Los Guys

A couple years ago, I was looking at my guitars and thought I would just put em in storage. I was resisting doing it: I was, like, going to just stop playing music. That was tough for me for a while. I was kind of heartbroken 💔 thinking about it, because, well I've been doing music like forever and a day. Went to schools for it, played a bunch of shows, helped write and record a bunch of tunes. And met super super super cool people through music.
But my guitars were just sitting there... and the double edge sword of social media... youtube. there are so many badasses doing badassery out there on the guitar, I really really thought. Nah, it's over. Gonna put em away. There is so much great music out there, what could I contribute...
I was emotional --- really emotional for me to think about it --- but I arrived one day, kinda just resigned to it. And at that point, I felt the least I've ever felt... not sad, happy, relieved or anything... it was weird. But i just said, ah ok. this is it. Music is in my past.
So procrastination kicked in or whatever... maybe it was just lack of urgency to NOT put my guitars away... the guitars just sat there. And over a couple years a ton of stuff happened… but hearing a couple of songs that I remembered listening to way back, made me think 🤔 “oh hey i wonder what’s she’s singing… i wonder what he’s playing…” and my go-to to figure out stuff is guitar… which then led to firing up Ableton which i hadn’t done probably since 2014 when Jeremy visited Los Angeles and we went to Roscoe’s.
But that triggered off a chain of events like importing the mp3s of these tunes into Ableton Ableton, doing time-mapping, adding midi-based accompaniment, getting familiar with about 1% of the built-in effects … i really needed to know what these artists were singing and playing. And the way for me to learn it was to transcribe it, and basically create stuff around the existing mp3, and adding guitars. So what ended up happening was a process that was like creating new accompaniment using the original material as inspo, paying homage. Most of the stuff i knew i couldn’t play note-for-note 😂 but i unlocked an inner joy when i learned the melody lines sitting over the chord progressions… it opened up for me unexpected appreciation for tunes i ALWAYS loved, but for some reason, i just loved ‘em more.
That got me diggin up old recordings … with Steve Elci Steve Elci, Rice n Beans… and of course, Jeremy - and I started re-recording a part or two.. Adding drums and bass… etc.
So I heard this live performance of sinead doing Nothing compares.. It was in the last couple of years - and i was enthralled - and needed to do a tribute… and that makes this video a kind of a sing-along. 😆 kinda like karaoke, kinda like a TikTok duet, kinda like... a sing along!🙃
But now it’s Oct 2020, and 2020 itself is just so beyond comprehension… and when lockdown started, it was a perfect time to pick up the guitar again-- luckily they weren’t in storage! 🤣-- and i was insecure 😬😅 as ever. I was so concerned that my playing sucked and everyone was used to listening to and watching all the youtube badassery! But i guess what i’m realizing or just resigning myself to - and this helps me alot - is that, “it doesn’t really matter?” Whether i suck or not is not the point (contrary to some music schools’ POVs or even pop culture's concept of “meritocracy” [...don’t get me started!!😂] )... none of that matters. it’s just really: does it make you have more appreciation and more gratitude for the ones you love? If yes, then do it. 🙏🏼

Sometimes you just gotta turn it up to twelve and yell it out 🔊🔇. Rust Never Sleeps is one of the best albums of all times - the progression from the light blue acoustic to the utter black grunge proves that nobody has to be defined by a genre. This song was a hell of a lot of fun to make. We'll keep mixing it up as long as y'all keep enjoying... so like/share/subscribe yada yada. Drop a line if you liked it, and tell your friends. 🙏🏼
I wonder, are my influences sooooooo obvious?!🤣😂 Here's to J.Mascis, Prince, Steely Dan, and... Neil Young! If Jeremy and I weren't in an acoustic duo together, I'd be in a "real band" with him!!! 🙄🙄 Hahah!! Drums, bass and all!

Acoustic guitars are meant for leads, too 😂🤣 I never know what tune Jeremy is gonna start playing, until, well, he starts playing it.
FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY NEW (old) LOS GUYS MUSIC DAY! We're hard a work on something really cool, so this week we're pulling another from the vault, the 2014 sessions in ShermOaks. This has been a Los Guys staple for a looooong time... I love playing this with Harold!
https://youtu.be/mLDX8OGy1DI
Not tagging anyone this time- just leave an X or a Hey or a 🙂 in the comments if you see this!
Maximum respect -
Harold & Jeremy
Los Guys

all the years combine, they melt into a dream, in the end there's still that song, dust off those rusty strings just one more time, gonna make them shine, it all rolls into one, there's nothing you can hold for very long, when you hear that song, it seems like all this life is just a dream.
when it was January 2020, there is no way u could have described what this year was going to be. if you wrote it out as a screenplay, novel, short story, comic book, it would not be believable. you can not make this stuff up. and it's only august. whoa.
the song plays for everyone.
listen ↔︎ ignore ↔︎ harmonize ↔︎ crescendo ↔︎ diminuendo ↔︎ on or off-key ↔︎ on or off-tempo
ya know you can compose arrange and play a part your part, or not,
the song comes for everyone.