on the myspace or our own page, but a couple of songs from the album are on there nonetheless.