Featuring DeProfit aka Kirk De Freitas! A school friend I grew up in with in Aberdeen. Also featuring backing vocals from Tennille De Freitas.
Aberdeen, apart from being cold wet and grey, was a great place to be raised. A lot of my friends are still up there, and I’m well overdue a visit. Some have moved on to other parts of Scotland, some to England and some even further a field. But no matter where you are now, its all about where you came from. And that’s what the song is about. You never forget where you came from because that’s what’s made you who you are today.
Its been an absolutely fantastic year. A year that has totally flown by too. The premise of this song a week was to learn as much as possible about songwriting, guitar, production and just music in general and I’ve definitely learned a great deal.
Its really been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. Each week my life was governed by the song; putting time aside each day to sit and write, recording when I can, then frantically trying to get a song together by the Friday. I basically had little to no social life!
Some weeks would be an absolute joy. The feeling of knowing I had a good song idea meant that writing and recording it was a piece of cake. And some weeks it was just plain hard work. When everything on the guitar sound the same as previous weeks, or just sounds plain rubbish.
But it was an incredible experience overall. Something quite frankly I’m relieved is over, but with not a single regret. Thank you to everyone who took the time to listen to the songs and give me feedback. It really meant a lot, especially during the tough weeks. I hope there’s at least a few songs from the collection that you enjoyed and might listen to again.
A lot of people have asked what I’m going to do now. Well, in the immediate future I’m not going to do a thing! At least for a month I don’t think I’ll even contemplate writing a song. After that, who knows. I’d like to write a proper album, and not be constrained to a 1 week time limit. I’d also like to perform some of these songs acoustically at some point. I’ll be sure to keep you all updated!
Its a song I’ve been meaning to do since day 1, but as things went I just never got round to it. Its about my brother’s friend who set off last year on an epic journey round the world with his motorbike. You may also guess correctly that his name is nick.
His year long journey, much like mine is coming to an end so i thought it’d be nice to do a song briefly chronicling his experiences. You can read all about his adventures on his website. A jolly good read at that!
Living in London you see a lot of these ‘Car Guys’ around. Zooming along in their BMWs and Mercedes, most of them frankly look like twats. Especially if coupled with a bluetooth headset and sunglasses. I imagine they live in their own little world in which their 4 wheeled companion is the centre. They also like to check out the ladies, and in return the ladies check out them. Or their ride. I’ve never been sure which they’re more interested in.
Also, only 2 more songs to go! I can’t believe I’m almost there.
Its a song I’ve been wanting to cover for quite a while now, and what better time than when you’re low on ideas? I’ve tried my best not to slaughter the good work of Colin Hay. Hopefully he’ll forgive me…
Download ‘Waiting For My Real Life’ [mp3 | .ogg | .flac]
Its always been a mystery to me… omelettes that is. Essentially the classic omelette is just cheese, egg and milk. Cheesy eggy milk… doesn’t sound so nice when its put like that. But the result is the main thing: a delicious meal.
The .ogg and .flac versions will be uploaded later tonight. I’m just in a bit of a rush so don’t have time to do it now!
So... I didn't manage to get home last night due to a big work night out (people were being made redundant, it wasn't just a big piss up!) and I was working the next day so I just came straight into work and didn't manage to upload the song...
Featuring DeProfit aka Kirk De Freitas! A school friend I grew up in with in Aberdeen. Also featuring backing vocals from Tennille De Freitas.
Aberdeen, apart from being cold wet and grey, was a great place to be raised. A lot of my friends are still up there, and I’m well overdue a visit. Some have moved on to other parts of Scotland, some to England and some even further a field. But no matter where you are now, its all about where you came from. And that’s what the song is about. You never forget where you came from because that’s what’s made you who you are today.
Its been an absolutely fantastic year. A year that has totally flown by too. The premise of this song a week was to learn as much as possible about songwriting, guitar, production and just music in general and I’ve definitely learned a great deal.
Its really been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. Each week my life was governed by the song; putting time aside each day to sit and write, recording when I can, then frantically trying to get a song together by the Friday. I basically had little to no social life!
Some weeks would be an absolute joy. The feeling of knowing I had a good song idea meant that writing and recording it was a piece of cake. And some weeks it was just plain hard work. When everything on the guitar sound the same as previous weeks, or just sounds plain rubbish.
But it was an incredible experience overall. Something quite frankly I’m relieved is over, but with not a single regret. Thank you to everyone who took the time to listen to the songs and give me feedback. It really meant a lot, especially during the tough weeks. I hope there’s at least a few songs from the collection that you enjoyed and might listen to again.
A lot of people have asked what I’m going to do now. Well, in the immediate future I’m not going to do a thing! At least for a month I don’t think I’ll even contemplate writing a song. After that, who knows. I’d like to write a proper album, and not be constrained to a 1 week time limit. I’d also like to perform some of these songs acoustically at some point. I’ll be sure to keep you all updated!
Its a song I’ve been meaning to do since day 1, but as things went I just never got round to it. Its about my brother’s friend who set off last year on an epic journey round the world with his motorbike. You may also guess correctly that his name is nick.
His year long journey, much like mine is coming to an end so i thought it’d be nice to do a song briefly chronicling his experiences. You can read all about his adventures on his website. A jolly good read at that!
Friday, 27 March 2009, 19:15
SONG 50 – MY CAR
Just for the record: I don’t actually own a car. But if I did….
Living in London you see a lot of these ‘Car Guys’ around. Zooming along in their BMWs and Mercedes, most of them frankly look like twats. Especially if coupled with a bluetooth headset and sunglasses. I imagine they live in their own little world in which their 4 wheeled companion is the centre. They also like to check out the ladies, and in return the ladies check out them. Or their ride. I’ve never been sure which they’re more interested in.
Also, only 2 more songs to go! I can’t believe I’m almost there.
Friday, 20 March 2009, 19:28
SONG 49 – WAITING FOR MY REAL LIFE
Its a song I’ve been wanting to cover for quite a while now, and what better time than when you’re low on ideas? I’ve tried my best not to slaughter the good work of Colin Hay. Hopefully he’ll forgive me…
Download ‘Waiting For My Real Life’ [mp3 | .ogg | .flac]
Friday, 13 March 2009, 19:15
SONG 48 – ARE YOU HUNGRY?
Here’s the song. You might be able to tell I was pretty hungry when writing the lyrics…
Its always been a mystery to me… omelettes that is. Essentially the classic omelette is just cheese, egg and milk. Cheesy eggy milk… doesn’t sound so nice when its put like that. But the result is the main thing: a delicious meal.
The .ogg and .flac versions will be uploaded later tonight. I’m just in a bit of a rush so don’t have time to do it now!
Saturday, 7 March 2009, 18:17
SONG 47 – GOOGLE MAPS
Sorry for the delay, excuses excuses but the song was actually ready on Thursday night! Honestly!
A pretty simple song this week confessing my geek love for the ultimate map tool: Google Maps. The song speaks for itself really!
03:20
It's coming! I promise!
So... I didn't manage to get home last night due to a big work night out (people were being made redundant, it wasn't just a big piss up!) and I was working the next day so I just came straight into work and didn't manage to upload the song...
Inspired by the wonderful Jonathan Coulton I have decided to embark on my own epic adventure of recording 1 song each week for the next year.
I've spent too much time procrastinating for the past few years and never doing anything with my spare time, and so this was the obvious solution. By doing this I hope to become a better musician in general, and learn a whole lot about music production.
Whilst I've always been musical I've never studied musical theory for any substantial length of time. Even when playing cello in my early teens I would commit songs to memory, learning by ear rather than digesting the sheet music in front of me.
This continued when I played in various bands as a teenager. I started out on bass and though I had lessons, very little theory was taught to me (although I did learn to play slap bass, for which I am thankful). Ok, so thats a technique rather than theory, but you get the point! I then picked up the guitar, and self taught by doing what a lot of teenager probably do; learn to play their favourite songs. This is all well and good, but when your entire CD collection comprises of nothing but punk and metal, I found myself somewhat limited in my song repertoire. Only in the last few years have I expanded my musical horizons and at risk of sounding corny, its really opened up my eyes. Ears. Again, you know what I mean.
So thats it. A year long voyage to discover more about music, write songs I've always wanted to write, work night shifts as a broadcast operator and hopefully not have a breakdown in the process!
