THE FOG LIVE: TEN YEARS IN THE MAKING.....

I've been absent a while so it is nice to get back on and tell you my news. But first, a happy birthday to my beloved Magpie!

Our story begins in a bedroom with a four track, 10 years ago. 2 young lads decided to record music together, even though we couldn't really play instruments. We called ourselves "The Frequency Of Ghosts" or The FOG, geddit? We found our niche doing short novelty songs and Nirvana covers for our own entertainment. As we mastered our instruments, we actually started writing songs, songs that meant something, at least to us and recorded a number of independent albums for ourselves, friends and family.

Life took over. We've always been close and kept in touch, but the musical collaborations became less and less as education, work and family commitments took over. This was not a bad thing. But it certainly is something we missed.

Recently I planned to surprise my fiancee for her birthday. I wanted to throw a little gig and of course there was a vision. It would be me on guitar with backing tracks. But I needed help to beef it up, so I contacted my old friend and got my sister and little nephew in on the act too. We set up a marquee in the back yard, and after some hard work and stolen moments to rehearse we reached the day. Nerves tattered, a rushed half arsed soundcheck and with some invited friends and family neatly tucked away in the corner, the lady arrived. We opened with the nephew and his version of "All Of Me" by John Legend. He was a little pro and owned it. Then myself and my old friend tore into "Smells Like Teen Spirit". It was confident and assured and one of the better performances. We vibed off each other and he tore into the solo with pure abandon! My sister and I performed a couple of Bryan Adams numbers. She was excellent. I was sub par on the guitar. The nerves took over. Throughout the show I had a ball. It wasn't perfect, warts and all, but it wasn't meant to be. It was a well intentioned gig for my better half and I believe she enjoyed herself. I do believe we peaked with Aslan's "Crazy World". I even got to play an ad hoc version of "Selena's Theme", which was inspired by the woman herself. The FOG playing live, fancy that!

Upon reflection, I believe we've exorcised the demons that taunted us for never performing live before. Ten years is a long time, with exception to a small acoustic set, 9 years ago. We are already planning gig number 2. A live recreation of "Heresy". It wont be until next year but I'm sure as hell looking forward to it!

A PICTURE I NEVER THOUGHT I'D SEE:

THE FREQUENCY OF GHOSTS LIVE. 

SAY CHEESE!

So as anybody who's anybody will tell you, publicity is an important tool when participating in the commercial arts! So I took a walk near the Slieve Blooms area in sunny Laois yesterday with a very talented photographer and of course "Mrs. Markievicz", my Hagstrom guitar and we proceeded to do a photoshoot in a beautiful forested area. It was peaceful and yet eerie. But the dappled sunlight gave us the opportunity, well Maria (The professional!) to experiment with the contrasting sunlight.

I'm not a "photo" person per se, but Maria put me at ease and made it fun. She's laidback, albeit still very professional, with a sense of humour so where I originally feared feeling like an eejit in a forest devoid of a guitar amp, I actually really enjoyed the shoot. Dare I say, I actually felt like a rockstar!
And the photographs are fantastic! We went back indoors to produce the would be CD cover inlay for "HERESY" and she absolutely blew me away with the designs she is working on. The woman is also a graphic designer par excellence. I originally gave her a semblance of an idea I had and she has taken it to another level altogether. I'm thrilled with the results so far and I can only imagine what she will come up with in the meantime! Here's a couple of tasters:



   And of course, her fantastic graphic design:

 

 

See, bloody brilliant. These photographs are the copyright of María J. Guillén. She can be found on Facebook and she will be getting plenty of well deserved publicity on my new website. 

 

HERESY: The End

I have set up my own website recently, philmccleanmusic.com, so I haven't really found the time to update this blog recently! Apologies for this but I'm back! I'm thrilled with the site itself. I have uploaded the entire "HERESY" e.p. and the first six posts of my blog describe the story that is contained in the six songs.

I've always wanted to create a conceptual piece of music, but when creating the story, there was always a case of too much of an idea, if that's possible, for me to control. My plebeian mind struggled with the massive foundation I had set out with and turned into a mess of ideas that never really meshed together. The intent was there but the talent was not. So I took a simple story idea and incorporated biblical elements and ideas into it, whilst trying to keep the plot small and simple enough to follow whilst trying to balance that with making it big enough to hold someone's attention. It is basically a treatment of a story on the website's blog, contained in the first six posts. I revisited it and completed the ending today. One I'm quite proud of actually.

I don't think the majority of people who've visited the website have actually "GOT" the idea of it. It's just a case of clicking "play" and passing their ears over it, instead of reading the story, which is unfortunate as to truly appreciate the songs, I feel, the story is paramount to them. Either way, thanks for taking the time to read and or listen to my work.   

The Final Furlong.

So, it's just finished. My story, "Heresy", is complete and my grin is wider than it has been for a while. The middle eastern music crossed with the rock music idea has given it an unusual yet not unfamiliar vibe and I'm pleased with the result. There are parts of it I feel I could improve on but when I do try to, the results displease me more. So I am pleased with the finished product to a degree, I'll just have to embrace it's little imperfections. As the creator of the pieces, I of course, would notice them and it's likely that only the most ardent listener would notice them from me apart. But it's an achievement and one I'm proud of. The e.p. tells the simple story of a man who questions his faith and his place in our world so much, he isolates himself from all society and in the process loses his mind. I do plan to write the story to follow the songs and leave it as an insert.

Of course this is all that is left to create and thanks to a gifted and highly visual photographer friend who has a stunning setting idea, we will eventually have the entire package. Work and other obstacles (see "LIFE") have hindered us for the moment but we will eventually get around to it. The recording is done, I have just completed the mastering, in my best amateur capacity and now we look forward to the last step in what's been a trying yet blissful, difficult yet wonderful musical journey for me. Thank you reader for taking it with me.

Hi, I'm Phil. And today I'm going to be Freddie Mercury.

Vocal harmonies. They are fun when executed right but sometimes they can go horribly wrong. Freddie Mercury is a name synonymous with lavish multi layered vocals, not to mention the equally intricate harmonies from Brian May. But as an amateur who was given a workman like voice as opposed to a gift from the heavens, can I really expect to produce anything near the level the likes of Queen could do in their sleep? The answer is a resounding "no". But I do harmonise pretty well and have attempted a pretty lavish arrangement on "At the End of the World". The song itself was initially a minimalistic idea based around a delayed guitar pattern, I composed some years back. I have recorded multiple versions of the song which has gotten more layered every time I record it and true to tradition, the e.p. version is now a full blown rock opera-esque beast.

The chorus is accompanied by multi layered vocals, sung in different pitches and tones by yours truly, to attempt to give it an other worldly atmosphere and now, along with a very sore throat, I can feel a little smug and pleased with myself, that is once I get the thumbs up from my co producer later, who should be receiving a message containing the final master in a few hours......  

Evolving Ideas!

First of all a big thank you to The Shape for the shout out. Very much appreciated!

A story is a collection of ideas and when it's coming together in one's head, those ideas evolve.
On reflection of the story behind "Heresy", our priest is pointing the finger of blame at others whilst apart from secretly harbouring love for a women, which is not technically a crime more a symptom of the human condition, he is quite guilt free. Which bothers me so I have remedied this somewhat by adding a sixth song. It's my e.p., I'll do what I wish! I wrote a song recently, sort of a camp ode to the gay community in response to the Russian government's stance on homosexuality, particularly during the Olympics called, in very tongue in cheek fashion "We Ride By Night" and I realised it belongs, sound and mood wise in this story. The e.p. is quite dark, but it's not downbeat, there are going to be some rocking songs on it of which I'm very proud, but this has a delightful wonderfully camp, almost Polka-esque feel to it. Which is at odds with the tone of the entire work and here is the story behind it........

The priest is guilty of disowning his brother, his flesh and blood as he did not, in all his previous catholic piousness and holier than thou attitude he did not want to be associated with a gay drag queen..... Interesting right? But what's even more interesting is that his brother also had an unhealthy heroin habit which eventually killed him. So the priest having spilled his water and having only whiskey to drink, is driven mad through dehydration, having visions of his brother in drag and a host of other drag queens who perform and dance around his tent and slowly but surely start to morph into grinning, gleeful, demons. They are dispersed by the arrival of The Almighty who then proceeds to argue with The Dark One. So this will be just before "At The End Of The World."

The Duduk: First Impressions.

Well, the duduk arrived today! So excitedly, we opened the package and after much effort trying to get the reed to stay open, we succeeded by resting it in a cup containing a quarter odd inch of water. We eventually got down to the nitty gritty and figured out how to make a noise resembling a strangled duck. SUCCESS! Well, not really, but with a few hours of practise and half arsed guess work, I managed to produce a resemblance of the melody I planned to play on "Empty Quarter Pt. I", though not without it's problems.

I was previously a moderate to heavy smoker a couple of years ago, so my lung capacity, though greatly improved, is still a long way off impressive. My better half, The Magpie, was also a big smoker and had a go herself, struggling to produce any noise at all. It took me a bit of work to do the same but slowly and surely I was rocking. I have sore cheek muscles and badly chapped lips but it has been rewarding. I am incapable of producing the cyclical breathing, (drawing air into your cheeks to prolong a note, whilst inhaling) due to my previously mentioned vice, that is generally employed with performing on the instrument but I have figured out the legato technique that makes it so expressive though I am far from being Djivan Gasparyan!.

The other issue I have is the sharp and flat tones are generally effected by how hard you blow or how much you press down on the reed, but I am getting there, albeit full of bum notes. The sound itself is beautiful, there's something very cool about playing an instrument whose very origin pre dates Jesus by about a thousand years. True, I didn't break the bank to get it but I am thrilled with it and am practising hard when I get the chance. At the moment, I'm taking a break as the muscle behind my left jaw is spasming with the pain. Going straight back at it tomorrow and looking forward to recording the intro then. Thanks for reading.  

HERESY: A Concept.



This is the now official title of the e.p. I am due to start working on. It's conceptual (sorry) and it tells the story of a priest who has come to question his faith, becoming disillusioned with the world at large and deciding to take refuge in the middle of the Empty Quarter or Rub al Khali desert, bringing only a supply of water, food, a small tent, a bottle of whiskey (his eventual undoing when the water runs out) and a long wave radio so he has some degree of company.

His isolation starts to consume him, his mind begins to trick him and he starts to see God, Lucifer, Angels, Demons and various ghosts in the desert to which he converses and argues with and preaches sermons to. After a while his only link to his sanity is "Selena". A beautiful burlesque dancer from "The Siren's Scales" gentlemen's club, he once shared a stolen moment with.

The record itself is a mixture of rock and ethnic sounds from the Middle East and Andalusia. I officially stop the demos and start the real work next week. Each song will have a semblance of the story and I will explain them as they happen.

1. Empty Quarter Pt. I (Rub al Khali): An instrumental which signals the priests arrival in the desert. He's taking some much needed time to "find" himself after a meltdown in his church which we witness in:

2. Hand Of God: The straw that breaks the camel's back. Yet another scandal rocks the church, near meltdown in The Holy Land. He erupts, openly questioning why after all this, people still blindly follow a being they've never met nor have proof of his existence.

3. Empty Quarter Pt. II (Pray For Rain): The desert comes alive, akin to a Hellish dream taunting the priest who is severely dehydrated and begins to see visions.

4. At The End Of The World: The priest's visions become more powerful, he sees God arguing with Lucifer about his so called betrayal, a ghostly congregation watch them, too in awe and terror to speak out, but the priest openly calls them both out and gives them a piece of his mind.

5. Selena's Theme: Comatose now, the priest fades away in the darkness, tormented by the memories of Selena, the dancer who stole his heart, like so many before him, believing it is punishment for daring to question God.

I am Icarus.

Yep, I am an icon for failed ambition, I flew too close to the sun and am now drowning in my over ambition. My computer hard drive refused to meld with the software and has been over the process of week and a half, in the hands of a technician friend of mine. Suffice to say, my technophobia is back with a bang. I spent a couple of coffee fuelled days and nights trying to solve the problem myself, driving my better half practically insane with my bullish "work, you bastard!" attitude.

It appears that there may be no solution to the problem and it has massively hindered my progress on my e.p. with so many possibilities wiped out in one fell swoop. Last night I was still lamenting it, when I said out to myself "I would've saved a fortune if I'd just bought a duduk....."

  Facepalm. So why didn't I? I've already taught myself how to play any other instrument I wanted to. Naturally in varying degrees of success, but the point being that I can play a tune or compose on each of the instruments I've taught myself and I've always enjoyed learning something new.

In primary school in Ireland (known as Junior High in other worldly places) it's generally accepted that you will receive lessons on how to play the tin whistle (penny whistle) or the recorder. Both wind instruments which are relatively easy to learn. I imagine the scale notes are different but the style of play is similar and I may work on a better lung capacity which though improved is nowhere near before when I just started smoking, of which, FYI, I am currently smoke free for over two years now. Have studied some videos and done a bit of research on prices, which seem very reasonable. Watch this space.

TECHNOPHOBIA PT II

So, I've changed my mind again. I AM going the computer software route after all. I have ordered two important pieces of my musical puzzle to make this e.p. as professional sounding as possible, provided my ailing laptop can withstand it! I purchased my first ever MIDI interface master keyboard:

And the software to go with it:

It's getting pretty exciting now! The Quantum Leap "Silk" software is dedicated to the instruments of Persia, India and The Far East. They are actual recordings of the instruments by some of the finest instrumentalists in their field and contains variations on all single notes for maximum effect. Probably the closest I'll come to working with the actual musicians themselves. Her ladyship, The Magpie, will have one hell of a headache. I guess I should lock the music room door! Don't believe me, take a look HERE. After the Persian String Section, which I am crazy about, skip ahead to 5.54 to hear the Armenian Duduk - phenomenal. I covered it in my last blog. This is exactly where I'm at musically right now. Thanks for reading!

The Duduk

I'm not an ignorant by any means but I have recently found out this instrument's name after years of loving the sound of it, thanks to various film soundtracks. As covered by this blog, I have a huge fascination with ethnic music sounds from my own country's Celtic flavours to Middle Eastern flavours and beyond. But this musical instrument's name evaded me for a long time, though I thought I had educated myself enough to have a decent idea of eastern ethic woodwinds and their categories.

I was ignorant and just assumed it was part of one of the above's musical groups, but it is actually strictly of Armenian origin. It has a beautiful sound. Very ethereal. It has the same effect on me as the Uilleann Pipes. Like them, the sound is otherworldly to me. I get goosebumps at the sound. I guess it's just a thing. Part of MY human condition if you will. It's difficult to describe the effect beyond that but I am looking to employ a similar sound in my work at some point. But at least I have a name to put to the sound. I have been listening to a lot of work by a gentleman by the name of Djivan Gasparyan. He is the eminent exponent of the duduk. And his work has spanned popular film and Armenian folk for many years. His most well known work was as collaborator with Hans Zimmer on Gladiator. His phrasing and expression is beautiful, even beyond words. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy this piece half as much as I do.

Hmmmmm.....

As I've already covered, I was considering using computer aided effects to help my demo. Upon research I was hit by the unmistakable stench of techno rip off. Best sticking to doing the entire thing in my own human signature. This is not admitting my defeat to technophobia. I have done the research. 

TOYS, TOYS, TOYS!

We all need them, some have a handful, some have a truckload, some have big ones, some have average ones, some have little ones. Some like to play with theirs all by themselves and others encourage others to play with theirs.......enough of the innuendos! Anyway,

I am referring to effects pedals. All important parts of a guitarists "sound". There's a healthy debate between analog and digital but that's a debate for another time. Personally, I prefer analog but they are more than my budget allows so have some digital effects from BOSS and Electro Harmonix thrown in for good measure. Take a luck at my decidedly spartan rig for the 5 track e.p. that I will be commencing recording work on in a few weeks:

The Super Bender is brand new, delivered today. Hand built in Barcelona, Spain. Based on the Tonebender MK II, a legendary 60's fuzz pedal. When coupled with the treble booster, the sound is incredible. As you can see the setting, I keep it at a low "attack" level as the booster pedal, though quite noisy turns it into a CREAMY fuzzy sustaining monster which has already earned it a permanent place on my rig. The Chorus and Delay are practically staples for almost all guitarists. The Ravish Sitar, I've already blogged about. The Boss '63 Fender Reverb was an essential yet impulsive buy! My amp has no reverb and this particular pedal has a lovely Fender Spring reverb effect found on the rockabilly sounds of the late 50's and early 60's - think Dick Dale, though I don't utilise it for that, more for a slight bit of a "Hall" effect and it sounds great.

You're already familiar with the other two by now:

Interestingly enough, a fellow muso asked was it not a bit of a challenge as regards to not having any tone dials on the amp? It was a good question, but as I replied, chances are there's one or two on your guitar. "Touche!" was the reply. This is the guitar set up. My next post will be on the equipment I'll be recording through. If you're not asleep already! With a picture of the keyboard. And a picture of my bass. Because bassists are musicians too. Not necessarily human but still....... Just kidding! Thanks for reading :)

TECHNOPHOBIA!

Yep, it's true. I am a technophobe. Don't get me wrong - I know my way around a computer, such as switching it on and transferring files etc. But if I am presented with an interactive program or application, my brain switches off and I become angry or bored and start to drift off.........ooh a piece of string! I put this all down to the spreadsheet torture forced upon me in school. So as regards to a genuine interest in computers, I was a late bloomer!

But as music moves on, I must move on too. I have decided that the only way to make this E.P. perfect, will require the use of computer wizardry. No, not to manipulate the recording (no pro tools, EVER) but to add a little embellishment to my pre recorded material and improve the production quality accordingly. This will be expensive and time consuming due to needing 4 things:

1. A program to do this. To suit my sound I am looking at "East West Quantum Leap Ra". Est 180 Euros
2. A new dedicated laptop - There's alot of info in these programmes. Est 350-400 Euros
3. A Midi Keyboard - 100 Euros.
4. TIME, MONEY AND PATIENCE.

*Sigh*

Getting there!

A professional recording needs a professional set up and I am just about there! I've long sung the praises of pure tube amps over solid and valvestate and yesterday confirmed I have made the smartest purchase of my music loving life. As you will already know, on a whim after viewing endless demonstration videos I went and bought a Mooer AC Little Monster.

This little 5 watt amp has a power tube (EL84) and pre amp tube (12AX7) and runs hot enough to fry an egg on it after a while. I received my Vox V110NT cabinet yesterday and whilst initially having reservations about lack of bottom end the quickly dispersed when I plugged in! What a fantastic combo. I used my Hagstrom Deuce (F) guitar with humbuckers plugged into a BSM RM treblebooster on the top boost mode and found THE tone! The one I had in my head all these years but couldn't quite nail it. It sounds phenomenal! The Mrs tells me she hasn't seen me as happy in ages. Well I'm always happy but now I'm grinning like a six year old with their hand in the biscuit jar.

MOOER LITTLE MONSTER AC

VOX V110NT

A good looking combo and even better sounding! Gives me that lovely jangly British sound with a creamy saturated boosted tone. I'm almost done having my techno guitar gear nerdgasm here, I promise. So the point being, I've finally purchased a rig to help me record my songs in a professional manner. My rig is very spartan, unless I'm wigging out with the Ravish sitar, as I'm more of a plug and play type guitarist - (Bsm RM - Boss FRV 1 - Amp), maybe with a Boss Chorus or delay to add some character the odd time,  but I need one more pedal to complete my set up before this journey. A tonebender mk II. (The original Fuzzbox) - think Jimmy Page or Jeff Beck, for those gnarlier tones! I can't afford the actual pedal but the boutique clones are just as good sounding or better than the original IMO. As well as hand made so the build quality is top notch. I'm not a boutique snob but that route, though quite expensive (if you don't research it) led me to finding my treble booster from BSM. It's my favourite pedal and I'd never sell it. Am currently looking at Manlay Pedals. They look the shit and sound better, watch this space and thanks for reading

EXCITING TIMES!

Too many songs to choose from is a good problem, but not a useful one. Have decided to record a five track collection in my best semi professional capacity on my eight track and deliver a listenable, professional and hopefully, enjoyable collection. I finally feel comfortable enough to commit to a project I feel capable of being proud of, regardless of anybody else's views and I'm looking forward to it.

Have discussed in short and sweet with my new, hopefully, co producer (TBC) and he seems keen to help me. He is an old, close friend who is a music lover himself and knows me very well, so I reckon we can throw some ideas around about the eventual sound of this collection. In essence "THE SOUND" will be the rock infused with pseudo eastern European / Arabic sound that has been a source of great inspiration for me of late, and as any songs I have created have all been considered demos so hopefully we can create a demo that is as professional as possible with the time and tools employed by us. I have two working titles: "Anthology Of Guilt" and "In The Garden Of Good And Evil". I will also be discussing themes with a talented photographer friend of mine in the near future. The tracks to be revamped are in chronological order:

1. Empty Quarter pt. I (Rub al' Khali)
2. Just A Man
3. Hand Of God
4. Empty Quarter pt. II (Pray For Rain)
5. We Ride By Night

The production will be as organic as possible with a few tweaks. There will no longer be a direct guitar to digital fx in the 8 track. I will be mic' ing up the new Mooer Little Monster Ac which will be boosted by treble booster at full tilt and the clean and dirty sounds will be as usual controlled by the guitar volume knob.
The only digital effects will be provided by the Ravish Sitar and some reverb added by a Boss FRV 1. The rest will be a reliable mix of old school analog and acoustic sounds. I will document each song on this as it happens. Thanks for reading.

A different flavour.

Some time ago, I wrote a piece called "Morning Star" just to throw my hand at some classical-esque style guitar and added hand claps for a little flamenco style flavour. It was fun, it was throwaway and I quickly forgot about it.

A week or so ago, I rediscovered it on an old hard drive unit and thought "Hey, that's not bad for an amateur!" So I quickly relearned the piece and decided that at a minute long, it just didn't cut it.........and here comes the tangent:
Two dear friends of mine are getting married in December. The girl in question is a Spanish lady with a passion for flamenco. I am a self taught amateur with a passion for culturally different music, so whilst the flamenco is an art form performed by true Spanish masters, I am a simple Paddy who dreams of being one and so I am not labelling anything I may perform flamenco as it would be an insult to the music itself and the incredible musicians who live and breathe it. But I want to thank two particular women who've inspired this piece, my wonderful better half for writing an incredible story and creating the character in question who inspired the mood of the piece and my lovely Spanish "sister" for making me pay attention to this incredible music. I went to great lengths to try and create a piece to be proud of. This was a labour of love and whilst it's not perfect, yet, it is slowly but surely getting there. I stress, once again, that this is NOT flamenco but it does have some very Spanish influences. I hope you enjoy this piece as much as I enjoyed creating and playing it.

Siren's Scales (Selena's Theme)

New Song: Hand Of God.

I'm gonna link the song HERE. This was one of those occasions, where everything went right for a change and I was vibing off the sounds I was getting. As anybody reading this is aware, I've been having a lot of fun with Middle Eastern influenced sounds at the minute and though not chronologically posted, this was done and dusted before "Empty Quarter", which is only really a taster of an idea I'm working on.

This song was very demanding, production wise. I operate a Zoom R8 Digital 8 track but forsake the effects part bar panning, the rhythm machine and reverb. So any other effects that you hear are performed through my guitar (electric, acoustic and / or classical), mandolin, bass or keyboard through a surprisingly minimal FX pedal collection. The raga/sitar motif was always in my head, it is instantly knowable from endless punjabi sounds one has heard off the films etc. For this I ran the Ravish Sitar pedal through my Danelectro DC59 guitar in stereo with the drone ringing mainly through the left and the main lead through the right with a little reverb. I programmed a lazy drum pattern (so much less hassle than setting up the electric drumkit) and added a Cort bassline, connected directly through with a tube pre-amp setting. The rock or "RAWK" (does Black Sabbath devil horns hand gesture), if you will was provided by a strat played through an analogue Sansamp Tech 21 Liverpool V2 pedal (think Vox AC30 in a box) and a superb sim it does too. This was played twice and panned a little over halfway between left and right. I added acoustic guitar for the verses and panned it to the right and some clean "Liverpool" guitar panned to the left. The guitar solo was an afterthought, played on impulse which sounds surprisingly good considering I prefer to map them out but ran out of space so it was an impromptu moment played between the "RAWK" take on the left channel. The vocals were just a little reverb and trying to harmonise with myself. All this in two long, trying but immensely fun days.

Have a listen. Massive thanks are in order to The Shape at IT'S ALL RANDOM MOSTLY for his stellar praise and encouragement. Word of advice: If you can dream it, you can do it. Thanks for listening.

Empty Quarter (Rub' al Khali)

So here's a little instrumental delve into my Middle Eastern-esque works of late. I feel I've found a niche musically, that I'm comfortable with and seems to hold endless possibilities. I've gotten a little creative buzz going lately and I hope it stays for a while. Have plenty of stuff to blog about at the minute but time constraints, right now (work) have reared their ugly head so here's a taster, named after the infamous Rub' al Khali desert. Thanks for listening.

And now for something completely different: A Call To Prayer (The Adhan)

Growing up in Ireland, you could be considered lucky with the culture that surrounds you. We tend to take it for granted. One of these things is our national music, or as we call it "Trad" or "Diddly Aye"! I always gravitated more towards the sad, sombre pieces one would hear especially on the Uilleann pipes from Davy Spillane and the like. As an avid music lover, I have been fascinated by certain other cultures who employ a similar style be it through music or singing.

I'm a method musician. I need to understand a certain piece before I employ it in my own work otherwise I'd consider it drowning in my own ignorance, not that I am anywhere near very knowledgeable in this next culture. But this is where I found the "Adhan", "Azan" or "Azaan" (just three of a number of ways to spell it). Anyway, I was entranced. The vocal is absolutely stunning! Religious beliefs aside, musically it shook me to the core. So I have decided to record a backing to a piece of my preference. (Clearly I couldn't sing it, these men are incredibly gifted vocalists) but it does give me a chance to flex some musical muscle and at least pay tribute to the piece whilst hopefully not detracting from it's power.

For anybody with an interest, here is one of my favourite versions, with subtitles. At one point, so powerful, the camera sound begins to distort. Fantastic.

Rock n' Raga.......

So I haven't discovered a higher celestial plane or anything like that but about 2 million years ago I purchased the "Ravish Sitar" from Electro Harmonix. It is, to an extent, a sitar emulator with lots of knobs and setting, which frankly terrifies a technophobe like me. So much so, I put it into storage about 2 days after I bought it and never gave it another thought. Here she is:

I've recently taken her out to play after rediscovering the song "Something For The Pain" by Bon Jovi and am having a lot of fun with her. Expect a few sonic experiments to pop out of the woodwork in a week or so. Once I figure out how to use it. Wish me luck!

LOUD NOISES!!

So, I bought myself a new toy, as you can see above! Loud is an understatement but to be fair I have saved the neighbours eardrums as once the level passes 4 o' clock, the windows threaten to wobble in the spare room. It's an investment which will be useful for any parties (home or away) which we may have in the future or should "Skin & Blister" choose to play an impromptu gig for family and friends. It was an impulse buy but overall I am very pleased with it. Downloaded some custom backing tracks, wired up the laptop to it and played along through my trusty Vox whilst warbling along.

It's a new sensation to be honest. As I have been forced to learn to play along with with some popular standards (some enjoyable / some necessary evils) and that is completely alien to me as somebody who only played along to my own compositions for a long time. New mainstream music rarely excites me as it's been monopolised and raped by the Simon Cowell-esque manufactured mentality that's pandemic today. So that's why I tend to live in my own head, listen to older music or find sounds completely off the grid.

Not to go off topic, I'm ultimately pleased with with my purchase and having been gifted some further excellent equipment from my grandfather (I'll cover that in the next one) I reckon I'm in for a fun and interesting musical summer. Thanks for reading.

A Shameless Plug!

This is a shout out to my friend Tomasz! A fantastic photographer (one of a couple I'm lucky to know) who is rarely, if ever, seen without some sort of photographic equipment on his person. As you can see by his work, he's a consummate professional and clearly loves what he does. This is A LINK FROM HIS WEBSITE to the photography from the charity night for AWARE, detailed earlier in my blog. There is plenty more examples of his work available there. Anything that catches your eye, drop him a line on it. He'll reply quickly as he spends more time online than working........ Just kidding! Check him out now.

The Video - Skin & Blister - "It's Only Love": Live

So, here it is for your viewing (dis)pleasure. Our live debut. Loud, brash and a little arrogant. Just like many classic performances. I'm not saying it was a classic performance as there was plenty wrong with my own personal one but I was vibing off the admittedly brilliant crowd. And as most people who've experienced such a thing will tell you, there's no better feeling than a crowd who's 100% percent behind you. So hopefully my court jester guitarist antics will give you a giggle! Susan, my sister, was practically flawless, though a little nervous right at the beginning. To be expected as this was her first EVER live performance that didn't include karaoke coupled with inebriation in our local pub! Thankfully she rocked it, as I knew she would. Filmed by my wonderfully enthusiastic better half, and yes at 2:45 is the moment I kneecap myself! Enjoy, dear reader. Rock n' Roll!

 

This is (nearly) Spinal Tap.

We made it through relatively unscathed in last night's charity talent show! I was called up in a last minute request to perform a solo number as due to some acts not being able to attend, they were a little short on numbers. I wont lie, it rattled me a little. I had to pick a song on the spot and perform as the third act, which disrupted my groove a little. Thin Lizzy's "Dancing In The Moonlight" was duly downloaded and I performed it in my best amateur capacity. My sister was nervous, extremely so and I'd hoped my onstage horseplay (I'm a pretty energetic performer) would calm her down. It didn't, but the couple of drinks and her hidden nerves of steel surprised us all.

The soundcheck at the start did not please me. My guitar was too low. The sound producer said it was fine, but you don't argue with the producer. Musician's bible: He's responsible for how you'll sound. If he's having a bad day, so will you. A pre-show natter with a fellow guitarist informed me it was too low though, so against the producer's wishes, I boosted my amp emulator pedal's volume later on. The sister turned into a mouse on the mic check. Not literally. She just lost her voice with the pre show jitters. I practically exploded my microphone and drowned her voice out. This was largely my fault as she had misinterpreted my instruction not to go all out on sound check as "sing clear but not loud". I had actually meant "tone down the stage gestures, shape throwing etc".

So the big moment was pure Spinal Tap! I asked the audience "Are you ready to rock, are you ready to roll?!!" and the instrumental track intro clicks were suddenly inaudible. I remained calm and requested a restart. Again the intro clicks were inaudible, so I winged it, timing the intro wrong. The sister's nerves were shot and she started singing at the wrong point. I started soloing over it and she stopped straight away. We got that out of the way and then BOOM! She sang like a bird - bright , melodic, loud and clear! She was excellent, a pure ROCK DIVA. The place was rocking. Our harmonising was spot on and she threw me a "Play it, Phil!" I couldn't resist, I dropped to my knees and indulged in some ridiculous fret widdling. It was fantastic fun at the time, but my knees don't approve today!

It was brilliantly received but as I gathered last year, the judge is not a fan of the more energetic acts, and I have way too much fun to stop hamming it up so I pile it on. There'll be pictures and a video to follow so you, dear reader, will have to make do with my words until I manage to lay my hands on them. Thanks for reading.

Turning it up to 11.

So, as of the past couple of years in aid of charity, the company I am employed by, host a talent show. I took part in it last year and was (not my words) "a highlight". I had fun and was, however among the spectators when the top three were announced. I gave it my all and came up short (well I am only 5' 6", ahem) but this year, I'm not taking it too seriously. I've roped my sister along for the this one and we are covering.......you guessed it, "It's Only Love" by Bryan Adams and Tina Turner. Calling ourselves "Skin & Blister" (last minute name - see Dublin slang for "sister") I have taken on guitar duties and sometime vocal harmonist, whilst she carries the vocal section throughout the song. A big ask, as there's both male and female vocals in the original. The object is to have fun. I invested a lot into the previous year and was disappointed by my failure instead of enjoying the moment and let's face it, these days one must enjoy those little moments!

My sister will own the stage, she's purposeful and dominant. Getting right into the song. A long way from the shy lamb she was when we started. I believe she will genuinely surprise a lot of people. It appears she's adopted my attitude. "It's Tina "f*!king" Turner! You don't sing it to people, you tell them to listen!" I will be noodling away in a healthy mix between the original guitar work and my own interpretation of it. I'm nervous as I've never performed electric guitar in public before. I tend to be behind a microphone instead. I will be using my Sansamp Liverpool V2 plugged straight into the P.A. system with a little reverb courtesy of the sound producer, if I ask nicely, a high quality backing track - minus the lead guitar, and my white Hagstrom Deuce F guitar. The object is fun but barring any Spinal Tap moments, we will be nothing less than professional. Monday 31st March, 7pm at the Heritage Hotel. And if we're too loud, you're too old!

The art of noise.

I'm not a virtuoso guitarist by any means and I don't pretend to be. But I do subscribe to being a bit of a "tone hound". This term is assigned to those who have a particular, if you will, sweet spot when performing on the electric guitar and must by all account hit that particular sound whether fiddling with an amp or placing their pedals in a certain order, right down to what pick up selection etc. Even finger placement and pick type or technique have a huge bearing on it. I've been informed I have a nasal, creamy live tone and I guess I must agree. It's all down to the influences.

I came quite late to the guitar party for my age at the time, circa 2004, which would have me placed between 20 and 21 years of age. I had originally bought a bass as I didn't think I'd have the dexterity for two more strings (sausage fingers) or patience. My friends were into Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and John Petrucci. All seemingly with the patience and gifts to practically emulate these exceptional players. My three favourite players are Brian May, Rory Gallagher and Keith Scott. All players with exceptional tone and superbly fluid type playing as opposed to technical flair. So I bought a guitar with my final wages (the factory I worked in had just shut down) and it kept me sane and busy in the search for a new job. The rest is history. Still playing music and loving it.

Over the years I've bought countless pedals and practically given them away because I'm a spendaholic technophobe. This was in the relentless pursuit to sound like a certain player who caught my interest at the time. But since music is the "art of noise" then why sound like somebody else when art is about individuality. I wear my influences on my sleeve but what's under the sleeve is mine, right?

THE RIG:

Vox Valvetronix AD30VT.
Loved and reviled in equal measure. A digital / valve hybrid with a barrage of useful built in effects. Of which the only one I employ is reverb on the AC30TB setting. I prefer to have my FX controls under foot. Which brings me to:

The venerable BSM treble booster. On the left is the germanium powered RM (Rangemaster) model which was originally used by such stalwarts in the late 60's, early 70's as Rory Gallagher, Tony Iommi, Ritchie Blackmore and Brian May. Essential listening to it's use are Queen: "Procession", Black Sabbath: "Evil Woman" and Rory Gallagher: "Bad Penny". It's interesting to note, this is not a distortion pedal. It merely boosts the guitar's higher frequencies and pushes it into a nice creamy, throaty overdrive. Very old fashioned, nobody really uses them anymore and I have no idea why. The sound is phenomenal. But it does pick up every radio frequency going..... On the right is the silicon powered BM Q Special (Brian May - Queen) Brian May's mid 70's to mid 80's model which has significantly more bite and sustain. Freshly delivered today, I can't wait to put it through it's paces live. It has no volume dial, so you simply run it through your guitar using your guitars tone pots to dial in your sound. Roll back the volume, you've a lovely shimmering clean chime. Turn it up and you have a wild, screaming monster.

Chorus and delay. The guitarist's staple. Nothing too extreme here. The chorus polishes up the clean tone and sounds great with the treble booster rolled back. The delay I use for the more dramatic solos or to add suspense, like many guitar heads! And finally the paintbrush:

My pride and joy complete with broken first string. A fender squier strat with maple fingerboard and Seymour Duncan wired single coils. Or as I call her "Granuaile". Why a strat? Two words: Rory Gallagher.
Think I've bored you enough now. Gotta go. My coffee's calling! Thanks for reading.

Far From Perfect.....but getting there!

This is a rough take, done off the cuff - mid washing and tormenting the dogs. It's nowhere near perfect but I'm getting familiar with the piece and feel comfortable enough to add my own particular stamp on it. I'm using a 9 volt battery powered Fender novelty amp, a BSM Rangemaster Treble Booster and a Hagstrom Deuce F guitar.

The pick, as always, is an old English sixpence, in a tip of the hat to Brian May. The booster is the special ingredient, hence it sounds so creamy and big coming from such a tiny sound source. For the actual performance I will be using my Fender Squier strat, the BSM and My Vox Valvetronix ADVT30 amp with, if I'm feeling adventurous, my Vox Wah Pedal. Thank for listening.

Out Of The Comfort Zone.

I'm currently working on a duet with a top secret individual whose identity will be revealed in a month or so. She's a great singer albeit a little publicity shy and this is the song we've agreed upon. There's plenty of tasty guitar chops in it and I'm excited and nervous about this! I haven't really attempted to play a cover with such heavy duty guitar work before, namely because it's a big ask and as I've a head like a sieve, my short term memory is non existent! Also, I don't want to copy the piece note for note but I want them to be recognisable too. Basically I want to add my own signature to it without tarnishing the, admittedly excellent, guitar work in the original. I'm not a technical guitarist, more fluid in the same vein as Rory Gallagher, Brian May etc. Though nowhere near that level of excellence. Will update you with my efforts through the magic of video in due course.

Reinventing The Wheel.

A good friend and myself started a musical duo about 10 years ago and name ourselves "The Frequency Of Ghosts" or The FOG (get it?) for short. We do as much work and touring as Elvis does but for all intensive purposes we are still a band and enjoy the very rare chance to rock out now and again. We evolved over our several independent album releases and though our youthful naivety shows through in large segments, one can also trace very noticeably, though the instruments we played at first were in our finest amateur capacity, our tendency to try and reinvent the wheel. The problem was, we had literally only started teaching ourselves how to play music. He with guitar duties, myself with the bass, interchanging vocals and relying on percussion and bizarre effects from a trusty Yamaha keyboard.

Now when you're 19, 20 odd years old, and you don't have that confidence that comes from playing a musical instrument particularly well, you want to sound lyrically astute, assured even, so your naive, social views come into play when writing lyrics. This gave birth to our song "Americana". It was basically an ill advised attempt to write an "ANGRY" song attacking Bush's America. But in hindsight this was me ignoring what was going on in my own country and the whole "Bankers, Wankers and Thieves" mentality which killed the so called Celtic Tiger. It was a punky, angry song sung by a messed up, angry little man and I cringe when I hear it. So a number of years after it, I've borrowed the guitar work, slowed it to a snails pace, practically rapped my way through the verses, completely changed the chorus and it became "Just A Man".

The theme is inspired by recent events inspired by LGBTQ events, financial struggles, civil rights, racism, religious beliefs.............Aaaaaaaaaghhhh..... my heads exploding!! And there you have it, the last sentence says it all. The musings of a blue collar working man who has too much to think about and can't save the world but wants to protect his family and the small bit he owns. It also boasts my proudest lyric: "We're all too busy telling somebody what's wrong with them, than celebrating they're unique." The closest I'll ever get to a decent epitaph. Thanks again for listening.

Where to start?

Good question. I wanted to throw up a video in the proper sound of arguably my best known piece of music amongst friends and family. Unfortunately "THIS TOOL" is blaming "THE TOOL" he used to edit the sound in the video, so instead of glorious surround stereo sound, we are stuck with old school mono sound. I hope this takes nothing away from the listeners experience as it's a piece I'm rather proud of.

"Hangin' On The Line."
I was heavily inspired by the "MUTT LANGE" sound at the time (See Def Leppard / Bryan Adams late 80's to early 90's) and decided the song was fun and catchy and slightly kitsch so why not give it the full stadium pop metal treatment. My equipment is a Zoom R8 run through a soundbar with sub-woofer run back into the laptop. I DO NOT use pro tools, nor will I ever. I don't believe in them, but more power to those who do. Weapons of choice were my trusty Fender Squire run through a BSM Treble Booster (Now retired for the Boss Feedbacker Booster) into my Vox ADVT 30. The Bass was a standard but solid Cort and the drums were a mixture of me playing an Alesis electronic drumkit and employing the built in drum kit on the Zoom R8. Enjoy and thanks for listening.

Welcome!

Welcome stranger! This blog has been set up to document my pursuit of excellence in musical production or simply just "I record original music in a bedroom." Whilst I have indulged in blogging in the past, I have not the patience to keep a constant update on the more mundane aspects of my life whereas musically I'm always working at something or other and enjoy the technical aspects of recording. I have absolutely no education or qualifications in musical production so a lot of what I do is trial, error and pure bull-headed ignorance. I will be posting up my music and basically boring / explaining my production techniques to anybody with a half hearted interest in it, whilst putting up the odd lyrics on the side. All rights are reserved on these pieces of work and the copyright belongs to SHAP sound productions unless stated otherwise. Thanks for reading.