My good bud', whom together reek havoc on classic (and some notsa classic) tunes in the barn, likes to video tape himself on an acoustic and post it on Myspace. He never puts up the stuff we do together because he's afraid of sharing the spotlight. Fair enough, I say, because no one is gonna give a shit anyway.

Brandon: I dunno about that. Here's a song I wrote and it got 640 plays.

oR: (listens to the song). Yeah. I admit that it's actually pretty damn good, Bran. You wrote that, eh? Kinda sounds like Sparklehorse.

Brandon: (Big smile and a shrug) It is Sparklehorse. Fucker. You're the first person to guess that. 640 plays and no one called me on it! I even said I wrote Life's A Gas. I just don't leave it up there that long.

oR: Your parents must be proud.

***

Musicians: You probably aren't as flagarant about your plagerism as Brandon is, but it's impossible to avoid entirely. At your most defensive you call it "influences" but to one degree or another you've borrowed...stole a riff here, a chord sequence there....

Fess up!

Musicians, tell us to what extent you allow yourself to "borrow" another musicians work. Tell us who's your favorite artist/band to rip-off.

Personally, I'll sometimes "massage" a riff and then imagine I'm Ian McCulloch and pen some lyrics. And maybe too often Brandon will say, "It sounds like Echo & the Bunnymen," and he'll pull a sour face. I'll pretend to be disappointed but secretly I'm flattered. ;-)

*Tell Us About Your "Influences" DiS Musicians!*