This is about as indulgent as they come but I don't care. While this blog is mostly devoted to software testing, it also is the repository for many of my thoughts, ideas and half-baked schemes that I want to record and tell the world about in some way.
There's a running joke in the software testing world about the "rock star tester" and the fact that, at one point in my life, the first two words better described me than the third word did. In truth, I was never comfortable with the term "rock star", mainly because even at the most celebrated our material ever became, any "stardom" was a very local and niche kind of thing. I've actually been OK with that. I got to do all of the things I set out to do as a musician (well, most of them, in any event) without having to experience too many of the downsides. At the age of twenty-five, I chose to "retire" and live a more normal kind of life, one which involved a more standard kind of career and a family. Still, the desire to create, to write, to express my self in what is basically bad poetry, and to sing on a stage has never been far from my thoughts. Now, I'm actively enjoying that process once again and I'd like to tell you all about it.
I am the lead singer of a hard rock/heavy metal band called Ensign Red!
First, a disclaimer. I have no idea what any one person's definition of hard rock or heavy metal is. If you hear us and consider us metal, great. If you don't, that's fine too :).
Second, we are probably never going to win this battle of pronunciation but I'm going to state it anyway. Our name is "En-SIGN Red"! Think of a flag. An Ensign. Specifically, we are named after the red flag pirates would raise that meant "no quarter given" (more appropriately referred to as "The Red Ensign". We switched the words because we felt it sounded more interesting. We've also heard people refer to us as "EN-sin Red", as though it were a formal name of a person holding the military rank. The fact is, many people find it easier to say the latter so we're cool with either. It's all good :).
Third, this is a project that takes up a fairly large amount of my time and attention and I want a place to talk about it. I want to talk about the creative process of songwriting, of oddball source materials, of inspirations that make their way into our songs. Some things will be kept secret (so to speak) but otherwise, any thoughts or questions about being a later in life band member trying to exercise a bit of creativity are totally open.
I may even drop in some software testing relevant content with these posts from time to time. Who knows. In any event, here's to future days :).
There's a running joke in the software testing world about the "rock star tester" and the fact that, at one point in my life, the first two words better described me than the third word did. In truth, I was never comfortable with the term "rock star", mainly because even at the most celebrated our material ever became, any "stardom" was a very local and niche kind of thing. I've actually been OK with that. I got to do all of the things I set out to do as a musician (well, most of them, in any event) without having to experience too many of the downsides. At the age of twenty-five, I chose to "retire" and live a more normal kind of life, one which involved a more standard kind of career and a family. Still, the desire to create, to write, to express my self in what is basically bad poetry, and to sing on a stage has never been far from my thoughts. Now, I'm actively enjoying that process once again and I'd like to tell you all about it.
I am the lead singer of a hard rock/heavy metal band called Ensign Red!
First, a disclaimer. I have no idea what any one person's definition of hard rock or heavy metal is. If you hear us and consider us metal, great. If you don't, that's fine too :).
Second, we are probably never going to win this battle of pronunciation but I'm going to state it anyway. Our name is "En-SIGN Red"! Think of a flag. An Ensign. Specifically, we are named after the red flag pirates would raise that meant "no quarter given" (more appropriately referred to as "The Red Ensign". We switched the words because we felt it sounded more interesting. We've also heard people refer to us as "EN-sin Red", as though it were a formal name of a person holding the military rank. The fact is, many people find it easier to say the latter so we're cool with either. It's all good :).
Third, this is a project that takes up a fairly large amount of my time and attention and I want a place to talk about it. I want to talk about the creative process of songwriting, of oddball source materials, of inspirations that make their way into our songs. Some things will be kept secret (so to speak) but otherwise, any thoughts or questions about being a later in life band member trying to exercise a bit of creativity are totally open.
I may even drop in some software testing relevant content with these posts from time to time. Who knows. In any event, here's to future days :).
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