Lordy, lordy, lordy. Session 5

Went to Allan's last Monday night to add vocals to 'City Streets' & 'I'm your lover'. Ended up putting a shaker onto 'portrait' which adds a really nice country feel to the track. It's amazing what one instrument can do to change the sound of a song. Allan suggested it might be an idea putting subtle bongo's on it as well, which I gotta admit did appeal a little but I'm conscious of overdoing things. I don't want it to sound like I've thrown the kitchen sink at it, I'd rather it sound as minimalist as possible. After that I did a vocal take for 'Lover', which sounded really thin, it had no grunt to it at all. In order to beef it up I did a second one & also a second cabasa. It lends some substance to the vocal which is needed as the riff of the song is one of the strongest on the album. I want this track to open the record so it's important it's done right. I've now got two guitars, bass, drums, two main vocals & two cabasa's. The second guitar only comes in for the main riff on the chorus, which is to emphasise the riff itself. I want it to really explode when someone puts this record on for the first time, when the guitar kicks in they've gotta know that that they're listening to something with substance. It's crucial for holding their attention for the full 10 songs. I think I'm done with the track now, it's all gonna come down to editing when we're mixing it down.. Next up is the electric guitar tracks, 'Only a fool', 'Secret Garden', 'In the meantime' & 'Fallen'. 'In the meantime' & 'Fallen' particularly are gonna be difficult, not least because the timing is so weird when we drop out & come back in. There's no particular spot where it happens so it's gonna be a hit & hope! I'm hoping to put piano on 'In the meantime', it'll really help to bring out the rock'n'roll in the song if I can find someone to do it.
Speaking of piano, I'd love to play a 'Oh my' on piano at our next gig. Bonnie's looking at doing another Tugboat show, but Mike's not keen so I'm gonna do it solo. Having a piano track up my sleeve will really open up the possibilities for the show. The whole thing with playing solo sets is having variety in your songs. Harmonica, slide, accapela, piano, anything different is gonna help hold people's attention when you're solo, rather than just playing guitar song after song.
With Mike pulling out it definately emphasises how important a solo career is as well as a band. I can't allow my future to be put in other people's hands so the more solo show's I can play the better which emphasises how important it is I get myself a uke & piano. I have to start learning diverse instruments to have the ability to play 90 minute solo sets. Exciting! : )

Ruby lounge open mic

As it's been a couple of months since the Welsh dragon gig & no upcoming shows on the horizon, I went along to the Ruby lounge open mic night just to keep the rust away. It's only a three song set, an open mic standard, but it was still good to perform:

Trouble
Like a dog with a bone
Hear the train a'comin

I rushed through the songs abit, but overall it was good to play. Bonnie's talking about organising another acoustic pillage at the Tugboat, so it'll be interesting to see if that eventuates & if I can get Pisces together to perform. I know Mike's looking at slowing down his performing now that he's got a family so will have to see how that pans out.
Watched "It might get loud" last night. It was interesting to see the three guitarist's talk about their passion for playing and how their personalties affected their styles. I'd say Jack White left the biggest impression. He has an interesting attitude, "start a fight with your guitar & make sure you win" he told his 9yr old son, Jack jr. He spoke a lot about conflict & the need for dissruption in the creative process. I generally work in the opposite manner, I write easier when I'm stimulated & creatively inspired, not when I'm conflicted. I always thought that was a bit of a myth that creative types had fallen into believing, that you've got to be depressed in order to create. We need some new rolemodels. Incredible performer & player though, that man just oozes authenticity, it'll be interesting to see what type of legacy he has in 20, 30 years & how he's remembered.

I've decided that the answer to what to do with the first Pisces ep is Vinyl. I'm gonna print 20, it's only about $200, & create my own record cover. It's a good option I think, if people want to download it they can have it for free but the vinyl will be charged. I'll update more on that later.

I've updated all my tracks & live performances on my apra site, I'm not sure how it works but I think they pay you royakties for performing your tunes. It'll be interesting to see how that all works.

Lordy, Lordy, Lordy Session 4

Caught up with Allan yesterday & did guitar, cabasa & vocal for "I'm your lover" & guitar & tamba for "City streets". Really liking the way the albums coming together, it was completely by chance that Lover ended up being the first song we recorded. It was always my intention to have "look at the sun (fall again)" as the opening track on L,L,L but due to time constraints on the first day of recording I cut both that track & "broken promises". We got straight into recording & did Lover cause it's so familiar. Mike did a nice little drum intro & G brought in his bass after 4 bars with the guitar following 8 later. It's a really nice introduction to the record & hopefully we can get it right with the recording cause it's a fantastic oppurtunity to have some real explosiveness at the beginning of the album. As an introduction to us to a lot of potential new listeners it's important we grab them straight away & this track will do this if done right. I recorded a second guitar track on the main riff to give it more emphasis, the drum, bass & cabasa do a nice job of bringing the listener in but it's the riff that'll really grab them so I want it emphasised. For that reason I'm panning the second guitar to the left channel to give it some seperation from the first guitar & putting the cabasa through the right. It'll hopefully allow the listener to be brought in slowly then held by the riff.
I did a couple of takes on the vocal for it, getting it pretty right the second time out with the only problem being that I was quite tentative with the first line. Seeing that it's going to be the first the listener hears vocals I didn't want it to be a tentative start so I re-recorded the first verse. Unfortunately because it's quite a gutsy song I wrecked my vocal on those two takes so when I tried again my voice started breaking. Shit. I left it & will do the first verse another day.
That's the difference between a trained & untrained singer.... : )
"City streets" sounds good, I did the guitar on Allan's Gretsch just to give it more spark. Something was missing though so I tried putting it through the left channel & the original guide guitar I did earlier through the right. It worked so I put a tamba on just to emphasise the rhthym of the song & I think it sounds great. I'll do a vocal next time up.. Things going well!

lordy, lordy, lordy: Recording 3

Went up to Allan's for our third session on Sunday. I did vocal & guitar on 'I'll wait for you' & 'Hope', & also tambarine for 'Jimmy Jones'. He was kind enough to put them on CD for me to take away so I've been listening to them alot since. Really happy with the way they're sounding, I think we're capturing the essence of the songs which is the most important thing. It's never going to be a professional studio level quality so I'm going more for feel, just trying to capture the heart of the songs & in this sense it's coming along well. That's four tracks down six to go, two more acoustic, 'Lover' & 'City Streets' then the difficult electric tracks, 'Only a fool', 'In the meantime', 'Fallen' & Secret Garden'. Hopefully the final recording has an amateurish sound but with exciting songs that cut through the recording (with all due respect to Allan & his studio). That would be a worthy first record to me.

The Welsh Dragon - 26 Feb 2010

Trouble

Portait of the young man as an artist

How do I live (without you)?

Chains to you

I told you brother

I'll wait for you

Old man & the sea

This was a really enjoyable gig & a much needed shot of confidence after my last solo show at San Fran. The venue is a lot smaller & intimate, the people there are quiet & respectful of the performer therefore I was able to sit comfortably & allow the songs to beathe and linger. So much more enjoyable than trying to battle against people that just want to drink & chat. From a performers point of view it's an ideal situation.

I started with a new track called 'Trouble' which is acapella with handclaps. Quite a daunting way to start a show but I really like it & was itching to try it out. There's five verses to get through so I wrote it out beforehand but didn't need it in the end, once it started I flew through it. I think the majority of people didn't really know what was going on but Ange, who had been listening to me write it all week, thought it was cool, so that's good enough for me. The rest of the show went well, I thought I played & sung well because I didn't need to fight against the audience. What a relief! Had one small glich when I had retuned to an open tuning for the slide on "I told you brother". Afterwards when I tried to retune I couldn't find the low E & the more I tried the worse it got.. slightly uncomfortable moment as I flailed about trying to retune.. luckily people amused themselves for the couple of minutes until I got things right & we were away again. Overall it was one of my favourite shows for the intimacy and the allowance to sing & play gently. I'll be happy to play this type of show again if Niels will have me back.

On another note I didn't realise what a cool pub the dragon actually is, it's small & cosy with a really nice atmosphere. Definately recommended to people that haven't checked it out before.

Cheers!

The Late Greats - Mojo Acoustic 12 Feb 2010

Played a cool set with Caleb on Friday night. We play under the name 'The late greats' which is taken from the Wilco track of the same name. It's about the coolest band that no-ones ever heard of, they've never even played a show. It's a take on the whole 'my musical taste is better than yours cause you've never heard of any of the bands I listen too...' attitude.

We played:

If I am a stranger - Ryan Adams

Goin to acapulco - Bob Dylan

Out on the weekend - Neil Young

To be young is to be free is to be high - Ryan Adams (Caleb solo)

Trouble - Ray Montague

Vampire blues - Neil Young

Come take me home - Ryan adams

It was fun being the support guy, I just played rhythm guitar & a few licks, a little backing vocal here & there. Funnily enough I was still a bit nervous beforhand due to Caleb's family all coming along due to he & his g/f Chloe heading to Melbourne. I wanted to support him well so he could show off a little in front of his crew. I think it went well, we got some good feedback & I certainly felt good up there playing. It made me realise how what a dissapointment it is that we're not going to play again. Nevermind, it was good while it lasted!

R.I.P The Late Greats

2009 - 12/02/2010

Busking

So a few months back we played the Acoustic lounge Christmas showcase with about 5 other acts.

One of the more memorable was a solo accordian player by the name of Vorn. He played his own material except for an ironic version of Led Zep's 'Black dog' which he introduced by saying, "the only time I can get anyone to listen to me is when I play cheesy covers" (or something to that effect). The song got the biggest applause of his set, which was kinda funny as it proved his point. I thought he was a pretty cool cat & we had a post gig cigarette outside. He was complimentary about our set which meant alot coming from an obviously talented musician.

Anyway, Friday night I was out with Ange & who should be busking on Cuba st but Vorn. I happened to have my guitar on me (practicing with Caleb for next Friday's Late greats show) so between songs I dropped some cash in his case & asked if he wanted to jam. The above photo show us mid 'hard to handle'. Awesome. : )