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Hit me with your rhythm stick
It’s spring and I’m in the 4th year of my songwriting journey. I started this blogpost back in November 2011 so I should probably finish it eh?
I spent summer 2011 balancing a new day job with writing, recording, the occasional gig and working with a bass player. By the autumn we were joined by a drummer/percussionist. Funny how that worked out: it wasn’t in my plan. I came to the realisation that the solo gig was fun but I had probably taken it as far as possible with the songs I have written.
Back in the day I would have scoured the Hot Press adverts and done a bunch of telephone tag before finding someone. Social networking (yes, that website) opened up a few avenues. I sent some messages and was introduced to Mark who has a really nice touch with his playing. As he said himself “we’re not 20 anymore” we know that fame-and-fortune isn’t around the corner. We played a few gigs and it made a huge difference to the live experience for me. Having a bassline underneath the guitar enables me to underplay a little and adds more dynamic to the set as we play through the songs. I saw a gig a couple of years ago when a singer-songwriter played with a bass player and knew that from the audience point-of-view it would work.
Highlight gig for me has definitely been opening for my mates in Pugwash at the Spirit Store in Dundalk. Unfortunately work travel meant I couldn’t do more dates on their Irish tour but just to play this one show was great. Pugwash attract a classy audience and they listened through my whole set.
The more songs Mark & I worked up the more I began to listen to his suggestion that we really needed a drummer. I didn’t need much convincing but was hesitant because I have liked the agility of being a 2-piece and really wasn’t sure I could find a drummer. I kinda lucked out finding such a good bass player. It was at a gig in the Grand Social when an old acquaintance turned up to have a listen. Tim is a drummer with quite a history in Irish music (Skid Row, Bell/Brush Band and more). I knew Tim from some years back when I played keys in a couple of bands around Dublin and I knew he lived nearby.
We’ve done some rehearsal and tried a gig as a 3-piece. It has worked well. In January 2012 we recorded some rhythm tracks using Tim’s electronic kit triggering nice drum samples : combines the ease of technology with the heart of a musician.
Then disaster: the MacBookPro which I have been using throughout this songwriting journey died a little while on a visit to the USA. It had most of my song recordings which were backed up but the real kicker was the set of software tools I was depending on was now unavailable to me. I used the MacBookPro to generate drum loops, synths and strings/horns before firing the whole lot over to a 12 year old ProTools system for overdubbing and mixing.
A couple of weeks were spent researching whether to repair or replace the Mac and I eventually settled on a whole new system to replace both the laptop and the ProTools rig. The result has been worth every cent spent. I’m doing everything in one program (Logic) and my production is speeding up. I can demo a song while writing and use that demo to build a proper master recording. Saves a huge amount of work. Luckily I was able to salvage most of the recordings I had done and imported everything into the new system.
The battle between writing, gigging, recording, working, travelling, family, real life has reached détente. I’ve accepted that I cannot do it all at the same time so I’ve put gigging and writing on hold until these songs are recorded.
So, what’s next on the journey? I’m finishing the recordings and planning the release of 2 EPs with about 5 or 6 songs per disc which I’ll release during the remainder of 2012. With the recordings done I’ll be able to focus on making a couple of videos and playing some shows.
Almost there !
The Spirit Is Willing
A bundle of milestones last night….
Back in 2007/2008 when I started to believe again that I could be a singer-songwriter I set myself some goals and ambitions. One of these was to play in a ‘known’ venue outside Dublin and another was to support my friends Pugwash on one of their shows. I was due to play support for more dates on their Irish tour but sod’s law ensured that work-travel commitments meant I had to pull out of the other dates.
Last night I supported the lads at the Spirit Store in Dundalk. From the minute I arrived I had a good feeling about the gig. The promoter/sound engineer/man-who-runs-the-gig Derek was not your typical grumpy wish-I-wasn’t-here-with-all-these-musicians person too often encountered. That was a great start. Once the Pugs had completed their marathon 11 minute soundcheck (a new record for them… where they get the stamina from I don’t know) I was given a proper setup and soundcheck. That does so much for your confidence and assurance that you’ll sound good and you’ll be able to hear yourself on the monitors. Mark (on bass) had plenty of time to adjust his sound and got the monitor mix he needed.
Local lad Brian Sewell opened and played a 15 minute set despite his massive hangover <grin>. The audience had a chance for a drink/smoke break and I watched the venue cat inspecting everything on the stage. Yes you read right: the venue cat. He sits on the bar downstairs and drinks milk from a shot glass. It’s that kind of venue.
still image from a video of last night's show in the Spirit Store
Onstage, a quick line check, tune check and we’re off. The room isn’t very big but that contributes to the ‘listening room’ and along with the candles creates a really comfortable environment. I opened with ‘Elvis Has Left The Building‘ and told the back story to that song. It got a laugh and as the lyric unfurled I could see smiles of acknowledgement from the audience who spotted the references to the back story.
‘Memo To You‘ was next and I had to focus because I could hear (in my mind) the jangly 12-string Rickenbacker I recorded last weekend for this song. This song is so much easier to perform live because Mark is holding down the groove in the bass and, on this gig, I could hear myself in the monitor. This allows me to exert more control over my playing and add some more dynamic to the vocal delivery. In other words: it’s not all shouty.
‘Trigger Happy‘ is a recently written song and although it’s got dark origins it’s still fun to play – anything in 6/8 (or is it 3/4 ?) time sounds different enough for an audience to give them a rest from 4/4 after 4/4 after 4/4.
‘12 Step‘ is another new-ish song and although I took the tempo a bit briskly it was probably good to bring it up again after the slow vibe of the previous song. Yet again: being able to hear myself and not having to battle with dozens of people talking meant I didn’t fall back on pushing the song at the audience and could focus on performing it.
Last song of the set is ‘From The Other Side Of The World‘ which always goes down well. I spotted a couple of the lads from Pugwash in the room and got that feeling I always get at the end of a support slot: “Man, I wish I could play for longer”. I guess that’s good … right?
Glass half-full time: songs are getting better, the sound is filling out, I’m feeling more confident and I’m finally playing some good venues and getting more access to bigger artists audiences. Next up is a few rehearsals with a drummer/percussionist who lives locally, adding some more songs to the set and dusting off my keyboard for some songs I’ve not yet played live. I hope to go out as a 3-piece at the next big gig which is at The Spout in Kilcullen on November 25th. Another venue outside Dublin and a promise of a decent 40-45 minute slot. What’s not to like?
Oh and the small matter of an album to finish recording.
We’re trigger happy
If it’s past midnight and I’m blogging I must have some adrenaline flowing. You’d be right.
I tried something new this evening: a gig with another musician. I’ve been thinking about having a bass player join me for some songs at my gigs. A chap I know put me in touch with Mark who has turned out to be just what I needed: someone who can play, doesn’t live too far away, has been there done that. We did a rehearsal last week and decided to give it a lash this evening in front of an audience.
I’m liking the feeling of having a bass underneath my vocal and guitar. It’s also nice to have someone else up there on stage. There’s additional resonsibility… I can’t suddenly change the song and I have to watch my tempos. It allows me to have a bit more control over my playing.
What didn’t work so well this evening was the sound which I have to take responsibility for. Problem identified and fixed so we’re going to do another rehearsal before the weekend. The whole middle bit between the bass & my voice just wasn’t present. Unfortunately the way I had setup my guitar signal made it impossible for anyone to fix it. Lesson learned.
I’m much happier with my vocal these days. A combination of my recent surgery and a signal processing unit I am now using live is giving me more confidence and satisfaction with how I sound.
On Sunday I’m playing the Apollo Sessions and Mark will be joining me for some of the set. I’m very close to being in a position to play a full set of my own material and I sense a venue booking in my near future.
The recordings are getting there at last ! I reviewed all the nearly-finished songs a couple of weeks ago and have enough material for 2 EPs and reckon I could complete the recordings over the next 4-6 weeks. Other bass playing friends have been adding parts and I’m more comfortable with the edits that I need to make to the recorded versions that will make them ‘different’ to the live versions of those songs.
“Trigger Happy” is a new song by the way. It’s in 3/4 time (or 6/8 if you like to count that way).
The Jolly Anglers
I’m in England for work reasons this week. To give me something positive to do in the evenings that doesn’t involve surfing the internet or sitting in a hotel bar with a book I brought my guitar…. did a little research and found some open mics to play.
Reading is west of London and where my employer and some of the folk in my new team are based. The Thames runs right beside tonight’s venue The Jolly Anglers. You’ll see it in this photo right beside that sign that warns you about motorcycles flying over cars.
I must admit to being a little apprehensive when I stepped out of the taxi and noticed that apart from the barman and the black labrador walking between the tables there was nobody else in the pub. Two or three locals appeared and caught up on whatever business had gone down since their last meeting. No doubt the last meeting was not all that long ago.
In for a penny…. I ordered some food and realised that this was not the kind of pub where one could order a glass of red wine. So I jumped right in and had a pint of the landlord’s own cider. I’m told cider is an acquired taste and I didn’t acquire the taste tonight.
The chap running the open mic arrived and setup the rather good PA system. We chatted briefly and as soon as he walked away to finish setting up his wife told me how her husband had managed to find open mics when on holiday. I mentioned my own dalliance with the holiday open mic last week in Skibbereen (Cork) but did not elaborate on the small audience made up mostly of other musicians.
As is tradition with open mics the host played a few songs. I was invited up and noticed the crowd in the pub had grown to about 20 people by this time. So I had a decision to make: do I play a cover and use up one of my allotted 3 songs? It’s like being granted 3 wishes so you use them carefully. I opted to stick to the path of original material which can sometimes work out. In this case it did. I opened with ‘Elvis Has Left The Building’ and followed it up with ‘What Do I Know?’. The ballad went down well and the audience was actually listening. As little as 4 years ago I’d have scoffed at the idea that I could wander into a venue/pub/anywhere and get a bunch of strangers to sit and listen to a song I had written. I closed my first set with ‘Bed For Sale’ which mostly involves me playing the living daylights out of my guitar 
About an hour later I was asked to play again and opted for the cover version. If you’ve seen one of my gigs you’ll know that I do an interesting old English folk song (all the way from Sheffield). It went down well and the audience joined in. Always a good sign. By this time I knew the audience wanted to be entertained with familiar tunes so I shied away from original material. A call went out for ‘an Irish song’ and I immediately forgot every song I ever knew. In a panic I said I’d play a Thin Lizzy song and promptly murdered ‘Whiskey In The Jar’ but it went down well.
The landlord insisted on buying me a pint for “your lovely songs” (I’m putting that on my next press kit!) and asked if I’d be interested in playing a night there on my next visit to Reading.
Wow.
So this proves: no gig is too small and you never know where it might lead. In this case it might lead to another fun night.
Better than hanging around in a hotel bar eh?
One Train Later
It’s one o’clock in the morning and I’m awake. Reading the final chapters of Andy Summers‘ book ‘One Train Later‘ seemed a good idea at the time. His journey from small clubs and one-off solo spots to the Police gig at Shea Stadium in 1983 was over and my mind was spinning. What a life he has led. Few of us are that talented, fortunate or (dare I say ?) victims of syncronicity (yeah I couldn’t resist).
Unable to sleep my tossing and turning is keeping my better half awake so I retreat to the kitchen, pour a pint of milk and sneak past the watchful eyes of the two cats. Taking my laptop into the living room I put on a bollywood movie. No, I don’t know why either. I can’t be bothered changing the channel. The sound is off but the colours are bright and almost technicolour. My laptop transmits a logo through the darkness as if signalling to nobody there that I’m on-line and writing.
The last couple of weeks have been high and low and full of change.
I’m ill again with the never ending sinus problem and have developed an odd renal-type infection. This is not normal and it’s bothering me. In my doctor I trust and to my body I will listen. There is a minor operation coming up in a couple of weeks which will give me another three or four years of relief from sinusitis and help me recover the energy that has been lacking since earlier this year. Slowing down and giving myself time to heal is not something I do well. It will be the undoing of me I am told.
I miss playing and writing. The problem is energy and time. Time I can make: that’s the easy bit. But if the spirit is willing and the flesh is weak then I know I should concede defeat and wait. Sunday last I sat with my favourite guitar and played a little. I lay back and fell asleep. Relaxed or poleaxed?
Changes. Next week I travel to the US for some meetings to introduce me to my new colleagues. After seventeen years in the same organisation it’s time for me to move on and find something new. Move on and learn. Although I’m not defined by my job sometimes I have to let it take the driving seat for a while.
The phone is full of little recordings containing song ideas. Chord sequences and melodies that might never leave their digital embryo.
The studio is half-full of nearly finished recordings. All just waiting for a couple of bits to be added and of course some vocals that don’t sound like I’m singing with my fingers stuck up my nostrils.
The head is full of little ambitions. Some new gigs and approaches to live performance.
From The Other Side Of The World
February is ending and I’ve not blogged since new year’s day. That’s poor form.
This time last week I started recording a new song that I’d written the previous day. Untitled ‘Song For Paul’ was born out of the news of the death of our internet mate Paul Culnane. I went into my little home studio with my guitar on the Saturday afternoon and just kept playing to see what I could come up with. For about an hour I flailed around with nothing coming but managed to get into that zen-like state when I don’t criticise or think. I’ve learned to keep the recorder running while writing. Every few minutes I rewind and capture the best bits. Not worrying too much about the lyric but keeping in mind what the whole ‘story’ of the song is – in this case it was the long-distance relationship I and others had with our friend.
Paul struck me as a troubled soul but it would be unfair to simply remember him that way. We all have our demons and we’re too quick to summarise a life by thinking only of the tough times and ignoring all the goodness. As far as I can see Paul lived for music, fun and people. He loved glam, pop and wrote about it. The internet took to Paul like a duck to water. I’d get long rambling emails from him about all sorts of music, the loves of his life and the days when things didn’t go so well. I wish I’d kept them. His Facebook page has become a bit of a memorial and people from all over the world have come together to remember a fun, loving person.
The song formed pretty quickly – I still have the writing session and it seems to have taken less than an hour to get a verse and chorus section. The middle 8 came quickly and it was definitely going to be instrumental. Recently I’ve tried writing with a capo on the guitar because it forces me into keys and chord shapes I wouldn’t normally try. In this case on Capo 3 I was able to play in C minor which would normally be tricky to maintain while writing. Along the way the chorus fell into my lap: a standard G major chord slides up to A something-or-other and then to Bflat something-or-other and back down again. When I got to the middle 8 I was able to sing a simple melody over the top of the chord changes and didn’t bother with a lyric – it was going to be instrumental and I wanted an excuse to use a mellotron sound.
I wanted to get the song recorded and online by the weekend so despite having a busy week managed to make time in the studio to work on the track. The pressure of time meant I had to make decisions and just get-on-with-it. Dan emailed a bass part and Steve emailed a few lead guitar tracks and a lovely triple-tracked slide guitar part for the chorus. Lyrically the rest of the song fell into place – Dan sent some suggestions for lyric tweaks which tipped my basic lyric over into something I was comfortable singing. By Friday I had it rough-mixed and ready for the last bit which was Dan’s participation in the backing vocals near the end of the song.
The drums are courtesy of Toontrack Ezdrummer which is a great tool for the non-drumming singer-songwriter. Basically a collection of real drummers recorded to MIDI files which are then used with a sample playback engine. This gives you the real feel of a drummer with great quality sounds. Easy to edit and adjust: the drum part in the coda is a pattern from earlier in the song with the snare taken out. I might have manually played the cymbal crash at the end. The acoustic guitar is my favourite instrument (my Martin XCT-1) mic’d by a Neumann into a TLAudio 5051 mic-pre. The strings, horns, electric piano are all from Logic which is my sequencing software of choice. I start with Garageband so I don’t over-complicate things, then I open the session in Logic Studio to edit and tweak it. Once I’m happy with those parts I export them as audio files and copy them over to my ProTools workstation. The ProTools system is over 10 years old but I’m in no hurry (or position) to replace it. It works just fine. I then track the acoustic and vocals on the ProTools system which I treat like a multitrack system. It keeps me from fannying around too much with the parts and it’s easier to use for tracking ‘real’ instruments.
The backward bit in the middle is me reading out some of Paul’s sayings & expressions. No point in having mellotrons and Harrison-esque slide guitar if there’s no backward stuff is there ? Those backing vocals at the end were fun. There’s about 8 versions of me and a similar number of Dan in that choir.
What have I learned from this ? Doing it for the sake of it is enough reason to keep writing and recording. Get it recorded and don’t put it on the long finger. Don’t be afraid to get contributors in. I can’t wait to set Steve loose on a couple of my other songs and already have a track I want to send to Dan for more bass duties.
Anyway, Paul I hope you like it.
Don’t look back in anger
This blog has been neglected of late so I’m going to try and make amends. It’s a new year and for the past 24 hours I’ve read status on that social networking site where friends are saying good riddance to 2010. I can sympathize with people who have lost loved ones, health, jobs, homes, savings and more. So long as we don’t lose hope then any year is good. Will 2011 be better? No guarantees. I’m just glad to have lived through 2010. All I ask for 2011 is that I do the same. Along the way if there are fewer bumps then bring it on.
The only 2010 retrospective I can be bothered with is looking at the new music I enjoyed in 2010.
I’ll start with the debut solo album by Fyfe Dangerfield : “Fly Yellow Moon”.
Here’s a Spotify link where you can listen to the entire album.
Probably better known as the lead singer of the Guillemots, Fyfe wrote and recorded this collection of songs in between Guillemots albums (he’s currently mixing the next Guillemots album).
Favourite tracks for me are ‘Livewire’ with it’s stop-moaning-you’ve-got-everything-to-live-for message
Livewire, your life is in the fire You got everything to play for
1-1, half time
Livewire, the world is yours to hire We got everything to live for
Don’t kick it all the time
One track on the album that jumped out at me from the radio and wouldn’t let go was the single ‘She Needs Me’. A euphoric statement from a man in love. The production reminds me of the Thom Bell strings on Elton John’s EP ‘The Thom Bell Sessions‘ and also his song ‘Philadelphia Freedom’
No other album released in 2010 really grabbed me in the same way. I played it through the spring and summer.
Old albums I rediscovered in 2010 were The Buggles ‘The Age of Plastic’ and ‘Adventures in Modern Recording’. Spotify link here for ‘The Age of Plastic’. I had been watching some old ‘Top Of The Pops‘ shows from 1979-80 and had forgotten the other singles (apart from Video Killed The Radio Star). I also had overlooked that my good friend Alan White did a lot of work with Trevor Horn so imagine my surprise when I saw Alan make a guest appearance on a live concert DVD featuring artists that had worked with Trevor Horn.
It’s my hope that by this time next year I will be able to mention my own debut album in this blog. I’m working on it…
A memo to me
Last week I was playing around with some simple chords with my capo up on 5th fret. I call this the ‘George’ setup because the sound of an acoustic is very ‘George Harrison’ up there. (Here Comes the Sun is actually up on 7th fret, that’s how he gets that sound). I couldn’t come up with a reason for the song much less a lyric so I decided to quickly record a wordless melody while I played. Ignoring lyrics I figured I’d try writing purely a melody line and put a structure on the song.
I had a Police lyric in my head which meant there was no way I would get past that earworm. I sent it to my friend Dan who mailed me back a set of lyrics.
Sometimes writing is as simple as that. We’ve to’d and fro’d with the lyrics and structure. The internet eliminated a few hundred kilometers.
I think that’s what I’ll do next time I’m blocked. I can usually lash out melody and song form. Lyrics aren’t so easy.
The song is titled ‘Memo to You’ simply because it was a ‘memo’ recorded on my phone.
songwriting brothers
Elton John& Bernie Taupin (stay with me folks… I’m not comparing myself to Reg!) used to collaborate across the ocean. This was before email and I suspect in the earliest days of fax. Fax: remember that?
I didn’t realise that Elton & Bernie didn’t actually sit together to co-write their material.
Reflecting on this I realise that some of the best co-writing I’ve done has been when there’s distance between myself and the co-writer. There is surely a thrill in the white heat of creating a song when sitting beside another writer. The speed at which songs form themselves is quite something but I find myself tempering the development in an effort not to tread on the creative toes of my co-writer. Yesterday as I demo’d the new song I traded email with Dan and was able to digest his input while routining the song. (Routining – playing it over and over). Now and again I’d riff on one of the lines he provided and might even tweak the raw lyric.
We’re now polishing it. I can stand back and become an editor now – the fundamental ‘write’ is done and the core of the song is done.
Blogged down with webbed fingers
I’ve had a little operation which means I’m forced to take it easy for a couple of days.
That’s not really in my nature unless I’m actually on holiday.
So I’ve sat with a laptop and a fistful of painkillers.
First up, if you’ve ever visited my old imadethebbc.blogspot.com blog you’ll notice you’ve been redirected here to my new blog.
The new blog is hosted by WordPress and I’m rather pleased that it was easy to transfer the 5 years of old blog posts.
If you used to visit my blog at tugofwar.spaces.live.com you’ll notice that it has gone. Microsoft decided to wrap up the spaces service and along with WordPress they provided a very simple transfer process.
Finally… I’ve put up my own website and after a bit of poking around I’ve managed to host my blog there.
Please go visit the site. I spent ages putting it together ! Looky up there near the top of this page just under my hand it says “Back to my homepage”. Click it.
Happy Days In The Gulag
My friend Daniel Prendiville has released another album. Prolific or what?
I think this is rather good. Actually no, it’s better than that.
You can listen to it for free with no guilt. But you could try buying a copy….
Update October 2010. Well, moving to wordpress means I cannot embed reverbnation widgets on my blog (yet).
So you should go to Dan’s reverbnation site and check it out. Here’s the link
