A Year in the Garage

Every month of 2013 I will write, record and upload a new song. All of them using GarageBand and a bedroom. I hope you enjoy :)

[stphnjgrdn]

Hey all,

When I heard this song for the first time I knew I just had to give it a go myself. Here is my attempt and includes some drums and backing vox.

I am open to interpretations of Simon Neil's lyrics, but personally I think it is all about deep hidden emotions that are suddenly given a chance to come forth and almost overwhelm you. You just have to embrace them when they come and roll with it.

Hope your are all happy now that the Spring is here! I know I am - the sun is finally shining through the dreary midwest clouds!

S

[stphnjgrdn]

March Madness is upon us! But not in the way you would think! For me, march's madness is one of writers block - a pulling hair out, desperately trying to think of new ideas kind of madness!

I am working away these next few evenings to try and get something of quality out there for your earhole pleasures. But in the meantime, I wish to share an oldy with you.

Written and recorded 4 years ago, this song is important to me. I think it most accurately portrays the workings of my brain when under pressure - it does not usually produce what I want at the time. That is to say that what boils up from the depths of my procrastination whilst studying for exams in front of my laptop does not always end up being cute cat pictures and fail videos; but can be something entirely different indeed! This particular tangent proved to be one of the easiest and free flowing songs I have written. It almost felt like it was written already and I was just having to catch up with it with my fingers.

I wrote this song in about two hours sitting on the roof of my old student house with the sun setting. The city of Bristol had finished work for the day and everybody seemed going home to enjoy the warm evening air with their families.

I hope you enjoy listening and you will hear from me very soon ... I hope!

[biffyclyroofficial]

Tour heads to #Manchester tonight @cityandcolour onstage @ 7:15pm & Biffy @ 8:30pm. Limited # of tickets @ box office & http://bit.ly/YPhmLX

[stphnjgrdn]

Not jealous at all that I don't live in Europe anymore...

[jhnmyr]

The making of the Born and Raised artwork, and an insight into the incredible work of David Smith. 

[stphnjgrdn]

Stunning mini-doc about the production of John C Mayer's latest album. Even if you are not a fan of John's work, I dare you not to be blown away by this glass-design artists attention to beauty, even in the smallest of details ...... I want one!

[stphnjgrdn]

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Well, annoyed as I am that I missed the February deadline; I am actually pretty pleased with how this one turned out. It still needs a bit of work and I plan on re-uploading once it is finished.

I will let you all have a listen and I will give a more detailed break down of how it came about with the next version upload. All I can say is that the first section guitars are pretty much how I want, but the rest is still in the initial demo recording stage.

I appreciated any feedback, if you lovely people have any.

[stphnjgrdn]

Ok, in absence of anything from my neck of the woods. My sibling sister drew this amazing picture of Simon Neil from Biffy Clyro and I felt it needed to be shared.

[stphnjgrdn]

My all time favourite rock band, Biffy Clyro, recently came out with a new album called "Opposites". 20 Songs (22 if you count the bonus instrumentals) of gold spread across two cds "The Sand at the Core of Our Bones" & "The Land at the End of Our Toes".

When I hear a band say that they are releasing a double album; I think to myself "oh no, this is going to be another self indulgent splurge of every musical idea and whimsy demo they have had in the past two years." a la Red Hot Chili Peppers. (if anyone has listened to their double album, like me, you'll probably try the first three songs, eject it from your CD player and fling it out the car window)

However, this album is paced and balanced just to my liking. Each CD, as the title suggests, deals with opposite themes of loss and hope; with each one taking you on a journey through the intriguing mind of the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter, Simon Neil. Almost bordering on the bizarre, the lyrical style and imagery he uses tends to be very unique and fantastical; but always very grounded, sincere and honest. The sound of the album could be likened to alternative rock, but more often than not unusual time signatures, instruments and arrangements are used to provide the extra weirdness that Biffy are well known for.

http://www.xfm.co.uk/artists/interviews/biffy-clyro-on-opposites

This is a link to a great radio interview with Simon; who gives us a song by song walkthrough of the new album. (You will need to have the CD on hand, It will be released on March 22nd I believe on iTunes, as they cannot rebroadcast it for legal reasons. Much of their work is on YouTube) It's well worth a listen and is a great insight into many of the different recording techniques and ideas they worked on. 

http://www.youtube.com/user/biffyclyro

Hopefully, anyone who reads this will give the band a listen and enjoy them just as much as I do. oh... and did I mention he is from the best country in the world?

Stephen

PS Keep an eye out for February's song. It's in the works...

[stphnjgrdn]

This man is called Alan Watt. He was a British philosopher, writer and speaker. His words really resonated with me today. They came along at the perfect time.

2013 is going to be a musical year

I have a couple ideas rattling around in my head, so I'm going to take Cindy's advice and just get stuck in.

May your pancakes be showered with bacon this weekend.

[stphnjgrdn]

Well, after a pretty tiring weekend of drag queens, troll snot and plenty o' alco-ma-hol; I am finally able to take a moment and give a brief back story behind the song, Cindy's Story.

Cindy is a well known diner in Fort Wayne, IN and they serve bloody marvelous eggs (I highly recommend a visit if you happen to be in the area - and get the dish called Garbage. It's soooo gewwd!). It's become a staple of Sunday mornings for my girlfriend and I.

A couple of cold snowy weekends ago, I was scheduled to play an acoustic evening at a cafe called the Firefly. We had just finished a particularly delicious breakfast the morning of the show and for some reason I felt very inspired when I returned back to the apartment. 

It was one of those rare occasions when a song just kind of plops out of my brain with very little effort. It's such a pleasure and a relief to sit there and see what flows onto the fret board and page.

The story loosely follows one of a couple; more precisely a woman who,  having lived a long life with a loving partner, deep down has always wanted to travel, escape and broaden her horizons. Ultimately it explores the idea that although you have a great life, with loving friends and family; maybe there is a nagging feeling in the bottom of your soul. Perhaps you always wanted to learn a language, paint, travel, start your own business or just say "I love you" more.

I hope that this song has a message in it for all of us, and the message is this:

It's never too late to live a dream. You just have to take that first step into the snow.

Make a foot print. Make a choice. Make mistakes and learn from them.

Go out for breakfast once in a while.

[stphnjgrdn]

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Well hello People of 2013!

As promised, here is January's song. I can't tell you how chuffed I am that I managed to get it out by the skin of my teeth haha.

I am in a slight rush to head out for a curry... so I will let you in on the story behind the song in due course.

In the mean time, I hope you enjoy it!

[stphnjgrdn]

I recently (well not so recently, but I am pretending it was recent) I purchased GarageBand for iOS on the iPhone. It's a nice little app & seems to have a tonne of features (it certainly takes up a lot of gigabyte-age on the old iPhone HD).

I only had a chance to noodle with it a bit, but this is what I came up with.

Maybe this will give you all an idea of how easy and fast it is to come up with little ditties using this gem of an app :)

[stphnjgrdn]

Preface

Well hello there,

My name is Stephen and I write music for fun. Yesterday, I decided that it would be even more fun (tbc...) to write and record a new song every month.

Expect to find many random juicy nuggets of random things, my inevitable frustrations, self-deprecation and elations along the way.

I'm doing this for myself, so anyone who takes an interest will get a big hug (honestly, they will...)

OK, let the fun begin!

S

PS - I am not giving a deadline for the first release because I want to get drunk over christmas.