About Eddie Patin & Fire and Stone
Origins and Influences
I am Fire and Stone.
Back in 2004, I learned the nature of suffering, and my lost muse and broken 'Ka-Tet' inspired a torrent of melancholy creativity that led me to write and compose music seriously for the first time. Until then, I had only toyed with childish attempts at lyrics and possessed a basic competence of my guitar.
Through the end of 2004 and over 2005, I designed and wrote an entire album under the band name "Kokiri", and named the album (of 13 songs) "Dare the Oblivion". The songs flowed from me, my torment my drive.
I'll go more into the technical details of recording in the page "How is the Music Recorded?", but I had a plan to make an entire album on my own, produced and mixed with professional attention, and ... well ... I didn't know much about marketing and business back then, so I don't know what I would have done with it. Presented the album to record companies, I suppose.
When I design music, I can write a song, come up with the guitar, the vocals, and have a strong sense of where the other instruments, harmonies, etc., come together in my head, but there's nothing like uncovering a musical creation as you lay tracks. And I found, once I started recording my songs, that my appreciation of many different sub-styles of rock ended up blending into a rather exotic and unique sound that, to this day, I cannot quite 'classify'.
I was a teenager of the 90's. Nirvana was my musical god. I called Kurt Cobain my hero, but I didn't know what the hell I was talking about back then. But, musically, the grunge of the 90's, especially Nirvana, was ingrained deeply into my musical style. I found that as I created my own beautiful art, grunge was my foundation.
As I grew older, my musical tastes refined, and for many years I was interested only in 'classic rock'. I would later learn of other sub-styles within classic rock that would help define my influences even more. One of my favorite forms of classic rock was that easy 'folkish harmony' work of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, as well as other similar bands like America and The Eagles. My other favorite form of classic rock was something I later learned was termed 'progressive rock', which included highly creative and instrumental bands like Pink Floyd, Styx, Rush, and (a little of) Yes.
And yet, despite my musical tastes mixing oddly enough already between bands like Nirvana, CSNY, and Pink Floyd, I came to enjoy (and assimilate) an odd form of alternative rock that included what I can best describe as 'Spaghetti Western' elements, like The Refreshments, and (to a lesser extent), Marcy Playground.
Well, my 'serious hobby' of music composition and recording has gone through two different phases of time in my life. In 2004 and 2005 (as I said), I created the initial album, as well as several other songs that were to be a part of a later album. Back then, I called myself "Kokiri". And then, despite years of torment and longing that spurred me to write and pour my heart into these songs, I eventually moved on with my life.
As life, work, and other relationships passed through the sands of time, my music eventually took a back seat. And while I still played my songs from the tabs I developed, and occasionally came up with new ideas, I didn't record anything for a long time. I got married. Life happened. And though the music called to me, I ignored that blazing spirit in my soul ... until 2012.
In the beginning of 2012 was my divorce, and in the inevitable re-discovery of myself, the music found me again. My original muse, my Kokiri, was long gone. But I had new inspirations, and I began to compose again. And record again.
Also in 2012, I realized that the name 'Kokiri' no longer worked for me. The name was a part of me from the past, and after facing all of my old demons, it didn't seem right to continue under the old name.
So I found a new name. And it is my heart.
Aside from new material I began writing that year, I still had many, many old songs I'd written before (as Kokiri) that still needed recording. Of the songs on this website, eight of them were recorded in 2012, with new equipment and new skill. I learned new balancing techniques, and touched up all of the old songs. And bringing life to new and old songs alike, creating real music where only 'txt' files and music in my head existed before ... brought serious joy to my life for the first time in a long while.
These days I recognize that my music is the greatest passion of my variety of ambitions. Having been in the working world for a while now, I've been in many different fields and industries, and have experience as a consultant and business owner in sales, marketing, management, the construction and real estate industries, and I write fiction, non-fiction, and other content for business and for pleasure. I have plans of long-term investing and building self-sustained systems, developing streams of income and exercising my creativity for business and income purposes in many ways.
But the music is always there, calling to me.
And I know that while my busy mind has much to do, too much for a lifetime for everything I want to do, it's the music that truly makes me happy. But as a grown man and a father, I also recognize that musicians are a dime a dozen, and my music will have to take a back seat to 'real work' until my plans come to fruition to the point where I don't have to worry so much about working to survive, and can focus on recording more seriously. Of course, if a record label dropped a good contract into my lap, that would change everything.
Composing and recording music is something spiritual for me. Having the talent and technical skill to manifest my music into being as close as possible to how my creativity intends ... is an incredible release, and an explosion of energy and emotion. I can work in my 'studio area' for hours and hours, miss meals without notice, then have to tear myself away to get to bed in time to sleep for only 3-4 hours.
Sometimes I also stay up at night WAY later than I want to, listening to my songs over and over again, loud in my headphones -- especially when a song is new. And my music can move me to powerful emotions.
I often wonder if other musicians feel the same way about their music.
My music, to me, is like jewels that I create into this world, and will be around for people to enjoy where previously nothing existed before. I love my music, and if these songs add beauty to the world, creating these things, these manifestations of emotional intensity is (at least in my own mind) a noble thing indeed.
And I hope my music moves you to feel the beauty as it does for me. Enjoy.
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