My friend James went out on Friday and bought himself a drum. When I say drum I mean a box. Well the fancy word for this fancy box drumming instrument is a cajón. For those who don't know what a cajón is (and believe me I didn't really know till I watched our friend's band "More like Trees" - check them out), it is basically a wooden box that you sit on and tap and beat with your hands. Anyway, James bought a cajón and the skeptic in me automatically said "its a box". This box however is fucking brilliant. This is my favourite type of box..... Well maybe not, but its a good box.
O.K, Innuendo's aside when James showed me the cajón he had bought all I could think of was its limitations. There's no symbols, bass drum, sticks - just a box you sit on. I also thought it was just for hippies sitting outside of St Paul's. Then we jammed and I realised how 'real' this instrument is. The sounds it makes are incredible and its raw qualities are beyond anything I could have imagined.
I bussed to his house on Friday evening with much eagerness to jam and get made up done in true Halloween spirit. I arrived and saw the new drum out of the case and ready to be played with. I knew he had the feeling of "aaaaagh, I have a new toy that needs to be played with but I can't appreciate it fully until I play with someone". I played his housemates neglected nylon string guitar and he played the box.
The first time that you play music with somebody its a very unique, strange feeling. Both parties aren't sure what to play or who's going to lead. Everybody is unsure. Everybody is trying to understand what each other are doing, where are they going, are they thinking that "I can't play my instrument very well", "do they like my style". James and I got through this really quickly and found something that we were both looking for - authenticity.
Both of us played the way we loved to play and found great moments of cohesion that I hadn't felt musically for a long time. It felt real. If we could have we would have stayed there all night and played till we fell asleep. 10 minutes was enough to want more though. We stopped, got our makeup done and went to the party (James took his cajón on his back to show off the new toy).
This party made me think of times I missed out whilst I was growing up. My adolescence and youth saw me partake an anti-art walk of life. I love my childhood friends but the chance of turning up to a party and a full blown house jam busting out was nil. The hazy memory I have of the Halloween jam had at one point personnel of, a ukulele, a guitar, a bass, a double bass, the cajón of course and a violin. I remember thinking to myself "This is why I came to London". This is the type of scene I have craved for so long now.
James received some, from what I gather helpful tips from a very sound cajón player. These techniques involved moving your leg up and down the box,whilst using cupped hands to arrange unique cajón based beats. It was nice to see the seriousness within this drunken drum lesson. Identifiably James took lots on board for our scheduled real jam - Sunday.
After spending the most of Saturday licking my wounds from Friday night, I woke up and on Sunday and went for a run to clear my head from a day of depressing couch dwelling. I arrived home after a forgettable few kilometers and saw the cajón sitting in my room with a note on it reading "back at 2". I thought, fuck yeah, he's serious. I met James at a pub with his girlfriend Philippa and drank a strong, dark Belgian beer which went straight past my 6 weetabix and found its way to my brain quite easily.
Inspiration hits us back at my apartment in more ways than one and we started playing some songs I had written since I have been in London. They worked, we found grooves that I hadn't ever played before, we automatically found that musical relationship we briefly touched on on Friday. The way that we would finish a song and look at each other and giggle like little school girls told me that good things were happening. We played for over 2 hours and were and still are both so excited, We are ready to put effort in. We found a medium in our playing that allowed James to play some fast paced, yet spaced out cool time signatures that kept my melodies unforced whilst keeping my guitar playing sloppy but tight. Music is such a hard thing to describe in words.
Previous to the purchase of the cajón by James I had been feeling frustrated. I had been feeling like I had been wasting my time. I felt like I had gone all the way back to square one of my musical quest. I knew I wasn't going to give up. Sometimes I find myself wondering when does someone in my position "give up".
Thank You James Voller
Thank you Box
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