"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

Wow... just, wow. Watched the live Counting Crows DVD tonight.  It's an amazing show, through and through, and the fact that the songs have changed so much only adds to the experience.  There's an in depth interview that's tacked on as a bonus feature, and in it, Adam talks about concert films "needing to be about the music."  He cites The Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense" and "The Band's "The Last Waltz."  Whether or not "Live At Town Hall" meausres up to these touchstones is immaterial.  What it does do is highlight an incredible show by Counting Crows, filled with passion, emotion, and musical exploration. It's watching/attending shows like this that re-energize me in my quest to become a better musician, that make me want to do nothing more than pick up the guitar and play. Moreover, it makes me want to go back and revisit an album that I haven't listened to all the way through in a very long time. Great f...

Got a late night phone call from B. tonight.  Apparently she finished off a set of lyrics for one of the progressions that didn't have words yet.  She sent me a couple of demos of it, and I really like what she has.  My only quibble was a single word choice in the chorus, but that ought to be easy enough to adjust. While she was working on that, I spent the day doing some work on a song idea myself.  Not sure if it'll end up a tune for the band, or if it will end up on the pile of things for a solo project some day, but we shall see.  The notion came out of an interesting discussion I had with R. about the nature of relationships and why we stay when maybe we shouldn't. Listened to the Butch Walker record today.  He's done it again.  "Summer of '89" is as catchy as anything he's written, although not as spectacular as his cover of "You Belong With Me," but then again, nothing can ever be that awesome, so. Haven't thrown in the new C...

Great day today... I got that pesky acousitc part recorded for J. and stuck it in the dropbox so B. can get at it too, if she so desires.  On top of that, I laid down a solo electric take on one of the new songs that B. and I finished when I was home.  The track was only a little over 2 minutes long.  I was expecting a lot more.  Perhaps more needs to be added to the chorus progression.  We shall see. Either way, it's good to feel like I'm actually working again.  Progress, however slow and intermittent, has begun again. Also of note, two new releases that I'll be shouting from the rafters about: 1) August & Everything After - Live At Town Hall by Counting Crows 2)  The Spade by Butch Walker & The Black Widows I listened to about half of the first track of the Counting Crows record on the way home, and have yet to crack the Butch Walker record, but seeing as I'm off tomorrow, that will likely happen, so... reviews and such t...

So, having not really talked all that much for the last two weeks, B. and I had a mammoth conversation on Skype tonight.  Almost 5 hours of musical discussions and other discussions.  I helped her out with a chord progression that she hadn't copied down correctly, and she answered my questions regarding lyrics.  As it turns out, we may well not use the lyrics she has at all.  Her advice ot me tonight was simple: just record the music, at least in a rough form, and we'll worry about the lyrics afterwards.  Now that is an instruction I can follow. As for the two versions of that song, all she really said is that she hears both an acoustic and an electric version, and that the chorus melody in the electric version goes into a higher register than does the acoustic one. That leaves me with an early morning (it IS after midnight here) full of fun... I go in for work at 2, so I'm free to spend my studio time now, and not have to worry all that much.  This way...

After the frustrations of the last few days, today was almost perfect.  The second of two straight days off, I started it out by going to the Farmer's Market/Market Day downtown with JP.  Why, you ask, is this musically significant?  Because I Found Led Zeppelin's first record on vinyl, that's why!  And I'll be damned if I didn't put that baby on the turntable the instant I got home.  Blasting "Good Times, Bad Times" is one thing, but blasting it on LP is so much better! Then tonight, I got to sit with the acoustic and work on the record.  I played around with all of the un-recorded stuff and tried to break down what's going on tempo-wise with one of the new tunes.  Didn't quite get it squared away, but it was good to sit with the guitar and feel like I'm actually making some progress. Heard from B. tonight as well.  We've got a chat scheduled for tomorrow night.  Feels like it's been forever.  We've got alternate versions and l...

Well, I got a little bit done today, although not as much as I could have had a few things gone my way.  Such is life, I guess, but it does get frustrating when the information you need to really make serious progress is info that rests with someone else.  I've waited for 5 years now... I feel like that's enough.  I'm just going to push forward with what I want to work on, and when the rest of the band decides they want to be involved, they can be. It was electric stuff today.  I know I should've played around in the studio with the acoustic, but I've really been in the mood to work on the newer stuff, the stuff that hasn't been recorded yet.  Especially seeing as there's more of that than anything else now. Tomorrow afternoon/evening needs to be spent in studio with the acoustic, both recording rhythm tracks, and pondering tempo.  If I can get something to send off to J. that'll make the two days off a success, and hopefully get things kick-started ...

Well, I made it through my 7 day run.  I took most of tonight off, had dinner with a friend.  We ran into someone we hadn't seen in a long time, and when they asked what I was up to, I talked up the record a little bit.  After I got home tonight, I sat down with the notebooks and the demos.  It felt like so much time had passed since I'd gotten any time to take a serious look at the record, that I wanted to refresh my memory when it comes to where we stand.  What struck me almost immediately was how much music we have now that isn't recorded.  I listened through to all of the early recordings, and was able to list off any number of things that now belong on the record that we don't have recordings of.  In fact, I think that I've got a big goal for the weekend: in between all the other stuff I need to get done, here's my list of band things I need/want to accomplish. 1) Guitar tracks for J. 2) Skype conversation with B. that involves lyrics and ...

Heard from B. today.  She wanted me to send her the bridge lyrics I had.  Apparently, there are two versions of this song that she wants to try.  We only texted back and forth, so I'm not sure of all the details on that one yet, but it promises to be interesting when I do hear about it (hopefully tomorrow).  Here's hoping we can do some exchanging of lyrics tomorrow too.  I haven't done too much with the band on a conscious level the last couple of days, and it would be nice to get back to it. The rest of Fountains of Wayne's music ( Traffic & Weather and Out of State Plates ) actually came in today.  I got close enough that I figured I ought to just have their entire discography.  I had ordered those two almost 2 weeks ago, though, and wasn't really expecting them to come in... so that was a pleasant surprise. Also, I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before that we've had a couple of things for the band that B. has sworn up and down that she'...

Picked up the new Muppets Tribute today... got through about half of it.  Seems like a whole lot of fun so far. Sat with the electric tonight.  Picked away at the progression I was working on last night.  Haven't made a whole lot of progress yet, but seeing as how I haven't heard from B. all week, I'm not too worried about it.  Really have to get those acoustic tracks to J.  Might try and work on those before work tomorrow.  Either way, they WILL be done by the end of the week. Haven't had a ton of time yet to devote to the issue of the practice binder, but I'm stealing moments here and there as I can find them.  I've also started to at least consider carrying a notebook with me again.  I used to do that all the time when I lived in GB, but have fallen out of the habit.  Can't say why.  It was always good for my lyric writing, and since it seems like there will be a lot more lyric writing in my immediate future, I really need to...

Good day today.  Solid mixture of acoustic playing and electric work.  Took a slight break from the writing/band stuff tonight to try and spend a bit of time getting back to the reason I started the blog in the first place: improving my playing.  Truthfully, I did a little bit of that last night as well, and it was nice to continue the trend tonight. The acoustic side of things had more to do with the writing & the band, but it was the electric stuff that was truly fun tonight.  I dug through the pile of resources that's been sitting for far too long, looking for the transcriptions that go along with one of the Guitar World DVDs that I have on lead guitar.  Didn't take me too long to find it, and I was glad to start stretching out my fingers again. I know I've said it before here more times than I care to count, but I really need to get serious about putting together that practice binder.  It's starting to coalesce in my mind a bit, so this is ...

It doesn't happen too often, but occasionally I lose my way on the path of making this record.  Usually, it's just a moment of indecision when something gets crossed off the list, and I'm not sure where to go next.  That's what happened today, at least for a little bit, and whenever it does, I always go back to the notebooks.  While it would be easy to flounder after finishing off a tune, the way I did yesterday, there's always some little kernel of hope to be found in the collected piles of ideas.  Today, it was the idea that we had settled on right as I was about to leave on my last night in WI.  I've had this riff in G minor for as long as I can recall, and while I've tried to make use of it a great many times, I've never had much success.  Both B. and I liked it enough to keep it around, in spite of that, and right as I was about to head out the door, I was mumbling about how I'd have loved to get something figured out for that idea.  In the le...

Finally finished up that bridge that has been kicking me around for the last week or so!  It may only be a few lines, but it still feels like cause for celebration.  Now I really just want to keep plowing my way through songs, but I wasn't able to get in touch with B. today to organize a collective lyric-swap from both sides.  Oh well.  Sunday nights usually work out pretty well for us, so hopefully we can get things squared away tomorrow. Really hoping to dive into the Guitar World I picked up yesterday.  I paged through the article on the Chilli Peppers, just to see how long it was before work today.  Looks pretty extensive.  Can't wait to actually sit down and read that before bed. Didn't get a chance to record today, despite my best efforts.  Should've gotten up earlier than I did.  Done at 6 tomorrow, so maybe I'll have a chance to knock some tracks out then.  I can only hope. That's really it for today.  Kind of a quiet ...

Let's see, what are the highlights from today... I picked up the latest issue of Guitar World .  Red Hot Chilli Peppers on the cover.  They've got a new record coming out on the 30th of August.  Same day as the new Butch Walker record.   Texted a bit with B. while waiting to give JP a ride home tonight.  Was trying to keep my mind distracted with lyrics, and off of the whole situation with my uncle.  Apparently, we've got a long ways to go with the words for the LP.  Guess we'll both have to get writing.  Still, it got me listening to the lyrics from the old demos, and I think we're doing pretty well.  What I'd really like to do now is get all of the words in one place, be it a notebook or a computer file.  Just so I/we have everything we're working with at our disposal.   We've got two songs with similar titles right now, and B. thinks we ought to change one of the titles... she's right, I think.  Only problem is that the ...

Talked with B. tonight for the first time since I got back.  Sent her the lyrics I've gotten figured out this week.  She liked them.  This was the best news I heard all day.  We bantered about the bridge that still isn't finished, switching roles for a bit.  She's now convinced we'll figure it out eventually, and I want it done as soon as possible. Found the Decembrists covering  Sugar's "If I Can't Change Your Mind" thanks to a posting by a friend.  That led to a Bob Mould (who wrote it) solo electric version of the song.  Apparently Train covered it a few years back too.  I had forgotten how great of a song that is.  Learned a bit of it from the video, then the rest from tabs.  That one will go into the live set when I get there for sure. There's the good news from the day.  The not so good news is that my uncle, who was one of the first people to introduce the idea of playing music into my life had an anuerysm burst...

Finished off the first half of that missing bridge today, and have vague notions of the second half.  It'd be cool to finish that off tomorrow, send some lyrics to B.  Day off tomorrow.  I'm excited.  It's got to be better than Tuesday. Had a great conversation with a customer tonight.  We bonded over Brandi Carlile, Alkaline Trio, and Me First & The Gimmie Gimmies.  She clued me in to this really cool music website for new & emerging artists called NoiseTrade.  It was a great conversation, and I'll probably never see her again in my life. Played some acoustic tonight when I got home.  More of the JTE stuff. All these websites with all this music just makes me want to write a ton of songs, release a bunch of EPs on my own.  If I try not to out-do myself by going for weird chords, I bet I could do it.  Not that I don't have a hard rock record to be working on.  Can't believe that a week ago tonight was my last ni...

So, in spite of getting the studio squared away again shortly after getting up this morning, it took me literally the entire day to get out of my funk and get going musically.  I did some listening early in the day, mind you, but as for the whole "playing" thing, that took a long time.  In the end, most of my day revolved around Harlem River Blues by Justin Townes Earle.  I finally broke it out running errands today, and man, on man, are there some great songs on there.  "Christchurch Woman," "One More Night In Brooklyn," and the title track really stand out. Went for a drive tonight, to settle my nerves and do some listening.  Took the JTE with me.  Bought some Dr. Pepper, because when B. and I were writing well that first few nights, we were drinking it out of wine glasses.  I don't have the wine glasses, yet, but I'm just superstitious enough to believe in such things. It all worked, at least for tonight.  The drive cleared my head, ...

So, apparently I posted yesterday right as the time changed, effectively missing yesterday and posting twice today.  Oh well. Listened to some of AM on vinyl today... had started it briefly last night before R. and I went out to dinner, but half a song just wasn't enough.  I know I've said it before, but there's just a warmer sound on LP than on any other medium. Still fighting with those blasted two lines in the bridge on one of the newly finished songs.  Who knew that finding two lines... even dummy lines to just fill space, could be so blasted tough.  I'm off tomorrow, and in between running the couple of errands that need to get done, I've really got to find those lines, if only so I can send the first draft of the lyric to B.  I should try and carve out some time to lay down some guitar tracks tomorrow too, so J. doesn't have to be bored. Other small things that need doing include putting away a few piles of CDs that have accumulated around ...

Really short posting tonight, because I'm right up against the limit time-wise for the day. So, I was up late last night, and early this morning, working on the lyrics I mentioned yesterday.  The longer I worked at it, the easier it got.  No real surprise there, but it was still nice to note that, once I really dug in and started working, it did get easier.  Ended up with a nearly complete draft of the lyric, with the exception being the two line bridge that we have sliding in between the verses and the chorus. It's still odd to me, even after all these years, that the lyrics are the toughest part for me.  Somehow I always thought that being an english major and writing a lot otherwise would make that process easier.  In reality, I could find chord progressions all day long.

Well, today was the off day in between driving and work.  Chatted for a few minutes with J. this morning.  His third question was whether or not we got any new tracks for the song we were working on before vacation while I was home.  I told him that we were more concerned with finishing up the stuff that remained unfinished (and that we made good progress), but also that I saw no reason why he couldn't have tracks for that song in the next few days. Spent part of the morning dropping the new music I got while home into iTunes, here's what I ended up with: 1)  Three records ( Selftitled, Welcome Interstate Managers, Utopia Parkway ) by Fountains of Wayne 2)  Harlem River Blues by Justin Townes Earle (this completes my collection of his released music). 3)  Blood Money by Tom Waits 4)  AM & Being There by Wilco (both on vinyl, & I could've had more) 5)  All I Ever Wanted by The Airborne Toxic Event and 6)  Bac...

So, I promised a follow-up posting once I got home.  Not sure how long it will be, but here goes. After thinking about it the whole drive home, I've decided that I'm content with what we got done this past week.  Not that I could really go back and change it if I wanted to, but still.  If you had told me at the beginning of the week that we would finish three of the toughest songs we've ever wrestled with, I'd have told you that would be enough for me. And I know I mentioned them earlier, but I'm really excited about the couple of things we started that were new this week.  Admittedly, I have no idea how they will work out, but they sound cool initially, and they will give me something new to puzzle over. But yeah, in the final tally... 2 new things, 3 major things finished off, and a bit more work beyond that.  Considering that we worked every day, and that we hit a bit of a wall in the middle of the week, we pretty well rocked it. That's all for t...

Well, last night finished up the writing sessions for the week.  We got a bit more done on some of the lyrics for a couple songs, and might have figured out what's going on with one of the other songs that we only had a rough idea on. We've also got a couple of other things that showed up this week, in the event that we get to the end and decide we need them.  They aren't done by any stretch of the imagination, but the kernel of the idea is there, and that ought to be enough for now.  I suspect that we'll wind up using at least one of them in the end, but who knows. I'm going to hold off on making any sort of pronouncement about the overall progress we made, at least until I get back to DSM tonight.  I think a 6+ hour drive will be enough time to come to some conclusions on things.  More to come later on tonight.

No internet access last night, therefore no blog post.  Did get to see some awesome classical music, though.  Went to a concert at the Penninsula Music Festival.  Was good to be up there after about 5 years away.  Forgot my program, but I'll get the folks to mail it to me, and post the setlist when I get it.  Off to do more music stuff with B. tonight... or at least that's the plan.  We're getting close, and yet something still feels off.  Not sure what it is yet, but it isn't quite coming together yet.  Hopefully tonight's work fixes that problem. More info to come...

Well, the planned day-long writing session wound up being about a 4 hour writing session that took up the late afternoon/evening.  B. got down here about 4 or so, and left around 8, but my, oh my, was there some progress made in those 4 hours! We finally got to the bottom of the Double Drop D progression!  Tightened it up a bit, shifted some chords around, and (*gasp*) started getting some lyrics down for it.  She thinks I ought to write the rest of them, seeing as the verse that we used was something I had cherry-picked out of one of my notebooks before the trip.  I'll definitely have a go at it.  The chorus idea was one of hers though.  We've got the tempo figured out on that one, too, so that'll be a good thing when the time comes to work with J. on that one. Also of note, we figured out (or so we suspect) the rest of the tune I had my epiphany about the other day.  We did something kind of curious with the chorus on that one, so I'm intrigued t...

So, I know it's been a few days.  I took my birthday off, and then Saturday night I was out late enough at a wedding that, while I thought about writing, and felt guilty not doing so, I just ran out of energy.  Needless to say, it feels good to be back. Much to discuss... B. and I have gotten some writing done in the last few days, although not as much as either of us would have liked.  That being said, we did make some definite progress on one song in particular, and I had a bit of an epiphany regarding another of our unfinished ideas.  It was one that has been around for almost 5 years, so that was pretty awesome. Also, the rumors and worries about us not having enough songs have been gleefully debunked.  At this point, it's looking like we may well have enough songs for a double album, although I suspect that it won't come to that.  Tomorrow is set up to be a big giant writing day, as it's the only weekday that B. has off, so that should be awesome....

Well that was quick.  I've been in WI for 8 hours now, and we've already gotten a couple of new song ideas, pieced something else together, and freaked out about how much there is to do at least three times.  More to come on all of this tomorrow, when I've actually, y'know, slept and such. Also, if my CD player in the car had an itunes play counter, "A Road Song" by Fountains of Wayne would be at like, 45 by now.  Just sayin'.

So, technically, the week-long "gotta make some serious progress on this record" journey begins tomorrow when I hit the road.  Hoping to leave before 9.  Somewhat packed.  I've been more concerned with finding the right mix of road music and remembering all of the bits and pieces of record that have scattered themselves around my apartment than I have with anything else.  It'll come together before I sleep tonight, I swear. Mostly certain of my road music... took me long enough.  Here's the running tally so far. 1)  Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - Selftitled 2)  Delta Spirit - History From Below 3)  Fountains of Wayne - Sky Full of Holes 4)  Justin Townes Earle - Midnight At The Movies 5)  Stone Sour - Selftitled and 6)  Silversun Pickups - Carnavas I still say that Silversun makes the best Smashing Pumpkins records not made by the Smashing Pumpkins in the last 10 years. Also, a couple of tracks by Ghostland Observ...

Another day of small things.  Tonight, I've started to collect the notes, lyrics, and chord progressions that I will need to take with me either tomorrow night or Thursday morning sometime.  I'm trying to condense everything as much as I can, but somehow it still feels like it'll be a lot of stuff.  Wondering also about whether or not to take my laptop with me.  For sure, the external hard drive will be coming along with me. Fairly certain that the only guitar I'm taking along is the acoustic.  If I need the electric (and somehow, I feel like I will), I'll snake my brother's Les Paul from its hiding spot under the bed. Also of note tonight: I'm having serious brain cramps when it comes to picking road music.  There are a few stand-by's that will go on every road trip, but I'd really like to change it up a bit, and either take some newer stuff, or some really old stuff that I haven't heard in ages.  Not sure which direction this idea will take...

I got home late tonight, but still managed to sit down and start to process the song ideas that have been knocking around my head for the last week.  Got a few things down on paper, really just as a way to clear the decks for the real writing that is to come when I'm home.  Still trying to process what I'm really trying to get out, but the longer I go, the more it seems like a few songs need to be written in fairly short order. Admittedly, the rest of the day was a bit of a downer, music-wise.  Overslept, and though I played for a few minutes, I didn't have a chance to record before heading off to work.  It's down to tomorrow night and (maybe) Wednesday night if I want to get anything done before leaving town.  Hopefully tomorrow night.  Then again, the part of me that says that is the part of me that wants to leave Wednesday night. If I can get something accomplished tomorrow, I may well start packing up what I need to take with me musically.