Where's ya funny bone Harry?

Seems like when it rains it pours, lately i have been kept busy with a number of old time music gigs in nursing homes, Hell you don't get young screamers moshing and running the stage but hell these guys appreciate their hour of entertainment.

Barry and Speedy are guitarists, great blokes, who dress up in Mexican gear and play the oldies their favorite tunes whilst I follow along on the keys. In addition to this, they add a touch of corny humour to the act with jokes and witty interchange between members.

One show last Friday gave me a moment of joy as I saw a elderly lady holding on to her walker, and dancing along to the music. It's so good to see an audience enjoying what you have to offer.

Just before the show, I got a call from an old drummer mate, who was asking whether I was interested in joining a swing / jazz band. The word Jazz always fills me with fear, though I thought it would be a good opportunity to improve my technique and learn some songs that I would otherwise shy away from, we have had one rehearsal since then, and the band made me feel real comfortable, and there was really no problem, I coped well (jazzphobia and all).

Last Saturday night was Johnny O'Keefe night at Fingle Bay RSL on the North Coast of NSW, and I got a call late Friday afternoon as to whether I would be interested in joining the band for the night on Keys, though it was a 4 hour trip there and back, I agreed, and enjoyed a night of playing 50's-60's rock for a appreciative audience, once again it was great to see people dancing and enjoying the music.

I was outside in the beer garden having a drink before the show dressed in full black attire, and one of the patrons asked me if I was part of the band. I replied no, and that I was a member of a cult called the "Connicks" who went around in all black except for our faces. Not sure if she got the joke or thought I was serious.

The year is quickly filling up with gig bookings, as it usually does around this time, so I will be quite busy performing, and probably will not have much time to compose stuff, but then again, I
might just surprise you all.

Cheers

Ecca

Club Silencio

A few months ago, I was privileged to be invited to a friend's birthday, it was a huge event with great people, food and music. One particular artist that played was a friend of mine, who has a mutual interest in songwriting and recording his original material. He was keen to pull me aside and play me some of his latest songs.

After having played a few of his songs to me in a quiet spare room of the host's house, he began to explain some of the spiritual aspects of his songs. He began by explaining to me that he often felt threatened to expose real meaning of his songs for fear of ridicule, and felt that he had to be somewhat cryptic in his lyrics to hide their true message.

He continued to explain how his belief had changed his life dramatically and how he felt so strongly about this truth he had discovered, yet felt uncomfortable in openly displaying in his songs. Whilst feeling somewhat empathetic to his situation, I also felt somewhat the opposite as often I would try and delve deep into my musical innards to express my beliefs yet all that would come out was dark brooding music.

The reason I mention this at this stage is that I have just had a listen to the new Mountain Goats release "The Life Of The World To Come" which is a collection of songs based on biblical verses. There is no hiding this fact, as each song is titled after the verse which it is inspired by.

Though the Mountain Goats are not a Christian band and have never presented themselves as such in their earlier 13 or so recordings, they have obviously taken a risk with their fan base to release a collection of songs based on biblical verses, yet must have felt the impulse to do so openly and beautifully.

I have provided a download link for the album below which isn't something I normally do in this blog, so if you do download the album and like it , I'd encourage you to go out and buy it.

Cheers,

Ecca.

The Life of the World To Come

Primeval Instinct

Been a while since I have posted any new tunes to this space, so I thought I would add something recent. When I say recent, I have been steadily getting back into the recording process after a major computer malfunction and restoring my Virtual instruments, This has taken time.

I have been completed a few tunes, one which I cannot post here due to copyright issues using unauthorised sample (hopefully these will be cleared), and the others still in refining stages (which isn't quite like me, I normally won't spent too long on the refining process, more of a spontaneous hit and run with it style so you may actually see it posted here soon).

I have been listening to a long awaited new release and have been inspired by some of the sounds of the new Flaming Lipps CD - Embryonic, so if some of the new stuff sounds rather psychedelic and experimental, that's probably the reason. Having been listening to the Lipps, I am currently experimenting with delay effects on distorted drum loops to get a raw industrial type of rhythm section happening, whilst also playing around with unconventional bass sounds, so ready your ears for some new sounds.

Meanwhile, I have attached below a soundtrack style tune I called "Creature Journey". Reminds me of the birth of some massive prehistoric creature and it's steps toward discovery of its leafy surroundings.

Would love to hear what imagery it concocts in your little twisted minds :)

Creature Journey

Enjoy.
Ecca.

Time Sponges

My, computers are time sponges. My main system started toying with me a few weeks ago doing all sorts of strange stuff acting like it was possessed by some evil code which pulls its heads in on the slightest sniff of a virus scan. First my cd rom began to play up, only writing to a disk if a written disk was previously inserted (what the?), then my secondary hard drive packed it it, my ethernet card decided to start hanging up my system, and then as if to taunt me where it would injure me the most, my audio drivers refused to load on start up intermittently.

Now I'm one for a good puzzle, and a bit of problem solving, otherwise every computer I've ever owned would meet it's timely end traveling through a pane of glass to a resting place outside my window, but alas I am overall a patient man with enough spare time, and a yearning for discovery.

I managed to solve all these issues, but lost track of how much time this has taken. As soon as I tackle another quirk, as soon as the (permanently unscrewed) side panel is removed from the computer case, time seems to accelerate beyond belief. Note that this acceleration is exponentially multiplied during the hours of 9pm and 6am often only to be pulled into reality by the appearance of daylight though the aforementioned window.

Apart from the trouble shooting and quirk eliminating, the amount time spent downloading current software and updates to keep the systems running smoothly ironically devours time which would rather be spent utilizing the very same applications, how much music making time has been spent installing drivers, updating recording software, gathering samples, setting up hardware devices etc. We all need the right tools to work with, though a line needs to be drawn where we say, 'lets work with what we got' otherwise end up spending three days sharpening the axe to chop down a tree.

Cheers.
Ecca.

Bring out yer Dead

Ahhh Heath, what memories you have conjoured from the dark pit of my musical past As it scrapes against the lid of its coffin awoken by the sounds of the Beasts of Bourbon. I rememebr seeing Tex in my teenage years, larger than life, almost godlike performing at the Commercial Hotel in Paramatta, ahh the memories. Thanks for the brutal reminder of a past life long retired and decaying giving off the stench of moshpits and stale beer. As a momento I here present my own little BOB jewel.

Funk Nut

Billy loves his funk, and when we got together the other week, he wanted to put down a funky sounding track.

We started off with a knightrider sort of intro sequence, even looked for some knightrider samples to put on top, but decided against it. We then started with recording a funky guitar loop and adding a cool bass line.

We added some horns and some changes to the theme. A lead guitar section and some other bits and pieces.

For me this one is a little too repetitive and need something to keep it interesting though has some nice moments (including my synth solo).

Have a listen and hope you enjoy.

Cheers.

Funkadelic (Shoulders of Giants)

KG comes alive

Its not often when the boys get together that we know exactly what we want, and how to tackle it, and even less often that when we do, the result is what we were after. Continue on dear reader and you will hear of the rare exception.

Dave arrived with a clear idea in his head for a song genre, it was his mum's birthday on the weekend and he was telling us that whenever he went over his folk's place, that his mum would slap on some Kenny G as background music. He felt it was his obligation as and duty as a respectful son to create a classic KennyGesque style track to impress her with on her birthday.

We started with a smooth enough progression, with a floating / wafting guitar playing a delicate melody over a straight rhythm. We added as close as we could get to a saxophone using a suitable VST instrument and that's when it sank in that we were onto something.. particularly something we were after.

After adding a bridge section which basically flew off on a tangent from the theme we had set, we recorded a delicate meltdown back into the main theme.

That night, I rearranged some sections, added some effects to the guitars and such, and added some drum loops and fills.

We're still waiting to hear what Dave's mum thought of it.

Enjoy,
Cheers.
Ecca


KG's Whale Song