Jason Jang

A panoramic shot from the top of APSAN in Daegu, South Korea.

Created using AUTOSTITCH.

Last night I went to Commune, and had lots of fun playing fun songs. It was apparently all-request-Weezer night. Afterwards my (new-ish) friend Rosy tells me that should was “scared” of me for a long time and couldn’t approach me.

“You’re just…. overwhelming.”

She said I was like this guy in this video. You know what? If I was a drummer, I probably would play like this guy.

Once in awhile, I wake up in the morning and look in the mirror and notice this straight red line on the bridge of my nose. I don’t get it. It usually appears while I’m sleeping, and goes away the next day. Strange.

Saturday I had BBQ at my band’s jam space in downtown Daegu with a few folks. It a great time. I had made a(n almost life-size) cardboard cut out of myself for the sake of taking photos.

Unfortunately, someone accidentally deleted all the days photos, so all I have are a few shots from when we were winding down at Commune.

Mimi made me these sweet wristbands!

So the boys and I in the band have decided that things stopped being fun. I knew the very moment it stopped being fun. January 1st, 12:30am. This is one of the only countries you can get away with playing covers and not be chastised for it, but it I think it led me down this path towards musical apathy, and dissatisfaction.

My friend Mike summed it up when he said the show was okay but “you didn’t seem into it.”

I remember Craig telling amongst one of his many stories of being with his band back in the UK, that it just stopped being fun. There were just too many problems, and shit going on, and then they got dropped. He didn’t play drums for awhile. Until he met me, I guess.

So we decided to make things fun again. We’ve begun a writing process. This is something I’ve never done before. Writing in a group. Our geographical situation doesn’t really allow us to spend hours, upon hours sitting around together, cultivating songs. Instead, we’ve taken more practical business approach to it. Each one of us coming up with an idea, and bringing it to the meeting having everyone taking stabs at it, poking holes, and adding they’re two cents.

I have a lot of respect for these two guys, as musicians. Though, I often feel they have little respect for me. It’s definitely been an interesting experience thus far. It’s only been one weekend really. A total of 10 hours , and we fleshed out three ideas.

“You can’t have roses right from the start.” Craig said to me.

I’ve worked in teams plenty of times.

Though, it’s different when working on music. Music is personal. Echoes of who we are/what we want/who we want to be/who we hate/who we love… I think of myself as someone sensitive to other people’s opinions, feelings, and emotions. So when I have to make comment, or criticism of something they created, I tiptoe. I don’t want to insult you, even if it’s only through song. It’s hard.

Likewise, when I create something, I crave feedback. Criticism if need be. It’s even more confusing when there’s no comment at all. Instead a segue to change the subject. I take it personally.

Ultimately, I really hope that we do something that the three of us can all be proud of. I hope none of us compromise our own opinions, be they strong or weak. I hope we don’t cut too many corners here or there, corners which happen to be someones distate for a riff, a vocal melody, or what not.

I also hope we all are willing to make sacrifices, too. Because we’re all not the same person.

I’ve confused myself. What was I talking about again?