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.

Try and Get Some Sleep

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Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmm //drum roll!!!

It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for!  The latest The Eleventh Hour song.

The song is called Try and Get Some Sleep, which is pretty apt given the work it’s taken to get this song on a slab of vinyl.  //violins.  We are excited about this song, and we are excited by this song.  I have to set the scene.  I’m Keith Richards or Joe Perry or Slash or (insert swaggering ’60s/’70s influenced guitar player) – hammering out a solid guitar riff.  I’m thinking open air stadium.  I’m slamming those chords, the wind blows… it’s a beautiful summer evening, there’s a breeze.  The sun is about to set.  Bill is clutching the mike stand.  Not because if he lets go he’ll fall… but in the kind of way all singers do when they want to be a bit ‘Mr MoJo RIsIn’.  The crowd have already been lapping up the ‘hits’ – a girl removed her shirt to Escape Plan… but this is the one they’re all REALLY waiting for.

So… I’m slamming out that 4 on the beat riff.  The drummer is twirling his sticks waiting for the point where he enters the song with a wham, bang and a thankyou.  Then I remember that Bill needs the tambourine.  With a quick flick of my foot (I’m still playing that riff remember), I hurl that tambourine through the air and Bill catches it like a pro.  He’s obviously into baseball – I’m more a cricket man therefore I’m more into the afternoon tea!  The song KICKS IN!!!

The sea of people go wild.  And because they’re The Eleventh Hour fans it’s a very elegant ‘wild’.

This is a song that, for me, evokes the summer.  If you’re listening to it now, then may it brighten your winter.  But roll on next summer and this one will be roaring!!!

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!!!

why can’t I touch it?

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I’ve created a Facebook page for The Eleventh Hour. “Why have you created a Facebook page for The Eleventh Hour?” I imagine I hear you ask. Well… I must admit it is not something that is at the top of the band’s agenda. Put simply, we are here to make the best music known to man. We are about half way through the album and all is going well. We feel the songs are hitting whatever marks we want them to hit. In fact we are painting the marks. The great thing about not being on any bandwagon or being part of any ‘scene’ is that we can therefore decide on the terms of engagement. The rules so to speak. We are drip feeding you The Eleventh Hour songs – not to irritate you… but to allow you, the select few, to hear a work in progress. This ‘drip feed’ also has the benefit of allowing Bill and I to ‘live’ with the material – to get a feel for which order the songs should be placed in. We realise the era of the ‘album’ is likely over – but it doesn’t mean thought shouldn’t be put into the ‘whole’. The ‘whole’ is the flow of the songs. Sure – you’re all gonna re-order it on your i-pod, or… select shuffle /shudder. But that shouldn’t be on our agenda. We are here to give you a performance. An album is a performance. Perhaps a dying art… but still an art nonetheless.

So… back to the topic at hand. Facebook. Why Facebook? Well, The Eleventh Hour is still a private deal. A deal between us and you. The Facebook page gives you an opportunity to easily share our music with your friends. It also gives you the chance to comment on the songs. Perhaps it will help us determine the final track listing that will be made public. I suppose the Facebook thing is just a little step towards opening up The Eleventh Hour music to the world. The songs are not downloadable and cannot as yet be bought… but that is still not the point right now. The point is that we want to keep our music in the public domain – and Facebook is just one way amongst many to expand that domain. The Facebook way of doing things has obvious flaws. To outsiders the perceived importance of a band’s Facebook page is assessed purely on how many people ‘like’ it. Well, although we would obviously hope you would all be ‘liking’ the page anyway… at this stage, the number of ‘likes’ is not important. The page is just another sentence in the conversation we are having with you. When the album is finalised and we open it up completely to the world then maybe ‘like’s will sit more heavily on our backs. Until then, we will just continue on our quest to capture more songs. They’re out there… roaming. We have nearly finished another one. In fact I have just added shakers and tambourines to it (insert repetitive hand motion gag here). It is a pretty song. A song for the summer. Next summer’s anthem? Stay tuned… it will be posted soon!

*** You’ll find the Facebook link in The Eleventh Hour drop down menu at the top of the screen! ***

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!