Greetings all,

I figured with all the research and errant time I put into things Tolkien and LOTRO I thought it best to begin gathering my thoughts in this blog/journal space that Turbine so generously offers us. Back in March of 2008 when I formed my first online gaming guild/kin, “The Lonely Mountain Band” on Landroval, I had no idea what I was in for. LOTRO was my first MMO that I continued for more than a couple weeks, and I began on Arkenstone in July of 2007. After wading through a couple kinships, I found out later that Landroval was the “RP” server, so I felt I better venture over there for more of what I was originally looking for in a MMORPG. I began to form my own ideas of what a kinship in LOTRO could be, and I knew there must be other players like myself seeking a relaxed, yet mature kin focused on the game and things Tolkien.

A few months later I began gathering my thoughts around the concept of an all Tolkien themed music project apart from what I was doing in my celtic rock band Fathom. There are some LOTR themed songs in Fathom’s collection, but I felt I could only treat the material according to my vision if I made it an entirely separate project from Fathom. At the same time I was really impressed with the SOA soundtrack material, more of the stuff you hear in the Pony, the non-orchestral stuff. It was similar to what I was familiar with as a musician in a celtic rock band, and I thought if I could meld my knowledge of the lore with music of this vein, I might have a work of art I could relish in as a fan myself!

I then set about finding my favorite song in game, and seeing if I could organize and perform a decent cover rendition of that song. I didn’t want to imitate it exactly, as I believe all covers should reflect the covering artist’s own fingerprint and sound. Hands down, “Let Us Sing Together” aka “The Bombadil Song” was my favorite. After scheduling the sessions and working out chords it was a quick step to recording and mastering, and then putting it to a LOTRO machinima video that I myself would enjoy looking at. In all things I do musically or creatively, I first try to entertain myself. If I don’t like it, then its not worth showing to others.

See it on YouTube Here

It was a happy day to realize after the fact that I had a great name for this new project in my actual kinship name. The Lonely Mountain Band! Lonely Mountain was my starting place of really falling in love with Tolkien’s works. The Battle of Five Armies, and reclamation of Erebor for some reason resonated with me as a youngster seeing the animated Hobbit. I was trying to mesh the name of Lonely Mountain with a word for a group of fellows. Band seemed a great word to not only describe a “band of brothers” so to speak, but the musical innuendo is there as well as band also being a word for ring. Had Bilbo not put on that magic band on his finger in Erebor, he might not have burgled so successfully. Sadly, someone had already used my idea. There is a retired kinship on Landroval named Lonely Mountain Band, so I had to insert “The” to convince the clerk of Kinships that I was “legit”.

So now on the other side of forming this kinship in a game, I find that the name fits perfectly on my musical hand as well. For all those interested in my musical journey through middle-earth, I welcome you to visit this journal often, and request my friendship.

Elen sila lumenn omentielvo!

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