Hey hey hey,
So the good news is I have finally finished recording the vocals for Comfortable Skin, a song that I finished the instrumental tracks for at least two months ago. I've moved my studio into our bedroom here, and after a computer crash I'm lucky to have backed up the instrumental tracks on my phone. I think that losing my hard drive made me realize that I need to push through to the end and get my music out there sooner rather than later, though it's been hard to decide the mood of my vox on this song. I've been going through a lot of changes in life and in my views on what is important as a man and a musician, and it's probably better that I waited to record this until now, but the lesson remains the same. Carpe Diem.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Friday, September 17, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Langston Hughes, anyone?
I recently completed a creative writing course at South Seattle Community College. As one of our assignments, we were to recite a poem from memory. In the packet of poems we were given I came across a Langston Hughes poem entitle "Genius Child" and something about the poem spoke to me in such a way that I felt compelled to put it to music.
Here is the scratch track I laid down a couple days after I performed it in class:
Genius Child
This is the song
of the genius child
sing it softly
for the song is wild
Sing it softly
ever as you can
lest the song get out of hand
No-body loves the genius child
Can you love an eagle
tame or wild?
Wild or tame
can you love a monster
of a frightening name?
No-body loves the genius child
Kill Him!
Lest his soul
run wild
Here is the scratch track I laid down a couple days after I performed it in class:
Genius Child
This is the song
of the genius child
sing it softly
for the song is wild
Sing it softly
ever as you can
lest the song get out of hand
No-body loves the genius child
Can you love an eagle
tame or wild?
Wild or tame
can you love a monster
of a frightening name?
No-body loves the genius child
Kill Him!
Lest his soul
run wild
Saturday, March 27, 2010
do you ever get the feeling?
do you ever get the feeling that you've accomplished nothing after a full days work? doesn't that suck.
I was just looking at the clock and it's four nineteen pm. I woke this morning with a little bit of a we-forgot-to-turn-off-the-heater-before-bed-again hangover and the fact that we're out of coffee hasn't helped any. at least i had one last little cure in a baggie to partake in, so the headache has mostly subsided.
What I've been up to all day since waking up is trying to recreate my scratch tracks for comfortable skin. I decided that I would turn it into a video since I haven't posted one of these in a while, and I wanted to do something a little different than my last few posts.
I think after I post this I am going to go and get some coffee and check out the georgetown music store again. that place is becoming a home a away from home lately.
when i was seventeen i could already tell
leaving town was heavan and sticking around was hell
i had to wear my camoflauge but i
never liked it when they called me sergeant
cause that ain't the kind of skin that i'm comfortable in
this is my skin to get comfortable in
oh, then i got fired from an office job
cause i wasn't gonna slob on nobody's knob
i wouldn't wear their oily ties
cause that ain't the way i like getting by
this is my skin to get comfortable in
so find your own skin to get comfortable in
next thing you know i'm living in a van
and a tramp making music is all that i am
and i think to myself hey man this is more like it
i'm getting closer to getting in
to the kind of skin that i'm comfortable in
only got one skin to get comfortable in
through all the highs and all the lows
there's been so many times i
couldn't change my clothes
but i wouldn't have it any other way
this is the life i chose
well i guess that brings us about to the stage where
i'm really starting to feel my age, and
i've had my share scrapes and such
yeah i've played my share of double dutch
to get
in to the skin that i'm comfortable in
this is my skin to get comfortable in only
got one skin to get comfortable in
through all the highs
and all the lows
i've played my share of dives and i've
taken my share of blows
but i know i got to get on
cause ain't no use keeping dead crops up in rows
life is sometimes just the way life goes
mmm---
m-m-m---
mmm---
(humming and stuff)
this is my skin to get comfortable in
got one skin to get comfortable in
I was just looking at the clock and it's four nineteen pm. I woke this morning with a little bit of a we-forgot-to-turn-off-the-heater-before-bed-again hangover and the fact that we're out of coffee hasn't helped any. at least i had one last little cure in a baggie to partake in, so the headache has mostly subsided.
What I've been up to all day since waking up is trying to recreate my scratch tracks for comfortable skin. I decided that I would turn it into a video since I haven't posted one of these in a while, and I wanted to do something a little different than my last few posts.
I think after I post this I am going to go and get some coffee and check out the georgetown music store again. that place is becoming a home a away from home lately.
when i was seventeen i could already tell
leaving town was heavan and sticking around was hell
i had to wear my camoflauge but i
never liked it when they called me sergeant
cause that ain't the kind of skin that i'm comfortable in
this is my skin to get comfortable in
oh, then i got fired from an office job
cause i wasn't gonna slob on nobody's knob
i wouldn't wear their oily ties
cause that ain't the way i like getting by
this is my skin to get comfortable in
so find your own skin to get comfortable in
next thing you know i'm living in a van
and a tramp making music is all that i am
and i think to myself hey man this is more like it
i'm getting closer to getting in
to the kind of skin that i'm comfortable in
only got one skin to get comfortable in
through all the highs and all the lows
there's been so many times i
couldn't change my clothes
but i wouldn't have it any other way
this is the life i chose
well i guess that brings us about to the stage where
i'm really starting to feel my age, and
i've had my share scrapes and such
yeah i've played my share of double dutch
to get
in to the skin that i'm comfortable in
this is my skin to get comfortable in only
got one skin to get comfortable in
through all the highs
and all the lows
i've played my share of dives and i've
taken my share of blows
but i know i got to get on
cause ain't no use keeping dead crops up in rows
life is sometimes just the way life goes
mmm---
m-m-m---
mmm---
(humming and stuff)
this is my skin to get comfortable in
got one skin to get comfortable in
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Demo anyone?
This is the final mix of the demo that I'm burning off for booking and such. Hope you like some of the finishing touches that I've put on everything, and I would love to hear your feedback on what you think it it all.
Grey Matters:
Hot Potatoe:
What Do You Know:
The Stranger:
The jacket cover:
The CD Label:
Grey Matters:
Hot Potatoe:
What Do You Know:
The Stranger:
The jacket cover:
The CD Label:
Monday, March 8, 2010
For better or for worse (or, let's play a little game)
I've got an idea. I'm going to post a new mix of hot potatoe and you comment me with a simple "better" or "worse" and a short explanation.
not that I'm trying to tell you what to do here, people, I just...ugh.
:)
the heat will get to you
but don't let it fall
when she waits at home for you
and she is hot for you to call
the least you could do is call
she goes out of her way
to make you happy, yet
you find it inside of yourself to complain
and the one sure thing is that
you're gonna do your thing
so are you happy yet?
the heat just got to you
and you let her down
then you had to yell at her
cause she turned your excuse around
and you just let her walk right out the door
so what the hell are you standing
around here for?
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
news flash
recording music is a science. as long as you are willing to learn, you can figure it out. at least i hope that is true or i'm totally screwed in the end. but for now, i'd like to re-present to you, my second mix of "hot potatoe" as it stands today, and most likely this will be the mix i use for the "all get out (demo version)" cd that I am just one song from finishing. In the end, I'm going to have six songs on it. they will be (not necessarily in this order though) 1) grey matters 2) the stranger 3) comfortable skin 4) hot potatoe 5) what do you know 6) hey, man.
i've always really liked the way that hey, man turned out so mad props to kristie fike the baddest assed lady engineer i know.
the heat will get to you
but don't let it fall
when she waits at home for you
and she is hot for you to call
the least you could do is call
she goes out of her way
to make you happy, yet
you find it inside of yourself to complain
and the one sure thing is that
you're gonna do your thing
so are you happy yet?
the heat just got to you
and you let her down
then you had to yell at her
cause she turned your excuse around
and you just let her walk right out the door
so what the hell are you standing
around here for?
***Update::: I, Rather Quite, your diligent man-servant of the latest and greatest news about yours truly would like to announce that in a fortunate turn of events, I was done with work at 1:15pm today and then after finishing my mix of "hot potatoe" I got a call from South Seattle Community College to let me know that class had been cancelled for tonight. So now here I am with the amazing opportunity to lay down some tracks for the final song on the demo.
now wa'im saaaynnng'! shout out's to j-roc and the trailer park. i wish i could watch trailer park boys seasons one and two for the first time all over again. and if i could say anything to bubbles it would be, when i die, do you think they would let me be reincarnated as you? i'd really like that.
i've always really liked the way that hey, man turned out so mad props to kristie fike the baddest assed lady engineer i know.
anywho, here's the song. i've got to get started on the aforementioned comfortable skin. is it taboo to use the syllable "fore" so close to "skin?" Or am I still thinking about that lady killer Jonah Falcon?
Damn you John Stewart!
the heat will get to you
but don't let it fall
when she waits at home for you
and she is hot for you to call
the least you could do is call
she goes out of her way
to make you happy, yet
you find it inside of yourself to complain
and the one sure thing is that
you're gonna do your thing
so are you happy yet?
the heat just got to you
and you let her down
then you had to yell at her
cause she turned your excuse around
and you just let her walk right out the door
so what the hell are you standing
around here for?
***Update::: I, Rather Quite, your diligent man-servant of the latest and greatest news about yours truly would like to announce that in a fortunate turn of events, I was done with work at 1:15pm today and then after finishing my mix of "hot potatoe" I got a call from South Seattle Community College to let me know that class had been cancelled for tonight. So now here I am with the amazing opportunity to lay down some tracks for the final song on the demo.
now wa'im saaaynnng'! shout out's to j-roc and the trailer park. i wish i could watch trailer park boys seasons one and two for the first time all over again. and if i could say anything to bubbles it would be, when i die, do you think they would let me be reincarnated as you? i'd really like that.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Au Gratin (or, the curse of the love song)
"the thing about love songs" says m, "is that every body thinks theirs is good because it really happened to them." I may be slightly misquoting, but I'm pretty sure the intent of her statement is intact. i've noticed that I think my songs sound good to me sometimes just because they're true to me so i refuse to look the gift horse that i've given myself in the mouth. then again, that may just be the masochistic devil on my shoulder that is trying to get me depressed enough to do some serious destruction in my life for his enjoyment. what's a devil to do, eh?
anyways, this is the last track I'm doing of this new song for at least twenty four hours. i would like to unveil (cue "the final countdown" and watch Gob so some amazing magic for a minute...ok now back to what i was saying) my new tune
and let me also say first, it's not really a love song, but more of a story about a love.
"Hot Potatoe"
the heat will get to you
but don't let it fall
when she waits at home for you
and she is hot for you to call
the least you could do is call
she goes out of her way
to make you happy, yet
you find it inside of yourself to complain
and the one sure thing is that
you're gonna do your thing
so are you happy yet?
the heat just got to you
and you let her down
then you had to yell at her
cause she turned your excuse around
and you just let her walk right out the door
so what the hell are you standing
around here for?
---
Ok now for my comments, and you can post yours too.
1) I was disappointed to have to use Audacity's crappy noise removal tool on the vocals because of a loud hiss that was too much in the forefront to ignore.
2) After having laid down the instrumental tracks I decided that this song is too rigid in this format, and I want it to get a little more groovy when it's played live.
3) I mad a lot of progress vocally during the many takes I did for this song, but I think I've still got a long way to go before I reach my ideal self as a singer.
4) I wish the drum machine I am using didn't sound so fake sometimes, but I'm thankful for what I do have, and can't wait until I have a silent sound booth with a full backline in it to record at my leisure. But for now, please bear with me. I had to start somewhere, and what better place than here? What better time than now?
5) I think anything else that I have to say is babble. Talk amoungst yourself.
anyways, this is the last track I'm doing of this new song for at least twenty four hours. i would like to unveil (cue "the final countdown" and watch Gob so some amazing magic for a minute...ok now back to what i was saying) my new tune
and let me also say first, it's not really a love song, but more of a story about a love.
"Hot Potatoe"
the heat will get to you
but don't let it fall
when she waits at home for you
and she is hot for you to call
the least you could do is call
she goes out of her way
to make you happy, yet
you find it inside of yourself to complain
and the one sure thing is that
you're gonna do your thing
so are you happy yet?
the heat just got to you
and you let her down
then you had to yell at her
cause she turned your excuse around
and you just let her walk right out the door
so what the hell are you standing
around here for?
---
Ok now for my comments, and you can post yours too.
1) I was disappointed to have to use Audacity's crappy noise removal tool on the vocals because of a loud hiss that was too much in the forefront to ignore.
2) After having laid down the instrumental tracks I decided that this song is too rigid in this format, and I want it to get a little more groovy when it's played live.
3) I mad a lot of progress vocally during the many takes I did for this song, but I think I've still got a long way to go before I reach my ideal self as a singer.
4) I wish the drum machine I am using didn't sound so fake sometimes, but I'm thankful for what I do have, and can't wait until I have a silent sound booth with a full backline in it to record at my leisure. But for now, please bear with me. I had to start somewhere, and what better place than here? What better time than now?
5) I think anything else that I have to say is babble. Talk amoungst yourself.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
sometimes life is just the way life goes
I made some more edits to the song grey matters and i hope you like them. Also, I'd like your feedback. Do you like being able to hear the different mixes or would you prefer if I just put up the first and final mixes to that you can hear that disparity? Get at me.
Take Care,
M. Chase
Take Care,
M. Chase
Monday, February 15, 2010
editor in chief
i reserve the right to change any song at any time. because why not?
Grey Matters Mix iii most excellently better mix.mp3
Email me if you want the mp3. Just promise me you'll make a donation to Childhood Cancer Sucks, alright?
Talk atcha later.
M. Chase
Grey Matters Mix iii most excellently better mix.mp3
Email me if you want the mp3. Just promise me you'll make a donation to Childhood Cancer Sucks, alright?
Talk atcha later.
M. Chase
Saturday, February 13, 2010
all get out
So I decided today that i would remix this song so that you have a decent representation of it. Lyrics below for song "grey matters."
I'm an old man in a city
waiting for a trial
who stands to lose everything over
his lifestyle
instead of giving in, he has
chosen to fight
he won't let anyone choose for him
what's wrong and what's right
on the other side of that town
I'm a woman sleeping on the ground
all she ever owned was taken to
the impound
how could anyone justify
forcing her to fight
when she only wanted to choose
for herself
what's wrong and what's right
so what's wrong and what's right
what's day and what's night
can't we live our own lives
why must we fight?
when it came down to it
why they didn't give in
even when they knew they couldn't win
is because they made their own choice
of what's wrong and what's right
what's day and what's night
don't try to fight
an oldie in my book, but probably new to you.
I've got a little something for you to enjoy here that I wrote many years ago just after the led got out and left the levee in tatters and in the process devouring our own (and by that i do mean americans. the straight ones, gay ones, black ones white ones green ones right ones left ones independent american ones. don't judge that or people based on any of that if you want my advice. if not, why are you reading? that last part was meant to be rhetorical. i'm a joker.) while we were entrenched in our gluttonous campaigns in the middle west. east? whatever...
I give you: katrina was her name:
Bright sunny day
seekin the shade
kicckin the sand
not makin any plans
twirlin in the distance
she's bathed in light
i can't aford to miss this
i need to make that woman my lady tonight
whirlwind affair
sand in my hair
can't hide nowhere
from her eye's cold ambitious stare
katrina was her name
she ruined everything
when she spread her wings it was a hurricane
(rinse and repeat)
should i see her again
would i be fooled by the breese
would i stay rooted in
like all them fallen trees
as time rolls on
from sunshine to shade
all i really want
is protection from dangerous maides
I give you: katrina was her name:
Bright sunny day
seekin the shade
kicckin the sand
not makin any plans
twirlin in the distance
she's bathed in light
i can't aford to miss this
i need to make that woman my lady tonight
whirlwind affair
sand in my hair
can't hide nowhere
from her eye's cold ambitious stare
katrina was her name
she ruined everything
when she spread her wings it was a hurricane
(rinse and repeat)
should i see her again
would i be fooled by the breese
would i stay rooted in
like all them fallen trees
as time rolls on
from sunshine to shade
all i really want
is protection from dangerous maides
katrina was her name
she ruined everything
when she spread her wings it was a hurricane
(thrice)
she was a hurry hurry hurry hurricane
you'd better hurry 'fore she's back with a different
name.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
i missed the only call i wanted to get tonight over this
life inside a set of borrowed headphones definitely has its downsides. So here's a song. I slapped it together in a few short hours this evening, and it's nothing but scratch tracks for a real song. That's why I'm posting it as is. This is the primordial soup of a rock and roll song.
I'm an old man in a city
waiting for a trial
who stands to lose everything over
his lifestyle
instead of giving in, he has
chosen to fight
he won't let anyone choose for him
what's wrong and what's right
on the other side of that town
I'm a woman sleeping on the ground
all she ever owned was taken to
the impound
how could anyone justify
forcing her to fight
when she only wanted to choose
for herself
what's wrong and what's right
so what's wrong and what's right
what's day and what's night
can't we live our own lives
why must we fight?
when it came down to it
why they didn't give in
even when they knew they couldn't win
is because they made their own choice
of what's wrong and what's right
what's day and what's night
don't try to fight
**Update**
Originally I wrote this with hopes that I would be able to perform it live at Hemp Fest, and today on NPR they were talking about the marijuana market as a "grey market" rather than a "black market", because of medical marijuana and the legalities involved with that whole movement. I just thought I would point that out because it further locks in the title of this song, "Grey Matters."
I'm an old man in a city
waiting for a trial
who stands to lose everything over
his lifestyle
instead of giving in, he has
chosen to fight
he won't let anyone choose for him
what's wrong and what's right
on the other side of that town
I'm a woman sleeping on the ground
all she ever owned was taken to
the impound
how could anyone justify
forcing her to fight
when she only wanted to choose
for herself
what's wrong and what's right
so what's wrong and what's right
what's day and what's night
can't we live our own lives
why must we fight?
when it came down to it
why they didn't give in
even when they knew they couldn't win
is because they made their own choice
of what's wrong and what's right
what's day and what's night
don't try to fight
**Update**
Originally I wrote this with hopes that I would be able to perform it live at Hemp Fest, and today on NPR they were talking about the marijuana market as a "grey market" rather than a "black market", because of medical marijuana and the legalities involved with that whole movement. I just thought I would point that out because it further locks in the title of this song, "Grey Matters."
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Piso Flow
Much as I might want to give you a stereo recording on this, it shain't be so. look, i've gotta get going here in a minute, but i wanted to share this with you all. and just so you know how much i wanted you to see this, i have had to copy and pste every letter "a" in this little note because my "a" key isn't typing.
word,
M Chase Collum
"Piso Flow" lyrics below:
Call them criminals
then call them up.
Gi've them guns to...
Kill the ones you...
Fear.
Then,
tell your proles that
"Victory Is Near"
When it's no nearer than last year.
You pack your Goldman Parachute
while you sweep dead under rugs
with your million dollar boots
while you give the poor their hugs
and while the plaines are
Crashing Down
you
float above in the
highest of fashion
Oh, how many souls
are swept up in your flow?
word,
M Chase Collum
"Piso Flow" lyrics below:
Call them criminals
then call them up.
Gi've them guns to...
Kill the ones you...
Fear.
Then,
tell your proles that
"Victory Is Near"
When it's no nearer than last year.
You pack your Goldman Parachute
while you sweep dead under rugs
with your million dollar boots
while you give the poor their hugs
and while the plaines are
Crashing Down
you
float above in the
highest of fashion
Oh, how many souls
are swept up in your flow?
Saturday, February 6, 2010
hey, man
i spend a lot of my life being the lower case i version of myself. I'm passively aggressive, and overly confrontational in all the wrong ways. i'm a liar. i cut corners sometimes. I don't respect the opinions of those around me, and this is even true in my own home. i'm rude when I drive a lot of the time. I feel like what I'm doing is so important that I don't give other people the respect and space that they need to accomplish what it is that is important to them. I feign interest in things I have no intention in supporting.
The list goes on.
And on.
and on
On with it, though. If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding. How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?
you gotta eat what is in front of you. clean your plate and then worry about the dishes.
So let me clean my plate. let me say something that can make this place better, kinder, gentler, more loving.
I want to be a real man, and not just a poser. I'm not one to start a fight, but I'm not going to be one to pussy foot around the elephant in the room, either. i can't allow myself to be the type of person that just let's everything be. let it be, let it be, oh let it be. Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
but I can't. I've got to agitate. aggravate. elevate. i'm a social dingle berry. not quite climbing but holding on for dear life to the pubic hairs of success. i'm flailing and gnashing at the other berries and i'm trying to be the highlander too much. i could stand to learn a lot from Iceland, with their egalitarian mindset and community based thinking.
And my values are unachievably high. Despite the worst of myself that I am, i am a great person. I have worth and value. feelings. emotional and irrational thoughts. cloudy days.
it's people like you who actually care enough about some one other than yourself to read a blog that has nothing to do with your life (though that's not exactly true in the end i hope you see the point i am illustrating by stating it) that have inspired the next song I will post on my blog.
this is an old one, and in fact it is the first recording of me playing an electric guitar in existence. A good friend of mine, Kristy recorded this for the price of a pack of smokes to help me get some music out there and to get some experience as an engineer. She's really good at what she does, and I've always loved this song and the recording of it.
I'll post the words below so you can read them as it plays. I give you "hey, man" and dedicate it to you as well.
hey, man
so many people come and go
some like to move real fast and
some like to take it slow
with all circumstances
shuffling us around
i've gotta tell ya man
it's so good to hear that sound
and you'd look so cool
in a kaleidoscope
how i wish that i could
see ya that way right now
but it's good to see you
either way
it's good to know that
you are still around
The list goes on.
And on.
and on
On with it, though. If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding. How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?
you gotta eat what is in front of you. clean your plate and then worry about the dishes.
So let me clean my plate. let me say something that can make this place better, kinder, gentler, more loving.
I want to be a real man, and not just a poser. I'm not one to start a fight, but I'm not going to be one to pussy foot around the elephant in the room, either. i can't allow myself to be the type of person that just let's everything be. let it be, let it be, oh let it be. Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
but I can't. I've got to agitate. aggravate. elevate. i'm a social dingle berry. not quite climbing but holding on for dear life to the pubic hairs of success. i'm flailing and gnashing at the other berries and i'm trying to be the highlander too much. i could stand to learn a lot from Iceland, with their egalitarian mindset and community based thinking.
And my values are unachievably high. Despite the worst of myself that I am, i am a great person. I have worth and value. feelings. emotional and irrational thoughts. cloudy days.
it's people like you who actually care enough about some one other than yourself to read a blog that has nothing to do with your life (though that's not exactly true in the end i hope you see the point i am illustrating by stating it) that have inspired the next song I will post on my blog.
this is an old one, and in fact it is the first recording of me playing an electric guitar in existence. A good friend of mine, Kristy recorded this for the price of a pack of smokes to help me get some music out there and to get some experience as an engineer. She's really good at what she does, and I've always loved this song and the recording of it.
I'll post the words below so you can read them as it plays. I give you "hey, man" and dedicate it to you as well.
hey, man
so many people come and go
some like to move real fast and
some like to take it slow
with all circumstances
shuffling us around
i've gotta tell ya man
it's so good to hear that sound
and you'd look so cool
in a kaleidoscope
how i wish that i could
see ya that way right now
but it's good to see you
either way
it's good to know that
you are still around
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
the mix down
What's great about the music as it happens to sound when a recording is fresh and still smelling of afterbirth is that you can hear the reality of the moment that you were alive to put down all of your tracks. All of the dynamics are completely organic, and in that way pure. Unadulterated.
When I listen to a song, and I mean really listen to a song that someone's made, I want to hear at least one thing that wasn't supposed to happen. That one little muffled pat of a foot tapping in the booth or a buzzed fret for good measure. An illogical breathe is even enough to satisfy this odd desire of mine. i guess that's why for a really long time in my life I listened to nothing but live music. All of this indulgence was made possible by the people at Napster and Kazaa whom I do so sorely miss.
Wait, did this musician just say that he misses free downloads without consequences? Yeah, dude. I think that free access to your art is the best way to earn the trust and respect of any listening audience that may sprout up for you as an artist. That's right, I'm talking to you. I'm talking to myself, too. And the best part about being on a blog now is that at anytime, I can talk about what I'm thinking about and share things that I wouldn't normally have a chance to share with everyone I know and don't know, and in turn all of you can talk with me about these things. Then I can go check out the other blogs that I follow and see what my friends are thinking about. Pretty cool, huh? and none of this has any time constraint. in five years, chances are someone can come back here and see what I was thinking about. Who is controlling history now, biotch?
Mwahahahahahaaaahahahahhhahahaaahaaaa!!!!
We, the people do suggest that everyone in the world get in on the conversation. and just like our world, the art and context of it all is ever changing. We feel one way about it one day and then experience a bipolar reversal in our opinion the next. More bass. No, that was too much. Louder drums. quiter drums. g-verb. tremolo. 3 db. -12 db. normalize. compress. act react preaction.
and all this just to issue a different mix of a song that's already on the blog a few entries down the way. but that's the thing. we don't just finish a song, put it to master and call it a day any more. we live in a time of remixes and remasters and 3-d quadraphonic sound.
On this mix, I eq'ed out some of the scratchy highs on the vocals and boosted the volume and bass on the drum track in certain key places. A little boost on the bass track volume so you can hear what's going on down there. It sounds good through Sony Headphones anyways.
word,
M. Chase
When I listen to a song, and I mean really listen to a song that someone's made, I want to hear at least one thing that wasn't supposed to happen. That one little muffled pat of a foot tapping in the booth or a buzzed fret for good measure. An illogical breathe is even enough to satisfy this odd desire of mine. i guess that's why for a really long time in my life I listened to nothing but live music. All of this indulgence was made possible by the people at Napster and Kazaa whom I do so sorely miss.
Wait, did this musician just say that he misses free downloads without consequences? Yeah, dude. I think that free access to your art is the best way to earn the trust and respect of any listening audience that may sprout up for you as an artist. That's right, I'm talking to you. I'm talking to myself, too. And the best part about being on a blog now is that at anytime, I can talk about what I'm thinking about and share things that I wouldn't normally have a chance to share with everyone I know and don't know, and in turn all of you can talk with me about these things. Then I can go check out the other blogs that I follow and see what my friends are thinking about. Pretty cool, huh? and none of this has any time constraint. in five years, chances are someone can come back here and see what I was thinking about. Who is controlling history now, biotch?
Mwahahahahahaaaahahahahhhahahaaahaaaa!!!!
We, the people do suggest that everyone in the world get in on the conversation. and just like our world, the art and context of it all is ever changing. We feel one way about it one day and then experience a bipolar reversal in our opinion the next. More bass. No, that was too much. Louder drums. quiter drums. g-verb. tremolo. 3 db. -12 db. normalize. compress. act react preaction.
and all this just to issue a different mix of a song that's already on the blog a few entries down the way. but that's the thing. we don't just finish a song, put it to master and call it a day any more. we live in a time of remixes and remasters and 3-d quadraphonic sound.
On this mix, I eq'ed out some of the scratchy highs on the vocals and boosted the volume and bass on the drum track in certain key places. A little boost on the bass track volume so you can hear what's going on down there. It sounds good through Sony Headphones anyways.
word,
M. Chase
Monday, January 25, 2010
It's not over till the skinny white boy sings
I have an indecision problem. And this problem is pervasive throughout my life as many of you who know me well know damn well. Miranda will ask me, "What are you making for dinner?" or "What do you want to do for your birthday (which is this thursday I might add)?" or Zach might ask me "Do you want to go to a show on Sunday?"
"I don't know."
And that's just the simple stuff. Of course there are far more relevant examples that I could make, but frankly, using them would make me look bad and stupid. Whether or not I am bad and stupid, I will leave up to you, my humble readers.
Now the reason I am even telling you this is that you are going to have to bear with me (or not, really) when it comes to naming my creative endeavors. I am a frequent user of "working titles," and I like to write songs that could be holed up with all diversity of pigeons. Double and triple meanings, agendas that are hidden from the agendas: This is just how I am. And who I am, I might add.
So, I know that I had posted a song and labeled it as "Well" a couple days ago, but that was a mistake. I actually meant to call it "The Stranger" in homage to both my psychopathy and my favorite rag. The Stranger is a local free weekly in Seattle, and it is the newspaper who's classifieds led me to a dingy, sweat encumbered and soon to be condemned little building in the stadium district known as "Hush Studios," the place that I actually became a musician by virtue of the fact that I was creating and performing music in real life and outside of my barracks. I will submit that I had been a producer and *chuckle chuckle* rapper (that's right, I said rapper (http://www.myspace.com/eequalsmcsee if you don't believe me)) up until that point, but I never thought I would actually end up doing that forever. I learned a lot from it, but it wasn't my ends.
So there it is folks, change order #1. And I may end up changing it again. You know, to keep you on your toes and such. The Stranger.
Out,
M. Chase
"I don't know."
And that's just the simple stuff. Of course there are far more relevant examples that I could make, but frankly, using them would make me look bad and stupid. Whether or not I am bad and stupid, I will leave up to you, my humble readers.
Now the reason I am even telling you this is that you are going to have to bear with me (or not, really) when it comes to naming my creative endeavors. I am a frequent user of "working titles," and I like to write songs that could be holed up with all diversity of pigeons. Double and triple meanings, agendas that are hidden from the agendas: This is just how I am. And who I am, I might add.
So, I know that I had posted a song and labeled it as "Well" a couple days ago, but that was a mistake. I actually meant to call it "The Stranger" in homage to both my psychopathy and my favorite rag. The Stranger is a local free weekly in Seattle, and it is the newspaper who's classifieds led me to a dingy, sweat encumbered and soon to be condemned little building in the stadium district known as "Hush Studios," the place that I actually became a musician by virtue of the fact that I was creating and performing music in real life and outside of my barracks. I will submit that I had been a producer and *chuckle chuckle* rapper (that's right, I said rapper (http://www.myspace.com/eequalsmcsee if you don't believe me)) up until that point, but I never thought I would actually end up doing that forever. I learned a lot from it, but it wasn't my ends.
So there it is folks, change order #1. And I may end up changing it again. You know, to keep you on your toes and such. The Stranger.
Out,
M. Chase
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Well...
So I'm happy to announce that I finished recording another song today. Of course there are things that I'd like to improve upon, but it does me no good to just hold out forever, hoping that I will lay down that golden track any day now...
Next thing you know, weeks have gone by and you are still working on the same old song. And in fact you've actually started to despise both yourself and the music that you are trying to create. That's what started happening with the last song I was working on.
So in this new track, I'm trying some new techniques as far as recording the drum machine and guitars. I've got a Fender mini amp that I tried playing the drums through to give them a more acoustic presence. For the bass, I just ran it straight into the board. And the guitar is set with a some extra gain through the mini. Vocals are direct in too. The track has minimal effects; I added a splash of reverb and delay to the vox and guitar track for presence and whipped up a little "pan magic" to make it sound a little more live.
Things I'd like to work through include a lot of hissing in the background, figuring out a way to get a clean vocal without overdriving my mic, and getting more than one guitar tone into the song. Enough about what I think, though. Here's the song. Enjoy, "Well".
***Update***
Alright, so I posted this a little over a week ago, and I'm realizing that I need to put a little more into it than I did. Let's talk about this song, alright? Forget about the technicalities of the recording, and the musicianship or lack thereof (depending on your tastes). As you will be hearing from me quite a bit if you send any amount of time absorbing this blog, there is something of a back story that needs to be observed before I can adequately explain what this song is all about.
It all started with a fellow named Ben. I was fresh out of the army, and working at my first full time civilian office job in Bellevue. I had gotten the job through a very close friend of mine, and was doing pretty well at it when this tall, bouncy guy with tousled and slightly greasy blonde hair, rumpled clothing, and some kind of fire under his ass. He was a temp, and so no one really got on him about his appearance. Besides, his attitude and willingness to work hard more than made up for it.
After he had been working there for about three weeks, I saw him standing by the bus stop after quiting time and so I thought I would give him a ride home. Then rides became a regular occurrence and we eventually started hanging out quite a bit when we found out that we were both really interested in expanding consciousness and spiritualism, meditating, and other soul-related stuff. One SeaFair weekend, we wanted to get to Capitol Hill for something and driving was just not an option, so we decided to walk there.
We had such a good time and felt so good about the whole thing that we made a decision that any time Ben and I were going somewhere together, we would walk and only if necessary would we utilize public transportation. In our prime, we were averaging 50 miles on foot per week with treks that took us from Richmond Beach to Sodo. At one point we covered 75 miles in one weekend. We barely even slept. It became an addiction.
The solitude that comes with being constantly on the move and all of the thoughts that finally had the time to think for themselves led me to figure out what matters to me in this life. Most of the philosophies that I still adhere to were formulated on the road. And though Ben and I would have conversations from time to time, we mostly just gave each other a reason to keep up the pace.
But as lives tend to go, Ben and I started moving in different directions. I was getting saner and saner as I aged (debatable I'm sure) and he was losing grip. I had been fired from my job and he had been hired on as a permanent staff member in my place, and the office environment wasn't kind to his free spirit. He could've been a shaman in a hut and not a dweeb in a cubicle. Should've. But reality is what it will be and times were tough on him. The last time we were together was after a night of music at the Sound Asylum, and he was being extra spacey. He wanted to get on the road, to get moving, and tramp about. Not just in Seattle, but all over. And though I though it was a novel idea, I wasn't about to uproot myself from my band and my life in Seattle. It was all still pretty new to me and I wasn't ready to even consider it. Well, he didn't like that and he went off on a tirade about no one caring what he did with his life, which ended in him slamming his arm in the car door repeatedly to prove that he felt nothing. I don't remember what happened next but I wasn't having any part in his newfound sense of destruction, so I kindly took my leave of his immediate friendship.
After Ben and I stopped hanging out, one thing that remained in my life was the walking. I didn't feel right if a week went by without an inordinately long hike that involved taking the long way around so that I would have a chance to walk down an unfamiliar street. I would be alone in the seediest sections of the CD during the darkest hours of the night just to feel alive. The sounds of the city around me were a constant reminder that I wasn't alone in this world, even if I was in lonely company.
With all of the time I was spending alone on the road, I took up the habit of talking to myself. I was pretty self conscious about it at first, but after a while I stopped caring if I had an audience. But there was this one specific time that I was tramping and I was full on back and forthing with myself in a debate on some incidental or another when this clean cut suburbanite lady crossed my path. As we approached each other, I could see that I was frightening her and that she thought I was going to snap or take her purse or something. I can imagine that from her perspective I looked pretty scary with my frazzled long blonde hair and huge baggy clothing, but I had never really thought about it before then. At first I was in a tizzy about it though. "Who is she to be judging me?" I thought.
When I got home that night I sat down with my Harmony and started riffing out when I came across the chords that I ended up using in this song.
And that, my friends, is the short version. Seriously.
Also, I'd like to add that one of the themes of this song is the internet. It's so strange and beautiful to me that we can express ourselves in a way that can be decoded by people from all walks of life both nw and in to the future.
Here's to Al Gore.
Next thing you know, weeks have gone by and you are still working on the same old song. And in fact you've actually started to despise both yourself and the music that you are trying to create. That's what started happening with the last song I was working on.
So in this new track, I'm trying some new techniques as far as recording the drum machine and guitars. I've got a Fender mini amp that I tried playing the drums through to give them a more acoustic presence. For the bass, I just ran it straight into the board. And the guitar is set with a some extra gain through the mini. Vocals are direct in too. The track has minimal effects; I added a splash of reverb and delay to the vox and guitar track for presence and whipped up a little "pan magic" to make it sound a little more live.
Things I'd like to work through include a lot of hissing in the background, figuring out a way to get a clean vocal without overdriving my mic, and getting more than one guitar tone into the song. Enough about what I think, though. Here's the song. Enjoy, "Well".
***Update***
Alright, so I posted this a little over a week ago, and I'm realizing that I need to put a little more into it than I did. Let's talk about this song, alright? Forget about the technicalities of the recording, and the musicianship or lack thereof (depending on your tastes). As you will be hearing from me quite a bit if you send any amount of time absorbing this blog, there is something of a back story that needs to be observed before I can adequately explain what this song is all about.
It all started with a fellow named Ben. I was fresh out of the army, and working at my first full time civilian office job in Bellevue. I had gotten the job through a very close friend of mine, and was doing pretty well at it when this tall, bouncy guy with tousled and slightly greasy blonde hair, rumpled clothing, and some kind of fire under his ass. He was a temp, and so no one really got on him about his appearance. Besides, his attitude and willingness to work hard more than made up for it.
After he had been working there for about three weeks, I saw him standing by the bus stop after quiting time and so I thought I would give him a ride home. Then rides became a regular occurrence and we eventually started hanging out quite a bit when we found out that we were both really interested in expanding consciousness and spiritualism, meditating, and other soul-related stuff. One SeaFair weekend, we wanted to get to Capitol Hill for something and driving was just not an option, so we decided to walk there.
We had such a good time and felt so good about the whole thing that we made a decision that any time Ben and I were going somewhere together, we would walk and only if necessary would we utilize public transportation. In our prime, we were averaging 50 miles on foot per week with treks that took us from Richmond Beach to Sodo. At one point we covered 75 miles in one weekend. We barely even slept. It became an addiction.
The solitude that comes with being constantly on the move and all of the thoughts that finally had the time to think for themselves led me to figure out what matters to me in this life. Most of the philosophies that I still adhere to were formulated on the road. And though Ben and I would have conversations from time to time, we mostly just gave each other a reason to keep up the pace.
But as lives tend to go, Ben and I started moving in different directions. I was getting saner and saner as I aged (debatable I'm sure) and he was losing grip. I had been fired from my job and he had been hired on as a permanent staff member in my place, and the office environment wasn't kind to his free spirit. He could've been a shaman in a hut and not a dweeb in a cubicle. Should've. But reality is what it will be and times were tough on him. The last time we were together was after a night of music at the Sound Asylum, and he was being extra spacey. He wanted to get on the road, to get moving, and tramp about. Not just in Seattle, but all over. And though I though it was a novel idea, I wasn't about to uproot myself from my band and my life in Seattle. It was all still pretty new to me and I wasn't ready to even consider it. Well, he didn't like that and he went off on a tirade about no one caring what he did with his life, which ended in him slamming his arm in the car door repeatedly to prove that he felt nothing. I don't remember what happened next but I wasn't having any part in his newfound sense of destruction, so I kindly took my leave of his immediate friendship.
After Ben and I stopped hanging out, one thing that remained in my life was the walking. I didn't feel right if a week went by without an inordinately long hike that involved taking the long way around so that I would have a chance to walk down an unfamiliar street. I would be alone in the seediest sections of the CD during the darkest hours of the night just to feel alive. The sounds of the city around me were a constant reminder that I wasn't alone in this world, even if I was in lonely company.
With all of the time I was spending alone on the road, I took up the habit of talking to myself. I was pretty self conscious about it at first, but after a while I stopped caring if I had an audience. But there was this one specific time that I was tramping and I was full on back and forthing with myself in a debate on some incidental or another when this clean cut suburbanite lady crossed my path. As we approached each other, I could see that I was frightening her and that she thought I was going to snap or take her purse or something. I can imagine that from her perspective I looked pretty scary with my frazzled long blonde hair and huge baggy clothing, but I had never really thought about it before then. At first I was in a tizzy about it though. "Who is she to be judging me?" I thought.
When I got home that night I sat down with my Harmony and started riffing out when I came across the chords that I ended up using in this song.
And that, my friends, is the short version. Seriously.
Also, I'd like to add that one of the themes of this song is the internet. It's so strange and beautiful to me that we can express ourselves in a way that can be decoded by people from all walks of life both nw and in to the future.
Here's to Al Gore.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Roots
***Okay first off, this is going to be kind of a long blog and I plomise that they will be shorter than this from now one (for the most part)...
I guess that this whole endeavor could use a little bit of an explanation, so let me offer you a minority of the back story that is involved. To keep it brief, I'll sum up by saying that I wrote my first song at the age of nineteen, so at this time, I've been a songwriter for eight years now. As far as my musical history, I received a few months of piano instruction when I was ten, and during that time, I took an interest in playing drums. I spent many years under the teaching of one instructor or another in playing a conventional trap kit as well as other more orchestra related percussion instruments. I had done a little singing in youth choirs at my local church, but never really showed much potential in that department. After a few years in the army, I ended up at Ft. Lewis and was honorably discharged in 2006.
Prior to that, I had become the lead singer of a Seattle band which I continued to do for two and a half years. During that time, we completed a number of amateur recordings and one that was highly professional. I also spent a lot of this time period in isolation at our twenty four hour rehearsal studio at the northern edge of Elliott Bay Park (Sound Asylum) teaching myself how to play acoustic and electric guitar as well as bass, relearning piano, and continuing to hone my drumming abilities. Here is a song that I recorded at Paradise Studio in Index, WA. This song is called Dark elegance, and this is the song that I learned to play piano for. I just couldn't get it out of my head. It's pretty short. Recording mixing and mastering credit goes to Pat Sample, a hell of a guy with an amazing studio and family.
It was the discovery of a functional four track tape recorder that led me to begin documenting my progress as a solo artist, and in the late summer of 2009, in the only corner of my basement bedroom that wasn't ankle deep in rumpled clothing, I recorded my first lo fi album with thirteen songs on it, ten of which were originals. I named that recording "Recycled Tapes" to honor the media that I had available to me at the time, and it was very much a "Hustle & Flow" type of scenario. With this recording I took my first step towards fulfilling a vow that I made t myself to get my music out into the world by any means necessary.
Below I have included a song that you could say is a real highlight of that session, an acoustic cover of "Dead Flowers" by The Rolling Stones. I feel that this is a good example of where I started out as far as my abilities to provide a quality representation of my musical vision both through the performance that is captured and the capturing of that performance. Recording credit goes to me, transfer to digital form and mixing goes to Kevin Narkness at the Seattle Drum School. Trust me, he took a lot of noise out of these to get what we did. Press play now.
Okay, so after that, I booked a few shows and was really starting to make some good progress when catastrophe struck and I was the proud owner of a collapsed lung. This happened in December 2008 to keep things in chronological perspective. Instantly I became a non-smoker, and I was forced to give up singing for many months to allow my respiratory system to heal from the trauma. In the mean time, I began playing music with a childhood friend of mine, and we were booking as many as four shows a week for a few months, into the spring of 2009. We tried all sorts of formats, but never really settled in to anything. We even became a three piece for a few shows and suffered from things like a drummer who stopped playing in the middle of a song because he was lost, and a general sense of being unable to commit to a certain sonic arrangement.
I got restless during all of this hemming and hawing, and my desire to see the music that was constantly running through my mind brought into being became increasingly strong. also in the midst of all this, I met my current girlfriend and we became very serious. In late January 2009 we moved into a bedroom that was shared with a couple of juggalos whose drinking habits and tendencies toward domestic violence really left a lot of mental scar tissue on us that is a factor in our lives to this day. By April, we had been through enough and while our roommate was in jail for slashing our tires and being an overall total childish bitch (don't get me wrong, when we first moved in we saw the good in those people, and I still have to say that I enjoyed much of the time that we were there) and on the twentieth, we moved into the apartment that we still share, where I immediately began setting up my own home studio.
Originally, I liked the idea of naming the studio The Eight-Pound Head Shop, but in the end I've come to think that that's just too tedious. Putting all of that aside, I was very enthused with this new apartment and the ability to begin recording at home again, so I put together a song on tape once again. I called this song "Wicked," and you may listen to it now. I did all the work on everything from here on out unless otherwise accredited.
After recording that song, I realized that background noise was my biggest enemy in everything that I had produced so far. So many of the best qualities of the sounds that I was recording were getting lost in my mixes, and I had to start figuring out a way to get rid of it. I'm a big fan of DIY, but I was beginning to realize that organic can be organized without losing most of its better qualities. With that, I began acquiring equipment. I got a great deal on a very fast and powerful desktop computer from a gamer friend of mine capable of running highly demanding recording software (though currently I'm all about the freeware version of Audacity). I was given (to borrow) an M-Audio USB interface device and also I was allowed to borrow a Yamaha keyboard and Sony headphones from RockIt on Beacon Hill where I volunteer. The same friend who let me borrow the USB interface also sold me an electronic drum kit that he was done tinkering with at a price I couldn't turn down. In fact, it was Miranda (the aforementioned lover) who pulled the cash out of her purse without batting an eyelash and bought it for me on the spot. With my acoustic guitar (also a gift back when I got out of the army, it's a 1955 Harmony with a custom paint job, the one in the middle of picture "The Wall" on main blog page), Johnson acoustic-electric bass guitar (bought from a street kid after a show), Alesis Drum Machine(from David, my own personal philanthropist), and a Beringer amp simulator, I recorded the first song for a newly launched project.
Let me tell you a little about that quickly here, and I will leave you tonight with one more song. So it was Michael Moore who inspired the name of my newest undertaking, and that which will be the subject of the blogging on this site from here on out. The name of this "band" in which I am the only member wearing all the hats is Dead Peasants. Under this moniker I will write, record, and distribute music that I eventually intend to play in front of live audience with a full band of other musicians. The first album, which will really be more of a demo will be called "Arbeit Macht Frei." Here is the first completed demo track from Arbeit Macht Frei, and it's called "What Do You Know."
As I am currently in the middle of recording the next piece of music for this album, I will be talking with you again soon with more on this story as it unfolds.
Positive Vibes,
M. Chase
I guess that this whole endeavor could use a little bit of an explanation, so let me offer you a minority of the back story that is involved. To keep it brief, I'll sum up by saying that I wrote my first song at the age of nineteen, so at this time, I've been a songwriter for eight years now. As far as my musical history, I received a few months of piano instruction when I was ten, and during that time, I took an interest in playing drums. I spent many years under the teaching of one instructor or another in playing a conventional trap kit as well as other more orchestra related percussion instruments. I had done a little singing in youth choirs at my local church, but never really showed much potential in that department. After a few years in the army, I ended up at Ft. Lewis and was honorably discharged in 2006.
Prior to that, I had become the lead singer of a Seattle band which I continued to do for two and a half years. During that time, we completed a number of amateur recordings and one that was highly professional. I also spent a lot of this time period in isolation at our twenty four hour rehearsal studio at the northern edge of Elliott Bay Park (Sound Asylum) teaching myself how to play acoustic and electric guitar as well as bass, relearning piano, and continuing to hone my drumming abilities. Here is a song that I recorded at Paradise Studio in Index, WA. This song is called Dark elegance, and this is the song that I learned to play piano for. I just couldn't get it out of my head. It's pretty short. Recording mixing and mastering credit goes to Pat Sample, a hell of a guy with an amazing studio and family.
It was the discovery of a functional four track tape recorder that led me to begin documenting my progress as a solo artist, and in the late summer of 2009, in the only corner of my basement bedroom that wasn't ankle deep in rumpled clothing, I recorded my first lo fi album with thirteen songs on it, ten of which were originals. I named that recording "Recycled Tapes" to honor the media that I had available to me at the time, and it was very much a "Hustle & Flow" type of scenario. With this recording I took my first step towards fulfilling a vow that I made t myself to get my music out into the world by any means necessary.
Below I have included a song that you could say is a real highlight of that session, an acoustic cover of "Dead Flowers" by The Rolling Stones. I feel that this is a good example of where I started out as far as my abilities to provide a quality representation of my musical vision both through the performance that is captured and the capturing of that performance. Recording credit goes to me, transfer to digital form and mixing goes to Kevin Narkness at the Seattle Drum School. Trust me, he took a lot of noise out of these to get what we did. Press play now.
Okay, so after that, I booked a few shows and was really starting to make some good progress when catastrophe struck and I was the proud owner of a collapsed lung. This happened in December 2008 to keep things in chronological perspective. Instantly I became a non-smoker, and I was forced to give up singing for many months to allow my respiratory system to heal from the trauma. In the mean time, I began playing music with a childhood friend of mine, and we were booking as many as four shows a week for a few months, into the spring of 2009. We tried all sorts of formats, but never really settled in to anything. We even became a three piece for a few shows and suffered from things like a drummer who stopped playing in the middle of a song because he was lost, and a general sense of being unable to commit to a certain sonic arrangement.
I got restless during all of this hemming and hawing, and my desire to see the music that was constantly running through my mind brought into being became increasingly strong. also in the midst of all this, I met my current girlfriend and we became very serious. In late January 2009 we moved into a bedroom that was shared with a couple of juggalos whose drinking habits and tendencies toward domestic violence really left a lot of mental scar tissue on us that is a factor in our lives to this day. By April, we had been through enough and while our roommate was in jail for slashing our tires and being an overall total childish bitch (don't get me wrong, when we first moved in we saw the good in those people, and I still have to say that I enjoyed much of the time that we were there) and on the twentieth, we moved into the apartment that we still share, where I immediately began setting up my own home studio.
Originally, I liked the idea of naming the studio The Eight-Pound Head Shop, but in the end I've come to think that that's just too tedious. Putting all of that aside, I was very enthused with this new apartment and the ability to begin recording at home again, so I put together a song on tape once again. I called this song "Wicked," and you may listen to it now. I did all the work on everything from here on out unless otherwise accredited.
After recording that song, I realized that background noise was my biggest enemy in everything that I had produced so far. So many of the best qualities of the sounds that I was recording were getting lost in my mixes, and I had to start figuring out a way to get rid of it. I'm a big fan of DIY, but I was beginning to realize that organic can be organized without losing most of its better qualities. With that, I began acquiring equipment. I got a great deal on a very fast and powerful desktop computer from a gamer friend of mine capable of running highly demanding recording software (though currently I'm all about the freeware version of Audacity). I was given (to borrow) an M-Audio USB interface device and also I was allowed to borrow a Yamaha keyboard and Sony headphones from RockIt on Beacon Hill where I volunteer. The same friend who let me borrow the USB interface also sold me an electronic drum kit that he was done tinkering with at a price I couldn't turn down. In fact, it was Miranda (the aforementioned lover) who pulled the cash out of her purse without batting an eyelash and bought it for me on the spot. With my acoustic guitar (also a gift back when I got out of the army, it's a 1955 Harmony with a custom paint job, the one in the middle of picture "The Wall" on main blog page), Johnson acoustic-electric bass guitar (bought from a street kid after a show), Alesis Drum Machine(from David, my own personal philanthropist), and a Beringer amp simulator, I recorded the first song for a newly launched project.
Let me tell you a little about that quickly here, and I will leave you tonight with one more song. So it was Michael Moore who inspired the name of my newest undertaking, and that which will be the subject of the blogging on this site from here on out. The name of this "band" in which I am the only member wearing all the hats is Dead Peasants. Under this moniker I will write, record, and distribute music that I eventually intend to play in front of live audience with a full band of other musicians. The first album, which will really be more of a demo will be called "Arbeit Macht Frei." Here is the first completed demo track from Arbeit Macht Frei, and it's called "What Do You Know."
As I am currently in the middle of recording the next piece of music for this album, I will be talking with you again soon with more on this story as it unfolds.
Positive Vibes,
M. Chase
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