Time Flies

I got married.
Serenaded my wife with a surprise performance, a 4/4 version of Unchained Melody arranged for a bluesy acoustic guitar. Made her cry. Made other women swoon (i imagine).
Spent a week in Halifax for our honeymoon. Saw some great bands, and a passionless William H. Macy lookalike warbling his way through classic rock tunes.

Yesterday was the first day in a month that I've been able to work on the new album. The songs are evolving.
The Dream needs to be a few bpm faster.
The last verse of All That Mattered was written yesterday.
Burn needs a more sparse rhythm guitar. Maybe drop it out completely for the riff... (i can't believe i wrote that)

So it's coming along slowly. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

To tide you over, watch some of these clips of The National performing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It's been giving me goosebumps and making my eyes water.
Any fan of pop or rock music NEEDS to hear them. They're easily the best guitar-based band going, and are putting out the only albums worth paying for these days.

August Update/ Monthly Apology

Sorry, I'm being horribly neglectful to this blog.
Part of it is being busy earning money to pay for the recording I'm about to embark on.
Part of it is being busy earning money to pay for the wedding I'm about to embark on.
Part of it is enjoying the hot Toronto summer.
Part of it is working on the next batch of songs.
I've been kinda busy.


The next album, not yet titled, appears to have been written. The basics are covered and they're looking like a solid family ready to party. They're not flushed out as far as they will be, but the demos have been recorded.

So, unless any surprises appear, the track listing should be:

Love Isn't Enough
What To Say
Wow
Home
The Dream
Don't Pity Me
Stagger And Twirl
Burn
Welcome to The Nighttime
All That Mattered

While I don't expect the production to be different, the songs themselves are structured quite differently due to my newfound singing ability*. You'll hear more than 3 notes sung on this one, my friends!


*Thanks Kate H. - the singing lessons are awesome.

Burning

Again I've been neglecting my blog.
I recently got a message asking if I'd be interested in playing for a local band. Sort of a rockabilly/celtic/punk (think Pogues, apparently) type of group. I've never really listened to them before, so I picked up their Greatest Hits package. And I'm really liking it.
I haven't met with the group yet, so I don't know if it'll work, but it inspired me to write another song:

Burn

I found out what you did, You admitted that it’s true
I forgave your indiscretion
Well, you lied to me and you didn’t stop, And you crawled into my bed
You didn’t notice my expression
I walked into the room With a can of gasoline
Pack of matches and a pint of beer
Well, I drank my beer and watched you sleep
And promised you so true
That I’ll always keep you near

I’m gonna watch you burn
You never ever learn
The plans are set, you lost the bet
I’m gonna watch you burn

You had a moment, Another spark in time
If that was all, live and let live
But you lied to me, you lie next to me, And you still stink of him
That’s one thing I can’t forgive
I walked into the room With a can of gasoline
Pack of matches and a pint of beer
Well, I drank my beer and watched you sleep
And promised you so true
That I’ll always keep you near

I’m gonna watch you burn
You never ever learn
The plans are set, you lost the bet
I’m gonna watch you burn

I’m not the kind of guy who goes looking for revenge
That’s never really been my kind of plan
But when I’m done and the fire’s out
The ashes have gone cold
Grab another beer and I’m looking for your man

(c) Matt Swift 2010

Swagger & Twirl

I haven’t been blogging much lately. I keep thinking that nothing is really progressing, and then BAM – i write 2 more songs before lunch!

I wrote a good one last weekend, titled (for now) Swagger And Twirl. It describes myself around a decade ago, in the depths of Glitter/Glam rock. Let me explain (yeah, TRY to stop me)…

I’ve always loved old-school punk rock. The Stooges, MC5, New York Dolls, that sort of thing. Rude, aggressive, and dirty – that’s one of the things I admire most in art. That goes for photography too, I’d rather see a shot of a burned out urban factory than a pretty landscape anytime.
Physically, I’ve usually been on the ‘nicer’ side of fashion. Before shaving my head, I paid a lot of attention to my hair and makeup. I thought nothing of dying my hair teal, and slapping on some eyeliner and whore-ish red lipstick. There was also sightings of designer shirts, leopard-print tights and red patent leather shoes, blending with my extensive tattoos to set up a unique visual. I wasn’t always put together in the best taste and have literally stopped traffic on Yonge Street with gawkers.
I’ve had to stop the makeup and hair dye – as I age it’s looking more and more like Buffalo Bill from The Silence of The Lambs. But there was always an appreciation for nice suits, watches, and the like.

The glam and glitter scenes really combined these two, personified in 1970's David Bowie, Bryan Ferry and the like. Glitter often had a prettier musical side, but that was cool in it’s own right. Once I realized that one could present a tight, stylish image with a balls-out guitar-driven sound, I knew my place was somewhere in that. Really starting in the early 70s, images started appearing of a lipsticked, fashion-conscious guitarist, Les Paul slung low, blasting out obscenities in a cloud of cigarette smoke. Blending the swaggering confidence and aggression of the iconic rock’n’roll guitarist with the staging presentation of the fashionable created a unique and multi-faceted scene that has withstood many deviations over the decades.

Having dinner with my fiancé the other night, we were talking about attitudes and egos with performers. How the need to feel confident in your abilities can be the only thing that keeps you going. I commented that there was a time I’d walk into a club with the attitude “I am the king of all I see, and fuck those who disagree.” We scrambled for a pen and a napkin, and the song started to take shape.

Swagger And Twirl – the perfect combination. Maybe that can be the song for entering the night. Leaving the night will require a sequel: Stagger And Hurl.

Maybe…

Alien

In 2005 I got engaged and moved from central Toronto to a small town 1.5 hours away, to live with my betrothed.

I’ve never felt comfortable in rural areas, and this time was no different. I agreed to move, and own that responsibility. However, the impact was much harder than I’d expected; instead of a relaxed life, I felt unsafe, unwelcome, pretty much un-everything. I couldn’t find a single person or activity in the town that suited me. Even my spouse seemed happy to disappear, leaving me lonely in this quiet empty space.

Still, ever the optimist (haha), I focused on my writing. Alien pretty much epitomizes that stage of my life.


Alien

A foreign street
A promise kept
So out of place
So out of time

Alien space
I’ve come for you
So out of play
So out of mind

Unfriendly air
Is closing in
To choke me down
I’ll somehow win

Endurance run
I would repeat
I do for you
Do what you need

Don’t see the pain
This way we win
I’d lie for you
My only sin

My life for you
In foreign land
Give up my home
To hold your hand

As an aside, this song also worked as a fun experiment. I took the vocal tracks (with no music whatsoever), copied them to a CD, and handed them to a group called Electric Colony. My only comment was that it was recorded at 80beats/minute and the chord changes were Aminor, Fmajor, Cmajor, Gmajor.

As they had never heard my versions, what came back was an entirely different being. I really love that music can be interpreted so individually…
Both are available on this blog’s player. Mine is ‘Alien’, and EC’s is the "Elecolonized Remix."

Voicing My Opinion

First off, I'll be honest. I have never particularly liked the sound of my voice. I am a good guitarist, bass player, I'm a reasonable pianist (for what I need to do), and can fake my way through a 3-minute song on bongos and congas. I can drum, but only if I don't use my feet; this is one of the reasons that I program my synth to play my lines. Oh, and I can clap to a 4/4 beat.

I have been writing and recording my own albums (easier to write than "group of songs") for 15 years, and outside of band projects I've only had ONE person play ONE bassline on ONE of my songs. Part of it is my controlling nature, part of it is my wanting to pitch this as "all me, good and bad," and part is artistic respect: I don't feel right telling another musician or artist exactly what to do. So, I know how I want my words to be presented and have to do it myself.

After 15 years, I have just arranged for singing lessons. I have a few go-to notes that I regularly use in my songs, but they're pretty weak. Singing my own songs is not a problem - I write the music around my vocal limitations. But I can almost never sing someone else's song. Most of the time my voice wavers close to the right note, and sometimes it flies off into left field. I want to gain a few more notes in my repertoire, improve my delivery, and find a better way to start on pitch. I've got a good teacher, and I'm really looking forward to starting next week.

So who knows? Along with a set of songs i'm REALLY loving, this upcoming project could sound quite different...

OPM - Other People's Music

This weekend I had the rare opportunity to spend the entire time alone at home (except for drinks, pool, and a cool jazz quintet on Saturday night).

Without much to do, and not feeling rushed to work on the new album, I spent hours playing acoustic versions of some old favourites. I haven't had so much fun in ages, and only stopped when my voice started giving out.

As a brief sampling, the setlist included With Or Without You, Heroes, Working Class Hero, Wave Of Mutilation, Irish Heartbeat, Let Me In, and about a dozen others. All simply one acoustic guitar and one vocal.

When I was learning to play the guitar, it was a huge help to learn a multitude of covers. Since I started writing my own music in the late 90s, for the most part I stopped playing others'. I may have to change that...