I guess it started in my bored heart
Turned my blood darker than black
At first I loved the feelings I had
Got in my head, I screamed ‘take it back!’
C E C D
Kill it! Kill it!
Stamp it down
Before it grows
And eats all around
Binds my wrists onto the bed
Feel the beast sit upon my chest
I hear my life calling out my name
Try to reach her finger tips again and again
E CBAG
Stamp it down!
Before it grows
Stamp it down
Before it grows!
Some early lyrics from our latest song. We haven’t recorded it yet so there was a bit of a panic when we tried to recall how we played it last week. I had used my tablet to record a rough sketch when we first created the song but it was a mash of digital distortion. It was such a rush writing this track. It is based on a rolling riff I had fluked on the guitar, Stu took the riff and built the verse and chorus riffs around it. Its a two minute rock rampage! We’ll need to sit down and write song longer epics otherwise dB2 is going to be around 30 minutes long!
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 dig out the covers and old tunes for a party night.
Many of the lads and lassies from Falkirk Rugby club have been our greatest support, Going to our gigs since we were about to enter our twenties in a drunken stupor. So it was a pleasure to be asked to play at their Ale Fest. We dug out some covers, some of our old tunes and some tracks of Decibels 1.
Setting up for these type of gigs is fairly straight forward. Just dust of the PA plug in sound check and off we go. That was until an almighty buzz raged through the speakers sounding like a stunned wasp looking for its newspaper armed assailant. It was one of two things, the desk or the electrics of the club (every hob, hotplate and oven had been switched on to feed the hungry players). To be safe I asked Greg to get a backup PA, while he was halfway to picking it up I switched of the FX, hey presto no buzzing. One to check next rehearsal. (much as we love our practice room it has more dust than the Sahara Desert).
Anyway time to rock.
So I’m ready to sing Teenage Kicks only to hear Stu play the opening chords to ‘Waiting On the Sound Of Your High Heels Baby’. An old song of ours, a few glaikit looks from the rest of us as he tares into the intro, We wing it, it goes down well. A wee hint the next time dude!!
The rest of the night was great if a little surreal with people drifting in and out to the Ale Fest tent which was pitched outside. Kevin Byrne stepped in to play ‘Cold Calling’ a song we wrote whilst in the 17th but adopted by Weird. It was a great throwback.
We got a few requests for some of the stuff off Weird Decibels which was fantastic. These gigs are great but its time for us to knuckle down, promote Weird Decibels 1 and write its follow up.
Thanks to Falkirk Rugby Club for having us. It was great to have all our friends in the same place for a change and it was a fine night, we’ll be back!
‘Where the f**k are you!!!!’ Text screams Derek as I aimlessly wander about the house packing gear, oblivious to the frantic tee shirt printing at Greg’s. Eventually the lads pull up outside the house, I grab my guitar, amp and suitcase bag (every gig I play it looks like I’ve been thrown out the house! This was comically pointed out to me by Rab of Kranksolo when we played Dundee together years ago.)
Derek did a fine job packing the car and we drove to Glasgow slightly apprehensive at what lay ahead. Another gig playing in front of our few hardy fans, we feared the hall would be empty, coloured lights shining on a barren dance floor.
The sound check took a while, we kinda sat around saying polite hello’s to the other bands. Sound checks are always a drag. So we went for a pint in Ashton lane around the corner. The four of us stood around a table sipping beer pondering the future of the band. There seemed to be a sense of negativity I guess. Are we getting too old? Are we fed up chasing the impossible dream? We finished our ales and headed back to the venue, the wonderful Oran Mor. Pub gigs are fine but this stage has something more.
We started our sound check, Derek hit the kick drum, the deep bass echoing around the room sent shivers down my spine. You get a far better sound in these places. Greg plugged in, Stu clicked in the lead and I turned up the volume of the Marshall. Lisa the promoter was buzzing around ‘you guys gonna be long ?’she asked.’ We’re running behind’ I smiled. Five minutes we’ll be done. We played Deliverance, Speak and we could hear everything, we were done.
Time to eat. We headed out into the streets of Glasgow, a city with some of the finest restaurants. We went to Spar. I had a cheese and onion sandwich, a twix (they’re definitively getting smaller) washed down with an Irn Bru. I turned to Brian(Derek’s bro) as we sheltered under a bus stop from the driving May rain and said ‘We’ve arrived.’
First up were End Transmission A cracking bunch Full of enthusiasm, setting out on the gig trail. They’ve only been together for a matter of months but already honing their sound. Cleverly adopting cover songs to find their feet they played some original numbers as well. I hope they do well. They interacted so well with the growing crowd.
We were up. By this time our faithful had arrived and there were many more strange faces. The place wasn’t packed but it had a buzz. The crowd walked onto the floor standing in front of us, waiting for the first chords. For a small band like us it was great to see.
Setlist
Speak
Steel
Wonder
Deliverance
Power
Crown
Wait!
Joker
The set felt great the crowd were brilliant as well and the band grew in confidence. Power was added and for me was one of my highlights. Stu has stared doing a vocal harmony with me which sounded ace. It seemed like minutes passed when we were playing Joker and my voice burned out at the last note! I lose it at gigs, guess its my way of dealing with pent-up frustration. (better than fighting!). I felt elated at the end, I knew we had played a fine gig. One to remember.
After our set I settle down to a few lager’s. The third band was The Revolt who have an excellent vibe, cleverly adding brass to their sound. A completely different contrast to the other bands on the night but I enjoyed listening to them.
Headline act Life On Standby handled the top slot with ease. The crowd swelled by the time they were on stage. A very tight set. Their guitarist rocked out all night, very energetic. I really enjoyed their gig.
The night came to a close. We had met Annie Walker who took many photographs of all the acts, which are of a very high standard. Tommy Clark was in the crowd. He transmits his own radio station Third Class Ticket. which hopefully we’ll be on soon. Our doubts, our negative feelings about playing live were gone. The band is recharged, in the last couple of months we’ve played Box and Oran Mor both brilliant nights I don’t want them to end anytime soon.
As the crowd filtered away to the subway the trains, the cars and eventually to home I looked at our friends and family who had traveled a fair distance to see us. It’s not always easy to write down or say how grateful you are to these people who stick by us at every gig and every album we release. Sometimes you discover that the English language has yet to find a word to describe the depth of gratitude I have to the Weird Decibel fans.
I like starting a new album. The beginning of another adventure that will end up somewhere you haven’t been before. At least that’s the idea.
The main pitfall is trying not to do what you did on the last record, and being the drummer, that can be quite tricky. Lets be honest, there are only so many ways you can drum to 4-4 rhythm and now that we are embarking on album 8, trying to find new ideas can be difficult.
The great thing for me though is that each album we have written has been a bit different from the last one. That certainly helps. Each album has a different feel about it, which in itself brings new ideas, or at least old ideas that haven’t been used in a while.
This brings us to WdB2. Its still early days and with only 4 working songs that ‘feel’ hasn’t quite been ‘felt’ just yet. Although the basic rhythm of the song is one of the first parts to be put down, the finished article will take a few months to get right as I tinker with different fills and beats to see which fits the best.
I agree with Paul, Rain Parade’s middle section was too long on the rough demo we cut and the song does flow better with that shortened down. I also agreed with the Stu stare, it didn’t need another section at the end. 3 sections to this song is enough, Maiden we are not. But it’s a good song and as always with us, it will get better the more we play it and the more familiar we get with it. I do like the time signature of the verses.
With Left/Right I will admit to being a bit short of ideas for the first half of the song. This will take me a while to get right and to be honest I probably wont get it until Pabs has got his vocal melodies finalized No pressure mate! We also shortened the solo a bit at the end at practice which sounds better as well, sorry Stu.+
Feet First is still basically a jam in its current state, but when we get some structure to it, it will be a good song, simple but effective.
A good start then to WdB2. Its always interesting to see where the writing process takes us. We just need to be careful to not do the same things as last time………….
I had a couple of weeks to listen to the demos we had recorded at last practice and I could start to hear the songs form in my head. The guys had received the MP3’s on the same day as practice so didn’t have as much time to listen to the new songs.
Generally the band is ticking over well just now. Practice is a
laughI felt we could drop a part in Rain Parade, it just drags the song out. The middle 8 is now half as long. I mucked about with the ideas trying to make the song longer at the end, Stu looked at me. The look said, leave it. I did. I have a good feeling about his track, it has a cool time signature we don’t normally use.
Left/Right is growing every week. Lyrics are not there yet, the music is nearly settled. Stu has a solo or two to write. Derek is also hammering the drums towards the end. It builds and builds.
I think everyone was surprised at Feet First and how quickly it was written. I voice my concerns to the band its a bit commercial, we’ve heard it many times before. However I’m shot down in flames mainly because we love playing it and I can’t stop humming the main riff. I guess I need lyrics for all the songs to make them come to life. This brings me to ‘The Stalker Song’
Derek admitted he needs to challenge himself every album. i agree we all need to do that, and not be afraid to say hey… You’ve done this before.
‘The Stalker Song’ was started just at the end of our night. I had a wee riff floating around, Stu added a minor which fitted then we started jamming. Stu was throwing in full bar chords. This is where I get nervous… I asked Stu to pick the notes instead. To my amazement and awe he picked out a lovely guitar part and I just sang, the way it used to be. I hurriedly wrote down the chords in the notebook. The idea for the lyrics are cemented in my brain though. I loved the characters of WdB 1 and I aim to create more for WdB2. So here we have a guy who gets the same bus every day and at the next stop is a girl who gets her bus everyday. He falls in love with her, he feels like he has known her all his life. He’s a loner doing the same thing day in day out. She simply fills her commute with the usual check on her smart phone. One day he follows her home. I’m not sure where to go from here, my character isn’t a violent guy just lonely but he has really strong feelings for this girl he doesn’t know.
Anyway I digress. I’ve asked Jemma to get more involved in this album. She’s keen to come down and help finish the songs. On WdB 1 she was thrown at the deep end. I’m also thinking of another couple of guests… Fingers crossed the creative juices continue to flow.
At the end of Podcast 4 on Soundcloud we have a clip of the writing process (well if you’ve read this far I guess your interested?)
It’s strange starting to write a new album. Its not something you do everyday, its like a stamp on a moment of your fleeting time on this planet. As I get a little older these songs are getting more important and as the guy who writes the lyrics for the band I don’t want to screw it up again. Our latest album Weird Decibels 1 is the first record in a while I’ve been happy with, especially the words.
During the March 2013 snow I couldn’t run to work like I normally do so I started walking and I had the old Weird tunes on, reflecting on what I had written. Until Weird Decibels 1 I had not really paid attention to the depth of my lyrics. Our first album, 1995’s Whapper Stormer is strong lyrically for as a young song writer I was bursting with ideas. The five albums after have moments I am proud of but there are a few lyrics I literally wrote in a drunken stupor!
We arrive at Weird Decibels 2 and I have a strong sense of purpose to write songs that will not only mean something to me but to others as well. i would like them to transcend further than the four walls of our rehearsal room.
a la super frown
So far we have three songs in development. They are at an early stage and there are hints of lyrics. Often I sing along to the new guitar riffs and something pops into my head. Working titles are Left/Right, Rain Parade and Feet First. (we’ve had an idea of two word titles for WdB 2 as a follow up to the one word titles for WdB 1). They are quite dynamic, influences so far point to The Pixes, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden. We’re not going quietly!
The feedback for WdB1 has been immense so thank you. Does it put us under pressure to better it with WdB 2? No. The advantage of being in a band 18 years old and 7 albums in is that we’ll always try to write our best record. We write with freedom, without a care in the world.
2011 Spring is in the air, a sense of optimism lingers in our practice room. We’ve written ten songs, we could do with more and I’ve started researching possible lodge locations for recording, something of a deadline approaches…
Derek, Greg and Stu lark around in the room during final writing sessions.
We’d been writing on and off for the best part of three years. Eventually you have to call it a day, an album must be born. We wanted more songs, more choice and more diversity in the works we already had. It was with great fortune that we hit a creative surge. Deliverance Power, Steel, Psalm and Wonder all final session songs, all made the final cut one of which became a single.
Deliverance is a song of such enjoyable simpleness based around an A and G. The lyrics tell of a souls rejection from heaven despite his suffering.
A
Send it to the mountain send it to the sky (this melody is sung by Derek and Stu, its one of those melodies that just comes to us songwriters, I’ve no idea where the inspiration came from)
you’re refused deliverance don’t ask god why x2
G
I—tried—everything
Still—you—denied
A
Send it to the mountain send it to the sky
you’re refused deliverance don’t ask god why x2
G
I’ve—torn—and opened skin
still—I’m—deprived
solo
E G E A#
G
Upon—my—knees again
Hands—clasped—and tied (simple song eh?)
We were recording practices by this time, trying to get the best set up for the drums as we would record the kit in this very room
Deliverance really helped bring the album writing home as once again it proved simple songs work, we don’t need to labour over writing. Hopefully we’ll take this lesson over to Weird Decibels 2.
Power is the quietest song off the rowdy dB1, clean guitars, A Foo Fighters ‘Big Me’ moment. The lyrics are closer to personal experience than most of the album. It was at a time of uncertainty for me and my wee family. We were trying to sell our house which was too small now that my Wife and I were new and proud parents. We got the news that our house had a major problem growing out the back (Knotweed) and we may be unable to sell. The feeling of helplessness and frustration that the landowner next to us had allowed this destructive weed to grow was unpalatable . It got me thinking about Power and how a minority of people can have such an effect on the majority This was one of the few songs practically written by myself. These days we’re writing as a band and we’re better for it. Power worked though!
Steel is a blood and guts stab at depicting knife crime in Scotland. It is a crime that has haunted our fine nation for generations. Set in Falkirk (which to my knowledge doesn’t have a major knife problem) it tells the story of a family man randomly stabbed on his way home. The verse riff was an idea from myself and Stu stapled on the chorus wonderfully. Derek splashing symbols add the much needed metallic sound, Greg’s bass gives the song a menacing undertone and Jemma brilliantly added Piano over the last verse and the finale. We borrow the Pixies quiet/loud dynamic here Nirvana fans! It was a very difficult song to get right.
Now we were entering the final month of writing, the lodge was booked for November and the long (wet) nights of the summer reminded us that our album was nearing the winter of its creative life. Psalm… where did this epic song come from?
I struggled to get the thing to work that night, only to find a cable was not plugged in…
I love Battery, it is a fantastic example of a band at its creative peak. We were ‘borrowing’ ideas hence the start of Psalm, I even dug out an old guitar to try and replicate the acoustic sound at the start of Battery. The riff at the start of Psalm was actually taken from the middle section of Rusted. It worked well on its own as an intro. Stu once again nails the chorus. The verse guitars are a mixture of Stu’s classic guitar and my alternative Nirvana tinged riff. Greg tunes down for Psalm and I take delight in pretending to start the song while he frantically drops an octave only for me to start something else! The end of the song is where I knew that as a band we have never been more cohesive. Stu linked 3 solo’s, I hit a nice vocal, Greg, Derek keep it flowing and Jemma made this track with the church organ. A very apt sound for the lyrical content. Privilege its winners and losers are the subject of my wrath here. I guess seeing Cameron and co tell lie everyday that they want to ‘share the pain’ as they sit on millions does that to you!
Wonder is last, i’m not sure if it was written last, but it was amazing that at the end of writing WdB1 we were given a song that has become my favourite song that we have put to hard disk. Stu played this repeating riff over and over, it reminded me of Smashing Pumpkins 1979. Derek jammed along with a flowing beat, I started singing, just mumbling words trying to find a melody. Sometimes words just pop in my head. So I’d sing ‘I wonder why’, then I’d insert a random line, but I kept singing ‘I wonder why’. The melody was there, the chorus were not. I loved Nirvana’s Lithium, the chorus ‘Yeah yeah yeeahhh’ so hey if Kurt can do it so can I!
I wonder why many things, fall they way they do
I wonder why we conform and struggle to see things through.
The earth on which we stand is covered in Autumn leaf
The signs of winter touch our soul as we feel bereaved
I wonder why we cannot see the people closest to us
I wonder why we still stand there refusing to admit our loss
The bridge on which we stand has crumbled and untied
We can either run to our sides or repair it over time
I wonder why you built a palace, lined it with golden chairs
I wonder why you sit alone and deny your getting scared
The silence of a room littered with photographs
Of people that you still love, but people of your past.
I consider these lyrics to be among the best I have ever written. Wonder went on to become the first single lift off WdB1, we made a video for it.
15 songs done and dusted. We would record them all and how we recorded them will be depicted next. All the Laughs, Smiles, Sighs, and nearly Tears.
weirddecibels.com 