As I mentioned almost two months ago in this post, I've recently been bitten by the songwriting bug and have gotten back into the swing of things after an extended hiatus. Okay, an almost-decade long writing block. As a good friend said upon hearing the news, "It's about time!" Good friends have an incredible knack for cutting to the chase and speaking the hard truth.
The focus of my first songwriting project of the new millennium centers around my preparations for a summer youth conference and some of the music I'll be leading there. So I've compiled five original tunes and am currently in the studio putting finishing touches on them. It's been an adventure, getting back in the studio. It reminds me that good songs are never thrown together overnight, or at least shouldn't be (did you hear that, Top 40 radio?) It takes some work, a lot of patience, and in my case some trips to Winston-Salem.
That's where I've been doing the recording with my good friend Doug Davis, who along with Anand Gan run Flytrap Music Production out of Winston-Salem NC and New York. Yep, you heard right. It's a cool little operation where I record with Doug in Winston-Salem and he adds on bass parts. Then those computer files are sent via this thing called the internet to Anand in NYC, where he lays a nifty percussion track. Then they're promptly sent back to the Old North State for further work and fine-tuning. I assume the whole process works the other way as well. Ah, technology.
Anyway, the studio experience has been fun. We first laid down the acoustic guitar parts, which went very fast. Doug then added his bass playing to the mix, and somewhere in there Anand worked his magic. We're now working on vocals, and that's taking a little more time. I made the mistake of recording an EP at the height of the pollen season, so my allergies have been in full swing. That usually doesn't translate to ideal singing circumstances, but we're making it work.
At this point we've got more recording behind us than ahead of us. Still remaining are the lead vocals for one more tune, which I hope to knock out this Friday (this on the day after experiencing my first Bon Jovi concert ever - I'll let the Mrs. do the screaming). We're also in the throes of recording strings for one song - real strings, too, not some MIDI concoction. Doug and I wrote the parts a week or so ago and that was a pretty cool experience, I tell ya. I'm looking forward to hearing the track once the cello and viola have paid their visit to Flytrap. After that the only thing left, other than a few incidentals, are some group vocals for a tune where I'm trying to create a bit of a "choir feel" without, well, the choir. We'll write a few parts and hopefully get three or four people to sing them once or twice over. Oh, and the singers live in New York. Amazing.
It's been good - and if nothing else it'll get the creative juices flowing and get me back in the studio groove for the writing and recording I'll do as part of my upcoming sabbatical (now just a few weeks away). But this is more than just a warmup act, trust me - I'm proud of this material and am working hard to make it the best it can be.
The EP will be five songs long and is titled Feet And Hands And Stuff. And the song lineup is as follows:
Turn Around
Everything Everyone Everywhere
A Life like Yours
You Are the Hands of God
Carry Me
The plan is to press some CDs and have digital downloads available at itunes and CD Baby. Since they're oriented around this June youth conference I'll initially have them for sale there, with a good chunk of the proceeds going back to the conference center for camper scholarships. I'm hoping to have a CD release party here in Mayberry at Moby's Coffee, sometime in early July, after which it'll be available to the masses. Incidentally, I'm also looking for some artwork for the album. The only requirements are that it needs to have a lot of feet and hands in it and it needs to be colorful. If you happen to know any good artists/graphic designers who'd be interested in a non-paying gig to get some pretty decent publicity, let me know.
It's fun. I've said that already, haven't I? Well, it bears repeating. I know I'm never going to make a living out of this; I chose my career path long ago and haven't regretted it for a second. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying this. I hope to have the songs ready for your listening pleasure in the next few months - to hear the news first, feel free to subscribe to this blog, follow me on Twitter, or sign up for my email list at www.stevelindsley.com. Or you can do all three and make sure you don't miss a thing.
More to come....
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