Category: Generic

Song Idea

Last weekend I was sitting outside of the room Harry’s band was rehearsing in and noodling around with GarageBand on my phone. Next thing I know there is a rough idea for a song. Think Jimi Hendrix meets My Bloody Valentine except not even remotely as good as either. You get the idea.

I’m not working on a writing project right now, and the recording project I set for myself has stalled. What should I do with this idea? Should I maybe just start another writing project? Should I just let it sit like I usually do with orphaned song ideas?

No… something different this time. Today I recorded bass and rhythm guitar parts, replaced my cheesy iOS drums, and made a quick mix. I uploaded the still unfinished song to soundcloud and then did something I’ve never done with any song I’ve worked on since I started writing for myself at home back in 2007.

I let someone else listen to it.

I just Facebook messaged the soundcloud (I hate them so) link to the band and asked if they had any interest in playing it. I think I’m going to be afraid to check Facebook for the rest of the day. Maybe I’ll go outside and rake for a while.

Having no self confidence sucks sometimes. At least I worked up the courage to send the link. Call that a personal win.

Cover Song

Another awful, awful, god awful recording from last week’s band practice. This song isn’t there yet… but I swear by the old gods and the new that it will get there.

This is the weird part of playing in a cover band. I can honestly say that if this song came on the radio I would change the station as fast as humanly possible. However… it is pretty fun to play.

Denied

I mentioned a couple of nights ago that in a fit of net nerd boredom I made a twitter and an ello and a tumblr for the band. What little content was there came from the facebook page that they used prior to me joining. Apparently the gentleman I replaced made all sorts of graphic designs that they were using as flyers for gigs and what not. Some of them are pretty cool. I nabbed them off the page and posted a few to tumblr and ello and used others as profile pics and backgrounds.

Now I will take them all down.

A little backstory. When the first version of the band started playing we didn’t have a PA system. I took it upon myself to buy a small one for use at rehearsals. Then shortly afterwards I quit. Mike and Kevin were going to keep the band going and asked if they could keep using it until they got something new. I was more than happy to say yes.

They replaced me, then later replaced the singer, and the band settled down, worked up a set, and started playing out. The new guitar player was good. I only saw them twice but I thought they came off very well and I was happy for them. During this time their guitar player started making those logo designs and put together a website. I liked it. It was nice and minimal with lots of white space. Just how I like ’em. He also bought the band a really nice PA system. I don’t know if they used it for gigs or not but it was way better than the dinky little thing I bought.

Then the guitar player decided to leave. Again, Mike and Kevin and now Greg asked if they could borrow the PA system. He said no. That’s a little surprising, but what can you do. He might have had another band lined up that would also need a PA. Who can say. So it was only a little surprising, but nothing out of the ordinary. He also told him that he was not going to let them use the website he set up. Again, surprising but not unheard of. It was his work after all, if he wanted to keep it for himself then that’s his prerogative. Then he said he wouldn’t give up the domain name. That is surprising. What use could he have for it?

When I joined the band I set up a tumblr with the idea that it would be a free replacement for the lost website. I put up a picture and forgot about it. Then this week I went back and went nuts, as previously mentioned.

Today the former guitar player told Kevin he didn’t want the band to use his designs anymore. Okay, I guess. I’ll comply and take those posts down. I wasn’t in the band when they were made. I have no claim to them. The other three guys didn’t know about the accounts when I set them up (they do now) so I will honor the request. I’m just not sure why. I would have gladly given him credit for his work if he had asked. I was going to add a couple of videos from youtube from some of their past gigs. He was going to be represented positively. Hell, I’m a fan! I wouldn’t be in the band now if they hadn’t had him to keep things going when I left before. I’m thankful for that. Oh well, what can you do, right?