Naked For Jesus

… I THOUGHT that title might get your attention.

I moved to Toronto in early 1996, from a little (a$$)hole-in-the-wall town in Southern Ontario.
Walking down Bloor St one day, I ran into an acquaintance from high-school. He told me that he was looking for musicians to start a band. Together we put it together:
We ended up as a 4-piece: two acoustic guitars playing punk rock guitar, a bassist, a Sarah McLaughlin-esque soft singer, and a dancy-techno drum machine. We called ourselves ‘Naked For Jesus’ and played exactly ½ of a show (a complete set, but only one guitarist and the singer were there).

We recorded a 4-song demo that I wish I still had.

Naked For Jesus could have been great. But I ended up "dating" the singer.
After a month or two, I found her laying on a friend’s kitchen floor making out with a homeless guy. AT MY BIRTHDAY PARTY. A homeless guy who had been stealing from my vodka bottle all night…. I stepped over the couple, took my bottle, expressed my anger at his swiping my liquor, and went home.

Ever the professional, I had no intention of leaving the band. It was too awesome. Neither did she, and agreed to be friendly. When it was time to choose cover song ideas, I suggested ‘Loose’ by Iggy Pop. Honestly, I thought it would sound fantastic, with raw acoustic guitars, a dance-y beat, and a soft vocal.
Unfortunately the singer didn’t believe me. Something about the chorus (I stick it deep inside, I stick it deep inside, ‘Cause I’m Loose) didn’t feel right to her…
She got offended and quit, breaking up the group before we ever really got our start.

I never saw the bassist again. I heard that the singer dropped out of school around the time her homeless boyfriend got beat up for being a Nazi. The other guitarist and I remained friends for a few years, until alcohol and a hectic city pace drew him back to small-town Ontario. We never played together again.


********
Also when I moved here, I was listening obsessively to The Velvet Underground. They appeared on my MP3 player this morning and I thougth about NFJ for the first time in over a decade.

Neglect

Happy Holidays Everyone!

I've been busy this month doing non-musical things. Work, Christmas parties, family visits, etc etc etc...

I've been making eyes at my Telecasters, and I think they've been winking back at me. I'll let this flirtation run for the next couple of weeks, but I'm sure we'll be hooking up soon.


C'mon baby, we could make beautiful music together. Or at least rush through a few bars...

Naive

The first week of January 2005 I got dumped. It was actually the only time in 35 years that it's happened to me, and it was crushing.
That first Saturday night, I hid at home alone and got really drunk. I remember waking up Sunday, and opening another bottle of gin.

Wallowing in self-pitty, I sat at my keyboard and started hammering out the notes that made sense at the time. Stopping only to scribble my thoughts, everything melded to be 'Naive'. I think it took about an hour to write.

So drunk that I could barely stand up, I programmed a strange 9-bar drum pattern that would repeat throughout the verses, only omitting the 9th for choruses. I think it accurately portrayed the anger and frustration I felt at the time, while the piano expressed my sorrow and hurt.
The off-kilter guitar line at the end spoke of my disorientation (and tipsiness).

Within about 3 hours, Naive went from being a twinkle in the Bombay Sapphire to a written, arranged, recorded, and produced track already been posted online.
I tried to encompass the only relationship (at that point) that I had believed to potentially last a lifetime. That was the girl that made me realize that I could spend my life with one person. The abrupt end was an experience that I (thankfully) have never had to go through again.

Recreating the song for 'Overture', I felt guilty over-writing the original performances. Unfortunately in my drunken stupor I had deleted the files as soon as i posted, intent on keeping it pure.
So I redid the track, keeping only the original guitar performance that I found somewhere random on my PC. I wasn't able to sign with the same swagger or hurt inflecting, but maybe that's just a sign that I'm much better now. I can't completely reconnect with the Matt that wrote that in a near-suicidal plea to my self-conscious.

Naive
Thought I'd want to spend my life with you
Told me that you felt the same
I let you in, I dropped my guard, tore down my wall
It left me so Naive

Blaming no-one but myself for this
Malice never was your style
Here alone, I'll think about what I gave in
To make me so Naive

Never want to love again
You hurt too much to be my friend
Don't understand, I can't believe
You got this far, I'm so Naive

Faith in no-one but myself from now
Tarnished soul that I'll conceal
Humanity I'll never feel a kinship with
It left me so Naive

Never want to feel this way again
Dead and breathing, just the same
An open sore for all to see, I'll wear with pride
I'll never be Naive

Never want to love again
You hurt too much to be my friend
Don't understand, I can't believe
You got this far, I'm so Naive

Rushing Along on the Current

So "Overture" has started selling fairly well, and thanks to everyone buying.

Recording the album was a great pleasure. I really do love those songs and was happy to strip them down and put them into different poses.
Mixing the album was... interesting. I'm still learning how to do this properly, and in ways that suit me as opposed to "the industry." It took a lot of patience, trial-and-error, and care. I'm happy with the end result, i think I got it to around 95% of what I had wanted. That other 5% would only come from professional assistance, and I am happy to trade that off for the pride in it being a self-produced endeavor.
Mastering the album was more frustrating than interesting. Honestly, it's the part i like least. There's very little creativity, it's just adding that last little "sheen" to the project. Equalizing all the tracks so that they sound like one package (and not 11 isolated, random bits), compressing and controlling the volume, and such. Nitpicky, and not my thing at all.

I was happy to take a little time off after this job, but am now back to work! Aside from the batch of new songs I'm working on (title tbd), I also found a piece that I did a decade ago: I scored a play that ended up falling apart a couple of days prior to opening. A shitty script, but I really enjoyed the musical aspect. Along with writing and arranging the new songs, I am side-tracking to modernize, edit, and re-work this score. Who knows what it will become...

Musical Tangent/ Shameless Plug

My fiancee and I are saving up for our wedding next year, which means no holidays. However, the other day I discovered a contest for Hilton Mexico.

I had a very short time to write a song on why Kate deserves to win a vacation, make a video of it, and submit it to Hilton.

So as of Tuesday, you're able to watch the video, and if you like it
VOTE FOR ME HERE!!!
You can vote again daily, or more often if you run between internet cafes.


Enjoy the video, have a good laugh. it's kinda catchy too...






I'll be taking down loads of Triscuits and maple syrup, and returning with lots of bottles of Mescale, by the looks of it. hahaha

No Fun

Years ago, I played in a truly amazing band. However, like many creative teams, ours fell apart due to conflict within the group. Mainly myself and the drummer.
After a year of arguing, which really escalated in the last month, we went into the studio to record the latest album. Things were said, tempers flared, fists nearly flew.
I quit that night. One does need to put up with a certain amount of BS in life, but when you hit the wall you have to fix it. I remember the singer sitting at the mixing desk, head in hands, wondering what to do. "You learned so much with us," he said wanting me to reconsider. I had learned more with them in 3 years than in the decade prior, but it was irrelevant.
Unfortunately, even with our issues, the drummer and I had a great connection. We grew up with the same musical influences, and could read each other. We knew what the other was about to do, without usually discussing it.

We were a great band, i'm proud of the work we did, and I won't do it again. The weekend after quitting, I wrote No Fun:

No Fun,
I never hurt anybody but you
That’s the price of love
At least a love that’s true

I never used up anybody before
I’m a bastard I know
I never used up anyone
Until they were No Fun

No Fun,
Backed in a corner I let you fall
To your own disgrace
You still don’t see it at all
No Fun,
I didn’t mean it it’s what I do
To hold myself above
To protect me from you

I never used up anybody before
I’m a bastard I know
I never used up anyone
Until they were No Fun

No Fun,
Next to you everything went pale
Your ego ruled your world
Now you’re tired and oh-so stale

I never used up anybody before
I’m a bastard I know
I never used up anyone
Until they were No Fun

History Re-viewed

I don't know when this was - sometime between 2000 and 2003. Canadian Music Week, if I remember correctly.

Damn, I looked cool smoking on stage!
hahaha