and so onto song # 12 ~
a few years ago I was early for a band practice and while I waited I picked up a bass guitar and started playing away, eventually happening on a riff or two that I liked. I pinched one of those riffs for a song I did with my previous band, the Jeunes, called Obvious which you can listen to here. On that song the riff is played an octave higher on guitar. It ended up sounding quite different to the original riff, and I really liked the original version, so I recently decided to start working on it for the next song. The first demo is built on the bass guitar part, with some drums and a couple of electric guitars added. It’s very sparse but kind of cool IMHO.
song 12 (first demo)
onto song # 11 – an upbeat, funky little number. just guitar, bass and drums at the moment – stay tuned to see how it develops.
song 11 (demo)
and now for something completely different . . . .
I originally wrote this song way back in 1993 (!) but have never made a proper recording of it until now. Originally it was slow and kind of bluesy and for some reason I sang it in some sort of Nick Cave meets Jim Morrison voice. Here’s a demo I recorded in 1993 – guitar, bass, drums and vocals recorded on a Yamaha MT-100 4 track recorder.
I Wasn’t Born Yesterday (1993 demo)
In 2007 when we were shortlisting songs for the 2nd SSA record, I recorded a new demo. This one was uptempo and the vocal was an octave higher in pitch.
I Wasn’t Born Yesterday (2007 demo)
hi folks – here’s the first demo of song #9, titled You Can’t Say No. just some vocals, guitar, bass and drums at this stage.
You Can’t Say No (demo)
more to come very soon . . . .
and so onto song # 8. sorry for the delay since our last post – rehearsing for the recent show kept us from working on the next song but don’t worry, we’re about to get you caught up real fast. t
this time a first – David Bos came to me with some guitar chords he’d written, which turned out to be the basis for our next song. here’s the demo he recorded in his home studio, with just him on guitars and tambourine:
song 8 (1st demo)
from there, I rearranged things a little and overdubbed some bass and drums and wrote a new bridge and vocal melody. the lyrics you’ll hear on the demo below were improvised stream-of-consciousness “placeholders” designed to hear how the melody sounded and nothing more. what can I say, the lyrics suck but it’s how I work 
song 8 (2nd demo)
finally, we have a rough mix which uses the 2nd demo as a foundation. there are new guitar overdubs by David (3-4 tracks) and a new bass overdub along with some acoustic guitar and mandolin by me. all that’s missing now are the lyrics. stay tuned . . .
song 8 (rough mix)
onto song 7! this is pretty embryonic right now – just a Rickenbacker 12 string electric guitar, bass guitar and drums. it started with the guitar part, which I wrote over the weekend. structurally, there are two parts which feel like a verse and a chorus. it’ll no doubt need some work in that area – stay tuned!
song 7 demo
here’s the first demo of song # 5 – just some bass, drums and guitar at this stage. hopefully some vocals will materialize over the weekend. any ideas or comments? let us know . . .
song 5 – first demo
song # 4 is proving to be a difficult one to finish off. we now have lyrics and a working title and something approaching a finished arrangement. I’m still not completely happy with the lyrics but I’ll just let this one sit for a day or two and see if I get any better ideas. If YOU have any ideas let’s hear ‘em!
Stand And Deliver (rough mix)
a new week, a new song. song # 3 is called Fire and Ice. here’s a rough mix:
Fire and Ice (rough mix)
the intro part came to me less than a week ago while I was driving in my car and the verse part really materialized by accident as I was recording the first part. so far we just have drums, guitars and vocals but you’ll get the idea.
speaking of drums, Chris Campbell make his debut appearance on the record with this song. we’re glad to have him onboard!
I thought I’d throw out some mp3 samples of how song#2 has progressed. The whole thing started as a strummy little bit that I (Gary) had. In fact, the way I was remembering the song was to call it “strummy.”
“Strummy”
I wrote some lyrics at this tempo and called it “My Pitiful Words.” But, James thought the song would work better as a more uptempo number and did a quick demo so I could hear what he meant.
“My Pitiful Words – faster”
I took that and did some new tracking. (see brief guitar video below). Here’s where the track stands prior to vocals and flourishes being added. James worked his production magic and quickly gave me this version back:
“My Pitiful Words – fleshed out”
We’re rewriting the lyrics, because until James brought it to my attention, I had no idea that “My Pitiful Words” was a phrase that had religious connotations. So, once we’re done, the song will change titles at that time (same thing happened with our first track, which was originally called Wanted to Fly and became Touch The Sky). We should be able to release the new track relatively soon, once vocals are tracked and final edits/flourishes are made.
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