If it seems like Von Varagon Society has been in development for a long, long time, that's because it has been. With only two public appearances, VVS has already gone through two drums and a couple of guitar plays. Certainly, it's because Mike and I are so difficult to work with.

Just kidding. The fact is side projects take time to reach critical mass. And finding musicians that are the right fit is a challenge. I recently paid for a premium subscription for a month at bandmix.com. This is a site is meant to connect musicians. Even with Black Hills limited population, the free membership on bandmix.com is partically useless, because it locks out email address and messaging. But the premium membership has already justified the $9.95 charge. It's generated some great leads.

But, not for a drummer, which is what I'm really looking for. My best lead on a drummer has come via Facebook. I know. In my last post I put Facebook down for its demoralizing effect from sharing creativity, and now I'm thanking Facebook for what it does best. In the music game, as with most things, it's who you know, what's your connection

Hopefully, my next post I'll have some announcements.

Many serious amatuer musicians will tell you they do what they do for their "own satisfaction". This statement is usually prefaced by a chuckle and the rationale that you're not getting rich. I find that's all true on one level or another. Unfortunately, I sometimes find my definition of satisfaction slipping to be dependant on other people liking my stuff. If you're a intervert with an ego/esteem problem like me that is a horrible definition of satisfaction because you're probably strapped with a strict interpretation of pandering as well. That's right, the audience has to find your music on their own and like it the way you want it.

Hey, I said it was horrible. This definition in practice in the age of social media is the perfect way to send yourself into a spiral of self-hatred. Sharing on facebook is the worst. I'm confident that every artist has had this experience. You work hard to first write a song, and then to produce it. When you're actually okay with the result, you share it on Facebook. And it gets 10 or so plays.

Really.

10 plays.

Out of over 250 "friends". AND in reality, that's maybe two or three full plays, and the rest are just bounces after 30 seconds. At this you completely forget that those 6 or 7 unique listeners really deserve you gratitude, but instead become pissed that they couldn't part with the full three and half minutes of their lives to the whole song.

Then you wonder what everyone else problem is, since the average visitor session on Facebook is 12 minutes

Then one of your friends will share a youtube link of some guy getting whacked in the nuts or something like that. And though no one has any connection to the guy, no effort was put forward, it will garner numerous comments and shares.

After several hours of being angry, you find yourself left with two conclusions. Either, one, everyone is apathetic to you and only humoring you by friending in the first place, or two, no one likes your music because you are a talentless hack. I'm ashamed to admit that I've felt a little of both.

What I usually do is swear off Facebook for a while until I recognize that my judgment of people, based on their actions or lack there of on a social media site, was unfair and just wrong.

You've probably hear this a billion times, but the only true motivation for any true artist, amatuer and professional alike, is that they do what they do because they must. Satisfaction, as in complete and absolute serenity and happiness, just isn't in the cards. But self-satisfaction, as in "What else am I suppose to do", is a real possibility.

As intended, I recorded another song, Under The Chestnut Tree, using the more minimalist approach than usual. While I'm not as happy as with prior attempts, I'm still glad I did it.

It's a simple song, but can be daunting to play on acoustic. Also, I wrote it with Von Varagon Society's three piece lineup in mind, so the drums are missed. You might not hear it listening to this version, but with drums I think it takes on a Franz Ferdinand vibe. That could be wishful thinking. Just as soon as I have a full band recording I'll post and let you be judge.

Speaking of the full band, we've kind of hit the point of no return on learning songs, but not quite critical mass in terms of quantity to do more than open. Opening for another band would be okay, but there's just not a lot of opportunities here in the Black Hills. So the plan is to get to two or more hours solid and then hit booking heavy. To do this, we will certainly be adding more covers. I'm not big on cover bands (no disrespect is meant, just too many years of audience requesting AC/DC) but I'm pretty certain no one will ever consider Von Varagon Society a cover band. Anyhow, I'll post a list as we add them.

A couple weekends ago I hooked up the old Presonus Firepod and banged out a quick recording of a new song titled This S.O.T.G. The purpose of the recording as a reference to help the other guys in the band learn the song, but while setting up I lucked into the happy spot for the positioning of a relatively-inexpensive AKG microphone with my guitar. I was really pleased with the result. It was simple: first takes of acoustic guitar, bass guitar and voice. And it was clean: EQ, and slight reverb. Now, I'm not saying it's the greatest recording ever, just that I was more pleased with it than other home studio recordings I've done recently.

Last weekend, in hopes of repeating the result, I followed the same method on another, slightly older song titled God Bless The Also Ran. Again, I was really happy with the outcome. The funny thing about this particular song was that I had worked up a fairly elaborated backing track with the intent of someday doing a highly produced album. I don't know if that someday will ever come because, frankly, I'm not sure I have the time, energy or knowledge to pull it off without professional help.

Yet with these simple recordings, warts and all, I don't feel as apologetic the way I do about more produced efforts. Like many songwriters, I find a song feels the best it ever will the first time it's played top-to-bottom on the acoustic guitar. The instrument is probably arbitrary (The guitar just happens to be the tool I use). The reason for this feeling is when it is going well, the experience of writing a song is like a good, sustained buzz on a Saturday afternoon in the Fall. It's a feeling second only to a warm debut of a new song.

The point is a recordings of this nature are reminscent of the experience of writing the song. I intend on doing more.