So the other night I happened upon a folder I had thought lost for some time, containing twenty or so demos of songs I had written over my teenage years. They are, understandably, angsty, and rather than leaving them to fester until writer's block sets in during the recording of my band's difficult third album, and with the label screaming down the phone to pull something out of the bag a week before the release date I find them and put them on the record, I thought it better I exorcise them now.
And what better time to record them than Christmas? While they're not at all 'festive' in nature, I'm hopefully going to have plenty of R&R time over the holiday period, as well as a shiny new condenser microphone to capture every cracking bum-note that emanates from my pipes. I've already begun, recording 7 basslines and 7 guide-guitar parts (the instruments I can't take home with me over the holidays) so that I can hopefully do guitars, vox, keys and other misc. instruments, plus mix them all while I'm at home.
The preliminary tracklisting contains such emo staples as:
- Grace-Minded
- Conjecture (will be glad to see the back of this one...)
- Get Off (This Parachute Is A Knapsack)
- This Work
- Fifth Wheel
- Existency
- Times Two
Also thiiiiiinking about recording the first song I ever wrote (the computergeek-emo inspired 'Please Wait...') as a bonus track, but will probably only feature after 50 minutes of track silence to ensure as few people as possible hear it....
I'm recording as 'The Incomparable Peanut' at the moment; a moniker I borrowed from 'The Incomparable Ainsley Jarvis', a transvestite cabaret singer from Peter Sellers' 1976 comedy masterpiece, 'The Pink Panther Strikes Again'. It's the only name I've ever appeared under at live solo performances (of which there have been very few), and I'm not sure I will stick with it. I do, however, feel a certain leaning towards making music by myself of late, probably brought about by my frustration from not having a band practice in so long. I've never ever wanted to perform alone, and don't think I'd ever become a 'solo artist' - that's just not where the magic happens, for me. I like to be able to play off other members, to feed on their own musical tastes etc... But as much as I'd love to be able to rely on others for writing and recording it just seems to make more sense to go it alone right now. I don't want to be 30 and not have made any progress since I was 20, and I feel like if I'm waiting around for band momentum to grow into a recording, I could be waiting forever.
So now that I'm starting to get more into a place where I have the means and skills to make decent recordings by myself, I think I'll try and concentrate on them more and hope that they lead to live performances with a band somehow...
Anyway. Stay tuned....
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