Telecaster Love

Last weekend I recorded all the guitar tracks for Lies & Speculation. It was my favourite part of the recording so far, but that’s not surprising. Aside from the fact that I’ve been a guitarist for over 2 decades now, 9 of the 10 songs were written on the guitar. For me, because of my familiarity with the songs and the instrument, recording the guitar was easy and fun.
The acoustic guitar parts were all done with my Takamine. It has a great full, somber sound. Even though I have 7 or 8 electric guitars, I only used two: My 1974 Fender Telecaster Custom, and my 1991 Fender Telecaster Standard.

I’ve had a love affair with Telecasters since first hearing the Rolling Stones. Keith Richards’ primary sound relies mainly on the Tele. Because of that, once it looked like I was going to keep up my music lessons, my parents bought me one for Christmas (1991).

Other than the obvious importance of the Tele’s SONIC QUALITIES, I love the way they look. Especially as they age. The maple neck on Fender guitars age really nicely. I love that as you play them, the finish wears off and the wood starts to erode. It looks really cool, shapes how you play the instrument, and gives each guitar unique qualities – almost a personality.

On Saturday morning, preparing for the 2-day endurance run (10 songs, averaging 3-8 guitar tracks per song), I changed the strings on both guitars. I had to stop and admire the ’91 Tele’s neck – it’s starting to erode:




My ’74 has a lot of head start. Not only is it 17 years older, but has spent most of it’s life in a working, touring band.




Hopefully the ’91 Tele will catch up. I really do love these guitars – after stringing each one I played it for a half hour or so, reveling in the feel and sound.

Remembrance Day

This morning I woke up with Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" in my head. Not much of it, just the first line: "Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun..."
I've been a Floyd fan for around 25 years, but today for the first time it made me think of my grandfather.

My family is British, and when World War 2 broke out everyone joined up. Everyone. My grandfather was 16 or 17, and went to enlist on Day 1. He wasn't old enough to know to lie, so when asked his age he told the truth. The enlistment officer flatly told him that he wasn't old enough to join the army. He would have to leave, walk around the block, and come back when he was 18. So what did he do? He left the office, walked around the block, and came back saying "I'm 18 sir."
He fought in North Africa and Italy. He was captured at Anzio and saw some horriffic things happen. Stories that I recently heard from my parents that are worse than you see in films.

When the war ended, he went home. He polished his medals and put them in the back of a drawer.
36 years later, he was dying of prostate cancer. He pulled his medals out of the drawer for the first time, shined them, mailed them to Canada and died. I was very close to my grandad, and it meant a lot that he wanted me to have those icons. I received them after hearing of his death, which was quite hard.

These medals sat for for another 30 years in a box hidden away in the various bedrooms I've had since then. For Christmas, my wife had them set into a shadow box along with my only photo of him. This display is mounted on the wall just as you enter my apartment. It serves as a memorial to my grandfather, and also as a reminder to live my life with the honour he did, to make his memory proud.

Thank you grandad, I miss you.

Lie, to me

I’ve started recording the bed tracks that will become 'Lies & Speculation'. As happens so often, songs are still pretty dynamic and morphing in unexpected ways.

On Saturday afternoon I was in the studio, laying down the bed tracks for Love Isn’t Enough (LIE). When I demo’d the original, I had a crappy MIDI track playing what was meant to be a violin accenting in the background. The melody was good, but I couldn’t get the violin to sound like anything other than a cheap 80s synthesizer.
So I tried my usual fallbacks: I tried it on a piano. That didn’t work. I tried it on a guitar. That didn’t work either, but wasn’t as bad as the piano. So I kept banging away at the guitar.
On a whim, I picked up the slide and plucked a completely different melody. IT SOUNDED AWESOME!!!! In about 3.5 minutes, I had worked out a beeeauuutiful slide line to flush out the chorus. I wouldn’t need the crappy MIDI violin anymore. A couple of knob-twists, a couple of button-pushes, and I had a new track set up to record the line.
In one take, I got exactly what I wanted. My eyes were watering with excitement as I put the guitar down and set up the PC to playback what I had just recorded.
With almost post-coital bliss I relaxed, a huge smile on my face. Suddenly something moved. The glass slide slowly rolled off the desk, shattering on the hardwood floor!
There would be no Take 2 today. Thankfully Take 1 got the point across. It would retain the magic that appeared, so that once I buy a replacement I can do a proper job of it.

Of course, the new guitar line necessitated changing the drums. And then the bass. And then the background vocals. Kinda like when my wife buys new nailpolish and suddenly realizes that the whole outfit should be replaced.*


It was a really exciting day. I had just hit a new level with this album. LIE would turn out to be the star I first envisioned when I wrote it 2 years ago, and it will pull Lies & Speculation up with it.


* she doesn’t really do that.
* but if you buy more of my albums, we might be able to buy her more clothes

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…