'We're Gonna Make It' Video

I made a video for the song "We're Gonna Make It" from my new album "Milestone." This version is just slightly different from the album version in that I trimmed out the fade-in portion of the beginning. A fellow musician had suggested not having a fade-in at all but it was something I never used before and I wanted to extend the song a bit. But for the YouTube version I eliminated the fade-in which in turn shortened the overall length of the song.

Here is the video:

New Life For Some Old Songs

Last evening I took one of my old recordings that I never officially released and used a minimoog to play the melody part over the backing tracks. I had this song up on myspace.com eons ago and here and there over the years. This song is so old in fact that I no longer have the electric guitars or bass that was used on it. It's from 2006. But I never recorded a vocal track I was satisfied with. Last year I even considered re-writing the lyrics with a complete new melody. That didn't pan out either. So I went back to the original melody and played it with a minimoog sound. I have some harmony parts which I need to add as well. Just for the heck of it, I may try mixing in the new melody I came up with also, just to keep things interesting. The original song was called "All For You." The rewrite was called "Going Back." If I decide to use parts from Going Back I'll call the finished song "All For You/Going Back." Strange titles always make for interesting conversation pieces.

For my next project I may continue on this route with "Long For Heaven." This is a track I officially released in 2011 as part of an EP. I regret having released this EP as I included incorrect versions of some songs and also songs that I have since improved.Long For Heaven is a tune I really like the music to but not the vocals. Not too long ago I tried to rewrite this one also albeit unsuccessfully. So I may minimoog this one too and use parts from both melodies.

I'm also ready to start recording a new song. It will be my first one in 6/8 time. It will also be another dark, moody song--the kind I gravitate towards. I want to get the guitar track recorded because it basically repeats throughout the song. I don't have lyrics for this one yet but they'll come. This song will be in the vein of "Tomorrow" with sparse instrumentation and a haunting atmosphere. Tomorrow remains one of my favorite songs sonic-wise in that all parts can be clearly heard. That is a goal I want to continue to achieve. My earliest recordings feature a lot of distortion from levels being too high and too much instrumentation competing for the same frequency space.

If I ever release an album of instrumental only music these older songs I'm fiddling around with will mostly likely land on it. I'll have to do as much as I can while the cold weather lasts. It's really comfortable to work in my studio during this time. When the heat of summer arrives it will be very difficult to do anything in there without shorting out some piece of electronic equipment. Well, off I go to a more productive year.

Bandcamp Page Fully Up & Goals for 2015

Well, my Bandcamp page is finally up and running! My new album release is completely there along with the 3 Christmas songs I have recorded. Basically everything that I intended to be officially out there is now available for legit purchase and download. Of course, I have other tunes out there on YouTube and soundcloud that are not really available for official download. Many of those will eventually be released on future albums. Some will never be other than in bootleg capacity.

I had a thought about recording an instrumental album.I already have several instrumental songs that are noteworthy for inclusion in such a project. And some other tracks which I thought about rewriting lyrics to may end up becoming instrumental songs altogether. It's just a thought. Again, I don't wish to spend too much time revisiting old material. Also if I should release an album of instrumental works, ideally it will be as an addendum to an album of singer/songwriter type material.

All that sounds a bit ambitious however. I am going to start recording a new song very soon and fiddle around a bit with one or two older ones. I will try much harder to make 2015 a more productive year relative to the past years. As I look back on 2014, I started and completed only 3 songs. I updated several songs from past years for release this year. And I began a new recording which I did not finish. Overall I feel that I accomplished more than in past years--especially considering the album release--yet still a rather unproductive year.

I read about a guy who participated in a projected where he wrote and recorded one song per week. Imagine that! Fifty-two songs in a year! That's definitely too ambitious for me but I do think that one song per month is quite reasonable. The keys to accomplishing that is to spend more time writing new songs, finish up writing some of my other songs and keep the production values not overly complicated. Will I actually release my 2nd album this year? It's possible if I work hard enough at it. I've always admired recording artists who released an album per year, not to mention those who released more than one in any year. The Beatles put out at least one album each year from 1963-1970. America did so from 1971-77. The Moody Blues from 1967-72. Creedence Clearwater Revival from 1968-72 with at least 7 albums. The Doors from 1967-71 with 6. Bread from 1969-72 with 5. R.E.M. from 1983-88.

But it seems to be art lost on today's artists. Nowadays the album release rate is about 1 every 2 or 3 years. And that's not counting the more established artist, such as U2, who are never in a hurry to release new albums. Albums are a bit longer now than they were in 1969. Many reach the 50 or even 60 minute mark. Thus artists feel less an obligation to release new music on an annual basis. Personally I prefer the one album per year schedule and if all I had to do in life was make music I would most assuredly abide by that pattern.

It's quite a bit late as I write this so I just want to close with a link to my Bandcamp page. I first signed up on Bandcamp in 2010 but only now is it complete and will be one of my official music pages.

Exit World on Bandcamp