TULLAHOMA, Tenn. — Local guitarist Thom Carridge of noise rock band Vacuum Space was caught off guard when a fan informed him that his song “Shaping the Sky” used a 7/8 time signature, sources who weren’t quite sure what that meant confirmed.
“Oh yeah, I don’t like to box myself in…it’s not something we shoot for, we just let it happen organically. Some might even say accidentally,” said Carridge, the band’s guitarist and primary songwriter. “Music comes in many forms, with many time signatures. For instance, the most popular time signature is something called 4/4. Who knew? When I approached this ‘Shaping the Sky’ song, I was just trying to rip-off King Crimson and Radiohead, so today I learned they also use the so-called 7/8 time signature. We’re clearly very similar.”
Vacuum Space fan Hilary Franklin was excited to talk music theory with Carridge, but came away a little confused.
“I simply pointed out that the song shifts between a 7/8 measure with the compound beat in the beginning and then moves it to the end late in the song. At one point, it even shifts the compound beat in the middle, which is really wild and makes it that much harder to tap your foot to. You know, stuff every guitarist knows,” said Franklin. “But that’s when Thom’s face turned beet red. It’s almost like he had no idea what I was talking about. You should’ve seen the confused look on his face at the mere mention of the E and G chords. Totally clueless.”
Billy Tobin, music teacher at Grove Falls High School, was all too familiar with Carridge’s work.
“Five years ago Thom had the simple assignment of writing an original composition for an independent study. He used to claim he was ‘majoring in guitar’ and working on a real epic that would show people just how far you could sonically take a six-stringed instrument,” said Tobin. “But when it was finally time to perform, he was totally unprepared. He got up there with his shitty Jazzmaster copy and played this long rambling shit show of notes that lasted for 14 minutes. But to be honest, 90% of guitarists I see are just kind of winging it until something sounds good.”
At press time, Carridge was also surprised to learn that he wrote a guitar solo with a pentatonic scale.