Roofied By Cougars + Musician in El Cajon, CA

SEEKING

ABOUT

Hi. I'm Jago. I moved to San Diego in late 2009 and spent the first few years focusing on college and my career. Now it's time to focus on more important things. I have a couple of cover tunes on under the band name "Roofied By Cougars". The recordings aren't great, but whatever, that's my current skill level, I guess so it is what it is. I'll be putting more stuff up soon.

Q1) Why am I here?

A1) I'm on a mission to find other people like myself. I write, play, and record music. I have an agenda which involves a lot of home recording and open mic nights. I have a day job that I would not mind quitting some day, but I also have to be realistic.

Q2) So where do I stand on things?

A2) Well, like everyone else, I have bills to pay. I'm not married and I do have an ample amount of free time to work with. When the time is right, I'll be more than happy to put my average life on hold and do tours and stuff. I welcome the idea.

I play around with several instruments. I'm not great at all of them, but I'm constantly learning and I play well enough for my songs. My main interest is guitar, but I also mess around with bass, drums, accordion, keyboards, and I recently acquired an ocarina. I'll mess with anything that makes sound. I don't claim to be an expert on anything, but I love what I do. I get the occasional praise from beginning players and I can only hope that people more seasoned than I at least recognize my effort and desire to learn.

I'm learning to read music and it's an ongoing practice. I'm always open to what others are willing to teach.

Q3) So what do I want out of all this?

A3) I'm looking for a couple of different things at the moment:
-->1. I want to start open mic-ing using my songs and cover songs. If I find someone else open to this type of notion, there is plenty of room for collaboration and I'm not tied down to any particular ideas. My goal is to get embedded into the live music scene here in San Diego and get to know other musicians. I'll build a small fan-base and sell the occasional MP3 here and there. Might even get a few albums pressed one of these days. I don't expect greatness or anything; I just want to play. If I end up paying a bill or two, even better.

-->2. I'm very open to the idea of playing in someone else' band. I'd be best suited for rhythm guitar, bass, or vocals. It would also be fun to do drums if the arrangements offer a simplicity that I can work with. If you have music written, or even in the process, AND you have the intentions of playing local shows (I'd be willing to do light traveling on weekends), I can certainly make that a priority over my stuff.

Q4) What styles do I like to write/play?

A4) For cover songs, mostly variants of rock. I find it difficult to write serious lyrics, so most of the songs I personally write end up being demented country songs. They are fun to sing and they usually make people laugh. I also like the flexibility that I can use my material for open mic comedy as well as music open mic. I'm open to playing other styles.

Q5) What else is there to know?

A5) I like learning about the processes of recording and mixing. I like trying out different studio tricks and other things of that ilk as I learn them.

Screen name:

Roofied By Cougars

Member since:

Oct 15 2004

Active over 1 month ago

Level of commitment:

Very Committed

Years playing music:

20

Gigs played:

Under 10

Tend to practice:

More than 3 times per week

Available to gig:

2-3 nights a week

Influences

I like a bunch of different stuff. I don't play try to emulate anyone in particular, but I do like playing songs and listening to people/bands like:

Zappa
Weird Al
The Alkaline Trio
Millencolin
AC/DC
Descendents/ALL
Linkin Park
etc...

I also like a bunch of indie stuff and I like listening to music that my friends write as well.

I'm not big on pop-country or folk, but I'll learn to play it if you're paying.

Instrument experience:

Vocalist:

Moderate

Rhythm Guitar:

Moderate

Acoustic Guitar:

Moderate

Bass Guitar:

Moderate

Background Singer:

Moderate

Lead Guitar:

Intermediate

EQUIPMENT

My current weapons of choice are 1) a Gibson SG Standard and 2) a Fender Jaguar HH Special - run through a practice amp. I'll get a half-stack when the need arises, and so-on-and-so-forth with gear in a ladder-logic style.

I also have other guitars (electric and acoustic), a couple of decent electric basses, a 410 bass cab with a 300W head, MIDI controller keyboard, accordion, drums, several pedals and effects.

These are the pedals that I play with most:
Delay/Looper
Metal Distortion
Chorus
Reverb
Compressor
Noise Reduction/Expander
Tuner