MC Dempsey

Had the nephews and sister stay over about a week ago. The house was never quiet but it was a lovely change. We were kept on our toes to say the least! Gavin, the eldest nephew, displayed a huge fascination for my keyboard. I have tried to retire her many times as she has seen a LOT of wear and tear. The touch sensitivity comes and goes and she has more coffee stains than a vintage french living room table. But I guess the fact I've written so many songs on her makes her of high sentimental value. He messed around with the effects whilst I set up the guitar straight in the 8 track and out the monitors.

He was conjuring up bizarre noises so I felt obliged to compete. I settled on an awful, bizarre tone - resembling a bastard creation of a wah pedal and talkbox. Gavin found it hilarious - "It sounds like your guitar is vomiting!" I laughed and messed around, trying to cook up a standard stock riff. The child had gotten hold of the microphone, declared himself 'MC Dempsey' and proceeded to do a little rap. It was very random. I started stamping my foot and playing a standard stop/start macho riff. He got very into it. I stopped and asked "Which Rapper is that?" and he replied "It's me, I just borrowed a couple of words." I said "Wanna make a song....?"

I gave him full creative control and helped him with the timing of the words. The words, I might add, are entirely all his. The chorus was a throwaway thing we made on the spot. He insisted on having a deeper octave effect so he sounded like those "black dudes in America" - Ah, from the mouths of babes. When I'd finished laughing at the child's statement, I had him perform twice as the lower octave made him almost incoherent and I double tracked his normal pitched voice over it. The chorus was fun. I explained it to him and sang it out so he got the gist. I performed a lower second harmony to his to add a bit more drama and we did the cliche rap shouts in and around it. The drums were lazily pre programmed but our young producer wasn't done there. As soon as I'd popped on some bass guitar, he said "We need keyboards too". I let him choose a sound, he chose a distinctly late 70's, bright electric piano sound (think 80's Power Ballad) and hummed to me what he heard in his head. I took it and moulded it into something that pleased us both and added it. The entire process took about 5 hours. It felt like 20 minutes! Looking forward to recording the album, Gav!

 

PHIL McCLEAN - Movie Composer

The world and it's mother knows that I'm a failed movie music composer, or am I....?

I love movies, good and bad! If you HATE a film, there's a chance I found something to like about it. Chances are that something was soundtrack related. Could be any genre but I'm easy when it comes to that. If it sounds good to my ear, I'll take it. With the continuing and ever worsening blandness of today's popular music, I tend to take shelter in soundtracks. Not that I'm a total oaf towards new music. You just have to dig a little deeper to wade through the auto-tuned, Simon Cowell sponsored crap we seem to be drowning in nowadays.

Anyway, you may not know I have done a VERY short movie soundtrack for an American film by a gentleman called A.J. Bangs. It was a fun experience. I had put up on my old MYSPACE account, a header of "Free movie composer for hire". No idea why really. Clearly that days cocktail of weed and beer (Ah, crazy youth!) went to my ego, and practically a day later, this guy came knocking, so to speak. he told me the story, sent me a rough cut and described the mood. He asked for an end piece that really made no sense to me as the mood was very different than he envisaged. But I concurred and created the music. He was genuinely pleased with my efforts. Said that he was looking towards a professional cut of his film. So I sent him different variations on the music. He promised me a dvd and a credit, then the emails stopped. He has been silent since then online. Though traces of his (once?) online existence are there. The music itself has resurfaced in various songs of mine to date.

For all I know the man could be dead now, but thanks to him I finally got a movie credit. So technically I succeeded at soundtrack composing. I made it, Ma. I really made it!
The film can be watched on this link HERE   . 

Thanks for reading.

"SING LIKE YOU'RE WINNING, PHIL."

I took part in "Tesco Got Talent" again this year. I had made up my mind not to. I had my fun in the sun twice and it was only fair to leave it to some younger, hungrier talents whilst I could relax, not worry about soundchecks and enjoy a few nice pints of Guinness without the worry of fluffing my lines on guitar or vocals but....

The show was held in the venerable Kavanagh's venue, in Portlaoise, which has seen some top comedians and bands ply their trade over the years. So how did I end up performing here after all my promises not to? Well, nobody stepped forward, at all. It was frankly embarrassing that there would be absolutely no local representatives in the show, and a charity one at that, (Temple Street Hospital, a GREAT cause) so I said count me in. I had a week or two to prepare, usually I'd have a month or two, but it helped with the song choice. No time to learn anything new, so I decided on an original song "Strong". The song is a very personal one and I enjoy playing it but it sends me to "that place". Everybody has it, a song that makes you sad, gives you goosebumps or simply takes your breath away. But I was confident I could do it justice.

I walked in and was that early, I did my soundcheck straight away. The sound engineer was a nice guy. Had a few interesting stories to tell about musicians he'd met. Who was nice, who was otherwise....
He thought I was a seasoned pro as I'd completed my soundcheck. Quite the compliment! "You seem to know what you're doing, do you play live alot?" I said "Nope, I just get on with it, know what I like and treat the soundman nice." He laughed and said "In case I make you sound like shit?!" Clearly he'd heard that one before. The soundcheck was to my ears fine as regards to my guitar, Selena's tone, maybe a little trebley in hindsight but that was my fault, the settings were mine on the amp simulator. My voice? I started to sing but my voice croaked as soon as I started to sing the piece, my eyes welled too, so I defaulted and half arsed my way through an old Bryan Adams number off key and slightly rattled. 

I left the stage, and sipped a guinness. Keeping to myself and waiting on my posse and wondering how the Hell I could do this. The crew appeared and it calmed me down alot. My better half knew I was nervous but I said it was healthy nerves - The kind that reminds you not to be an arsehole should you ever reach an elevated social standing. Nine acts were scheduled. I was sixth. Just after the raffle break. Time to get the pints in.

I studied each act as they performed. One exception aside, I won't identify as they were brave in the attempt and it was for a great cause, I felt all the other acts brought some real competition. I stood in a toilet cubicle calming myself down. "I can't sing this song, I'll start to cry" or "The crowd need to be perked up and you're gonna depress them." All negative thoughts born from my embarrassing soundcheck. But then, out of nowhere, my favourite Tom Waits quote appeared in my mind - "If you're in the middle of the ocean with no flippers and no life preserver and you hear a helicopter, this is music. You have to adjust to your needs at the moment." It made sense. Adjust. Play it fast, upbeat."SING LIKE YOU'RE WINNING, PHIL."

The announcer called me up "....to perform a song he wrote, on a guitar he made..." (NO PRESSURE THERE) "....please welcome Phil McClean to the stage!" My wonderful gang erupted, thus forcing the rest of the crowd to comply. I wanted to introduce my song, explain it's genesis, and the people it was written for, may they rest in peace. I wanted to shout "Happy birthday to my little sister tonight" but I felt the more cynical in the crowd would see it as trying to gain favour with the judges. Hands shaking I started to strum slowly, just to calm my nerves. Then my cheeky side came out:

I played with two angels on my shoulders and near a dozen of them in the crowd who came to support me. I played as hard and as fast as I could, I wanted that crowd to have the time of their lives and to my song, not a cover, MY SONG! The first time I played an original song in public.

The raffle was fun and quite a successful one for our tables. The Missus and the birthday girl both getting a prize! I turned to my friend, Jonny beside me and said "I won't win anything here, I'm a cheerleader as always, but damn me I enjoyed that." I always feel I have to engage the crowd. I can't help it. Those people are there to be entertained and I was always conscious, that with some acts, the crowd can lose interest and talk over them. I can't stand it and will always make sure to clap along to those acts and give them their dues. It's not easy up there under those lights.

The lady stepped up on the stage to announce the winners after the raffle buzz had died down. I sipped my pint waiting to applaud the successful act. Silence. A pin drops somewhere. In third place "Phil McClean!" I nearly fell off my chair. I froze. "Do I go up?" I asked the people around me in disbelief. Jonny practically pushed me towards the stage. I stepped up and received my award, feeling like they were going to say it was a joke. The fact of the matter is, I don't generally win anything and I just received an award for performing a song I'd written. One of the judges shook my hand and leaned in "I'm really sorry, it was a split decision." "Fuck that", I thought,still elated. "It feels like I've won an Ivor Novello award."

  
With special thanks and fond memories to the two angels on my shoulders last night:

My beautiful Granny.                                                                   A gentleman, Rorey.

Faith: The Music Box

I have already begun the story at philmccleanmusic.com and it is called "The Music Box". But I have yet to complete the piece, which at a little over a minute's duration is a bit of a joke that I haven't. But the music is there, the vision is there but there is something off about it that I can't pluck out of the air. Maybe I'm over thinking it. It's probably due to how pleased I am with "Heresy" and also how I don't want to retread the same story.

The hardest part is the "violining". This is a technique where you feedback an amp and through volume, tone and finger placement, you achieve (or try to) a sweet violin-like sustain to wrap around the melody. But it's not a perfect science and requires the lightest and yet, at times, firmest touch. The slightest artifact, i.e string scrape, can be echoed ten fold if you are not careful, especially when using a form of delay with it, which means a mistake can be repeated which I don't want. The piece is led by a music box motif, with various strings and voices throughout. I want it to convey a childlike innocence with a little bit of an unnerving edge. As the director M. Night Shyamalan said to the composer James Newton Howard of the theme for "The Sixth Sense" It should bring to mind "an invisible animal in the room that you can hear and feel moving around and that you feel threatened by; just as you think you're going to be attacked, it leaves the room".

The two pieces are nothing alike, but this is the same idea I wish to convey, albeit in a less threatening more ethereal manner, if you will. Thanks for reading.


  

"FAITH" - First Impressions.

I'm currently knee deep in the follow up to Heresy, Faith. And I have been struck by how strikingly different the tone and even the instrument choice is! It was originally an idea that I keep on the pseudo middle eastern slant from the first, but it became quite apparent that I was bored treading the same ground again. And if I was getting bored, then heaven knows how bored the actual listener would be!

So I have embraced, dare I say it, a slightly more embellished, yet mainstream sound, inspired by amongst others, Danny Elfman. It was not so much intentional as accidental. But every little change helps it become a more rounded project. I have even changed drum sounds. It's now gone from a tight punchy rhythm sound to a big resounding stadium drum sound. Big bass, big, snappy, snare.

You can't leave it all behind, lessons learned are in the past, so it's important I revisit them. There will be odes to the original with a flurry of Persian inspired magic. But I view them as I would a set of twins. They may seem very similar but there is a completely different story to both. Chat soon. Thanks for reading.

Marriage, Magpies & Rockstars.

Sorry for the lack of updates. Life's been a little crazy lately. I wrote a new piece of music. It's called "Magpies & Rockstars". It's exciting in that we've set a date for our wedding, June, next year (luck be with us) and it will be the piece she walks down the aisle to. It's only a short piece, but I'm happy to share it with you. The opening is a little drawn out, but stick with it and hopefully you'll find the reward in it. I used a nylon string Stagg Angel Lopez concert guitar plugged into a Boss DD3 delay and a Danelectro DC59 guitar plugged into a BOSS CE5 Chorus. Both plugged straight into the board.

Thanks for reading.

Full Circle.

The past couple of weeks have been an entirely forgettable experience for me and it's not getting any easier for some friends of mine who are currently having a very tough time as regards to the often cruel and unpredictable circle of life. I have no more to broach on this subject here, apart from they weigh heavily on my mind and I am sending them love and positive vibes unlimited.

Last year, the FOG had a ball performing for one night, for my better half's birthday. Well it seems to have gone full circle and now we are looking at recording a few songs together again. I am currently in the middle of recording a planned duet called "Murder, They Wrote". It's essentially a murder ballad about a timeless subject. "Boy meets Girl, Boy loses Girl to other Boy, Girl and other Boy murder first Boy". Good wholesome family subject matter! It's done in a 50's style piano ballad and I may have overcooked the solo. Well if it's worth half doing, it's worth over doing right! All I need is my musical partner's vocals and he will hopefully provide some tasteful guitar plucking too.

Here's a taster: