Industry Rule Number 4080. Record Company People Are Shady.

I'm never going to be the one to say "Yeah, my life is completely normal. It's just like yours." I spend all this time trying to be "normal," but I've even had a therapist tell me that that's just not going to happen. So, here's the newest in a long line of abnormalities.

Last night I was sitting at home watching REC and eating a bowl of kettle corn to my head. It's been a particularly rough week, but it was as expected. I got a knock on the door and it was my neighbor who is a producer. He's legit, I've looked up his credits and he did an album that I talked tons of shit about. He actually got performance and writing credits on the album that I talked shit about. So, we talked about the whole album in meticulous detail from recording process to song structure to completed product one night. I felt bad for talking shit, but he agreed with much of my criticism and actually told me how a lot of it happened and why.

So, he came in and told me that he had a follow up project to that album and thought that I knew enough about the band to help out on the new album due in 4 to 6 months. At this point, they have nothing. It sounded like a daunting task, but I told him I would try and it was a great excuse to get my chops back up to speed. It's also a huge put up or shut up moment. Kind of an "Oh yeah. You think you could write a better album?"

While the whole thing is a little disillusioning that the band no longer writes their own stuff completely, it's also a chance to help make a better album that makes them sound the way I think they should sound. Kind of a "Fuck it. You drive then."

So, the first step was to go back through a song that I really liked by them and dissect the shit out of it to write something similar, but not the same. Every band has a signature writing style. The key is to not just rewrite the same songs (Aerosmith) while not abandoning the signature. It's a thin line to walk and can be abused, but why not take a stab at it? Regardless, I looked at one of their songs that I liked and broke it down to a formula. Sus (jangly) chords on the intro, strong riff in the verse, big and tight chorus, altered intro for the bridge, harmonies in the solo, etc...

I think I totally nailed it in my first try last night. Need to work on the bridge and the chords for the solo, but not bad for an hour worth of work. I'm rusty as fuck and have only really written funk and some pseudo jazz stuff so this is undiscovered country for me, but it's coming together. No block yet and I'm overflowing with shit to write. Database guy writing a progressive metal album in my free time. Weird.

Now, the business is shady and I've been promised publishing if they use anything, but it's really just a reason to play more and get my laptop set up with a recording rig. It's also stressful as hell, but has made me take a bunch of stuff that was stressing me out and throw it to the side. I can immerse myself in the writing process and in the past this has helped me feel purpose and not worry about extraneous crap. Music has always been a valuable tool for me in the past in dealing with a host of internal issues. I don't use it enough anymore. I'm really looking forward to the whole thing and if it turns out to be a bust, I'll at least have a progressive metal album under my belt.

A Brave Man World

This is soooooo good. Felt compelled to post it.