Clowns are definitely evil, and none more so than August and Whiteface. They are the anti-heroes of the third song from my EP Spirit Box. It’s a song I’ve had hanging around for ages, but only got round to recording last year. Its all pounding drums, twangy acoustic guitar and shouting crowds. ‘Let ’em swing!’, ‘Let ’em swing!’.
Songwriting Diary 3: Waylaid by a cold
A frustrated, I-know-the-laptop-is-refle
I’ve been stuck at home trying to shake off a cold. This is annoying and a waste of time.
Nevertheless, songwriting idea generation over the weekend was a success. I now have the following:
A rubbish, lazy attempt at something slow and psychedelic.
A manic riff in A minor and C minor that might kind of work.
A 12/8 melody that might make a good chorus.
An odd riff/verse/chorus song that’s somewhere between the middle of my song Three Rows of Teeth and Disco 2000 by Pulp. Sort of. But not.
So that’s not a bad start. Some, all, or none of these ideas may become finished songs at some point. Maybe.
Songwriting diary 2: First ideas
Today I hid myself away in the nightmare shed with a guitar and microphone and a notebook.
I set myself the task of coming up with some brand new song ideas from scratch. I wrote down a list of possible song ideas – a manic riff in Aminor and Cminor, a psychedelic soundscape etc – and just started playing.
I think it was a fruitful few hours. I’ve got some musical raw material that might make it all the way into a finished song.
Inspiration? There’s no such thing, there’s just hard work.
(Well, not that hard. But work. Well not work. Activity. Doing stuff. I did stuff.)
Spirit Box Vlog 1
It’s a year since I released Spirit Box. Here’s the first of a series of 4 little vlogs I did for it:
Butcher Boy Lyric Video
Here’s the full lyric video for Butcher Boy, the first track from my murder ballads EP ‘Spirit Box’. November is the first anniversary month of this EP, and I happen to think it’s one of my best releases.
Anniversary! A year since Spirit Box was released
How many songs about murder is too many? This time last year I released Spirit Box, an EP of songs about murder, ghosts, evil clowns, evil butchers and murder. So much murder. For the rest of the month I shall be banging on about this EP, which I think is one of the best things I’ve done.
Blue Autumn Breeze – New Song
Just put that new song up on the subscribers only bit of bandcamp. Possibly a finished version. Or I might do another mix at some point. But I think it’s finished. Maybe.
Do not take this as a hint of what might happen next. I think, rather than a clue as to what a next album might sound like, this might be more like getting something out of my system to make way for the new.
This is the new song about the end of the world I was talking about. Did I wait for inspiration? No, I went out to find inspiration. With a club.
(That’s a quote from someone. Jack London?)
Anyway, it is for subscribers only: https://tomslatter.bandcamp.com/immoral-supporters
Songwriting Diary 1: What next?
With the release of my last album I’ve arrived at an unusual place in my songwriting. I’ve recorded all my songs.
All right, not all of them, there are plenty of demos hanging around.
I’ve recorded all the songs I’ve written that I think are good enough to record, and I have no idea what I’m doing next. It’s an interesting place to be. Its also a bit scary.
Jan 2020 will be ten years since my first solo album. At pretty much every point since my #songwriting has outpaced my ability to get things recorded.
That doesn’t mean I haven’t written new songs as part of each album or EP production ‘cycle’ (can I call it a production cycle when it’s just me cobbling things together in my bedroom studio?). Plenty of songs were brand new at the point they were released.
Others were fully formed songs that had been sitting around for years before they finally a home in a larger project.
Others made use of ideas that were older. There are riffs and melodies I’ve put into releases that had been floating around, half-formed for decades.
But with Demon, my last CD, I’ve got to the end. There are no more obviously usable ideas in my notebooks or audio files. After every release for the last decade I’ve known exactly what comes next. Now, I don’t.
This is a little scary.
It is also exciting. Time for something new, I suppose.
Weather Balloons and Falling Stars
Here’s a little video from a recent live stream. It’s my first go at an acoustic version of Weather Balloons and Falling Stars from my new album Demon.
Angel – only 10 days then this track self destructs
There are over a hundred tracks in the subscribers only ‘Immoral Supporters’ section of my bandcamp profile, so I thought I’d share one or two with the world on a temporary basis so you can get a taste.
This is Angel, the first track from the subscribers only companion EP to my album Demon.
It is literally about cutting wings off Angels and using them to fly. There is no subtext.
This track will be public for only ten days. It will self destruct on the 15th of October. Get it while you can!
Click here for the bandcamp page where you can stream/hear/download for free.