Time For A Change – For The Better!

Hey folks! After some thought and consideration, and then some fumbling around getting used to new things , I have decided to switch my blog over to Tumblr where twitter integration will be better as well as overall appearance.

Being the tech-conscious person that I am, I think Tumblr is pointing in the right direction for the future of blogging. Technology is leading towards simpler interfaces, social integration, and easier accessibility. So This Will Be Awesome!

I am a little sad to leave some of these blog posts on wordpress though. This was meant to be a story documented from start to finish of the first album, so I will be taking core posts from the WP site and moving them over bit by bit (Mainly just articles on the song processes/lyrics).

Stay Classy WordPress readers! And to read more, go ahead on over to http://snapstompmusic.tumblr.com

Songwriting Process: Some New Updates!

Yesterday was a day spent almost entirely in my personal music studio working on polishing up a song I have been trying to finish for weeks now and a brand new song I just came up with the other night.

The idea was to make two demos to send off to Phil so we can get these recorded for the album!

Let’s just say the process went great, and I even ended up using a beer bottle for some percussion/bass on one of the tracks. 😀

That’s all I have for now!

Catch You – Lyrics

There, I did it! I wrote (lyrics so far, music definitely to follow!) a song about the struggle of finding the right words and music to write to express a concept, feeling, etc.

It was amazing that i felt inspired to write these lyrics just by taking the time to think more deeply about the writer’s block I have been having the past couple of days.

Hehehe…. Ironic eh?

I hope y’all enjoy it!

Catch You

It’s been a while since I’ve seen your face
So damn pretty but with a sense of disgrace
You know just how to move my soul
And yet you hide and leave me dull

You’ve run away and trapped me here
But I can still hear you in my head
Your shape in words becomes so clear
I’ll catch you where I rest my head
(Yeah I’ll catch you when I rest my head)

My head is spinning and it’s not from the booze
I’m tired of fighting with the words I try to use
To describe what I’m feeling inside my heart
To turn this brokenness into a work of art

You’ve run away and trapped me here
But I can still hear you in my head
Your shape in words becomes so clear
I’ll catch you where I rest my head
(Yeah I’ll catch you when I rest my head)

Sorrow, Joy, and Pain are all called by one name
Though it’s blurry my vision still sees them the same
Each feeling is part of a song that we sing
I’ll try to write you down as if I’m listening

Every Artist’s Worst Nightmare : Writers Block!

So I seem to have come down with a case of writer’s block the past couple of days, and I think the cause is feeling like I have to write a song. Because I feel like I need to write a song to record for the album, it is causing me to not feel inspired but rather pressured. I have sat down multiple times in the evenings and started playing my guitar to see if inspiration would hit, but I still can’t help but feel as if I am forcing it!

At least I am not alone, right? I mean, I am pretty sure there are lots of successful songwriters who occasionally run into bumps in the road! But here is where I am most encouraged:

A song does not need me to write it. A song happens when the circumstances are perfect for it to come into existence.

That may sound kind of odd, but it’s true. The best songs usually are songs that you write in a flash under a sudden wave of inspiration sweeping over you like a tidal wave of artistic inspiration and reflection. It’s almost as if you didn’t write the song, but simply became a channel through which the song could come into existence.

Obviously, I am not saying a song has a mind of its own or has some magical ability. But what I am saying is that a song forced will never amount to the potential and clarity of a song felt.

I am feeling for a song , it’s somewhere in my mind and soul right now and when I find it I am going to catch it!

 

My God.

 

I am going to write a song about trying to catch that song in my head that I can’t write! I’m cured!!

Update: My New Guitar!

I’ve been so stoked for my tax returns to come through , and now I am happy to say I am the proud owner of a gorgeous Gretsch guitar that sounds even sweeter than it looks!

Trust me, this is gonna make a huge difference on how the album sounds overall. I have been waiting for a long time for one of these babys!

Catching Up! Society & I’m Leaving This Town on the Record!

Man, I have been doing a bad job at keeping this blog up to date lately! It’s mainly because of the decision I made to stop sharing the songs online right after recording them … That way, when the full album comes out it will be fresh instead of everyone hearing it and thinking “Nice! All the same songs I heard on soundcloud! Cool!”

So Mr. Avalanche here has got some secrets now, and He isn’t going to give them all up yet! Not even on this blog.

However, this post is just to say we recorded the song previously called “Just another song to society” and renamed it “Society”.
And secondly, yesterday after my weekend shift at work, I went over to Phil’s house (aka Underfunded Studios) and recorded all the tracks for “Leaving This Town”.

It didn’t require as many different parts or instruments as some of the other tracks, but it still was turning out to have a lot of dynamics.
Needless to say, I was NOT prepared for the completed mix from Phil only a few hours or so later!! Seriously, that dude is a talented man.

In other news, I am purchasing a brand new guitar for the project! Ladies and Gentlemen, Behold my dream guitar!!!

It’s a beauty right??! Yeah, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it! Not being the richest person in town or anything close, I have it on layaway and am waiting for some tax returns to pay the rest off! But it is going to be worth it, and I assure you this baby is gonna make it on at least a couple songs on the upcoming album.

Stay tuned!

P.S. Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

Songwriting Process: Leaving This Town

I have just returned from recording the last song that I had written for the full length album! Only, there’s one problem…. That was track #6 , leaving another 4-6 songs to be conceived, imagined, penned, and composed.

I have been trying to write a new song for about a week and for some reason no waves of inspiration had hit. I have plenty of cool grooves and riffs that I plan on expanding, but it wasn’t until today that I sat down and FINALLY was able to write down some lyrics to a progression I’ve been keeping in my back pocket for about a year now! It’s a brand new song called “Leaving This Town” and there’s a demo of it on soundcloud right now (Private for the time being, reserved for the fine folks who have downloaded the EP from Noisetrade! SEE LINK ABOVE).

It’s a song that’s both personal for me but also lyrically an attempt at stepping into another’s shoes. It is from the perspective of someone who is still living in the town where they grew up simply puts just hates it. So the song is about finally deciding to take the leap into the world beyond the gray mundane world of this small town existence.

Here are the lyrics:

Leaving This Town

you know what i am trying to tell you
and secrets are not the way
to say what you need to say
and keeping it all inside
will not keep you feelin okay

and i know that i really wanna make it right
its been so long it feels l’ve been awake too many damn nights
so i’m taking this one opportunity , to tell you the truth of me
is I’m leaving this town
all the people i see have graveyards in their eyes
and i think it’s so upside down
im leaving this town

had time to think had time to be cool
had time to plan how i’d TP the school
but now i’ve grown and i’m starting to wise up
while everyone stares into the ground
i’m lookin up

i have someone else to be in some other place you see
a brand new identity oh what will become of me, oh what will become of me?

Recording Process: Nostalgia

Nostalgia is a song about how I feel about the memories of childhood before the full weight of life set in. It’s about remembering the simpler times where the world was new and fascinating and innocence was alive. We all can probably think back to a memory we really treasure from our childhood. That’s what this song is about… just holding on to those things when the times get tough.

Recording was a blast as usual! I have a couple vids I may post at some point tomorrow, but as it stands I am way past my bedtime! I still have a dayjob to work in the morning!

Here is the completed track! I got a few friends (including my girlfriend!) to sing on the chorus with me!

Sneak Peek: The Snap Stomp Music Studio

I have been working on fixing up my home studio (which is currently NOT where the LP songs are being produced, but where I record my rough demos) and took this snapshot after some adjustments. It’s a fairly small setup, but this is where all the songs you hear on my soundcloud page are born and raised.

: )

Recording Process: I Don’t Need Hope

So Today is the day recording begins for “I Don’t Need Hope”. I am stoked, but a little bummed out because I am recovering from a little bug I caught on Thursday.

It means singing is uncomfortable but not impossible. In fact, who knows? The Vocals might end up sounding better for it!

 

…. [Update]….

Recording was a blast as usual. The guitar part on this song is alot more basic in rhythm and structure than the last two we have recorded which made it way easier to keep the tempo.
I confess, my greatest weakness in the whole recording process is keeping on tempo. I tend to want to speed things up after the first verse and chorus and I have no idea why. Thankfully it really only took two takes to get it right on the guitar. And the vocals actually turned out alright too, considering I was so sick the other day. Phil talked me into singing a harmony (good idea!) and also encouraged me to use the inhumane sounds you hear in the following video:

I think my greatest accomplishment of the day was successfully singing the phrase “poppin’ pills” without pissing the microphone off! Woot!

> Update 9:08 PM

Recording is complete, production is under way, and I just finished the song artwork!

It’s a little different then the previous two, but hey! I’m not playing by any rules here… It’s just something visual to kind of enhance the listening experience.

And the final product is finally here! Phil contributed the awesome piano programming at the end! It was pretty much exactly what I was thinking for the song originally and more! I would have played a piano part on my keyboard but unfortunately I’ve been sick the past several days and kind of relapsed on Sunday. And what Phil did sounds perfect anyway so it’s a win!

Have a listen: