TheBig3

allison: Country is one of them, aside from putting country on in the car on the way to a camping trip for pure comedic purposes I really don't listen to it
Sent at 4:24 AM on Friday

allison: also really heavy death-metal. I used to date a guy who was really into dragonforce, I hated it.
we'd always get into arguments on long car trips since he thought it was the perfect driving music.
Sent at 4:26 AM on Friday

me: I generally don't give out advice, but if I were to, one of the pieces of advice would be never mention both a metal sub-genre and a band you think belongs to it. We're going to get death threats now from Death Metal fans who are going to tell us Dragonforce is actually high-powered medieval viking metal, you watch

allison: haha, whatever it is I can't stand listening to the stuff

me: What is it about those genres that put you off?
Sent at 4:28 AM on Friday

allison: with really heavy metal there just seems to be no real substance to me. It just sounds like a LOT of loud, fast chords and riffs, no rhythm, no melody, no variation. And with country, well I spent most of my life in the hick capital of canada so country is synonymous with drunken businessmen in bad cowboy outfits drinking their faces off for 10 days during the calgary stampede. Back in canada I had to spend two weeks of the summer dealing with that and listening to songs about trucks breaking down, girlfriends leaving, ex-girlfriends shooting the dog then running over it as she steals the truck....it got old
Sent at 4:31 AM on Friday

me: And for the record, what is the hick capital of Canada?
Sent at 4:33 AM on Friday

allison: well alberta is basically the texas of canada (no offense to any texans, I'm not calling you hicks). Its by far the most conservative province out there, lots of oil wealth, and calgary is the economic centre. The city is alright, but kind of devoid of arts and culture, and it has a real ranching/cowboy history, and every year this big rodeo and festival is held called the calgary stampede, everyone in the city kind of embraces the whole "western" thing.
Sent at 4:35 AM on Friday

me: Now is your experience just the sort of radio-friendly country or have you heard that down-home, front porch stuff as well?
Sent at 4:36 AM on Friday

allison: mostly just the radio friendly stuff, I've heard a bit of the down-home front porch stuff but it's never really appealed to me. I love folk music, and I guess some of the stuff in that genre that I listen to probably has some distinct country influences, but for the most part I don't listen to it.
me: Is there an act you listen to that would surprise people? From any genre.
Sent at 4:38 AM on Friday

allison: thats a tough one, I guess the thing that surprises most people is the amount of rap I listen to. Jurassic 5, jedi mind tricks, overseer, and a ton others. It used to surprise a lot of people that didn't know me that well to see it all of my i-pod

me: Jurassic 5. That is interesting. I didn't expect that. New fan? Old fan?

allison: old fan, another ski movie track song.
Sent at 4:43 AM on Friday

me: See I really liked them too until they did that absolute pile with Dave Matthews. Are you still on the J5 train?

allison: yeah every now and then I'll throw it on
Sent at 4:46 AM on Friday

allison: yeah the dave matthews thing was unfortunate though

me: So we've talked about genres and acts, is there elements of music, be it an instrument(s), sounds, just general overall stuff, that you find interesting, really makes you sit up in the chair?
Sent at 4:47 AM on Friday

allison: actually right now I've been really interested in bands with traditional arabic influences. I've been getting into some of the local bands here and a lot of them incorporate some traditional instruments and elements with their sound, it makes for a really interesting mix
Sent at 4:49 AM on Friday

me: So like a Sitar?
Sent at 4:50 AM on Friday

allison.: nah i think sitar is an indian thing more than a middle eastern thing. I actually don't know the proper names of the instruments but there's a guitar type thing and a woodwind instrument that are pretty distinctive in sound. it's more the rhythms and melodies incorporated that have a really distinct middle-east/mediterranean feel that I just love

me: What are the chances the boards can see some of those songs uploaded in the future?
Sent at 4:53 AM on Friday

allison: yeah sure I'll post some up, a few of the turkish bands that I really like are Duman and Athena. They're both very popular here, kind of pop-rock but I really like them. Another group I love is Balkan Beat Box, originally from israel
Sent at 4:55 AM on Friday

allison: maybe pop-rock is the wrong definition, but I generally suck at fitting bands into specific genres so I'll post some videos and let other people decide

me: You're in the region, Beat Box is close, have you listened to Adidasss's favorite Croatian sons "The Beat Fleet"?
Sent at 4:57 AM on Friday

allison: I have done yeah, and I do really like them. I also love a few songs from Shantel, which adidasss will probably piss himself laughing at. SUPER cheesy pop star from around that area (forget which country) but the songs are just so insanely stupid you can't help loving them. A few friends of mine and I were going to see him in concert when he came to istanbul but he got stranded in london with the volcano. gutted.
to get an idea of the amount of cheese I'm talking about look up disko partizani and disco boy, both classics

me: Those English volcano's are hell. Also, if you're looking to get through Istanbul without getting stuck in London I suggest avoiding the water.
I'll have to look those up
So I've killed an hour and a half of your time, just a few final questions here, you seem to drop off the boards for lengthy periods at a time. Flavor of the day or are you out in the remote regions of the world for long periods of time?
Sent at 5:01 AM on Friday

allison: Yeah I guess it kind of fluctuates, I think the longest was when I was finishing up uni, I've never been so busy/stressed in my life, so long perusals of internet sites didn't really fit in with the schedule. I'll probably be dropping off again pretty soon when I go traipsing off around the middle east for five months, but then once I get back to istanbul and settled I'll pop up again.

me: well, if my opinion matters, I certainly hope that you do.
I'm about to wrap up, but was there anything we didn't touch on you wanted to put out there?

allison: No don't think so, we covered quite a bit

me: I try to
Uh one last question, basically about security
I assume this is your real name
Are you opposed to me posting this as is?

allison: yeah, just dont include the last name

me: sounds like a plan

allison: cool, cheers man

me: See you around the forums

allison: you too, have a good afternoon

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