I have this friend, who's in a band, and he wants to...

To preface, this is not a joke or hoax, but a request for real information. I swear on a stack of Analogue Bubblebath 5's!

I work with someone who has a punk band, formerly named Abandon Arlington. They had three members, but recently added a fourth and want to change their musical direction. Basically, they want to go from punk/pop rock to progressive/pop rock with electronic elements. But they have no idea where to start with hardware/software/instruments suitable for said musics.

Keep in mind that any suggestions would be for beginners/noobs/neophytes in electronic music.

Feel free to use the MySpace links to tell them how stupid they are/ask questions.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...endID=111866958

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...iendID=23510688

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Abandon+Arlington

Thank you, mighty EKTers.

get some electronics duh

step 1: trade drum kit for drum machine

step 2: buy vocoder

electronic drum kit

I know a percussion player would hate to hear me say this, but I would rather have a competent percussionist on an MPC1000 than beating on wood blocks and shit...

Get a synth (not a fucking microkorg), electronic music programs and mixers, get the guitarists some crazy ass FX, delay, huge reverb, loopstations, filters and stuff like that. Combine with some old amps for analogue warmth. Make the guitarists learn more chords than Am7 and Csus. Bassplayer needs to do awesome squarepusheresque solos between every track. And get him a bottom heavy amp.

Drummer needs better EQ and some drum machines, but in general he and the bassist should be the sanest sounding.

And most of all change the way you play, i play electronic music with my steelstring acoustic, it's all about the technique. Bring in more odd intervals, time sigs, extended chords, syncopation. Make tracks without the usual verse chorus format.

And the singer, make him sing the words as far in the front of the mouth as possible, in the lips.. And in falsetto.

Get different band members to write entire tracks, the drummer for instance, use his understanding of rythm in one track, the guitarists understanding of melody in another. and last but not least.. NO FUCKING POWERCHORDS

arp oddyser + kraftwerk discography to copy = answer

actually i think the vocalist just needs to stop singing altogether.

just buy a microkorg and use the default patches it sounds like that's right up their alley

Honestly, it really depends on what their budget is and whether or not they want hardware or software, if money is no object and they are willing to go the software route, a dedicated computer (meaning no internet or word processing) running Reason with a keyboard controller would probably be the way to go. if they don't have the budget for that (so let's say they have 5-600 dollars) I would look into one of the electribes ( either the SX or MX depending on what they want either synthesis or sampling) would probably be their best bet.

Thanks for the replies/suggestions/sarcasm/etc.