June was a write off, a cancelled gig we were really looking forward to and the song writing sessions were grinding to a halt. I promised the guys I’d take all the recording gear down every week and annotate every little idea.
June the 19th.Stu was playing around with a cool lick but the music around it seemed to generic. I recorded the writing session and took it back to the studio as I also had a podcast to mix. I was amazed by what I heard. Fragments of a great song spread over a whole practice. I emailed the guys a mix to see if we could save a song. Three weeks later we nailed ‘Small Hands’
June 28th perhaps one of the worst practices I have had in years, the room looked run down, I was fed up bringing the gear down and I had a 5am rise the next day. I had a riff that we tried to do something with all night. I recorded it but I have yet to listen to it. Nothing happened but who knows perhaps something will arise from the ashes. I told the guys I wouldn’t be bringing the gear down next week and we’d be nailing all the previous ideas we had.
July 10th wow if i could bag the magic of that practice and use it as a backup every time I feel down it would be great. I was in a really bad mood, One of my inexplicable deep and dark moods where i’m generally not a nice person to be around however we wrote a cracker of a song. The night started well. We had all studied the MP3’s of previous songs and nailed them, then we tried ‘Small Hands’ again a complete song was born, it sounds brilliant. Thank goodness we recorded the ideas. Once we had rehearsed the tunes I asked the guys if they got my email with a new riff I had, only Stu said he had briefly heard it. Derek asked me to play it anyway. With a 3/4 timing I hammered nervously through the idea i had (played with these guys for 18 years and still I get nervous when I show them a new idea). Stu picked it up nodding his head in approval, Greg liked it as well, Derek had the beat quick, i asked him to change from cymbals to another pattern, he said, like this? Hammered a snare kick combo for the verses and I was stunned. Stu had already nailed the riff, and the ending. The song was building into a raging 2 and a half minute get it off your chest primal scream. I was loving it, Only this week we had no recording gear… I set up my tablet and got a hyper distorted version of Kill it! Kill it! my new hope for Weird Decibels 2. When we finished playing this song we looked at each other and started laughing . Amazing, we remembered how song writing can be easy if you just let it flow. My mood was so black I even wrote the lyrics in one sitting. By the end of practice my voice was gone but my mood lifted.
Next week i’ll bring the gear and record the six songs we have written so far. Oh i sent the guys another email riff…
Weird Decibels 2 sessions
- Standing On A Viewpoint
- Your Parade
- Feet First
- Miss Asphyxia
- Small Hands
- Kill it! Kill it!
weirddecibels.com 