K-kun wrote:
I am so glad that you joined scape [again], Adrian! And thank you for sharing those demos with us. All your music is just awesome, but unfortunately, I am that type of person who pays a lot of attention to vocals. I mean that I can adore music in an instrumental song, but I would seldom listen to it just because the song sounds empty without vocal for me.
I started to listen to GPKISM after my friend had given me their first album "Sublimis". I fell in love with GPK's voice and started to search for information about him. Then I found out that GPK previously was a vocalist in Flood of Rain, but all I could found was "Dream Sleep". I was listening to it and almost crying, because such a great music just "went to waste" without vocals. And only more than year later "Effigy" was posted here and I finally could fully enjoy your music.
Now I feel absolutely the same way about the demos you posted here. Especially, about "System Crash". The music is SO thrilling, I just can't stop listening to it and imagining Ken singing it. "System Crash" and "Sitting on the Moon" will definitely be on the first places in my Top 10 listening compositions next week!
Well, Adrian, I would be so glad if you told us how did you meet with Ken and why did you split with him? Of course, you don't have to answer these questions if you don't want to. It will be enough for me that I could let you know how much I appreciate your work. Thank you!
I can understand people's perspectives on music without vocals.
When i met Ken, i was just completing the album, so that is why it didn't feature any vocals on it. I came across Ken through myspace. he had his GPK music project, which were just a collection of instrumental demos, we got talking about music and found we had a lot of things in common.
During that time, we began talking about singing and the types of Vocals we appreciated and he mentioned that he used to sing, so i convinced him that it would be fun to maybe try something with his vocals in it.
We originally formed a seperate project from our own and worked on the music for a demo song together and afterwards we tried some vocal ideas, but the song was never completed (i cant really remember why) we somehow came to the topic of my music and Ken suggested trying a vocal idea for submerge, so we recorded a rough demo of his vocals for the song. i really liked them because i guess it sounded unique when you compare the music to other artists in similar genres. although a little rough around the edges, i saw a great deal of talent there and felt that he should sing more, as well as nurturing his ability to compose.
we re-worked a couple of my songs so we could apply some layers to them, which he worked on (like the piano lines for submerge)
eventually, we felt it would be great to post these songs on the myspace and i suggested we work on the project as a duo because i wanted more people to hear his talent and appreciate the work we were creating together. initially, the reactions were mixed. some people really enjoyed it, while other people just plain disliked the music with vocals (a lot of people started deleting Flood of Rain from their friends) but despite that, i felt that the music was benefiting from Ken and his work with me, so we kept at it and worked on some more songs.
Dance of Bullets was the next song, i think. originally the idea came up for a competition on myspace relating to the release of the movie adaption for "hitman"
both of us were fans of the game, we really wanted to try writing a song that could possibly work as the end credits for the film. i had already had an idea for some strings which i had worked on. when we discussed it, Ken mentioned he had also come up with some piano ideas. strangely, when we put both of our ideas together, they fit seamlessly, so from there, we etched out the idea for the song and recorded it.
we didnt win (obviously) but the resulting song was something i liked very much. it was a different style, even for me. i was quite proud of it.
time kind of passed on and Ken was getting a little more distant. we worked on music together, but he didnt seem so enthusiastic like he had before. i had been asking him if everything was okay and he assured me it was and there was nothing to worry about, so i took his word for it. it wasnt until a short time after, somebody had asked me what my feelings were about Ken beginning work on a project with Kiwamu from BLOOD. i had known nothing about it, so i was kind of shocked
I guessed that was the reason why Ken had been so distant. i didnt have any idea why he wouldnt have told me about it though. on top of that, i had found out they were both half-way through their first album, this came as a shock as Ken had told me he was commited to us completing an album together (we originally intended of re-releasing Dream Sleep with Ken's vocals and some reworked compositions to suit the new style)
I must admit, i felt kind of hurt because i made many sacrifices and changes to my music so that i could make sure Ken wasnt just an interchangable vocalist, i wanted him to be an active member. when we did interviews, i even encouraged him to speak more about his feelings so fans could get an idea of how he felt about music and what his thoughts were on things.
After some rough times between us regarding the secrecy, we began to work on some ideas again, real slowly. it was taking longer and longer to complete songs. i would write ideas and share them with Ken but many of the ideas werent being worked on (i think it took at least 3 months just to get vocals for effigy of sin recorded)
Around the same time as this was happening, i was also working on a remix for the Blam Honey CD Ryonai was working on (he had originally asked me to work on 2 of my favourite Blam Honey songs, which i was more than happy to do, because we had been talking about working together on something for over a year already)
Ken and i had many mutual friends we used to talk to, i would always voice my worries and concerns to them about what was happening to the project, because i never wanted it to end, i was getting kind of scared because it seemed as if Ken was just being used by this other member in his project. strangely though, some of these "friends" just seemed to like stirring the pot and were telling me things that Ken allegedly said about me and his lack of interest in Flood of Rain. it was a huge shock to me and i was hurt by it, i thought to myself "why would he say or do any of this? we were both wanting to work on music together"
on top of this, i think some of these same friends had been saying things to Ken as well, because rumors began popping up regarding things we had apparently said about each other, this created a rift between us that was getting worse and worse.
In the end, i dont know what happened, Ken and i just kinda stopped talking to each other, there was never really any closure on this matter for me. the only way i heard he didnt want to be a part of the project was 2nd hand info from somebody else.
To this day, its still really confusing and sad. i would have gladly continued working with Ken on music, as i enjoy his ideas and his style, but sadly, i doubt he would want to work together again
I know that his prospects with GPKism were probably much better than they would have been for Flood of Rain. he is touring around the world now, getting much more exposure than he could have done with me. i dont have any ill feeling towards him, if anything, i wish i could have sorted this stuff out so we could have at least remained friends.
After we had stopped talking, i felt it was best to just put a close on Flood of Rain. i felt without the vocal aspect to the project, it would not have had much chance to continue. it lead to me deleting the myspace page and quitting music for a while. it was 6 months later i began my other music project as a kind of outlet for my emotions (its much angrier sounding than Flood of Rain was)
I still miss doing Flood of Rain, i'd love to work on it again, but without somebody to sing, i dont think that it could reach as many people, emotionally.
im sorry for the long post, I hope it doesn't sound too bitchy
i have no bad feelings towards anyone. I'm glad Ken is doing what he wants to do, although its kinda hard to recognize his music nowadays from the newer material i have heard from his project. i at least hope he's happy and enjoying what he does
EDIT: i actually found a copy of the first song we worked on together in that seperate project i mentioned earlier
http://www.sendspace.com/file/8kfmi9
enjoy it in all of its cheesy glory