rabbitkiller - ProfilesArchive

About Me

here is some stuff that really matters: i play music alot. i play guitar, standard tuning(sort of, your B string i tune to C) open tune in C or G. i play banjo; (not a "real" one yet but maybe someone someday will give me a left handed 5-string. i just feel it! until then. . .)i tune my fake banjo to open G. i play a one string instument made out of pots and pans i call a pandolin. (6inch scale length makes it comfortable to play.) i use a heavy brass slide and a pick. i like to play it with others, the funnest being banjo players. i like to tune the one string to their 5th string;makes it sound like there is one crazy banjo player in the house! i tape on an electric pick-up and play electric. i play regular fiddle but never in public. i play one string pan fiddle i call my flute( because of the sounds i get out of it !) i play my one string "cherryfield cello"( cherryfield maine has a great public dump! the kind folks up there let me rummage through to get most of the parts, thanks). parts include broiler lid and enamaled canning boiler lid. i tape a pick-up on the cello and have good results running it thru a power fuzz wah. i really like to take broken or otherwise fucked up instuments and make them "Work". with amazing regularity people give me guitars( for example but not at all limited to ) and tell me the action is way too high( because the neck is seperating from the body or worse) and i should "make one of your things" out of it. this is fun for me and it has helped me understand where music comes from within myself. i don't need a gibson or a martin to make music i think is good. on that note if i were being honest with myself and yoou all i would say that i sing more then i talk. its only after i've gone and played hell out of a nights worth of music and took my voice too far that i can't sing the next day that i realize i sing all the time. i find the silence of those days is loud( now thankfully my voice is stronger and i've learned how to use it with out abusing it . . . much) communicating with myself and others is odd without my singing voice. melodies , harmonies, tones, singing with the vacum cleaner , the sounds of language mimicing nature and human made sounds. i write songs when i can't stand NOT writing songs anymore. when the silence screams at me to say something . the silence calls, i respond. o.k., chew on that for a while. i'll up-date when i think of more things that matter.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 1/14/2006
Band Website: www.ruralgrit.com
Band Members: here is the incomplete list: 1trouble in mind-1990- ongoing. this is the band that started the rural grit. 2pattonsburg levee volunteers-1997-ongoing. this band explores blues music. mostly acustic. members include various rural grit artists and featured artists. 3the black greasy firemen-1998-ongoing. this band explores country, disaster, trainwreck songs. mostly acustic. members include various rural grit artists and featured artists. 4columbo 2001-ongoing. best countrypunkfuckyou band ever. period. 5the rural grit chamber ensemble- 2002-ongoing. instumental invention, dance music by candlelight, gypsy, bellydancing, peyote cult, other worldly. opened once for the members of the mothers of invention. any questions? 6trailswampers-2003-ongoing. stingband jugband experiment with mel mcdonold. 7the golden calves-2003-ongoing. under the leadership of j. ashley miller, this band plays mostly in the dreamtime. this is where rabbitkiller comes from. close your eyes for a lullaby. . . but WATCH OUT! 8.the dually jukes-2004-along with david severe and sometimes long haired donny . . . electric/acoustic old time country/blues with pandolin, fake banjo and lots of stomping and hollering. 9. . .experimental instrument orchestra--2006--after just 6 shows this band went to london england and spent a week making instruments out of junk they found there, then playing them at various venues including a sold out show recorded by the BBC. very scary, very real. more additions and corrections soon
Influences: lots of old-time,rural acoustic blues, gospel/spirituals , honky tonk, jook joint, swing, big band, alan lomax, wilmer watts and the lonely eagles, hounddog taylor, bob"bazooka" burns, austin colman,bob marley, bo carter, pete steele,pat frazier, the king family, georgia sea island singers, blind willie johnson,dale frazier, bukka white, memphis minnie, robert johnson, skip james,nate the great gawron, muddy waters, willie dixon,k.c. stanton, willie mctell,charlie poole,ike sheldon, john lee hooker, howlin' wolf, long haired donny carrick, lightnin' hopkins, elmore james, mississippi sheiks, memphis jugband, johnny winter,toots and the maytals, chuck berry, charlie patton,captain beefheart, fred mcdowell, son house, robert belfour, t-model ford, blue sky boys, monroe brothers, gid tanner & his skillet lickers, uncle dave macon, gus cannon & his jugstompers,clayton brown, bob wills & texas playboys,betse ellis,peter tosh, roscoe holcomb, blasters,big joe turner, los lobos, the cramps, velvet underground, harry choates, hank williams sr, waylon jennings, willie nelson, , johnny cash, jimmie rogers, j mcshann, benny goodman, louie prima, golden gate quartet, the young johnny carson story, j ashley miller,the banjo ghost,trouble in mind,columbo,phil wade,and all the rest of the fine musicians i play music with.
Sounds Like: me trying to channel all my influences at the same time while sounding like i'm not letting anyone out but me.
Record Label: rural grit records
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

songs on the player part 2

1-bootleggers blues--by bo carter. performed by the pattonsburg levee volunteers. internal memos and live outtakes CD 2007.this session of the PLV included : mark smeltzer guitar lead vocal, patrick ...
Posted by on Wed, 15 Feb 2006 19:10:00 GMT

the music on the player info.

1. Will You Dance by Mark Smeltzer-guitar, vocal: recorded live at the Cup & Saucer during the Cowtown Underground Record Sessions in 2003; will be released on Rural Grit Rarities 2007. 2. Open My H...
Posted by on Tue, 17 Jan 2006 20:47:00 GMT