Creating "Majik" (The Corona Sessions)

First blog of 2020 and of course, we're all elbow deep in social distancing / isolation. A double edged sword for me as an "essential" worker as shops need to stay open (to prevent riots?) so I have been stuck in a bizarre limbo of work / home / work / home and "Backyard Gothic" is dead in the water on account.

To counteract the boredom, I embarked upon the "Corona Sessions". Creating music is never boring but I do have a very short attention span, so I've had to force myself to concentrate on creating a viable collection of music. It eventually found it's title in "Majik".

Why this title? Because most of these songs were created in a stream of consciousness, particularly the first and third songs which bear the word in their titles. They in many ways wrote themselves, before I realised I was writing them. To anyone who writes books, poetry or music - I'm sure you understand what I mean, but I can't really explain it in words. As the late, great Tom Petty said:

“Music is probably the one real magic I have encountered in my life. There’s not some trick involved with it. It’s pure and it’s real. It moves, it heals, it communicates and does all these incredible things.”


Amen.

The pictures were taken by my very talented better half and I twisted and distorted them into a cover I thought suited the theme of the EP. The subject matter in the songs is almost nihilist in nature, but I assure you, a pinch of salt is never far from the lyrics I write....

It's currently in the processing stage, en route to spotify / google play / itunes etc courtesy of Distrokid. And the track listing is:

1. Majik, Pt.I: The Man In The Ivory Castle 

2. Throne Ruminations (co - produced by Denika McClean)

3. Majik, Pt.II: The End

4. Who Rules Hollywood?

5. (BANG!) Bombs Are Falling

Stylistically, it's a return to the sound on "Heresy". But with the extra six years experience in the production side (I hope!) It's bigger, more mature and sounds more professional. More importantly, I hope people get a kick out of listening to it, as much as I got creating it. 

Thanks for reading..... and listening. 

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.

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!