"Time" Drum Tracking

Scratch Traxx 2

scratch.traxx . . .

i.said.i.would.sing.again.and.never.did . . .

The last time I went home was for a few days before I left to tour the country mixing for John Mark McMillan. I was itching to go back and rearranged my schedule to make it happen. The week before I left a good friend of mine called to inform me another close friend has Colon Cancer. My buddy is my age and has Colon Cancer. Colon Cancer! You’re not supposed to get Colon Cancer ‘til after retirement right?! It knocked the wind of me.

After going home then being out on tour for a few weeks my friend called again to ask a favour. My favourite band of all time, Shangrala (who coincidentally broke up around the same time I last visited home) is getting back together for one last show. They’re putting on a benefit show for my friend with the Colon Cancer and they’re selling an Ep at the show with all the proceeds going to help him with medical bills. Shangrala will be recording a few songs they’ve yet to release and they are asking other artists to cover Shang songs they’ve already released. They want me to Master it. It’s going to be amazing.

After I agreed to Master the project for them my friend asked me to cover one of their songs. I haven’t done my own music in years. I am honoured he would ask me to be a part but I am also pretty damn nervous. Do I still have the goods? Did I even have the goods at one point? egh . . .

I began listening to trax I had done a year or so ago seeing if there is anything I could just put Shang lyrics and melodies over. I found one which would work but it felt a lil cheap to me. I want to do this right. One long day in the van John Mark brought his acoustic inside so he could work on some stuff. I was sitting between his case and him. When he was done and Jims was done playin around he handed the acoustic to me to put back in the case so I took and and began searching for something. I think I found it. I will covering Shangrala’s song “Time.” I turned it minor and it’s real dark. It’s real ‘me’ I guess. The few people I’ve let hear the demo for it tell me it’s awesome so that’s cool. I’m kinda scared to see what happens . . .

Monday I begin tracking my cover at Bright City Studios. I have some of my favourite musicians coming in to lend hands. Lee Worley will be drivin the camper on drums, James Duke will be adding some of his guitar wizardry, and Shae Wooten will be puttin out the vibe the whole two days in here while greasing things up with French Horn, Clarinet, and whatever else . . .

I’ll be posting things here and there (twitter.facebook.wherevers.) throughout the process if you feel like following along as I try to figure this out. The show will be August 20th at Jack Rabbit’s in Jacksonville, Fl. As far as I know the Ep will only be available at the show so you should go. Help my friend beat this Cancer Crap . . .

We Got Reviews on Reviews . . .

Glen Yoder- “While You Were Young”

There is a review on theblueindian.com (http://www.theblueindian.com/2010/06/01/1876/) of an Ep I worked on with Joel Khouri at Bright City Studios. It completely rips it apart. The review refers to Yoder as an Artist for teens and youth groups. I read this review and agreed with the “teens” portion but not the entire review. Glen Yoder is extremely “Pop” oriented in his writing of melodies and hooks which I believe is where Beth, the reviewer, was getting the phrasing for Teen Sensibility from. Glen’s melodies and hooks stick in your head, make you nod, and tap your foot for hours and days.

When I read this review I “Tweeted” something terrible. After drinking a bit on an empty stomach and not much sleep I was not in the correct decision making state of mind. I said I agreed with the review even though I hated it. Bad call Joel Willis. Bad Call. While I agreed with the “Teen” portion of the review I did not agree with the entire review which is the portion I hated. Unfortunately in my “influenced” state I lacked the cognizance to portray how I felt regarding the entire review so I decided to review the review myself . . .

“ Glen Yoder’s music is for the 12 to 16 year old youth groupers at your local church.” -Yes and no. Glen’s music IS for the 12 to 16 year olds as much as most music all of America loves is for 12 to 16 years olds; Poppy, head nodding, foot tappin goodness.

“ His music is showy, pseudo-new wave pop, without any substance or verifiable shimmer.” -Showy? Hells yes. Pseudo-new wave pop? Most definitely. Without any substance? Say what? Glen’s lyrics are so substantial they smack you upside the head and tug at your heart. Verifiable shimmer? How can you be “Showy” without “Verifiable Shimmer”?

“ I mean, if you like a dash of Owl City in your life, then maybe you could play through this EP a couple times and walk away satisfied.” -I will say Owl City is not in my personal iTunes library but he is one of the top Artists out there at the moment. Who wouldn’t want to be compared to someone bigger than themselves? Glen could be just as big and mainstream without the bubble gum. If Beth was simply trying to be mean while cutting him down and comparing him to a mainstream artist she should have used Justin Beiber. Which is obviously not a worthy comparison, for Justin.

“Don’t get me wrong, I understand his message. Songs like “Hollywood” reflect the feeling that Hollywood is far from wholesome, and is there anything really fulfilling on the boulevards? But his thoughts are translated into whiny singing and a low, brooding guitar in the background that’s almost reminiscent of a sad Blink 182 song, but lacking the engaging percussion that could make it a foot-tapper.” -Apparently Beth does not understand Glen’s message. “Hollywood” isn’t about Hollywood, it’s a breakup song. I love Blink 182 and their sad songs so I won’t even jump that train. The percussion on “Hollywood” adds to the depth and dimension of the song. It’s not a Dance Floor song. It’s one for the heart, not the romp.

““Hope” talks about how “Under His blood you see the sons and daughters are dancing free,” and while it starts off with dance-y, contagious, and riveting intro, the vocals feel less like singing and more like fast-talking.” -This is the Dance Floor song. Four on the Floor, Claps, Synth lines, oh yes. Love it!

“In “Greenland,” Yoder tries his hand at an echoing voice, but it winds up competing with the guitars and percussion. Frankly, Death Cab For Cutie wrote a better song about a highway with “405”—Yoder managed to make an entire country sound boring in the span of four minutes and thirty-five seconds.” -”Greenland” isn’t even about a country. Glen writes using metaphors, you know, like every good songwriter in the world.

““Goodnight, Goodnight” is the only interesting song on here, instrumentally. It sounds less processed and competitive, more genuine and engaging. It’s got a standoffish, slightly moody guitar in the background, flowing over the residue of chords left by the other one. His vocals don’t sound like they’re begging for an audience, which is entirely refreshing.” -Finally, Beth tries to compliment Glen. The funny part is it’s the most processed song on the Ep. I won’t go into exactly how the song was produced and all but this comment made me laugh.

Overall, Glen Yoder’s Ep “When You Were Young” is surprisingly good, on it’s own and also once you consider the fact this is his first release. It’s young and vibrant yet solid in character. The genius of a Producer, Joel Khouri, worked with Yoder to take songs which potentially could have been mediocre and made them into hits. Look for Yoder to be around a long time, quite a long time . . .

So, after writing this post and finally finding internet access I found that Beth from theblueindian.com had posted a revised review of Glen Yoder’s Ep. I applaud her for giving Glen another chance. The new review makes it apparent she relistened to the Ep and still didn’t like it. Though she gave it another try she still had not grown to like it, which is fine, but I do not agree with her reasons for not liking it. I am certain there is plenty of music Beth enjoys which I do not. Everyone is entitled to their opinions which is what I love about music. It hits different people in different ways. I for one love Glen Yoder’s music. It grabs you, makes you shake your romp, then rips tears from your veins. We’ll be hearing from Glen’s soul for quite a long time . . .