Ground To Zero

Freedom and music

Yeah, I will get to my updates on the Ground To Zero project soon, but first some AWESOME breaking news:

iiNet won their court case against AFACT!!

If that statement alone has you fist-pumping the air right now, then carry on celebrating noble freedom fighter!

If you’re wondering why I’m so happy, let me explain.  Way back in November 2008, Australian ISP iiNet was taken to court by the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) for allegedly failing to pass on copyright infringement notifications to its customers.  AFACT argued that by not enforcing their demands, iiNet was supposedly “authorising piracy” on their network.

Let me put it to you like this: if someone steals water from their neighbour’s garden hose, is the water company responsible because they provided the water?  The correct answer of course is HELL NO!  The water company is just a utility providing a service, they’re not responsible for how water is used.  In the same way, ISPs are a utility for providing internet services, not for policing how it’s used.  If AFACT had their way, ISPs would be forced to monitor all their customers’ usage.  It’s illegal for the postal service to check our mail, so why should ISPs be allowed to snoop on our internet activity?

Despite logic being on our side, most of us didn’t expect iiNet to win this case.  However, last Thursday Justice Dennis Cowdroy found that iiNet did not authorise the infringements and ruled in their favour.  Cowdroy stated that “The mere provision of access to the internet is not an authorisation of infringement“.  Despite what AFACT would have us believe, this does not mean pirates are “off the hook”.  After the verdict was announced, iiNet CEO Michael Malone emphasised that they do not condone piracy, but insisted that litigation isn’t the right way to fight it.  Rather, the best way to deal with the issue is to make the content available legally online in a way that’s mutually beneficial for the studios and the consumers.  Couldn’t have said it better myself.

That’s nice, but why do I care?

You should care because this is a big win for our privacy as consumers.  It means the big studios can’t bully ISPs into breaching the privacy of their customers.  The pretence of fighting piracy doesn’t give them the right to spy on all of us, and fortunately the court saw it that way too.

Just when things were looking gloomy for Australians with the proposed internet censorship filter still undefeated, it’s nice to see some good news for once.

This was going to be my rousing “Ground To Zero is back in action” message… however something more urgent has come up.

You may have noticed a No Clean Feed banner on this site lately. If you’re unfamiliar with this cause, you should know that No Clean Feed is an initiative by Electronic Frontiers Australia in protest against the Australian government’s proposed mandatory internet censorship filter, a filter not unlike the infamous Great Firewall of China. This is the first of its kind in a democratic country and hopefully the last. You might think this is a good thing to help protect children from all the bad stuff in the world (wide web), but here’s why it’s not:

• It doesn’t work.  The proposed censorship system only filters unencrypted web (HTTP) traffic.  Not only is this relatively easy to circumvent (for those so inclined), but the filter has no effect on chat-rooms, peer-to-peer file sharing and other internet mediums, which is where you’ll find most of the stuff they want to block.
• The filter is based on a secret blacklist.  Only the government gets to decide what’s on the list, we don’t get a say when they get it wrong.  There have already been reported cases where legitimate business were blacklisted during the filter trials.
• There is no opt-out.  Even if you’re a consenting adult over the age of 18, you’re still treated to the same content censorship as everyone else.
• We pay the price.  The cost of rolling out a censorship filter that no one wants will be passed on to the ISPs, and then on to us.
• It’s a dangerous precedent.  This could be the start of a global trend that will cripple the web for everybody.

Surely no free country would introduce such a scheme, right?  Think again: in December 2009, Stephen Conroy released the reports from the trial program and now it seems the federal government will give it the go ahead.

Blood boiling yet?  Good, now you’re ready to fight back.

You can help raise awareness by darkening your website (like we did) or your profile photo during The Great Australian Internet Blackout from January 25 to 29 (which includes Australia Day).  Find out how to black out your profile picture and join the resistance.  We lost the battle, but the war has only just begun.

Imagine there are no record labels, just artists connecting directly with fans.  No middle man required.

Imagine there’s no RIAA and sharing music was legal, free and unrestricted.

Imagine if fans were free to share any music from their favourite artists, helping them reach a diverse audience. You can’t buy that kind of publicity. Literally.

Imagine portable devices designed to make sharing media between friends easy… like Zune’s squirt feature, but without the DRM.

Imagine if your portable music player was a short-range private radio station and friends nearby could listen in via their own media devices.

Imagine media sharing as just another form of communication, like sending an SMS text message.

Can you imagine?

(photo by Juliano Mattos, used under Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

I’m not a big NIN fan (don’t hate!), but I’ve grown to like them more and more for one reason: Trent Reznor.  His band Nine Inch Nails rose to fame from the grunge/goth movement of the early nineties, and Reznor has been pushing the envelop every step of the way.  Cut to present day, while most artists and record labels try desperately to hold on to their old ways, Reznor is one of the few “big name” artists embracing the digital medium in a positive way, which makes him a major inspiration for Ground To Zero.

If you haven’t seen it yet, you should watch Kevin Rose interview the man for an episode of Digg Dialogg.  It runs for about 40 minutes, so settle in with a bottle of wine and get ready to open your mind.

Welcome back to the Ground To Zero project. It’s been a while since last update and much has happened, so here’s a quick primer for those out of the loop:

• Jam #3, #4 and #5 happened, and they were good!
• Jam #5 was extra special because it was our first laid-back-unplugged-family-fun-day-BBQ jam session, just in time before Melbourne’s weather became penguin paradise.
• Many more awesome songs were conceived thanks to my talent …ed collaborators.
• I have a (digital) stack of photos, videos and demo recordings to sort through and edit. I’d like to get them online for you soon, but that all depends on my productivity.
• Speaking of productivity, I have been working on another project of mine these past few months: the rebirth of Nitidus under the new name “Shotgun Zero” (yes I realise the similarity, but it’s the only name that the three of us could agree on, and I’d much rather play gigs than argue band names).
• Shotgun Zero had their first gig at Musicland last week in support of Spark Iris (fronted by Ground To Zero regular Jake James). If you missed it, check out the Shotgun Zero website for full coverage.
• Oh, and between all that I’ve been working long hours at my day job so I can keep this project afloat and the internet bills paid.  You’re welcome.

Enough of the retrospective, now let’s look towards an even brighter future:

• From today, we’re trying on a new website design by AskGraphics.  I think it’s an improvement over the last one, but if you think you can do a better Wordpress theme, drop us a comment below.  Ground To Zero is all about supporting creativity so we’d love to get you guys involved in any way we can.
• Jam #6 happens real soon, which means another load of photos, video and demo tracks for me to sort through, yipee.

Later down the road we will take our ideas, form them into completed tracks and record them so you can have something to put on your iPod, won’t that be fun.  More on that another day, but for now it’s back to day job.  Make sure you’re subscribed so I don’t have to keep throwing rocks at your window to get your attention.

One of my greatest all-time favourite bands Faith No More have reunited after a decade apart, according to an official statement from bass player Billy Gould. Naturally, I’m excited as hell, and will be even more so if/when they announce tour dates in Australia.

Since the announcement, Billy Gould, or @MRGOULD as he is known on Twitter, has been keeping us posted on rehearsal progress, tour dates… and the relaunching of fnm.com as their official website.  Previously a fan site maintained by a group of devotees spread across four different countries (though somewhat neglected since the band split), the new official website has lost none of the community spirit of the old, nor even most of its content.  The bio and fan-collated photo gallery from the old site are still available on the new, although the bootleg live tracks are unfortunately absent.  If anything, the site has been catapulted into today’s online landscape by embracing the current web culture in a big way!  For web-savvy music buffs like me, there’s much to like.

For instance, the Videos section points to a YouTube search for “Faith No More”, the Photos section links to a similar Flickr search and the News section scrapes updates straight from Billy Gould’s Twitter feed.  It’s an extensive use of social media on a scale of almost Skittles proportions, which is great to see especially from a band who last played together in the late nineties.  Some might see this as lazy web design, but that kind of thinking is so… earlier this decade.  If Trent Reznor has shown us anything, it’s that fans and bands find mutual benefit in a thriving, sharing community.  Also, did I mention the website is very low on clutter?  Seems that FNM are making all the right moves so far.  It will be interesting to see how they push those boundaries in the coming months… I mean, this is Faith No More we’re talking about here!

On a related note, anyone know where I can score free tickets to the Download Festival this year?  Flights to England are cheap these days right?  I’d better stop before I get myself too depressed.

Now we’re starting to get into the swing of things after another fun Saturday of jamming.  Extra fun for me because I got to try out my new digi-kit at full volume.  For all you drum nerds, I’m talkin’ about the Yamaha DTXtreme III Special.  I’m not sponsored by Yamaha (wish I was), but the kit is pure magic!  So much that I could hardly get Gazz off the thing, which brings me to my clever segue to introducing the line up for ‘open jam’ number 2:

• Jase on bass.  My brother joined us for the first time, but you can catch him on stage with his band Dusted Orange on Easter Saturday at Ruby’s Lounge.
• Jake on guitar.  The man whose riffs evolved into our first song returned for more mayhem.  He is currently working hard on an album with his band Spark Iris (formerly Against The Grain).
• Gazz on acoustic drums.  This time, the mean machine of the metal marching beat brought out his monstrosity of a Tama kit (that thing is HUGE!) and laid down some rocking grooves.  You can catch Gazz on stage with Crimson Face and check their Myspace for some freshly recorded tracks.
• Me on the digi drums.  While I’m plugging, I might as well mention that you should definitely see Dusted Orange next Saturday because my other band (currently known as Nitidus) will also be on stage rocking out.

Once our equipment was set up, we launched into a 4 hour non-stop rock soundscape.  The special effects and percussion made possible by the digi-kit blended brilliantly with the acoustic drums, which Gazz and I alternated a few times.  Jase brought his own uniquely progressive stylings to the mix as I’d hoped he would, which fit right in with Jake’s mammoth riffs (the dude seems to have an endless supply).  Some interesting ideas emerged during the session, plus a very interesting reimagining of the Terminator theme.  Video footage was taken, however due to technical difficulties I’m yet to tell if there’s anything worth showing.  The issues involve Sony hardware and Apple’s iMovie, so if you’re an expert in either, it would be awesome to hear from you.

Photos on the other hand…

Thanks Jase, Jake and Gazz for sharing your skills.  Another fantastic jam session down, bring on the next one.

I mentioned in my previous post that, during our first ‘open jam’ session the other week, we actually wrote an awesome song.  Such a tease I am to tell you about our awesome new song without letting you hear it for yourself.  Such a horrible tease I am, all talk and no substance …that’s what she said!

Well thanks to Suzy and Gazz for having the forethought to bring a digital camera along to the rehearsal room, we now have raw video evidence of our first musical collaboration!

This video comes with a little disclaimer though: the featured song is still a work-in-progress and the video itself is not exactly ‘broadcast quality’.  Fortunately the video quality is just fine for YouTube, so check it out!

For a small digital camera, I was actually surprised at the results.  No fancy studio equipment was used (I hadn’t planned on recording anything that day!), but the song is quite audible and the image is not too bad either.  Ain’t technology grand?  Maybe Suzy will let us use her camera again next time (hint hint).

The song itself was only about 4 hours old when we recorded it, so it still needs some more work… and a title.  We’ll keep you posted of any developments in the song’s evolution, as well as any other songs that may emerge.

For now, let me leave you with a few of Suzy’s happy snaps from the rehearsal studio.

Update: seems that folks are liking the video!  The Ground To Zero YouTube channel has reached #52 – Most Viewed (Today) – Musicians – Australia.  Nice!  Remember, if you like the video, you’re free to share it around, so post it on your Myspace, share it with a friend on Facebook, whatever, it’s free*!

*Free for non commercial use only, and Ground To Zero should always be credited for the content (as well as any derivatives, remixes, etc), because that’s just polite dammit!  Check out the details on the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia licence.

Last Saturday was the first (of hopefully many) ‘open jam’ sessions.  Seven friends, all musicians from different bands, came together for the first time to play some tunes and see what happens.  The results were… unexpectedly amazingly!

This has been a long time coming.  I’ve been toying with this idea for almost a year now, in fact that’s kinda how this website began.  I can’t believe it’s been almost a year already, wish I’d listened to this guy back then (caution, probably NSFW):

No matter, I’m just glad to get the ball rolling.  Part of my idea was along these lines: “what if a group of musicians got together, not necessarily as a band, but as a kind of ‘fraternity’ of musicians to create something fresh and completely different to what we may have done in our regular bands”.  Not quite an original concept on its own I admit, but for me it’s part of a broader plan that I’ll talk about in later posts.  The point is, I just thought this would be heaps of fun.  When you’re in a band that plays all the local venues, you naturally get to know a lot of folks from other bands.  I’ve sometimes wondered what it must be like to play in a band with these people, or better yet, what if we rolled them up in to one band?  In a way, this is almost a throw back to the sixties, kinda like my very own hippie jam with Melbourne’s unsigned finest!

So about two weeks ago I sent out Facebook invitations to victims participants and booked the venue for our cacophony of sound… and since then it’s been a lot of emotions rolled into one.  Excitement that this is actually going to happen, but also anxious about how the hell I was going to pull this off.  Five guitarists and four drummers in one room would seem like a recipe for certain disaster, right?

The day finally came, and all my fears were set aside.  The event actually went REALLY well, I even Twittered straight afterwards something about it being a “great success” (I had a Borat moment).  Only four guitarists, two drummers (including myself) and one singer were able to make it on the day, so it was somewhat more manageable than I feared.  Most of the participants already knew each other, some met for the first time, but all seemed to mix really well together when the amps started wailing (not quite the cacophony I feared). The players for the day included:

• myself (of course) and Gaz (of Crimson Face) on drums and percussion
• Frankie (solo artist and from Lustre), Ash (from Back Nine and Nitidus), Jake (from Spark Iris) and my good friend Catherine on guitars
• The inimitable Suzy (from Exile and Lustre) rockin’ the mic
• And finally on bass we had the wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man… ok, we didn’t actually get any bass players showing up for this session, but we did have a pretty massive wall of guitars, so ya gotta be happy with that!

As host, I tried to keep things as casual and fun as possible, I even brought beer (the traditional social lubricant also works as music inspiration). We jammed on a few covers to warm up, but it wasn’t long before we wrote our first song.  Yes, we actually wrote a freakin’ song! And if memory serves, it wasn’t too bad either!  Pretty good for a group of musos jamming together for the first time.  The only real hitch in the whole event was the realisation that I lost my drum stick bag at the last Nitidus gig, and thus when Gaz broke my last pair of sticks, I had to make a quick drive home to find spares.  In this case it was a blessing to have two drummers because the jamming was able continue in my absence (thanks also to some quick gaffer tape repairs by Suzy).

Big props to all who joined me for six hours of musical madness, and a special shout out to those who couldn’t make it.  I had a blast, and there was definitely a great vibe amongst everyone there, so I’m pretty confident there’ll be an ‘open jam’ number two in the near future.  Can’t wait!

As you’ve probably noticed, I’m a bit erratic with the frequency of my blog posts here on Ground To Zero, though hopefully this will change in the new year.  One thing that I am frequently doing though is collecting articles about copyright, record labels, digital media, piracy and all the chaos that has swept over the music industry.  Most of these will likely be the basis for future articles on Ground To Zero.

So why wait for me to concoct another ramble when you can go straight to the source?

Jump into the Ground To Zero room right now on FriendFeed where I’m sharing all the good stuff I find online.  This is as raw as it gets folks!  If you’re not yet a FriendFeed user, it’s free to sign-up and it pulls together all the social networks you already have into one easy location.  There’s already plenty of crazy stuff there, so come share your thoughts and get a taste of what’s to come on Ground To Zero.

Get more of the good stuff in the Ground To Zero room on FriendFeed.