This song started out as "Bingo Bars" which had some of the dumbest lyrics ever written. Getting decent lyrics into my music has always been a challenge and the early version of this song is a great example of my verbal under- achievement. Yet we stuck with that song and even played it in front of audiences. Why? We really loved the music - it's very blert: a tricky rhythm, a weird harmony, a chance for something epic...
I remember when this song arrived, Neal and I were in our space at Downtown Rehearsal Studios and one of us found some book for drummers (icymi: drummers read!) about odd time signatures. The book contained exercises in which they lay down a beat in 4/4 and then add or drop a beat in a phrase.
Neal loved to experiment with beats and rhythms that don't fit into a mold and these exercises kept us on our toes. I liked playing simple guitar lines along with one particular pattern and then BOOM- something clicked. Bingo Bars arrived quickly.
Flash-forward to the now and between Neal and Tasha we have new lyrics which are so much more vital and current - we added some other arrangement twists that help this song really blast off. Hope you are ready to escape...
Really must escape
Another one dead today
In this age of madness
How can we ever be free Feeling all the rage
Feeding it for days
The beauty has lost its luster
All I hear is hate
Seeing all the ways
We've seemingly gone insane
Think of all your lost ones
Peeling off the pain
Make for better space
The joys have drowned in our sorrows
Breath is hard to take
Giving up the game
Been feeling it for days
The moment has lost momentum
And belief is fake
Escape
Escape
Escape
And rage is what I pray
Breaking all composure
Hey that's all O.K.
Time to leave this placev Some will choose to stay
There's no room for the dead ones
Everything falls away
Escape
Escape
Escape
Filled with rage and a false sense of hope
We come so close now
Has it all been a fucking joke
Who writes the narrative
Where one thing is more than the rest
Destroy the premise
And escape this
Whatever you call It
And these things we are tripping about
The beasts in the room
Where the space between me and you
Is in doubt
How can we ever be free
Ever be free
Go listen:
This is new. This is experimental. This is for fun.
I shared a few brief instrumental songs that I called doodles in this year's Song-A-Day event. These doodles came from a process I developed over a stretch of Sunday mornings basically as part of the breakfast routine. My girls would sit on the couch and read a book (or more likely: play a video game) and I'd create something with a guitar, delay pedal, and looping pedal.
Eventually I got smart and started recording the resulting compositions on my phone. At some point later this year, I stumbled onto those recordings and those sounds instantly brought me back to Sunday morning. So think of it as a holiday gift (yes, you may re-gift this if it's not your thing - seriously: find someone who might appreciate this and send it over to them).
Here's what I wrote on Bandcamp...
I created these doodles at home as part of my Sunday morning routine that also included coffee, a newspaper, and making breakfast for my girls. These compositions are conceived in the moment and barely captured using the voice memo app on my phone.
The resulting Lo-fi recordings are special to me because they capture the time and place where our lives took a turn toward a "new" direction.
The background noise, voices, creaking chairs and room sounds are part of the charm for me - listening to these could transport us right back to our living room in the 2014-2018 range. Get comfy, settle-in, let's see where this goes.
What do you think?
Keep your eyes peeled for the next post in the #MyMusical2018 series: "Other shows"
