Memories From Two Different Brains

OK. We have to get this out of the way first... What I said to Tim was NOT that his song, "Don't Blink" had the ingredients to make a "nice little diddy." What I said was "this song is so f#$%^ing full of hooks it's at least 3 hit songs in one!!!!"

I mean, I hate to point out what turning 50 can do to one's memory. Clearly, one of us is remembering wrongly (hint - it's him).

So, the rest of what he says is right on the money. Tim and I had an iChat rehearsal a few weeks ago, which was a blast. We kicked ideas back and forth for "Don't Blink" and came up with a good approach. A couple nights later, I put my interpretation of what we talked about down in Logic and did a quick mix. My vocals were the couple of lines that Tim mentions, repeated over and over with some sort of humming and nonsense lyrics thrown in where there are none yet. I did three tracks - lead and a set of harmony backgrounds - and I gotta say they were absolute rubbish - out of tune, out of time, out of my league. But, thanks to todays modern tools, I was able to bend the recordings into tune and cut them up to make the timing right.

I did my best Beatle backgrounds and, perhaps, one day when the Anthology of this project comes out, you'll get to hear the demos.

I gave my take to Tim, who has been adding some stupendous drum parts. And most recently, he's shown me his "Wall Of Sound" remix with huge drums and bass. It's sounding great!

My tune, as Tim notes, is called "It's Girls." And I did complete the demo in one day - New Year's Day. But in all fairness, it was a song that I'd started WAAAY back in the late 1980s to sing with my then band Personal Effects. At the time, I had a couple of verses and a couple of choruses, and the music was completely different. For this demo, I rewrote the words and came up with an entirely new melody. I had a blast doing the demo, singing at the top of my lungs, and learning how to get those wonderful Liverpool sounds out of my guitar and bass.

The demo ends up sounding like BeatlesBeachboys-amatic - as if you tossed them into a blender and got a surfing on the Thames kind of sound.

So, the next step is for Tim to get off his duff and finish up some words. I've offered to have a lyric rehearsal so he could get some feedback in real time - a real John and Paul approach. I hope he takes me up on it.

Anyway, I think it's clear that we've got two giant hits on our hands. All we have to do is get to England, record and mix them in a day, get them out into the market, get some musicians to tour with, make a trillion dollars and fend off the groupies.

I am looking forward to the England part AND the trillion dollars. I have my own groupies at home...

Time Sure Do Pass Don't It?

Sorry for the long time no talk. So..let's update shall we?

2008 New Years Resolution found me standing in front of the world wide mirror vowing to lose some weight, get into shape...and most importantly starting voice lessons, bass lessons, and writing a hit song.

Well, Nadda. Zip. Nothing. But YES!!!! to the procrastinating!!! I SO rock at that. 

With the arrival of Spring however...progress is about to be made. Not on the weight front..geez...no...but real important stuff like my song. It hath been mostly written but not yet sung. What I mean by that is I lack just a few things...like actual lyrics. Bob has been keen to use several working phrases that now are permanently etched into my feeble brain blocking me even more.  Anyway, my song does have a title which is...drum roll please.."Don't Blink". The song has progressed from my working title of "Don't Stink". 

"Funny, the only thing that separates Stink from Blink is a single letter"  Nigel Tufnel...Spinal Tap

I have had great help and encouragement from close friends Bill Davie and Roland Burdge...both of whom are gifted musicians and even more talented friends. The song passed their smell test and I got a couple of very usable phrases.

Musically, Bob has reassured me that "Don't Blink" contains all the necessary ingredients to make a nice little diddy. Whatever that means...

Speaking of Bob. His song was written on the day he intended to write it and as expected...perfect right out of the can. Titled "It's Girls" this song has all the designated hooks one would expect from a Beatles junkie. I'll let him tell you all about it if he chooses to write a line or two on the blog.  As his designated studio drummer he has instructed me to emulate not Ringo Starr but an automated drummer named "The Remulac 8000" which plays 120 beats per minute in perfect tempo. Plus I hear the Remulac doesn't drink all the beer and steal the guitar players girlfriend after the gig.

Okay gotta jog to the fridge. More later.