Biography of
The Emptys Response
I am Jamie Scott Palmer based in Wellington, New Zealand, (Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa.)
I have had a deep fundamental passion for music from birth. My formal training started when I was 6 years old on classical Piano and Piano theory under the tutelage of the Royal School of Music. I managed a 100% pass mark on my first ever music examination which was Piano theory grade 1.
I basically grew up with a lot of classical music training and hearing my parents favourite records, plus what my older brother and sister listened to. My parents were into a lot of country music and 'crooners' like Jim Reeves, plus folky stuff. A lot of it was music from the '50's, '60's, and '70's. My sister liked the more mainstream music being released at the time, which was the '80's. They were some of the popular bands and solo artists of the time like Duran Duran, George Michael, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, etc. My brother was a massive doorway for me. We shared a room. He introduced me to a lot of music which became long term favourites such as Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, The Cure, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, The Rolling Stones, Sex Pistols and many others.
I found myself daydreaming a lot and fantasized about being a 'superstar' electric guitarist in the vein of Ritchie Blackmore or Eddie Van Halen. On my 14th birthday my parents got me a Westone Pantera electric guitar and Rockit Pro Champ 50 watt amp. It was musical chaos from then on, 1989, and my first year of High School. I practised for hours each night and by 1992 all of my 'homework' was learning my favourite songs by my current favourite bands every night and practically almost every waking moment outside of school. Predictably my grades dropped. I learned the entire 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik' album by Red Hot Chili Peppers, by ear, in 1992. To 'compete' with other High School guitarists I made a conscious decision to become a 'shredder' by learning the entire 'Surfing With The Alien' album by Joe Satriani in 1993 when I was 17. Then I became obsessed with learning the 'Master of Puppets' album by Metallica among other stuff with shredding lead guitarists. I'd already been jamming on Hendrix songs over the few previous years which technically warmed me up, skillwise, to the shredders I insatiably immersed myself in. You could say I was competitive and my opinion of what made an amazing guitarist was based on histrionics. Hey, I was a teenage boy with testosterone rushing through my body. The other school shredders and I gained a reptutation because of these rather 'deluded' (sic) beliefs.
Anyway, after having played live at school and jamming at friends houses and the odd party, (mainly doing covers,) I realised that I was musically unfulfilled. I needed musical outlets for my original compositions. Around this time I was actually writing poems more than writing original music. So I continued to play covers with occasional improvisations in makeshift bands I ended up in. Occasionally I'd play bass guitar. Oh, one thing I forgot to mention is that I had a Flamenco guitar teacher in 1992. It was Robbie Krieger of The Doors who piqued my interest in that style of music. My teacher, Ann Ribeiro, chose me as her solo opening act for some national gigs she planned to embark on with me. I'd only been playing Flamenco for 6 months and felt the pressure immensely. She was also going to book me in for a Grade 6 practical exam. It was all a bit overwhelming and so when I went away skiing, after I got back I didn't make contact with her and immediately quit. (She didn't have my contact details.) Pretty rude of me and not very tactful and/or considerate at all, I know, however I was a shy 17 year old at the time, and really wanted to dedicate myself more to 'contemporary' music. My parents called her so they ended up dealing with it.
I'd written some guitar music around this time but none of it got recorded or played live.
It wasn't until well into the '90's that I really started to develop as an original musician. I added guitars and occasional bass to spontaneous bands I found myself in with friends. Slowly I realised that most of my ideas and musical expressionisms were more suited as a solo project. Eventually I ended up recording tunes I'd come up with on friends computers, a 4 track Tascam tape device, and other semi-random tools of lo-fi production. An old tape of mine had a lot of guitar stylings influenced by John Frusciante's first solo albums 'Niandra Lades and Usually just a t-shirt.' Backwards guitars became a trademark 'signature' sound of mine, inspired by George Harrison, Dave Gimour, Syd Barrett, Frusciante, and other guitarists. Having played in quite a few bands by 2009 I really started to up the ante re my solo recordings after my girlfriend at the time taught me the basics of Pro Tools. I'd taught myself how to use Reason for string emulations, drum programming, etc. To expand my music I'd uploaded to Myspace I started a Soundcloud and Bandcamp page. My recent tracks which were becoming more regular got uploaded there. Some became EP's and albums. A lot of it was improvised first takes on the germ of an idea. My musical productivity increased dramatically. It was then that I decided to use my Bandcamp page as an autobiography in music form. If I want to be reminded of a certain period of my life all I need to do is visit my Bandcamp page.
Separate from my grandiose sonic solo expressionisms some of the bands I've been in are Smash Face, (a heavy covers band specialising in Black Sabbath, Metallica, Ministry, and others,) Divine Felony, (a 'punk opera' 'oblivion rock' 'psychedelic noise' band,) Sunshine Suite, (playing guitar and keys for my friends solo music, though he let me come up with my own guitar parts,) The Phrenologist, (an opiated sounding 2 piece in which I helped my friend make his songs come to fruition live. He also let me come up with my own parts, mainly on keys,) The Plastic No Band, (a psychedelic pop band in the vein of Velvet Underground, early Pink Floyd, Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Beatles, etc. I played mainly bass and electric guitar in that band,) Dreams are Like Water, (in which I was initially asked to play keys, add atmospherics, co-write, and add occasional guitar. A dreamy, ethereal, gothy band with mainly female vocals,) Buffalo Bunny, (a 2 piece band in which I made most of the music on guitar and keys, with some drum machines, samples, and female vocals. Kind of David Lynch ish sounding,) and a band doing a tribute to The Smiths called 'Salford Lads Club' from 2003 - 2005. Salford Lads was a very fulfilling project as Johnny Marr had recently become one of my all time favourite guitarists. I auditoned and got the job only knowing one Smiths song, 'Reel Around the Fontain.' We ended up with a manager, sponsor, our own sound guy and lighting guy (in our hometown of Wellington,) interviews, radio appearances, TV appearances, and a brief national tour, plus loads of fans packing out venues. It was a beautiful experience and I made life long friends from it. Oh, we also used to have a website and were known internationally by many dedicated Smiths fans. There were some recordings on the site.
In more recent times I formed a 2 piece band, Lornch, with my dear friend and drummer Steve Cochrane who also drums for 'Vorsen.' Lornch is a 'P.O.R.N' band, ('Psychedelic Oblivion Rock Noise') mainly improvisational experiment. Vorson is the solo music outlet for dear friend John Halvorsen of 'Bailterspace,' 'The Gordons,' and 'Skeptics' fame.
I have performed my solo music live outside of my home nation more than within. Some cities I have perfomed in are Berlin, Budapest, Prague, Amsterdam, Belfast, and London.
I am currently taking a semi-hiatus from making more solo music as I intend to focus on Lornch and other creative pursuits. However, I do have some rough solo recordings sifting in folders awating their much needed attention for being shaped into their finished state for future release.
Overall I consider my solo expressions my most personal music as an outlet for my varying moods and emotions. Visual fantasies and longing for travel inspire some of my recordings as does sentimentality, current events, philosophy, existentialism, esotericism, and catharsis.
Thank you for your valuable time in reading this waffly-burbling-rant.
Much appreciation.
Jamie Scott Palmer.
6th March 2022.
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