The Bushweeds first music video, Nightmare Lullaby

 So.. I have still had some more fun generating songs using Suno for what I imagine is now going to be 'The Bushweeds' second album. I'm not to pleased with their first album as it was rushed a little because the idea for it, name, album cover and song titles, was already there before I know about generating music with AI...

So for the second album, I want to do a different approach. My aim is (or was) to generate some 80 minutes of music that would eventually be cut down to around 40-45 minutes of music by 'killing a few darlings' and getting rid of the worst sounding tracks. For the time being, that process has stopped at around the 45 minute mark because I ran out of ideas for topics to make songs about... :P

Well, anyway, there are some useable songs in there, and for one of them as soon as I heard, I just almost instantly thought I had to make a video for it.. 

So I have since then spent almost a month or so figuring out how to make animations for the game to record this video.. Now again, I'm still not 100 % happy with this product, mostly because I filmed it in to low of a resolution, something which I didn't really think about until ZeeGee posted this video on the sims forums.. which looks a lot more crisp and clear then mine.. but at that point I was already more than halfway through this project and didn't want to re-record everything.. so I just continued in the same vein.. but if I should do this again (which is not at all given, seeing as how this was pretty work intensive to create these clunky animations in a low resolution...), I will of course try to make it look better, the best I can make it. ;)

Anyway, enough talk.. here's the video... captions are available.

In the below section I will reveal what is the topic of the song. If you didn't get it yet and want to figure it out for yourself, stop reading now and listen to the song a few more times. :P 

Now that you've listened to the song and watched the video I'm going to assume that you understood that the song was about stage fright, and actually what inspired the song was this early chapter where I posted about the band where it was concluded that Gerda was suffering from stage fright since she played the first part of their concert with her back against the audience. 

 She has since dealt with it since they've had a few more concerts since then and most importantly, gone on tour in support of their first album, but of course, still with every show there's gonna be some nerves in the backstage area before they go on stage.. that's just an inevitable part of life as an entertainer... ;)

..and that was it for now. Hope you enjoyed the song. Until next time.

The Bushweeds complete album, 'Absence of Hope', is now up on Youtube..

Link to playlist - Absence of Hope.

 

Yep, after spending some more time collecting strange images to put together to make some visuals to the songs, they're all now available to listen to on Youtube.. 

Emphasis and effort put into the visuals is varying, as that wasn't really the point.. just an addendum so that I wouldn't be uploading just a song with a black screen throughout...

I'll be starting this rundown on the fourth track, which is also the title track, 'Absence of Hope', as the three first tracks were covered in the previous post.

Since this is the title track, I.. err, I mean, the band, wanted it to be something that felt a little more grand than your average punk rock song. This track isn't really a punk song at all, but more some kind of slow I-don't-know-what-to-call-it kind of rock song.. I guess. It breaks the mold even more with the first track, so it seems that 'The Bushweeds' is not a band afraid to try different things.. for better or for worse.

It's not a bad song, but does it fit in? Thinking in terms of a complete album where songs are played successively.. an uncommon thing in this day and age where everybody just skips to the next song on their streaming platform, having a song like this is probably good to make an album seem varied and dynamic. Instead of having every song chug along at the same tempo and intensity.

Then comes the fifth track, 'Don't Eat Pencils off the Sidewalk', whose title is totally not a rip off from off this song by The Cramps... This one is probably the strangest track on the album, on first listen.. a song about eating pencils and the graphite industry!? What!? Yeah, not gonna say more.. this one also brings the tempo back up again, in preparation for their next track perhaps..

 

 

Number six, 'When the family arrives...'. This one starts of right away with a high tempo and shouted verse in punk rock style about.. well, what happens when members of the family show up to gather. Judging from the psychedelic images in the video (What were they on when they made this!? ;) ) it probably doesn't end well....

Track number seven, 'Dave Lost His Flute', is just the intro to the next track. Two minutes or so of flute playing.. nothing to say here, moving along... It's point though is to serve as a breather after the previous high energy song.

Before it gives way to the eighth track, purposefully or accidentally, numbered as the seventh track on the album. Another song in the punk rock style, but where the other one was a little more hardcore, this one has a poppier and more accessible sound which makes it sound a upbeat and enjoyable, in spite of the sad subject matter of being a homeless man...

 Then it's back to the more hardcore punk sound again. This song, 'Promises from out of town', has the most abrasive intro of all songs on this album... Sounds like they were angry with something or someone here... Spokeswoman and drummer Kajsa Tangstad says they wrote this song after their visit to the record company in Cyme Ixotic, where they hoped to get a record deal...

Then after they've let out some steam on the previous track, they continue with this one, 'Thanks for Nothing', where they take it back to some kind of pop-punk song which turns out to be a break-up song! Ugggh.... give me a break! ;) Now, I don't hate the song, but this is probably my least favourite on this album... it's just not what I would listen to... what are you? Taylor Swift!? Blah!
 

..and then for their final song, they take it down, down, down to a dark and gloomy place in this stripped down track, 'Cash for a rainy day', about a mother in the city struggling to make ends meat... oh boy. This one is far, far removed from 'Party Punk', which they started off saying they were, but it is probably my favourite track here right now... there are no loud screaming guitars or bravado to this track, but that only makes the message stand out more..

The last track, 'Dave found his flute', is just another two-three minute flute track in a similar fashion to the previous one with almost the same name, but this one sounds a little more uplifting and.. heavenly (?) for lack of a better word.. it also gives me the feeling of watching some ending credits. Not sure if that is a property of the track itself, or just because I know this is the last song. ;)

..and that was it, clocking out on a playing time of 44 minutes and 14 seconds.. a varied punk-pop album with celtic influences.. that's what I would call it. ;) And actually.. the title does seem appropriate, as, apart from the first track 'We are party punk', where they introduce themselves, an absence of hope does indeed seem to be an underlying theme one way or another in every song that follows... the album is perhaps a little bit uneven in the way that it seems they don't know if they should be pop or punk, but on overall I'll say it's a job well done. ;)

The Bushweeds, my new favourite artificial intelligence band...

 So... lately I have been playing a bit with AI.. first with the image enhancer/generator krea.ai just for testing purposes.. so, of course I had to try and generate an image from the group photo of the band, "The Bushweeds", to see what the AI would do with them..

First again, the original for comparison..

Then the AI version, just hitting the enhance button and not doing anything more..

This is cool, but it's not quite there.. this isn't really what their faces especially look like, I think, so... let's try again by increasing the resemblance slider.. putting slightly over the halfway mark (it was originally at 36) gave more or less the same result, so.. trying again with the slider to above 80..

Ok, kinda better, but not quite. Their facial expressions are not maintained as well, but I'll stop here for now.. then, after a while, I discovered something even cooler than this..

This thing called Suno where it's possible to generate music through a prompt to an AI, by either having the AI suggest some random lyrics, or writing your own... So of course I had to try this too, by creatin g music that could be in the style of the band.. Since the band has already released an album, I was curious to figure out what it would sound like.. ;)

The backside of their album, and what I have as a starting point to work with. The first track 'Riot Rhythms' is only an instrumental intro track, so I simply gave the AI the prompt 'Celtic Punk', as well as the title, and it produced this..

This was the very first results from my first attempt. I found it very fascinating and was immediately impressed and I thought it was cool enough to be used. Though the instrumentation is perhaps a little high pitched in some places, I liked the melody enough to not want to ditch it...

Then it was time for the first actual track, or the second track of the album, "We Are Party Punk". I used a little more advanced input here, specifying the instruments and that there should be a female vocalists, as well as giving the title, but everything else, lyrics and music, is 100 % AI generated..

It took a few attempts to get something I could accept. Though it never sounded musically awful (to my ears anyway...), the lyrics of the first attempts especially were really corny... it almost gave me associations to Rebecca Blacks song 'Friday' for those of you who remember that one..

And admittedly, the lyrics are still corny also in this version, but I kept them that way, because.. well, this isn't a very serious song anyway, and I think it sort of works to kickstart the album and as a mission statement for the band.. they're really just in it to party, have fun and muck around.. so let's go! ;)

..before they take it down a few notches again on the third track, 'Wet Torch River', which is my favourite song of theirs so far. The title, which I didn't put to much thought into when I made the album cover, is nonsensical, but with some thought and help from AI generated lyrics, this one turned into a song that actually tells a story.. of course, I had quite a bit more input on the lyrics here for this one, but not to much actually.. ;) And I suppose I'm a bit of a sucker to for downtempo somber tracks like this one.. as fun and energetic as the previous track is, this is the one I have found myself repeatedly listening to the most...

..and that's it for now, but rest assured, the rest of the album is probably gonna be uploaded to youtube as well soon enough. ;)

Returning to the island..

 What should be the second to last chapter now of the bands tour has been posted. A short update where they leave Sunset Valley behind to return to their hometown of Bewickton where a couple of the band members will reunite with some of their loved ones..

Chapter 12.10 – The Bushweeds Autumn Tour 2023: part 10 – Returning to the island..

Their journey is now complete, having returned where they started. Now only one concert is left to celebrate and mark the end of their tour... (to come in next update).

The Beginning Of All Things That Will End..

Chapter 12.9 – The Bushweeds Autumn Tour 2023: part IX – The Beginning Of All Things That Will End.

Well hello again world. Here is the next chapter about the band, now as they head further south for the second to last concert of their tour...

Of course, their morning begins with the usual party spirit, before they have to get into the car again to drive for their next destination - good old Sunset Valley. ;)

The following day the band decides to split up to hang out at different locations on their own, seeing as how they have virtually (ha, virtually, get it..?) lived on top of each other for the past week or so..

Kajsa, beign the most avant-garde and interested in art pays a visit to the Sunset Valley Art Association (founded in 1904) to do the smustle dance and paint what she thinks could be their next album cover...

Sam goes to Amundsen and Co. Cartoon Store (the local nerd hangout...) to play arcade games, where he is noticed by the young aspiring politician Ingrid Kråkesen-Karlsen who just happen to skip work for the occasion...

Gerda being more of a collector goes to the local junkyard to look for treasure or trash...

Merete decides to go fishing at the Åtindbugen Fisherman huts, but since she didn't bring any bait, she has very limited luck getting anything special...

Then its time to head for tonights concert which will happen at the Garage pub. Will they get an audience this time...?

Yes they will, for a change! The powers that be found a way to hold a hand over them and finally give them the audience they deserved! However, they do act a little strange, preferring to watch the band from the side of the stage instead of directly in front, but atleast they're present and paying attention!

..and I'm not exaggarating when I'm saying the bar was chock full of people that night, with more things happening during the night than I could pay attention to or even cover without making the update atleast twice as long - probably! Not everyone chose to watch the concert though, as the stage is located in the basement and some visitors never went down there, but stayed in the bar on the ground floor.

So how did I do it? Well, the trick that I tried first, by setting every other venue and location to 'No Visitors Allowed' had no effect - the bar was just as empty as ever, but...

..then I discovered that if I click on the venue, select NRAAS -> Master Controller -> Invite Over - I got the option to invite sims to the lot by the usual categories (Gender, Career, First name, Last name, etc.), so I invited as many as I thought necessary, which was probably quite a few to many, because the place was literally packed, and not just in sims 3 terms, no it was actually pretty packed! So now I know that this works, and that I can successfully invite over a little less sims next time. ;) Cheerio!

The thirsty cave...

Chapter 12.8 – The Bushweeds Autumn Tour 2023: part VIII – The Thirsty Cave.

Next chapter about the band "The Bushweeds" autumn tour posted at the Bewickton blog.. this time with a concert as they head to the venue known as "The Cave" to play for the night.

The venue is literally a cave located in a former bomb shelter under the Newstead Park, now being run by students volunteering to keep this legendary rock club alive! ;)

"The Cave" here is based on a real place called "Hulen", which translates to as you may have guessed.. "The Cave". I used to spend my years there when I was a student myself and a much younger punk then I am now.. ;)

Sam had never seen such a venue before. This place was definately something special.. dark, damp and just the right amount of dirty.... looks like the perfect place for vampires and other such dark and twisted late night individuals... totally not me being nostalgic about a different time..

..then it was time for the band to play their concert, another one in a long line of concerts with not much of an audience. Even the paparazzo seemed to find the restroom signs more interesting than the band...

..but I think I've found a trick now which I'll try next time, to set all the other venues and hangout places to "No Visitors Allowed". That should hopefully generate a little more traffic... poor band, driving for miles and miles to play for empty rooms!

Not very surprising this takes a toll on their patience, and Sam and Gerda ended up fighting with each other after Sam accused her of skipping the line at the bar...

From Pleasantview to Wad Nahadau..

Chapter 12.6 – The Bushweeds Autumn Tour 2023: part VI – Old, derelict and dreadful.. 

The Bushweeds album tour continues as they leave Pleasantview behind to head south and westwards towards the coast again..

The rain from yesterday evening has not gone away, but only intensied further during the night, and continues to do so throughout the day, making the atmosphere in Pleasantview a little less than pleasant...

 

There's only one thing for the band to do then, and that is to get out of Dodge as fast as they can, before things get potentially even worse... ;)

Then after several more hours on the road and having their trip almost cut short by a near traffic accident in a roundabout they finally end up at the apartment Gerda has rented for them on Simb'n'b only to be disappointed when that too in no way lives up to any hopes and expectations they may have had of it..

 

..but its to late in the evening now for them to find a better place to stay, so they're just gonna have to accept what they can get, but ew, what a nasty looking place.. ;)

Click here or the title above to read the full chapter at the Bewickton blog.

Turn the page...

The band travels on, now they're going down south and back to the coast. This next chapter is the beginning of their longest travel distance between gigs on the tour, not counting their return trip back home from Sunset Valley at the end of the tour.

Chapter 12.5 – The Bushweeds Autumn Tour 2023: part V – Turn the page..

..and of course, I couldn't make a series of posts about a band on tour without referencing this song.. ;)

                                            - Metallica - Turn The Page (Bob Seger cover)

On a long and lonesome highway
South of Onebega*
You can listen to the engines moanin'
Out this one-note song
You'd think about the woman
Or the girl you knew the night before

But your thoughts will soon be wanderin'
The way they always do
When you're ridin' 16 hours
There's nothin' much to do
And you don't feel much like ridin'
You just wish the trip was through

Here I am, on the road again
There I am, up on the stage
There I go playin' the star again
There I go, turn the page

 

Click here (or the chapter up above) to go to the Bewickton blog and see the full post. ;)

* Not the correct lyrics, of course, and there's one syllable to many, but this almost works..

The Bushweeds bands wagon rolls on...

Chapter 12.4 - The Bushweeds Autumn Tour 2023: part IV - Bright Neon lights

So here we go again.. In the last chapter, the band had just left the small mountain community of Ravenswood to head to Lake Onebega for their next concert.. and they were already running short on time! Were they gonna make it or would they be to late for their next gig?

Well of course they were gonna make it.. ;)

The band was happy to roll into town and find their next venue - The Grotto - but that was just the beginning of this night..

Kajsa felt a little nervous as she approached the bartender to apologize for them being late as she wasn't sure how she was going to take it.. and how the concert of this night would go.. would it turn out alright? Would it be a success.. or a failure? ;)

Click here to read the chapter and find out. ;)

Next chapter on The Bushweeds Autumn Tour

Chapter 12.3 – The Bushweeds Autumn Tour 2023: part III – Rock, paper, scissors...

I'll be upfront with you right away, for this chapter I didn't get as far as I had hoped, which was to have the have the band reach their next destination to play their next concert.. so I suppose this update is just a little more about them being on the road.. 

 In short they are leaving the community of Bridgewood behind to head inland and up into the mountains to Lake Onebega where they will have their next concert, making a pit stop to eat in the small community of Ravenswood on the way...

Click here to read full update. ;)

Ravenswood can be downloaded from the Sims 3 exchange here. I didn't find any other good place to download it, as the other places I found had links to malicious sites, so be careful there....

The Bushweeds 2023 autumn tour

Back again to updating the stories, finally. Just posted the second post on The Bushweeds autumn tour, but first I'm gonna mention the first post of the tour as well, since.. well, this is the first time I'm mentioning it here on this blog, and also because it's been quite some time between the two posts:

Chapter 12.1 – The Bushweeds Autumn Tour 2023 – part I: It's a long way to the top...

Quick Summary:

So, naturally, after the release of their debut album the band couldn't just return to their daytime jobs and otherwise rest on their laurels to much.. now the job began to get gigs in order to assemble some kind of tour... easier said than done as there would be even more let downs on the way with downright awful deals that they just couldn't accept, but..

..they were definately pleased and excited when they after much asking about had succeeded in getting enough dates to go on their first mini-tour this autumn... ;) 

Their first concert out of town wasn't to far away, and was a place they were already aqcuainted with since their last visit to the city.. so they met up that evening at Waylons Bar in the shadier part of town by the harbour, hoping to play for a decent sized and cheerful audience to kick off their tour...

 

And here is the new chapter:

Chapter 12.2 – The Bushweeds Autumn Tour 2023: part II - Motel rooms and bridges, life out here is raw... 

 

Next morning everyone except Kajsa was still feeling joyful and happy after yesterdays concert and night out, which resulted in a little party happening in the bedroom, before Kajsa had to talk some sense into them and round them up to continue their journey to Bridgewood and this old rundown motel they would be staying at there..

After inspecting the motel and finding their rooms, it was time to head to the next venue for some more rehearsing and soundcheck, before they would get ready for another night and another gig.. let's hope it turns out well and that there won't be to much action or drama... ;)

     Late at night all systems go
You have come to see the show
We do our best you're the rest
You make it real you know 

There is a feeling deep inside
That drives you flippin' mad
A feeling of a hammerhead
You need it, oh so bad

Adrenaline starts to flow
You're thrashing all around
Acting like a maniac
Whiplash!

Bang your head against the stage
Like you never did before
Make it ring make it bleed
Make it really sore
In a frenzied madness
With your leathers and your spikes
Heads are bobbing around
It is hot as hell tonight

Here on stage the marshall noise
Is piercing through your ears
It knocks you down, kicks your face
Exploding feeling nears
Now is the time to let it rip
To let it all go loose
We are gathered here to maim and kill
Cause this is what we choose

Adrenaline starts to flow
You're thrashing all around
Acting like a maniac
Whiplash

The show is through the metal is gone
It is the time to hit the road
Another time another gig
Again we will explode
Hotel rooms and motorways
Life out here is raw
But we will never stop
We will never quit
Cause we are THE BUSHWEEDS !

;)

Original lyrics are from the song "Whiplash" by Metallica. Unedited lyrics are found here.
PS: There's profanity in the original/official lyrics....

Now, the Bushweeds is not a metal band, and they do not sound like Metallica, but they do have one thing in common nonetheless, as both bands started out with one foot in punk rock.. but where Metallica mixed their punk rock influences with heavy metal to create thrash metal (in the 1980s before they "sold out" according to some..), The Bushweeds mixes their punk rock influences with celtic folk music, to make, well, celtic rock/punk more in the vein of bands like The Pogues, Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys, etc... ;)

Wad Nahadau, The Bushweeds and stuff..

So.. it's definately time for an update here now. In the town of Bewickton the local folk punk band The Bushweeds had since we last saw them at Palash and Sofias wedding gone into town to try and get a record deal.. to, unfortunately, no success at all..

Meeting up with a representative of Orange Music Records it had to go as it went..

The meeting ended with an argument, and they got no deal.. Blast these capitalist major labels and companies! It's the same story as it always is.. so the band was no a little down and desperate, but by next summer they had managed to pull things together enough to record and release their debut album, completely self funded..

An important milestone in the bands history, no doubt, but they couldn't rest on their laurels now, as they had ambitions of course. This was just the beginning of their journey, since of course, they wanted after all to spread their music far and wide.. so they had to know do their best to make arrangements to get live shows to go on their first little tour to gain followers.... all of which is easier said then done without a record label and a marketing apparatus having your back, but they still scraped together a few tour dates the following autumn...

 

..and this of course, is where the city of Wad Nahadau comes into the picture. It's their fourth tour date, and their set to play at a venue called "The Cave", which is a former bomb shelter, now turned into a concert venue run voluntarily by students in the city..

The only issue here was that the city of Wad Nahadau, which is a project I started sometime in 2022 (I think, I don't actually remember when I started it.) This was a time when we were on Origin and not he EA App, and everyone could use 'Edit in Game' from the 'Create a World' tool without any problem..

 

At one point I realized that I had made the terrain of the town a little to hilly and thought I should perhaps find a way to flatten it a little, as it made building on the lots in the downtown area a little difficult, and it probably didn't look it's best.. I also needed to take a break from town building as it it really is a lot of work.. and of course, in the meantime here came the EA App to mess everything up...

Since I couldn't use Edit in Game I could no longer save whatever I built on the lots to the town itself, and if since I had already started on the downtown area, redoing it's terrain would also mean deleting the lots and everything on them, which would now leave me with a downtown area of empty lots.. that didn't feel like a good option and I wasn't to motivated to work on this project for a while and it was left alone for a good while until.. The Bushweeds was set to play their for their upcoming tour, which meant that I had to resume work and try to finish it as soon as possible, since I really don't want any delays to my story telling..

So it was back to work on the downtown area and the town itself. It doesn't look so hilly when seen from above, but it is a quite the hill in the centre of the picture above the highway tunnel that goes under the downtown area..

It was quite a lot of work in such a short amount of time, since late December of last year and until now, but I will count the major parts of the town finished for now, and what is left is "only" to fix a self illumination problem with some of the buildings and to keep refinig the distant terrain I just made.. but for now, my perfectionist self will just need to accept some of these shortcomings and continue with my game and story telling.. so yeah, coming soon.. the Bushweeds on tour! Finally...