Tag: bill ryan

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.

the office

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I’ve had a day in the studio working on the latest The Eleventh Hour song.  It is a beautiful little gem.  A sweet song that plays on my ears like a breeze on a hillside.  Seriously… it is a song that can conjure images in the mind.  It is certainly very easy to be pretentious in this business, but I think Bill and I are a breath of fresh air.  A song doesn’t have to be mindless to succeed.   A song doesn’t have to be soulless to sell.  The deeper I dive into the ocean of  what it takes to be part of The Eleventh Hour the more I realise just what we can achieve.  We are currently nearing the halfway point in the recording of our album – and I can honestly say that, so far, the whole process has been refreshing.  Two pretty much like-minded individuals with a goal of creating an album that will push things forward and stand the test of time.  I doff my cap to my learned American friend and wish him the best of merriment!

songs are the footprints of a gigantic hound!!!

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Sherlock didn’t disappoint.  One thing in life that is always difficult to do is to surpass previous achievements.  This is true in the worlds of TV, film, art, the list goes on.  Was John Cleese nervous when he was (co) writing the 2nd series of Fawlty Towers?  I would expect that he was.  Perhaps that’s an unfair example as I would guess that John Cleese felt he could do no wrong at that point in the 1970s… but, for a normal person, the difficulty of living up to past glories can be a burden.  It drags some down, notably some of my heroes such as Tony Hancock.  But for others it can fire them up, fuelling something special.  John Lennon managed it with Imagine.  Kubrik rarely faltered.

In the rock world it can be difficult to forge fresh metal when you have been involved in previous tin can alleys.  I’m one of those musicians who finds the challenge to topple previous works  a driving force behind my art.  I like to write a great song… because I know the next song will have to be even better.  Okay, sometimes little rays of sunlight glisten in the creative haze and cause problems with the ever upward steps towards “the perfect song”.  In that respect I feel that Escape Plan was a gem that could have been very hard to equal, let alone surpass.  But Bill and myself, as The Eleventh Hour, have tried our best!  The result is a song called Pitfall.  It is a very different beast to Escape Plan, and is certainly a contender for first single.  Please give it a listen and see what you think.  The plan of action for The Eleventh Hour – the mission statement if you will – is to produce the best music we can.  That may seem like a simple, pointless statement… but if you really try to adhere to such a grandiose boast it can be a drain of the senses!  The quest for the ultimate song can eat at you from the inside, can fill your mind and consume your day.  We are not your everyday common or garden people us songwriters.  We are the supreme beings.  Remember that, especially if you ever meet me at the bar!  A songwriter expects to be bought a drink!  And a packet of dry roasted peanuts – and then my friends… and then… we may share with you our world. 😉

Oh, and roll on episode 3 of Sherlock.  Damn fine TV! 🙂

the album track

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I nearly have another song completed for my “all monsters and dust” album.  This song is a bit of a departure from the norm and will be one of the oddities on the album.  Shall I give the title away?… or is that tempting fate?  Hmmm.  Well, it’s called who invented the colour yellow? and I think it’s gonna be the ‘love it or hate it’ song on the album.  I’m from the school of thought that says sometimes you’ve got to have those songs.  I love JD but I hate Southern Comfort.  Hey, that’s life.  There’s something out there for everyone.  Sgt Pepper has within you without you.  I could personally do without you, but for some, that song is the key to the album.  Some ‘difficult’ tracks work, some don’t.

I’m just trying to work who invented the colour yellow? into a song that you’re going to love.  Perhaps you won’t love it for its catchiness, or for its ‘ipodability’, but maybe for the fact it’ll challenge you – and do it with a smile on its face.  I don’t want people to hate my songs!  But I don’t mind them being a bit perplexed 😉 .  That is the point where a ‘collection of songs’ finally gels into an album.  Rather than being a swept up heap of hits or singles, there is an uneasiness, a cleverness that elevates the mound of dirt to a position well above the sum of the individual components.  Occasionally the balance is wrong.  The ‘difficult’ song can shine so brightly that the rest of the album sinks into the doldrums (I’m looking at you Achilles last stand).  Sometimes the ‘difficult’ song is just so boring compared to the hits that all it calls out for is the finger on the ‘next track’ button (for me, some of the grandiose tracks on the early Maiden albums missed the mark).

So… it can be good to be ‘difficult’… if you’re lucky.  Fall borders on the difficult but I think I’m gonna raise the bar with who invented the colour yellow?.  Fingers crossed it works!!!

I’m still in the process of recording the latest song for The Eleventh Hour project with Bill Ryan.  This latest song is the opposite of what I have been discussing.  This is going to be the easy song on an album that so far seems headed in the direction of the ocean of ‘challenging’.  It’s gonna be a complicated journey, with islands of ‘wow, that’s a single!’ along the way.  Now… who could ask for more???

hear all about it

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Yay!!!  News day!

Okay.  I am officially unveiling the title of the CONFESSION OF THE WHOLE SCHOOL debut album.  It will be called “ALL MONSTERS AND DUST “.  There are many reasons for this name and I’m sure they will become apparent over the course of future posts.

I am also very pleased to announce that the “found sound” song that I have been working on since the Africa trip is finally finished.  If you remember, this was a song that was built upon a foundation of wine glasses, a tube of Pringles and a box of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes.  I have collaborated with renowned American musician Bill Ryan to really bring you something special!  The song is called “Where we go next ” and it really is a monster of a song.  It has fully lived up to and realised all expectations!  Enjoy!!!