Category: song discussion

writing a song is easy

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The way I write a song is similar to a collage.  Sound upon sound.  Textures.  I come up with an idea and I try to make the idea come to life.  But it doesn’t always go to plan.  That’s just the way it is.  For my latest song I wanted to get a raw, stripped back sound.  Just a guitar and a voice.   So I plugged the Telecaster into the Orange amplifier.  Two simple chords – G and C if you’re interested.  And then a voice.  Job done…

Or not.  The Telecaster sounded a little weedy and instead I had to resort to my ol’ faithful – the acoustic guitar.  I then found that if I stuck with the acoustic for the bed of the song, I could bring in the Telecaster in the latter half as a duvet.  So, I’ve barely started and I’ve got 4 tracks of guitar.  I tend to double track guitars, panning one to the left and one to the right.  Panning – the positioning of a sound in relation to the listener –  is a science in itself. I may talk about it at length one day for any budding musicians out there.  Panning is a fundamental and often misused weapon in the producer’s arsenal.  Panning can pull an element of sound ‘in’ and ‘out’ of a mix. 

So I now have a sketch of the song with just guitars – acoustics coming at you from the left and right, electrics coming at you from the left and right.  It’s quite a long song and I enjoy ‘kicking in’ in the latter parts of a song.  The way I achieve this in this latest song is to leave the song pretty naked for three minutes or so… and then to kick in with bass and drums together.  The intention is to take the listener by surprise.  Okay, the surprise is ruined if you write a description of the song on the internet before you even let anyone hear it… but this is a site that exists to describe what it means to be a songwriter.  We have tools.  It can take years to learn these tricks of the trade.  To be honest, even as a young band you’re likely using a lot of techniques without actually knowing it.  You’re picking up little tricks from listening to your favourite bands.  It could be Nirvana, it could be Jay-Z.  The point is that even a novice knows the basics – the fundamental rules.  Then you spend a few years understanding the rules… until eventually you learn to break those rules.  And then if you’re lucky you come to the realisation that rules are there for a reason.  Then you finally exist in a space where you don’t know anything anymore.  Totally perplexed, you write the greatest songs of your career… because you are writing from within yourself, and nothing else matters.

So I have guitars, bass and drums.  My style is to then lay on a whole symphony orchestra.  I don’t HAVE to do this.  But this is a sound that turns me on.  It’s a set of rules that I have created.  I know what I’m doing.  The orchestra is an important colour in my sound palette.  I like epicness.  I strive to achieve epicness.  I am taking part in a battle against the planets to produce the ‘most epic song’.  I’ll let you know when I think I’ve created that song.  Be warned… the day may never come.

Ah… then my friends, come the lyrics.  The most important part of a song?  Well, they can be.  They certainly can be.  But they can also be incidental to the ‘sound’ of the song as a whole.  I’ve lost count of the number of songs where I’ve misheard and then mis-sung the words (I’m pointing at you – Beatles songs!!!).  It never really mattered.  Lyrics often mean the world to the songwriter and very little to the casual listener.  The devout fan however… well, perhaps that’s a different story.

Stay tuned to hear the finished song.  I can’t let you know too much more at this point.  I’m not sure which direction it will take during the final lap.  It should just run round the track and straight across the finishing line – but my songs do have a habit of turning 90 degrees, heading out of the stadium and to the nearest hot-dog stand where they hang about discussing the latest shenanigans on the Apprentice.

world in motion

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I’ve been busy.  I am working on a new song.  This is a sweetheart of a song.  The sort of song that will sweep you up and give you a big kiss.   But I won’t reveal too much – because this song is going to be a sweet surprise for you dedicated followers of fashion out there! 😉

Okay… I admit that this is a short and inconsequential update – but I’m just wetting your appetite for another song.  I think this one could be a hit.  It’s long.  That’s for sure.  But if I handle it right this one could be a message to you straight from my heart.  //violins

Just make sure you have a good week confessioners.  I will post the latest song as soon as I can.

2010 (what do I get?)

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A glance at my recent accomplishments shows two albums on their way to completion.  All Monsters and Dust is so very nearly there.  My collaboration with Bill Ryan that is The Eleventh Hour is in touching distance of the halfway point.

It is so easy to overlook your achievements.  This is especially easy in the music business, and believe me, I am a specialist in overlooking my achievements.  But a scan through the songs I have posted in 2010 so far reveals many highlights.  To be fair, in songwriting terms, probably high points of my whole career.  And that is a great thing for me to be able to say – it certainly means I haven’t reached the top of the hill yet!  😉

Reconstruct a Memory is a smart song.  I think it was described perfectly by one commentator as being ‘angular’.  I like that.  In a world where we are striving to produce ‘phat music’, I like that I have given you the opposite.  I like that it is a song that pushes a few things forward… gives you a few things to think about, musically speaking.

Dorian Gray is a song that took a long time to complete.  But complete it I did.  The song actually has roots stretching back to the early 2000s, but it was a song that never really had a purpose.  It did however have a soaring, roaring synth riff.  I knew that I could make that tune into a special song.  Perhaps not special for you, the audience… but special to me.  A song that has been with me through thick and thin – forever remaining incomplete, untarnished, forever young!  Then the eureka moment!  The moment I named the album All Monsters and Dust… along with the theme of staying forever young, I realised I had a title – Dorian Gray – and therefore a theme.  There are elements of the completed song that were recorded so long ago, I would certainly do things differently now.  But that is not the point. The point is that the song finally breathes.  And that makes me proud.  Maybe you like it, maybe you don’t – but it makes me happy.  And that is worth it’s weight in gold!!! 🙂

Come closer is a little different.  More of a personal song for me.  Also a song completed in a much quicker time span.  One of those songs you either get or you don’t. Luckily the feedback on the song has been pretty universally positive.  So for the moment, the song has a place on the album.

Those three songs are the primary songs I have completed this year for the All Monsters and Dust album.  It has been a collection of songs that has catalogued and defined my recent life.  An album has many purposes, some of which I may explore in the future, but I would consider this album to be something of an autobiographical effort.  Spilling my life and feelings into song.

Moving on through 2010 I collaborated with a great musician from the US on a song which became Where We Go Next.  The music for the song was written whilst I was in Africa, and it was an epic project in every sense.  From a pure music point of  view I was working with ‘found sound’ – that is, real sound, recorded and used as instruments.  I was tapping wine glasses and shaking Corn flakes boxes.  Then Bill would send me vocal files and I would take the song as a whole and mix it seamlessly.  We were both so happy with the resulting song that we decided to make the collaboration permanent.  Hence the creation of The Eleventh Hour.  The band had to be formed.  We couldn’t just leave it at one solitary song.  We had a gut feeling that there was something more to our collaboration than just a simple ‘guest spot’.

‘Meeting’ Bill has been a musical highlight of 2010.  We realised that Where We Go Next was a pretty special song.  So… what could we do next?  I opted for a more streamline, 45 rpm approach – resulting in the song Mean Machines. To be honest, we haven’t looked back since.  We have taken the ‘single’ ideal and refined it with each song.  Through Escape Plan and Pitfall we have produced sounds that capture and frame our imagination.  We hope that the songs therefore appeal to you, the ‘general public’ – but that isn’t really so important to us.  I know it’s a cliché, but these songs really have to make Bill and I happy.  Anything else is just a bonus.


So… 2010 has been an interesting year so far.  A most productive year in fact.  I have written many songs, played alongside many great musicians and played many a rocking gig in my time.  But this year has been rejuvenating.  As Alan Partridge would say “a breath of fresh air”.  There are times in a songwriter’s career when you feel you have said all there is to say.  You have poured your heart out too many times, to the point of being empty.  I have felt this.  But an evaluation of this year – 8 months – surprises me.  A listen through the track listings of the two ‘albums in progress’ reveal songs that I would place amongst my very best.  But if this rambling is for any reason – then that reason is to prove to a musician who could have felt jaded, that there is life beyond the obvious.  There is life beyond the initial love songs.  There is life beyond the revenge songs and the songs fuelled by hate.  There is life beyond everything past.  I am enjoying 2010.  If even a single one of you out there spends a couple of minutes of your life listening to any of my songs then that makes my year.  Roll on this final third of 2010.  I raise a glass of wine to all of you!!!

Ready, Set… EXPLODE!

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The Eleventh Hour. 6 songs now complete. I’m sitting here in my studio listening through to what is effectively half of the future album. I’ve got to say that it is a really great listen – just a cool collection of songs that push things forward. The latest addition is called Ready, Set… Explode! It rocks hard, although that shouldn’t be a surprise to any of you any more! It’s another song to be played with the top rolled down driving through the countryside in the summer. So, all I need now is a convertible and the time to go driving in the countryside. And some sun! This collection of songs is certainly shaping up to be THE album for next summer! (which also gives us time to actually finish it!)

I’ve made a start on the next one already. I told you that I’d be busy for a while! I’m going with the flow of the ‘summer anthem’ vibe and getting down and dirty with some meaty guitar riffs. The only trouble at the moment is it gets uncomfortable wearing the top hat in the studio. The sheer heat. Sweat dripping in my eyes. The real worry is the spandex I’m gonna have to wear when I’m recording the drums! I’m really enjoying this song-writing spell though. The mojo is with me. Ha ha. I will update you further with the progress of the new one when I have got my rocks off… honey.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Ready, Set… Explode! It is another fabulous The Eleventh Hour song. Great biting lyrics from Bill and a performance worthy of alternative rock gold. Class.

Spring Break (in Autumn)

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You may have noticed a lack of ‘activity’ on this site since the last post.  Well, bear with us… fingers crossed – the next week or so should be fruitful!  Thanks to everyone who has given Dorian Gray a listen.  That particular song was certainly the product of a long battle.  “The battle of the Song” – you may have heard of it?  Anyway… stay tuned to this site for the “first listens” of a few new tunes in the coming days.  Remember – this site is offering you the unique chance to listen to Confession of the Whole School and The Eleventh Hour songs before they are made officially available.  Not only that, but you get to read a little about each song and about the creative process – or alternatively, some nonsense I have in my head that I feel you should all hear!  Ha ha!

box of delights

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I pull a box out of the garage.  Rummage through.  Funny what you find.  A whole stack of papers – mainly old songs.  Written in biro.  Mostly on the backs of old forgotten documents, but some on the back of actual university essays.

Personal history in its rawest form.  A wipe of the hand through layers of dust and dried spiders uncovers moments of true beauty… along with utter stupidity.  I’m talking about old songs that I have no memory of writing.  Hundreds of words that must have meant something once – but now just languish in never to be heard purgatory.  Reading a few of the lyrics immediately brings back whole melodies, drum beats, hell even feelings!  However, most of the other lyrics only offer proof as to why the songs were packed into a box.  Separated from whatever music was originally attached to them, the words read like pretentious twaddle – backing up the reasons I must have had to consign them to my past in the first place.

You have to understand though.  These songs could have existed.  A simple twist of fate – say a more successful previous band – and these songs could have ‘been’.  They could have been ‘press play’able.  But instead… due to what can only be described as failure, the songs gather dust.  Some of the songs had been played live.  Some recorded.  Some are even available to be heard on this very site (under the history section).  But the majority never existed.  They remain just words on a page.  I no longer have any memory of the melodies.  No clue as to the drum beats, the bass lines, the guitar chords.  All I have is the words.  Some good – some bad  But all were written for a reason.  Once.  A long time ago.  Today – to be brushed off and read again.

The problem now is I have to find somewhere to put these little gems.  For if the world ever decides to embrace Confession of the Whole School  then these tarnished pieces of paper will be valuable.  My plan of action is to carefully put them all in a box… and put the box in the garage.  It’ll be safe there.  Yes… and so it shall be done.

the impossible became the possible

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So… after yesterday’s rant about the unrecordable vocal, I came home today and decided to tackle it head on.  I marched straight into the studio, loaded the ‘pain in the arse’™ up and stood in front of the microphone.  Now… you’ve got to picture the scene.  Remember when Tyson bit Holyfield’s ear off? , well… it was similar to that.  Except no Tyson, no Hollyfield and no ear biting.  But the spirit was there.  I hit record and just sang it – one take.  And you know what… it sounds absolutely cracking!  I have it!  I have recorded the unrecordable vocal.  Unfortunately, as the song is a wild and wonderful epic there are still another couple of minutes to fill with words.  Words which I have yet to write.  But I have a good idea for lyrical content now.  I thought I had the name for the song but yesterday’s entry on this site has made me rethink.  “Dorian Gray” would be a cool name for the song.  I shall set about the task of completing this monster of a song.  If only you all knew just how long this song has been gathering dust.  To finish it would be like saying goodbye to a piece of me!

A music recommendation for you.  I’ve been listening to “The Wild Hunt” by “The Tallest Man on Earth“.  An awesome album.  This guy has an ear for a melody.  Great vocals and great guitar playing.  There is still something to be said for a good tune and it’s good to know there are people out there flying the flag!  Sometimes I feel so alone, ha ha.  The production of his album is interesting.  It is raw in the extreme… but the songs shine.  I suggest you youtube “King of Spain“.  And then remember who turned you onto it!