Musical Influences?

[Galefore]

We musicians can probably all trace our musical aspirations back to the very first time we had a desire to play an instrument, and a lot of times that desire was sparked by seeing a particular person play. That may not always be the case (I picked up the drums simply because I loved to play the drums), but there's usually at least one person who we've either consciously or subconsciously ripped off over the course of our development.

POST ABOUT THEM THAR PEOPLE HERE

My chief influence as a drummer is probably Gavin Harrison, because I kind of took several elements of his playing (frequent left handed hi-hat accents, certain rudimental/fill ideas of his, and heavy use of ride-bell are all elements I seem to have added to my style), but I think Carter Beauford was the first drummer to really turn me on to the jazz/rock fusion style I've been playing in for the last three years. An earlier posting of this video was my starting point, and it was only a matter of time before I heard Harrison play and the rest is history. As for other influences, I think Darren King, Keith Moon, Peter Erskine, Elvin Jones, John Bonham, and of course the late, great Mitch Mitchell (whose triplet-based fills are a common tool in my arsenal) are probably the next tier.

As for other instruments, I don't have any conscious influence on my keyboard playing (which isn't that advanced to begin with), I just started guitar so any influence there is unconscious, and my lyrics are inspired by people like Will Sheff, Scott Hutchinson, Matt Berninger, and various other fellows who're gifted at lyrical narrative and developing concepts.

WHO DO YOU LIEK

[Bomby]

Depends on what I'm doing. I would say my main influence is Serge Gainsbourg, mostly in that like Monsieur Gainsbourg, I have no real attachment to any particular genre. This has generally made me impossible to be in a band with, because along with not having any particular genre attachments, I also tend to hate music that deliberately tries too hard to mix in influences from disparate genres.

So let's break this down by genre:

When I do straight-forward pop, there's Pulp, Elliott Smith, Blur, and of course, The Beatles.
When I do punk/noise rock, there's huge amounts of pre-Runners Four Deerhoof and Buzzcocks influence evident, with a bit of Pixies mixed in.
When I do hip hop beats, which is the genre I've historically been most prolific in, my most evident influences are probably Just Blaze, Havoc from Mobb Deep, and DJ Quik, though working with rappers from the south brought forth a lot of influence from the south.
I've also tried to work in more avant-garde pop, trying to mix some Stereolab and Animal Collective into the mix.
My big influence whenever I've played bass is James Jamerson, the main studio bassist for Motown.

[Dizzy]

Snappleman.

[Eagle Eye]

I only tend to rap on any of the songs I help produce for fun. And it's usually just to be fun. But I tend to draw from guys like Andre 3000, Busdriver and Cee-Lo, and more from their humor and style than lyricism.

[Panfan]

The music I'm currently working on has some main influences of..

Animal Collective (especially Merriweather Post Pavilion)/Panda Bear, Thom Yorke, Neutral Milk Hotel, Aphex Twin, Motion City Soundtrack, The Mars Volta, with a little Nine Inch Nails and some Weather Report thrown in.

[deathscythe]

Im a screamer for the most part so most of my influence goes to Mike Hranica as being the first one i obsessively listened to. Other than that i've been trying to take more influence from Oh Sleeper, and ABR lately.

i've recently been learning guitar, since the only stuff i learn is from tabs my influences are mostly asking alexandria and TDWP, as there both pretty basic musically. But lately i've tried to step it up and learn some Sweeping from like Escape the Fates "This War is Ours" i can do it. just not fast enough lmao.

[Vapor]

Jethro Tull was one of the bast things that ever happened to me. Those people turned me on to the field of Prog Rock and from then on is history. Steven Wilson's many projects and Radiohead also made my life much more awesome.

My influences for flute technique are classical training I've had and Ian Anderson (Obviously), but some of my influences for soloing are jazz education I've had, Ian, John McLaughlin and Frank Zappa.

When I make electronic music, much of the time I go for an atmospheric approach, using lots of sounds sweepy, subtle, spacy, bombastic and more; with lots of dynamic range and Mellotron. more. M83, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, DJ Shadow, God is an Astronaut, Steven Wilson's album Insurgentes and maybe a bit of Oceansize, Boards of Canada and EVEN MOAR are what I'm going for here, but due to King Crimson, Tool and EVEN MOAR I've been trying to do stuff with strange time, like multiple 7/8 parts on top of a 4/4 pattern with an 11/16 bass part coming in later. Or maybe just being in 13/16.

EDIT: OK that "more" after "Mellotron" isn't necessary but it looks nice so I'll keep it thar

[CaptHayfever]

As a composer: Michael Nesmith, John Linnell, Al Yankovic, Tim DeLaughter, Neil Cicierega

As a drummer: Micky Dolenz, Ringo Starr, Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, Dan Hickey, Meg White

As a Jew's-harpist: Eric Nagler, Snoopy,....does anyone else famous even play this instrument?

As a singer: Nick Niespodziani, Gregg Alexander, Steve Burns, & way too many more to list.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Cosmonautical]

It would honestly be difficult for me to list all of the musical artists I take influence from. Here's some big musical influences in my life so far;

Nine Inch Nails
the Prodigy
Massive Attack
Gravity Kills
the Faint
Death from Above 1979
Pitchshifter
Juno Reactor
Clint Mansell
Tim Skold/KMFDM

[Vapor]

I've come up with a more comprehensive list of music that influences me or that I want to incorporate into my influences:

King Crimson
God Is an Astronaut
Steven Wilson (Including Porcupine Tree et al)
Tool
DJ Shadow (Including UNKLE)
M83
Jethro Tull
The Velvet Underground
Oceansize
Under Byen
Radiohead (and Thom Yorke)
Omar Rodriguez/Cedric Bixler-Zavala (At the Drive-In, The Mars Volta)
Gentle Giant
Anglagard
Massive Attack
Boards of Canada
Yes
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Auto!Automatic!!
Primus
The Beatles from Revolver onward

And To A Lesser Extent,

Soft Machine
Buckethead
Neu!
Bloc Party

[00TJ]

DJ Premier
Kanye West
Dr. Dre
Just Blaze

As you can tell, I am a producer, I make beats for friends and sell them to them so they can use on mixtapes/freestyles, practically anything. I like Premo's drums and just old school style which is something I really like hearing in beats, along with Kanye's and Blazes smooth beats. I started messing around with fruity loops a couple years ago then I actually decided to get serious.

[Bomby]

^ Premo and RZA are probably my favorites, but I didn't list them because none of my beats could ever touch theirs.

[Benthpilp]

yeah wonderful thoughts

[Galefore]

Since this has been trollbumped, I figure I may as well add Chris Pennie and Bryan Devendorf to the list. They've been sort of heavily influencing my style lately. Maybe also Dave Grohl, since I get a lot of comparisons to him and I admit I steal a lot of his ideas.