Hi,
Remember me? I’m that indie songwriter that you may have heard?
Sorry I’ve been away so long, would you believe me if I said it was all to better the way I give you what I give? It’s partially true…
So what’s been happening? I’ve been quite busy over the last few months. After seeing Bryan Ferry at Casino Rama, and being overwhelmed by guitarist Chris Spedding, I decided to “woodshed” for a while. That’s where a musician isolates himself and focuses on improving his skills. I hadn’t noticed mine slipping until (watching Spedding milk the perfect sounds from his guitar) I thought “I could do that. No, wait, that’s a lie. I USED to be able to do that.” So I’ve spent a lot of my time practicing.
I’ve also started rehearsing with a band called “The Boys From County Hell.” They play Irish folk music (and Pogues-style rock). It’s interesting because I’m totally unfamiliar with these songs. I’m learning them mostly by ear, but having to remember which song is what, what key, what rhythm… and to boot, the songs are all named “the irish somethingorother” or “the whiskey something” or “rover”…
It makes for a confusing time, but I’m loving it. It’s good to be challenged like this. And I’m SHEDDING FLESH AND BLOOD for this. My fingers haven’t split (yet), but I’ve got no feeling left from all the calluses. And I’ve rubbed all the skin from my right forearm from friction against the body of my acoustic guitar! Thankfully it’s been just missing my tattoos. That might change how proud I am of this sacrifice to the music gods…
As for the Matt Swift music, I’m still tweaking the next album. I’m loving these songs so far. There’s one point in “Your Loving Song” where it’s all I can do to not jump or dance!
I’ve written a couple of more songs, and right now I’m trying to decide whether to put them in this 2012 project, or maybe hedge my bets and keep those on the backburner for 2013…
It’s an exciting time, but hard to write about the incremental progress. It looks great to me, but I wonder how much detail anyone else really wants…
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Guitar Inadequacy, or The Ferry Supremacy
Last Saturday I saw Bryan Ferry perform at Casino Rama.
I saw Ferry in 1988 - my first concert and the moment I became a fan. In the last 23 years, I was sure I'd built the memory up into this fantastical, fictional account of what was likely a good concert, but not the "be-all, end-all of live music."
Well, if the 2011 show is any indication, I was wrong. The almost 2-hour performance was the best live concert I have EVER seen. Ever, ever, ever. Better than any of the half-dozen David Bowie performances I've attended (and that says something). Better than The X-Pensive Winos, which previously held either the #1 or #2 slot... Just phenominal.
One surprise was how guitar-oriented the setlist was. Another was how impressive Chris Spedding was as one of Ferry's guitarists. I've seen lots of DVD footage of Spedding, and knew it was good. But the lines he played last night were awe-inspiring. I've never seen such intricate slide-guitar skills, for one. Wow, wow, wow.
Now I feel quite the fool for not seeing his rockabilly performance last year at The Cadillac Lounge. His skills put mine to shame.
In fact, he's inspired me to improve my own guitar technique. I have been playing for 23 years now, and have been pretty confident with my abilities: whatever I want to play, I am able to play. Saturday night I saw lines plucked that I COULD NOT repeat. And I want to.
So now it's Tuesday morning. I am sitting in a hotel room with my wife. We're taking a mid-week holiday to celebrate our first anniversary. And my acoustic guitar is sitting in the corner, waiting for me to lay my hands on it. I'm about 5 minutes from that right now...
I WILL become a fantastic guitarist. I will, I will, I will. My plan had been to take piano lessons to improve that facet, but f**k that - the guitar comes first.
I saw Ferry in 1988 - my first concert and the moment I became a fan. In the last 23 years, I was sure I'd built the memory up into this fantastical, fictional account of what was likely a good concert, but not the "be-all, end-all of live music."
Well, if the 2011 show is any indication, I was wrong. The almost 2-hour performance was the best live concert I have EVER seen. Ever, ever, ever. Better than any of the half-dozen David Bowie performances I've attended (and that says something). Better than The X-Pensive Winos, which previously held either the #1 or #2 slot... Just phenominal.
One surprise was how guitar-oriented the setlist was. Another was how impressive Chris Spedding was as one of Ferry's guitarists. I've seen lots of DVD footage of Spedding, and knew it was good. But the lines he played last night were awe-inspiring. I've never seen such intricate slide-guitar skills, for one. Wow, wow, wow.
Now I feel quite the fool for not seeing his rockabilly performance last year at The Cadillac Lounge. His skills put mine to shame.
In fact, he's inspired me to improve my own guitar technique. I have been playing for 23 years now, and have been pretty confident with my abilities: whatever I want to play, I am able to play. Saturday night I saw lines plucked that I COULD NOT repeat. And I want to.
So now it's Tuesday morning. I am sitting in a hotel room with my wife. We're taking a mid-week holiday to celebrate our first anniversary. And my acoustic guitar is sitting in the corner, waiting for me to lay my hands on it. I'm about 5 minutes from that right now...
I WILL become a fantastic guitarist. I will, I will, I will. My plan had been to take piano lessons to improve that facet, but f**k that - the guitar comes first.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Idol Worship
Tonight I'm heading up to Casino Rama to see Bryan Ferry.
In August 1988, a wee lad of 14, my parents had an extra ticket to his Bete Noire tour in Toronto. I agreed to go simply because there was nothing good on TV that night. I hated Ferry and his Roxy Music cohorts. Ugh, that was music my parents listened to. There weren't nearly enough gritty guitars... But I went.
We got to Exhibition Stadium, and I looked at all the middle-aged, middle-class fans with distaste.
The lights dropped, as the steam rose from the audience. As the curtain dropped, the first notes of Limbo started. 60 seconds in I was hooked. I was dancing on my chair for the entire show, a 100% convert. At the end of the show, I elbowed my way to the front of the queue to buy a t-shirt.
I then spent 10 years obsessively listening to Roxy Music and Ferry's solo material. Weathering the barbs of friends who didn't "get it." It wasn't fashionable to like glitter and glam. In the late 90s, it suddenly became trendy, and fellow musicians were jumping on the bandwagon.
For a laugh, i wore my Bete Noire memento to a rehearsal and my drummer gasped "where did you get that?" At the concert, I glibly replied laughing on the inside.
Around that time, his portrait was tattooed on my left forearm, along with similar icons of David Bowie and Keith Richards.
I have spent the last 23 years trying to see him in concert again, and always in vain. The first tour that hit Toronto after '88 found me broke and unable to afford a ticket. The next couple, including Roxy Music's reunion in 2001 (ish), found me forced to be elsewhere.
A few months ago, he announced a North American tour. I noticed that while there was no Canadian gig listed, there was a suspicious 6-day break between New York and Ohio. That's too long a break... I trolled the internet until discovering a sneaky, not-well-publicized stop in Rama.
So now I've got fantastic seats to tonight's show. Prepare to be bombarded with posts about one of my musical idols and more Ferry-inspired music blasting from my studio in the near future.
In August 1988, a wee lad of 14, my parents had an extra ticket to his Bete Noire tour in Toronto. I agreed to go simply because there was nothing good on TV that night. I hated Ferry and his Roxy Music cohorts. Ugh, that was music my parents listened to. There weren't nearly enough gritty guitars... But I went.
We got to Exhibition Stadium, and I looked at all the middle-aged, middle-class fans with distaste.
The lights dropped, as the steam rose from the audience. As the curtain dropped, the first notes of Limbo started. 60 seconds in I was hooked. I was dancing on my chair for the entire show, a 100% convert. At the end of the show, I elbowed my way to the front of the queue to buy a t-shirt.
I then spent 10 years obsessively listening to Roxy Music and Ferry's solo material. Weathering the barbs of friends who didn't "get it." It wasn't fashionable to like glitter and glam. In the late 90s, it suddenly became trendy, and fellow musicians were jumping on the bandwagon.
For a laugh, i wore my Bete Noire memento to a rehearsal and my drummer gasped "where did you get that?" At the concert, I glibly replied laughing on the inside.
Around that time, his portrait was tattooed on my left forearm, along with similar icons of David Bowie and Keith Richards.
I have spent the last 23 years trying to see him in concert again, and always in vain. The first tour that hit Toronto after '88 found me broke and unable to afford a ticket. The next couple, including Roxy Music's reunion in 2001 (ish), found me forced to be elsewhere.
A few months ago, he announced a North American tour. I noticed that while there was no Canadian gig listed, there was a suspicious 6-day break between New York and Ohio. That's too long a break... I trolled the internet until discovering a sneaky, not-well-publicized stop in Rama.
So now I've got fantastic seats to tonight's show. Prepare to be bombarded with posts about one of my musical idols and more Ferry-inspired music blasting from my studio in the near future.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Pop Songs, Pop Songwriter
This morning I wrote a new song. So far it's called 'Tonight'.
It occurred to me that this is the socond song I've written that shares a name with an Iggy Pop song. Well really the third - I once wrote a song called "Some Weird Sin," but I intentionally took that name from one of the tracks from his Lust For Life album. How could you not write a song with a catchy line like that?
A few years ago I wrote No Fun. Same name as the old Stooges song, but purely coincidental. And now Tonight...
As long as I don't write a song called I Wanna Be Your Dog, i think I can still claim innocence.
It occurred to me that this is the socond song I've written that shares a name with an Iggy Pop song. Well really the third - I once wrote a song called "Some Weird Sin," but I intentionally took that name from one of the tracks from his Lust For Life album. How could you not write a song with a catchy line like that?
A few years ago I wrote No Fun. Same name as the old Stooges song, but purely coincidental. And now Tonight...
As long as I don't write a song called I Wanna Be Your Dog, i think I can still claim innocence.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Life After LIE
Love Isn't Enough is selling steadily (thank you!), and i'm quite pleased with that. The reviews and comparisons are surprisingly flattering. So if you haven't bought it yet, join the masses, HERE!
Reverb Nation, my online distributor is selling MP3 downloads as well as physical CDs. I was surprised the other day to see that they also sell hoodies, t-shirts, water bottles, and bags! I'm thinking about branding a few of those too - we'll see how that goes...
I've started writing the next batch of songs, although it's still too early for the next album to have much definition. Still, (tentatively titled) You And Me, Not My Song, You're A Star, Crazy, My Clown, and Your Loving Song are pretty-well flushed out at this stage. Whenever I have free time, my wife can usually find me with my Takamine strapped on, belting out one of these tracks.
I've also been asked to play guitar in a part-time "irish rock" band. They generally get together each February/ March and play a few shows around St. Paddy's Day. There's no committment yet, but I'm interested. It could be a lot of fun, and I miss playing live.
That's it for now. Keep on rockin in the free world (and elsewhere).
Reverb Nation, my online distributor is selling MP3 downloads as well as physical CDs. I was surprised the other day to see that they also sell hoodies, t-shirts, water bottles, and bags! I'm thinking about branding a few of those too - we'll see how that goes...
I've started writing the next batch of songs, although it's still too early for the next album to have much definition. Still, (tentatively titled) You And Me, Not My Song, You're A Star, Crazy, My Clown, and Your Loving Song are pretty-well flushed out at this stage. Whenever I have free time, my wife can usually find me with my Takamine strapped on, belting out one of these tracks.
I've also been asked to play guitar in a part-time "irish rock" band. They generally get together each February/ March and play a few shows around St. Paddy's Day. There's no committment yet, but I'm interested. It could be a lot of fun, and I miss playing live.
That's it for now. Keep on rockin in the free world (and elsewhere).
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
First Words
LIE has been online now for a couple of weeks, and the first comparisons are coming in. Quite good, in fact. A surprising number of people have noted a "Mark Knopfler" sound. I really didn't expect this - while I like Dire Straits, i've never thought of them as an influence.
I've heard "Bowie-esque," and that one was quite flattering. I could never hold myself up anywhere near that, but apparently there's an influence showing through.
One or two have mentioned "a stripped-down U2." Another good one.
You know, i don't think there have been any bad comparisons. Apparently i'm not influenced by "a steaming pile of deaf dung."
A couple of reviews have noted that the vocals are a little "pitchy," and i can accept that. I refused to use a pitch-shifter to perfect them, and was happy to get them to the level they attained. They're HUMAN.
This is getting off to a good start.
edit: One flummox - 'Wow' was called "dripping with sarcasm." It was actually expressing my awe of Tim Booth, of James. The man is one of the most eloquent pop stars in action these days. I guess people just assume that I don't give compliments...
I've heard "Bowie-esque," and that one was quite flattering. I could never hold myself up anywhere near that, but apparently there's an influence showing through.
One or two have mentioned "a stripped-down U2." Another good one.
You know, i don't think there have been any bad comparisons. Apparently i'm not influenced by "a steaming pile of deaf dung."
A couple of reviews have noted that the vocals are a little "pitchy," and i can accept that. I refused to use a pitch-shifter to perfect them, and was happy to get them to the level they attained. They're HUMAN.
This is getting off to a good start.
edit: One flummox - 'Wow' was called "dripping with sarcasm." It was actually expressing my awe of Tim Booth, of James. The man is one of the most eloquent pop stars in action these days. I guess people just assume that I don't give compliments...
Friday, July 22, 2011
Fait Accompli!
It's done! Last night I did the final tweaks to Love Isn't Enough.
When my wife came home, I was busy uploading to ReverbNation.com and setting up the packaging for sales. She saw what I was doing, and got excited. After congratulating me and being very excited, I think she noticed that I was somewhat blasé about the whole thing.
After listening to it literally hundreds (if not thousands) of times, I had to admit that I was in the close-out processes of this project. I don't perform live, so this is the end of LIE as far as my own interaction goes. Now it's just thrown at the Web for listening (and hopefully sales). There's a link on the right side of this blog to either buy or listen.
This morning, I left our apartment with my MP3 player blasting the album. When the first chorus hit in Don't Pity Me, I got chills. I'm excited. I'm proud. I feel like I've raised a child that is now leaving home. I want to see how it is received into the world, and whether it can stand on it's own feet without support.
As it is, I've spent the morning listening to it again and again. I like it.
:)
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