Instrumentation - Guitars

The Neighbors are a group with many guitars... So let me break it down.

When it comes to electric guitar playing, I use my BC Rich Warlock Metal Master - Bronze series. This axe features a Basswood Body, Bolt on Rosewood Fretboard, 24 Jumbo Frets, 2 BC Rich B.D.S.M.Humbucker Pickups, and a wrap around fixed Bridge.





When the Steely Man gets on his axe, he uses a Jackson with locking tremolo, a whammy bar, 24 frets, and Seymore Duncan pickups.





Jim and I also use a couple of Acoustic/Electric guitars such as the Takamine and the Ibanez. They are acoustic, but have pickups and equalizer sliders to control Highs, Mids, and Low frequencies.


Ibanez Acoustic/Electric


Takamine Acoustic/Electric

Finally, Jakey plays this here Yamaha RBX-170 Bass Guitar.



It's a bass.

Instrumentation - Keys

Here's a little bit about the keyboards that Jimbo plays for all you instrument tech fans out there:


The Steely man rocks a Yamaha DGX505 full portable grande synth piano. It has 494 instruments including pianos, woodwinds, brass instruments, and percussion. It has 88 weighted keys, midi capability, a floppy drive for storage, and it looks a little something like this:



He also recently purchased a badass synthesizer by Korg called a microkorg synth/vocoder. This little synth features 37 keys, 128 programmed effects that are infinitely customizable, and the vocoder which is the microphone part that you can alter your voice with. You wouldn't believe the sounds that come out of this thing when you start turning all those dials. We are hoping to diversify our sound with this versatile instrument. Stay tuned to see what we can do.

Hempfest Benefit Concert

This Wednesday, April 23, between 7:00pm - 10:00pm there will be a concert taking place at High Five Bar & Grill to raise money for Hempfest. The show is being hosted by SSDP (Students for Sensible Drug Policy). The Neighbors will be playing a set, as will SSDP's The Waves and numerous other bands.


Mouth of the Architect


The High Five is located at 1227 North High Street in the short north. Well, it's actually at the intersection of High and 5th, go figure.

Amps Against Apathy

On Thursday, April 24, Democracy Matters will be hosting a free outdoor concert at Browning Amphitheater (South Oval OSU) to promote Voter-Owned Elections, get people more active in voting, and fight corporate corruption in the
elective system.




This concert will take place from 4:30pm to 9:00pm

Band Lineup:
Paper Tiger
Saintseneca
The Neighbors
James and James
The Lost Indians
The Blastronauts
Our Cat Philip


Browning Amphitheater



By sadprofessor, used under the CC BY-SA license.

New Photos: Friday's Practice Session

The shots you see before you as well as many more yet to be posted are from this past Friday's practice session. I also shot some pretty interesting video footage during this practice, but due to technical difficulties, it remains to be posted. Perhaps tomorrow.



If you're wondering what those funky black pads that Mr. Dickson is drumming on are all about, in addition to his acoustic drum kit, JD also plays on this electronic drumset. It's some kind of Yamaha DTXpress kit, I believe, but I will find out the specifics for you Percophiles out there. The Edrum kit allows us to have access to a repertoire or countless percussive instruments as well as electronic beats. JD's kit includes wind chimes, steel drums, marimba, sleigh bells, and gongs to name a few.

The Neighbors' Photos

The Neighbors' Music Videos

I recommend watching these music videos in fullscreen mode. You can go to my Blip page to see more of my videos and animations. "Earthborn" features Jim Stehli on synthesizers and drums.

Music Video for ’Deaf Generation’



Deaf Generation Lyrics:

The broken glass shards in the alley
crunching beneath him
softly bequeath him.
He passes by.

There was a shootout in his backyard.
Was there a winner?
The walls get thinner
every night.

A flashing patrol car in the distance
was touching his vision.
It speaks to a mission
and stirs his sight.

He watches TV now and sees the bad news.
earthquakes and monsoons
The man really wants to
Go change the world.
Change the world.

You wore your headphones to the table.
Upgrade your cable,
and try to disable
the world out there.

But, here he comes with his advising.
You say, Don't push it on me,
and don't you infect me
because I don't care.

It sure must be nice, though, to live for something.
Go buy your dumb shit,
and purchase the numbness
of plastic pride.

But, let me bequeath you with some wisdom.
Life is just wasted
when you're plugged in and faceless
Go change the world
change the world.

You deaf generation!
Oh yeah.

I don't ever want people to look to the history books and say they were a deaf generation!

You take my name from that page!

Music Video for ’Night at the Playground’



You might be interested to know that "Night at the Playground" is not so much a 'song' per se, as it is an improvisational jam. On the night of January 6, 2008, we decided to record an extended free-form jam lacking any prompt of a musical key, rhythm, or concept. We recorded this jam both on video and through the mixer into the computer. The piece sort of divided itself into a chaotic, yet bright beginning for the first 16 minutes. It then began to sound gradually heavier and darker as explored further into the soundscape. This lasted for over 6 minutes (the music video is a truncated excerpt). This was followed by a 22 minute improv piece with impromptu vocals by Jim that was dubbed "Baby, there's more where that came from". These 3 sections were then divided in post production into "Day at the Playground", "Night at the Playground" and "There's More Where that Came From".

The Amazing Ebow: Sustaining the World

You may be curious how I manage to get such strange, infinitely sustained guitar sounds on some of our songs such as "Runner's High" and the soundtrack from "Earth-born".

One of my secrets is the Ebow. Ebow, which stands for Electronic Bow, is a small device which creates an oscillating electromagnetic field around the guitar string causing it to vibrate at certain frequencies resulting in potentially infinite sustain, similar to that of a violin bow.



The Ebow is a truly versatile implement with 2 settings that oscillate at variant frequencies allowing me to switch between a more squeeling harmonic sustain versus a more melodic, legato, flute sounding effect.


Ebows have been around since 1976 and used by such groups as U2, Blondie, Elton John, Van Halen, Phil Collins, Queen, REO Speedwagon, David Bowie, Blue Oyster Cult, and my favorite, The Smashing Pumpkins. They go for around $100, but it is well worth it, and I highly recommend the EBow for anyone wishing to expand their repertoire of guitar sounds.

How The Neighbors came to be

For those of you who have never seen our Myspace page, this is a brief biography of how we came together as a band. This will probably be updated soon since we have been playing with a new bass player which saves me the trouble of having to play bass and guitar at the same time. He just needs to be initiated, of course.

About The Neighbors

The Neighbors were formed in the fall of 2007. One night, Jim Stehli was playing a solo performance at a house party concert next door to him. They billed him on the posters as "Jim the Neighbor". He played the piano and sang with Djembe drumming accompaniment courtesy of Erik Summers. The crowd was delighted by his performance.

After all the bands and musicians finished playing, an impromptu fireside jam ensued with Jim playing a mandolin and mutual friend Alex Everett playing an acoustic guitar. Some beautiful girls even started to improvise vocal parts for the jam. Everyone sang, drank, and rocked the night away.

Jim was so astonished by Alex’s guitar playing that he asked him to learn some of his songs. Jim’s roommate Jim is also a drummer who has been jamming with Jim for some years, so with the addition of Alex, the final piece of the triad was in place, and The Neighbors were born.

But wait, there's more!

Recently, we have added a new member to the group, Jake Laramore, who we met when he was filling in on bass for Red Sun. The day we met Jake, as well as the band Red Sun, we were playing a show with them at the Columbus Marathon. People were running by and cheering on the street as we rocked out on the hillside powered by a gas generator. Then, after the marathon, we had some brews and found out we're all big anime nerds. Anyway, now he plays the bass with us and the final piece of the... um square is in place, and The Neighbors are REBORN!

The Neighbors Lineup:

Jim Stehli - Piano, Synthesizer, Vocals, Guitars
Alex Everett - Guitars, Back-up Vocals, Harmonica
Jim Dickson - Drums, Electro-Drums
Jake Laramore - Bass Guitar

It's Official

The wait is over and your curiosity can now be sated with the answer to that burning question, "Where is that show going to be at, again?"

I just talked to the booking agent for the Battle of the Bands, and it's been confirmed that it is taking place on May 10th at CBR's.

I've actually been to CBR's one time over a year ago. It's this really happenin club downtown with 3 bars in it and a sunken dance floor / stage where the bands play, so people can stand or sit all around and above the bands when they perform. They have a really good soundsystem and the bands that play there are really sweet.

I'm really psyched about this show now, and we are sure to win the Battle of the Bands, so everybody come out and show your support. It's going to be a great show!

http://www.cbrbar.com

C.B.R's
503 S. Front St.
Columbus, OH 43213
614-224-8155

New Gigs Booked!

Exciting news on top of even more exciting news.

As if it wasn't already great enough that Zach Germaniuk informed us a couple weeks ago that our spot at Hempfest is confirmed, we just got booked for another gig in downtown Columbus~!

About 2 months ago, we received an encouraging, yet mysterious message on our myspace from a character named 'Beth's Gigs' who offered us an all-ages show in downtown columbus sometime in the beginning of May, and asked us for our contact information. I replied with the contact information and inquired about the show, but received no response for the next month or two.

Then, recently, I got a call out of the blue from another booking company that had apparently gotten our contact information from 'Beth's Gigs'. (http://www.myspace.com/bethsgigs)

They told us that the concert is going to be on May 10th in one of the downtown venues, yet to be announced. Also, this is going to be a sort of Battle of the Bands in which the band who wins gets 16 free hours of studio time~!

This upcoming show has yet to be posted on the myspace or the facebook group because I don't know the exact location yet, but I will keep you posted.