GERARD DE WAVES

There are a couple of things one should know about Gerard de Waves. Firstly, Gerard's music was made without a single penny involved. Gerard got himself a nice second-hand Mac iBook G4 (i.e. the cheapest computer available) in the spring of 2005 and was not planning on making any music with it until he discovered GarageBand, the low-tech sample-mixer provided with any Mac anywhere in the world. He toyed with it for a few hours, ending up with one completed song and a solid addiction to the GarageBand concept. This concept being (according to Gerard): try and make the best music possible with the worst tools possible. Of course, it would have made no sense to add anything to the library of samples provided by GarageBand: therefore no recording and no vocal arrangements of any kind. Gerard toyed with this concept for a few months, ending up with seventeen full songs and a dizzying panel of musical genres. Almost an inventory of instrumental world music today. Secondly, Gerard's music is made to prove a point. The point being that all you love is need. Most musicians today imagine that a good song requires technology to become great. Gerard points out how irrelevant technology is when the sources of creation are fun and games. Within a very limited frame, he produced some of the most intricate beats and twisted harmonies you will have heard since you were born, as well as some of the simplest and catchiest tunes you will keep in mind for the rest of your life - and both sometimes within the same song.Finally, a bunch of quotes from a recent interview:"I guess my album would be really fascinating for someone who knows GarageBand and is used to these loops. I've basically used 99.9% of the loops available on the rough version of the program, and nothing else. So it must be kind of fun to check out what I came up with.""I would call myself a musician. But most of the time I just make up music inside my head, without letting anyone know about it. See, I love singing and playing all kinds of instruments and jamming with friends after a few drinks and so on and so forth. There's always some kind of tune going through my mind. Not that I'm actually composing that way - mate, I wish I was Beethoven sometimes. Then I remember he went deaf and I feel better about myself, you know? And the little tunes start going through my head again. Maybe that's enough to be called a musician. But that's being an amateur, which I definitely prefer over being a professional. Something dries up when you become a pro.""Mate, can you really believe how much money is spent on some albums these days? Without naming anyone, we've all heard about ridiculous amounts of cash for so-and-so's latest offering. Which is more often than not a creative disaster. First, you wonder what they spent the money on, and then you turn the newspaper's page and you read about people starving down the road from where you live. Doesn't make sense to me. I would feel guilty spending so much cash to make music".There it is for now. Spread the word! Gerard de Waves. "Anybody's album". A healthy view on music.