My latest unsigned adventure takes me to the sounds of Poland, the band are called Kaseciarz. They describe themselves as low budget rock and roll, I’d go for lo fi rock. I love the way their music is never in a hurry, like rock used to be. These guys play out their tunes the way they want. Kaseciarz are; Maciej Nowacki on guitars, vocals, bass and keyboards, Cukasz Cegielka on bass and Piotr Lewicki on drums. Motorcycle Rock and Roll I believe is their second album. The guitar fuzz is distinct, the bass is tightly fitted into the mix and the drums are subtly placed to allow the guitars freedom to experiment which is exactly what they do. Occasionally Nowacki sings in English but the music is the main force here. Things kick off with the brilliant Roadog which has a cracking riff driving it. Other highlights include Dance which I would imagine gets the crowds going. Drive slows things back down and it is these more progressive tunes that display the bands strengths. Drives synth drums are reminiscent of Joy Division. Running Low puts the tremolo to good use and fits in well with the feel of the album.
With hints of Bailterspace these guys have a great underground sound. They are the kind of band you love to discover. It is a lo fi record but that is its beauty. Kaseciarz are playing several dates in Poland and seem to have a solid following. I really like this group.
A week or so ago I hit a link to this band on Bandcamp. They are instrumentalists, no singing, instead they opt for carefully measured, brilliantly played rock. The bass drives it, allowing the guitars to tell the story through picked licks and full on distorted assaults. The drums pound relentlessly adding to the atmospheric mood of the music
David, José, Andrei and Anibal are modest in their description of the band, ‘just a fukk yes instrumental band’ this band is perfect for listening towards the end of the night as midnight becomes morning.
Start with their studio album the self titled 9M Lied,tracks Night Rider, the brilliantly named Dolphins v Penguins, Devon and Mosquito Tiger are all highlights. The studio album has a fantastic roomy drum sound, the snare snaps brilliantly in the middle of the mix. The guitars sound ranges from spacious to right in your ear rawness.
Summer Song steals it though, as I listen I can imagine myself driving along a Spanish motorway, the stillness of the night passing quickly by.
If you love the studio album try the bootleg. A live recording you can hear the crowd in a bar eagerly applauding the band. The first track is slightly out of tune but the albums recovers and you are rewarded with a great performance.
I really like this band and wish them the best for their musical future.
Look out for my next unsigned wonder, its amazing how much talent there is out there, recording and releasing their own material.
I forgot my headphones for my tablet. Two days in Blackpool without my music.
So I boiled the kettle and emptied two Colombian coffee sachets into my mug. Poured the boiling water straight. Black coffee done cheap. Looked out the sand smudged window of our room out to the sea and the emptiness beyond.
Coffee ready, feet up
My music was the waves crashing furiously against the promenade. I looked out and thought about our new album. What do I write about where do i go from here? Where do my fellow musicians get their inspiration from? Two huge influences of mine, Matt Berninger (The National) seems to capture his lyrics perfectly, slightly off centre but enough meaning for you to relate and Jason Lytle (Grandaddy) writes of technology, robots that almost have feelings.
We head out the arcades. The slot machines flashing, bells sounding, coins spilling into metal trays. Reminds me of the arcade scene in Lost In Translation (greatest movie soundtrack ever). I look at the people wandering around, the fellow tourists, the locals staring into the machines, automatically hitting gamble as they clutch a plastic cup of coins. A young boy wanders around with a cowboy hat full of coins asking punters for change. Cheeky wee bugger. It’s here I think of characters again, the different life’s, all colliding in a sea of flashing lights and confusing bleeps. We head out onto the prom.
Here the stalls are still open, bored attendants hoping for a sale, some make a half-hearted pitch, two for a pound and all that. A tram rolls past, a modern machine not like the old romantic rollers from the past. Blackpool has aged but still has a bit of magic, a bit like an old 80’s light entertainer strutting their stuff on I’m a Celeb. I start to get ideas for lyrics, as my boy grabs my hand desperate for another shot on the racing car.
The next day after a full English breakfast we head further along the front towards the pleasure beach. I walk to a security gate and the burly guard asks me If I have a ticket. I meekly say no, he points me to the ticket booth. I was going to protest that when I were a lad you could walk in free. Inside the park I am £34 lighter but still giddy with excitement. My childhood taps my shoulder as I hear the siren of the ghost train, the clacking of the roller coasters and the laughing clown. Again lyrics flood my head, the yearning to return to simpler times can be disturbing.
Inside the pleasure beach a pigeon takes flight
I’m keen to show my lad round the shows but he falls asleep…So I run to the Pepsi Max roller coaster. As I stand in the queue I look at the faces of boredom as we are about to ride upon one of the tallest, fastest coaster in Europe, according to the voice over. Later I grab my wife and we run onto the ghost train and I try to make her jump every time we turn into a dark corner.
Sometimes you need a change of scene to write the next act, I often wonder how other writers pen their lyrics. I hope as the sun sets on our break I’ll go home and create some more characters that will come alive in our new songs. See you again Blackpool!
The Broken but still standing North Pier
If you are a writer please tell me how do you get inspired?
Bootlegs, B-Sides, Deluxe albums with previously unreleased songs I love them. You find tracks that your favourite band disregarded into the vault and wonder before slowly understanding why they didn’t make the cut. These tracks are the geeky guys that sit at the back of the class, the awkward souls who mean well but ultimately will be shunned by their peers.
We left three tracks on the cutting floor. They didn’t fit in with the alpha males of the Weird Decibels 1 class. A year later, blinded from twelve months of darkness The Lost Tracks emerged blinking from the CD cupboard into the light.
Bullet
A simple riff, a simple song
baby baby baby guess I’m out of diesel
we gotta find a place to rest and settle
spent our days just running around
anchor searched for bed but never been found
nobody knows when the bullet is coming
baby baby baby gotta understand my needs
you know its not money you know its not greed
couldn’t find a job in our birth town
don’t like the heat, wasn’t hanging around
chorus
baby got a place in a roadside hotel
we’ll bide here till all is well
baby baby baby we gotta pay the bill
but darling my credit is running low.
Nobody knows when the bullet is coming.
A young couple decide to leave town, the guy is fearful of many things, debt, death and if his woman is going to leave him. It reminds me of the Kings of Leon of whom I’m slightly bored. The track doesn’t leave third gear but I love the openness of the sound. Stu’s guitar at the end, the live feeling. I put up a half hearted fight to have this included on WdB1 as it offered a different tone, however it was not to be.
Buddy
Buddy can be heard on Weird Decibels 1, wait a couple of minutes after Industry fades and a secret acoustic version of this song plays. It was around 1am in the lodge I was full of whiskey and recorded vocals for Drunk Buddy, you can even hear the ice rattling in my glass. The lost version is the full band. I am a huge fan of the National so I guess I tried to marry their influence into our music which was never going to work. We never nailed Buddy despite playing it for months and it shows on the recording. I love the lyrics, a guy having sex with a married woman, he watches the riots (written around the time of the English disturbances) then heads out to a club where a younger woman shuns him at this point he reflects on his own life.
we were lovers, we were a dirty weekend
As I watched the riots below you phoned your husband
you talked of our dreams, you talked out of hand
as I lit a cigarette and got dressed
what you want is different to what I want
what you want is not the same
we were f**k buddies, I saw surprise on your face
I didn’t look back as I left
there was ash in the air, but the rain was sweet
I watched a woman flick back her hair
chorus
as she was dancing, I see the youth in her face
but she has no plans, no plans for me
I have everything I want, everything I need
but nothing satisfies me
chorus
Lewis helps Pabs mix the Lost Tracks
Rusted
A real band divider this one, Greg, Derek they love it, Stu and I are not so sure. Rusted is a style of song we have written many times its classic Weird if you like. Of all the songs I took back to the mixing desk this was perhaps the poorest recording. a lot of editing was needed and the song lost its original feel. Wait! Don’t leave it yet! For the radio edit I cut my guitars which were awful, so Stu shines through and saves the recording. Greg and Derek hold a good rhythm as well, its a good song, it would’ve fitted well on our earlier albums. Included in the Lost Tracks is the full version of the song it will allow you to discover if i’m talking s***e or not. A slightly mixed up political some about lack of ambition and a kick out at our generation being called Thatchers children. During the writing of Rusted I came out with a middle 8 riff that didn’t fit, it was used as the intro riff for Psalm!! Every cloud!
Oh I only wanted to get by
not tread on toes
not fussed for flying
oh the guilt I feel
for not achieving
for not trying
oh the greed of this generation will starve its children
oh the greed of the corporation will starve our children
Oh we are conditioned
to want everything
and pay for nothing
Oh they call us thatchers children
I’m not a child
of that rusted old woman
I hope you enjoy The Lost Tracks, no band sets out to make bad music. Sometimes all the ingredients needed to make an album track don’t blend. So look after these wee souls, they are shy and a bit lost but with a touch of love they will find a place in your playlist.
Creatively it has been a difficult couple of months. September Stu, Greg and Derek all had holidays in far away lands. So not much got done. I used September to nail the mixes of The Lost Tracks, three songs we did not use on Weird Decibels 1. More on those in another post.
As we enter October we have had a look back on the writing of Decibels 2, we have a few that will go all the way. Some are going to fall by the way side. It happens, however this time we are recording everything so there will be plenty for future bootlegs!
Stu came out with a cracking riff at the end of rehearsal two weeks ago. I had nothing to offer the song, it was late and I had lost the creative spark. However a week later I had taken the riff and found fresh impetus. There is no title as yet for the new creation but fingers crossed it will survive our ever increasing scrutiny. We have decided not to set any dates for the recording of the album however we will have to draw a line eventually as lyrically its important to get songs from the same era. (songwriters will know what I mean!)
