Great Scott....Andy fading out....

[Pedro]

Just read Andy Edwards' blog in which it seems he is separating himself still further from the interworld.  

Also interested to see his involvement with Focal Point...one to buy I think.  

[gr8gonzo]

What a terrible loss!  If that's what he feels he needs to do, then so be it, but what a tremendous disappointment.  I understand the points he makes, but he's overlooking that he has a lot of fans who would like to know what he's up to professionally (the Focal Point post being a perfect example) and will now have no means to do so.

[FantomG]

I dont think he's fading out... just trying to get some 'balance' in his life and evaluating what he 'really' wants to do....and good for him....you can find all these internet formats ( forums, MS, Facebook, Twitter, 12 Sec, etc,etc..) can 'take over' and a real distraction, if your not careful, at their growing pace....leaving less and less room for 'actual life' and being less 'productive' ....I certainly found that a while back and stopped for a while ....and now have reduced time.

The playing and touring can be amazing, but after a time you can get to a 'been there and got the T-shirt' feeling ....what's new?...do I really want to be away from home for weeks/months?.... Jem was finding that after a few days in the states recently...Andy has been doing this for many years....so 'putting down' the touring Frost and IQ can make sense in this light too.

The blog is like 'growing pains' as Andy is trying to find what's meaningful and a challenge in his life and move to his next 'phase' of life....that will make it satisfying and fun ....something to live to the full. What ever that next stage will be, I'm sure he'll make a success of it.

[Bokkie]

Too much internetstuff is very distracting  and it keeps you from the now. I totally understand Andy's point of view.

I recently deleted most of my accounts that had. They were getting more and more a burden than a joy.

[sawtooth]

Too much internetstuff is very distracting  and it keeps you from the now. I totally understand Andy's point of view.

I recently deleted most of my accounts that had. They were getting more and more a burden than a joy.

Ditto. For me, Frost* was at it's most accessible when there was less of it around, perversely. Myspace, the old forum and the blog kept me happy amused and active in the forum discussions. But add Facebook (which I realize was started by us, the fans) and more recently Twitter, plus extra bits on Youtube etc, I'm actually finding now that I get more enjoyment from just listening to the music and attending the gigs.

Yes, I know I could have resisted the temptation to add these new outlets for all things Frost* to my cyberweb repertoire but  I grasped at any opportunity to get more info on Jem and the band's activities. The bizarre thing is, I think I'm getting less out of it that I was before.

This isn't a reflection on the new forum, which I think has matured over the last year or so into the same friendly, funny and informative environment the old forum was, and I hope it's not me being elitist - I have had to look at myself and ask questions like 'is the fact that the Frost* community has dramatically expanded made me feel it's less personal to me?' but I don't think so. I'm genuinely chuffed that Frost* is getting more and more popular, and the new forum is bristling with great characters and lively banter.
Of course, for some Twitter and Facebook will be a better delivery method for Frostnews* than the forum. It makes sense to have as wide a range of delivery methods for Frost*iness as possible so that we can all pick and choose our favourite ways of keeping in touch.

But like many of us, I'm struggling to fit enough hours to do the dayjob, put time into music and R&R , have a family life and the rest. And I'm nowhere as driven as Jem for example - I'm an inherently lazy bloke!

Life really is too short for ALL of this stuff, so Andy's comments although will disappoint or annoy some folk, really struck a chord with me, albeit for different reasons.

So I think for me, 'focus' is the theme of the day, and putting more of my energies into fewer things. As most things in life you only get back what you put in, so I think I'll concentrate more on the forum in future.

Whether I'll have the guts to delete my Twitter and Facebook accounts is another matter though!  

Anyway, best wishes and good luck to you Andy, there are a lot of people who care about what you're doing and the music you're making and involved in, so don't be a total stranger!

[RWA]

the best thing about the Internet is that everyone can get there music out there. The worst thing is that everyone can get there music out there.

Very true. But then I probably wouldn't have found out about tons of great bands and artists without it.

I personally only spend half the time I used to on the web because it indeed eats all your time but it still is my life line when it comes to finding and exposing music. And vids. And interaction.  

Nothing stays the same. One has to adapt to new situations every day. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I can understand how Andy feels and I have trouble dealing with the constant demand and feed of information nowadays. It's never enough so it seems. The main problem is the constant feed of unedited and unverified material dumped on us via YouTube and Twitter and such. There's SO much crap out there!  :shock:

But then ....... there's also a lot of great stuff out there that I would've missed otherwise. I guess everyone has to decide for their own where the balance lies. But the truth is if you pull back from the web (as a musician) completely people will start to forget you.  :?

[Pedro]

I dont think he's fading out...

I know what you mean, I was only adapting Andy's own words "I'm slowly disappearing." and giving them a "BackToTheFuture"-style spin.  

I guess I am something of nut-job when it comes to following this forum and I follow about 4 or 5 other forums but none to this level - some of them are quite quiet too. Apart from Twitter that's more than enough for me too.
I have a Facebook account but don't use it. I had a MySpace account briefly but binned it.

I fully understand and agree that all these things can be time-stealers - this makes me all the more grateful that Jem and the others do what they do to make themselves and their doings known, as it were.

Long may it continue, but only at the rate the artistes want to do it. This availability does not imply any "right of access", so as long as we never get to the stage where a response to something is demanded I don't see why this cannot continue to be fun for those who want it to be.

Let's face it, Andy has not been all that active on here and that hasn't lessened anyone's opinion of him as a drummer or a human bean. All power to him and best of luck with it all.

[Mouse]

This was a very interesting read for me, but in a different context. Andy writes, "I'm slowly disappearing. It's a great feeling!" This has somewhat struck a chord with me.

One of the things I'm most scared of in life is being forgotten, but something that I've been trying to do in the last few years or so is to seperate myself from popular society so that I can identify with myself and be "at one". It's only sort of worked so far.  :?

It's given me a new perspective on the idea of "disappearing". I'd always thought that if you disappear, you were gone and that's it. The whole Invisible Man thing. But maybe I was missing the point. If you vanish from the Interweb, people who retain their belief in you and what you do would try to find you away from their computer screens, for example by going to a gig or writing a letter. To me, that seems a more personal and physical way of connecting people. Sites like Facebook are great for keeping in touch, but it's no comparison to having a real chat or a drink with a mate is it?

Maybe I'm rambling in too many directions and trying to tie them all together. Does it make sense? I'm sure it would if I was talking to someone face to face, not typing it out.    Anyways, the best of luck to you Andy. You've given me a lot to think about, even if I can't explain it here.

"I'm slowly disappearing. It's a great feeling!" Maybe there's a song in there somewhere.  

[Ivor]

I agree with the whole social-internetwork-y thing being a huge distraction... I have a Facebook account, forced upon me by 'er indoors, and I'm a member of over 20 different forums, but only visit a few regularly, and even those are enough of a time-consumer. It's quite scary, just how much time can be wasted on the 'net - I sit down for a "quick five minute browse and e-mail check", and find myself peeling my creaking, stiffened body away from the PC after 2 hours or more. :shock: If I were to get involved with all the other stuff; twitter, blogging, MySpace, MSN, phone-text addiction (a bad habit of the wifey person) etc... I might as well retire from working life - I'd never find the time otherwise.

[TBE]

and as if by magic, the shop keeper appeared....

Hello, I had to chime in on this one...(No you didn't Andy, there lies the problem!)

Everyone pretty much gets what I'm doing here which is nice, I'm basically doing an internet detox.
What Mouse says is very interesting and really sums up how I feel. Just because you aren't available for the whole world on here doesn't mean you don't exist. The internet can eat into your time (and I mean really eat into...hours and hours!) I wanted to get back to using my downtime for writing music and practicing again. That is happening.

There is another point and that is the effectiveness of the internet for a professional musician. Email and file sharing has really benefited music making have access to the means of distribution is great. It's facebook and twitter and myspace and all the forums that I have a problem with. A friend of mine is a big fan of a certain musician but has gone off them following their mindless ramblings on twitter. If you have something musical to say then get it out there for sure, but you don't need these sites to do that. Even as I write this I'm questioning why I feel I need to broadcast my opininion on this subject.

I'll stop there....

[D S]

Interesting topic.  Like many above, I am all too aware of the time that can disappear online, visiting just 2 or 3 forums.  I found I was reading about music more than I was playing it!  So I made the conscious decision not to get a Facebook or Twitter account - I could see my life becoming a virtual one - and I've stuck with that.

However, on balance, I'm with Ron in that I've discovered so many great new bands via the internet (and have bought, not downloaded illegally, their albums) and discovered about gigs I wouldn't have known about otherwise that I think it has been a very positive thing.

I know what Brian Eno means but what the internet has done is show just how many talented people there are out there, many of which would have never seen the light of day previously due to purely commercial reasons for the record companies.  Yes, there are many duffers (myself included) who are now (musically speaking!) exposing themselves on the interwebthingy that probably shouldn't but, the benefits of the web outweigh the downsides for me.

You can still find diamonds in the rough.

[gr8gonzo]

That's all perfectly understandable, Mr. Andy, and I'm sure we can all appreciate that and respect your decision.  You know we Frost*ies support whatever you do 100%.  Please do keep us informed when you have news, though.  You could put your message on one of those giant banners that planes drag behind them, or perhaps do an infomercial for the BBC.  Do they have infomercials in the UK?  

[sawtooth]

The other thing which I didn't get round to saying in my earlier post was the sense I had of wanting to show how much I support a band or artist by subscribing to all of that artists forums/blogs/tweets etc, much the same as keeping up with my forum posts. A sort of 'keeping up with the Jones's' scenario. This was very much a self-imposed situation on my part, and was not of the artists (or anyone elses) making.

I suppose it's just a case of downgrading from serious fanboy status to merely being a serious fan!

[Geetar]

We have several hamsters. Lovely little things they are too.

Often, several days go by without us seeing much evidence of them, other than a small pulsing of their bedding mounds; but just because their comings and goings are unseen, they are not loved any the less.

And I'm fairly sure I heard one of them working on "The Sixteen Men of Tain".

[EVP]

I too was noting how all this stuff has sort of taken over lives of most everyone in
society. I opened a facebook account back int he fall and now I see people that
seem to be on it all day judging by how many posts they have.  I honestly don't
know how some do it.  But even for myself, I typically have always had my usual
stops for news and banter and it's kind of like reading the paper in the morning.
Between all the music news,Pro audio gear,forums,severe weather/meteorology
and a few other places, I too have been spending more time.

I was wondering where this twitter thing ever came from? It seems like all the sudden
everyone started using it overnight. It's cool for those that use it and it is good
for some things I suppose, but I hardly have a need or desire for it myself. I always
enjoy reading anything Jem posts anywhere on the internet regardless so no
complaints there

I've been on vacation and have found that lately my free time from work for
my own musical endeavors has been seriously shrinking. I think it's time to
slice some of the fat off,so to speak. But you lot are a fun group to chat with
and this still remains a great place to visit. So I'll always stop by