Song Number 41: Scene

From out of the frozen tundra it came...

Wrote and recorded this in my father's studio on Sunday afternoon while we were visiting them up North. 

Dad's studio, like mine, is what is politely termed a "project studio", which is a polite euphemism for saying no bugger else can get the thing to work, so I belted this out pretty sharpish to avoid prolonged arguments over the relative merits of Cubase and Logic. 

There are some really lovely mics and pre-amps up there, and I'm very pleased with the sound of the (one take!) drums.  If I'd had more time I could have (should have) spent longer on the bass and vocal sounds, but there you go.  BVs were done sat in front of the computer with a hand-held SM57 for speed.

As far as the writing goes, I like the "across the ocean floor" line, but the mid 8 bored me so much I chopped a bunch of bars out of the middle of it and skipped to the end of an improvised rant about being sick of the sound of my own voice.

The video's taken from Little Annie Rooney, from the wonderful Fleischer Studios.

Song 42 coming as soon as possible, I promise.  Thanks for all your donations and comments so far.  Please keep them coming  - these last few weeks are going to be really really tough!

Abroad/Home

Currently up north visiting the folks, and I've managed to record Song 41 and write most of Song 42 while I'm up here.  Hopefully I'll make a start on recording 42 tomorrow before we come back down south, and I'll get at least one of them online by Tuesday.

In 41, you'll hear me getting so sick of the sound of my own voice, I bluntly cut a good 20 odd seconds out of the song just to get to the end quicker.  Also lots of suspended seconds, which I love (I'll try and write about that next time - remind me).  42 may feature a complete waste of a beautiful Martin Dreadnought guitar, but we'll see.

Shattered.

Song Number 19: A19 Revisited

Ridiculous hog-rocker, with a well timed title.

Before I explain what this nonsense is all about, just take a couple of seconds to sponsor me - either click the widget on the top right, or go to http://justgiving.com/songaweek.  Ta!

A few years ago, I was driving up north past ICI Wilton (the inspiration behind the opening shots of Blade Runner, as you can probably see from the link) and thought A19 Revisited would be a good title for a Northern answer to Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited.  I've harboured the thought for years, and when I came out with that bland blues/rock riff (totally wasting that lovely beat!) I figured it might just be time to get that driving song out of my head.

Average speed check in operation

Now, I quite like that drive up North from London to my home town of Hartlepool.  M1 -> M18 -> A1(M) -> A19 and home.  It's pretty straightforward (though I did sit for 2 hours in a jam at Junction 23, during which time Cars by Gary Numan came on - the irony wasn't lost on me), and the sight of Leake Church is always a pleasure.  There's something comforting about hitting the A19 near Thirsk, knowing that I'm near the end of my journey.  The song's about a guy heading back home (on his motorbike) to Station Town, a village just north of Hartlepool.  It's a pretty godforsaken place, to be honest, but it's a great name - really evocative. 

There are plenty of local references, and a few horrendously bland blues-rock clichés thrown in for good measure.

It was only when I finished the song that I remembered it was Bob Dylan's birthday the other day, and also that this would be Song 19!  Oh, the hilarity.

If you're wondering about the picture, it's dark so you can only see the biker's headlamp.  Nothing at all with me being incapable of drawing a man on a motorbike, you understand.