The Evolution of a Song part 5

I have detailed most of the songs on Evil Clocks, from their first midi versions through various studio versions and finally to their released versions. I have a few more pieces sitting around but with the exception of Scales, most of them sound almost like the final versions. So, Scales will be the last one I'll post in this evoltion series.

The song itself is from 1979 and was my first contribution to the punk-jazz band I was in at the time called 3C-236. The name itself apparently describes a "Fanaroff and Riley Class II (FR II) radio galaxy" but as I didn't name the band, that was never really uppermost in my thinking of the unit. Anyway, we had a pretty cool approach to music I think. The guitarist and the drummer (Gerry Henri and Ralph Piedalou) were both Toronto ex-pats who had spent a lot of time jamming at the Music Gallery with CCMC stalwarts like alto-player Maury Coles. Combined with that spontaneous composition aesthetic was a charted-out punk energy and earnestness. It was quite a band, and we would often play a frenetic punk-rock head arrangement that would usually devolve into free playing and, with the inclusion of composed cues, back out of the blowing into a re-cap of the head. The songs might last anywhere from 3 minutes to an hour depending on our moods.

I brought Scales in as a number I would sing. The song's thudding 12/8 pulse was inspired by Robert Fripp's Exposure album (the song "Chicago" which itself was a prog-bluesy outing). We had the accordian free section (ie the length of the soloing was free to expand or contract as we saw fit, NOT something that was ever meant to be played on accordian, Pauline Oliveros notwithstanding).

I liked it well enough in that context because it was my vocal spot-light and the first song I ever wrote to be played by others (usually I wrote stuff where I played all the parts on jerry-rigged cassette decks), but it was a bit of an anomoly for the band as the tune sounded neither all that punky or even jazzy. It was fun to jam on though and that qualified its inclusion.

28 years later I did a version of the song that I put to 10T for their approval for the Diagramma CD (at this point we decided to expand the original release of 5 songs to a 7 song one and were dusting off "suitable" songs). It never made the cut. This time out I thought it might work as the lyrics were suitable to the vague album concept so I whipped up a demo for the lads. The tune was pretty well what 3C-236 did with it, even to the point that the solo section starts off almost identically (I played bass in 3C-236 and the bass part I played on the demo was almost identical to the original one).

After the band ok'd it, Aaron laid down drums, I put some guitar and breathy effected vocals and then Claude Prince laid down an amazing bass part over which our dear dear departed musical genius friend Guy LeBlanc put down an amazing solo. The solo section re-unites two Nathan Mahl members and it is a delight to hear them doing their thing over Aaron's powerhouse drumming. quite frankly that one section alone is worth the price of admission for me. Hearing a song I wrote decades ago played by such masterful players is kind of why I stared writing in the first place.

Left-over song

At one point in the whole process of doing this CD I had recorded a guitar piece I had written when I was 16. It was an odd-metered finger-picking ditty that I had really liked way back when. It went unnamed for over a decade until I read a fantasy novel called "A Face in the Frost". I loved that book. Anyway, there is a chapter where the heroes (Prospero and Roger Bacon) have to spend a night in an inn. The place they stay is called 5 Dials and it turns out to be a phantasm and actually unreal place. I really liked the title "A Night in 5 Dials" so I decided that would be the ditty's name.

As the theme of the CD was clocks etc. I thought the piece would be perfect for it so towards that end I tracked a version of it playing drums, bass and guitar as well as some keyboard synth. It went along smoothly enough, but I was never sold on the piece and I decided early on it wouldn't suit.

As I doubt I'll ever do anything with it I figured I might as well post it here so here it is:


A Night In Five Dials streamed
A Night In Five Dials dl

The Evolution of a Song Part 4

Well here we are at the last of the D series and unlike the others I have posted, this song never went through such a tortuous series of recordings and re-records.
The only versions I have are the original demo and the final master. Along the way the song certainly evolved though. Originally there was to be a big percussion jam, but as I had mentioned in an earlier blog, Aaron's look of panic after hearing Ange, Claude and I whacking away on the various percussion rigs I set-up, put paid to that concept.

So. The song itself stayed pretty close to the original demo but after making the decision to excise the percussion section, the transition parts that are on the demo where similarly excised. The subsequent return to the main theme was eliminated as well. The demo doesn't actually have the percussion madness, but it has the transitions to and from. You can hear the difference between the two versions here.

We threw this version away and re-recorded it with Claude, Aaron and Ange live-off-the-floor in its final form with no intention of adding a percussion section. I added my guitar later that same night.

The Evolution of a Song part 3

I had mentioned Keegan Melville awhile back and his playing on D3. Click his name and you'll get to the post that details D3's bass evolution. Or, if you'd rather, just read on and I'll repost the links below. Before we get there though I'll explain how D3 evolved.

To begin with it was a guitar vamp I just played one day and liked. When Aaron first came down to audition, he and I jammed on it for awhile. It was obvious right from the beginning he would do nicely! The song then was a perfect one to include on the album, but I wanted it to be a little less crude than how we had originally jammed it so I added keyboards etc. This particular version is the first midi sketch of the song leaning towards that "glossier" direction.

The next version is Keegan playing over the demo I originally recorded of the tune. This is the version I gave to the band to learn.

When we were tracking it in March 2009, Aaron decided to swing it. Keegan was at at the session and we recorded this next version. As I had already explained earlier, one of the adats broke down and we lost all of Ange's solos as well as half of the drum tracking (I jerry-rigged a quick work-around but was unable to capture the band in its glorious confusion). We kept this but ended up re-recording it when Claude joined:

We tried a lot of different versions of the swing and we came pretty close with one that we did a day later, this time with just Aaron and I. I later went in and did a walking bass-line as an overdub.

Finally, here is the version that made it. It has a soprano solo from Ange, Claude on the bass and a deft snaky little electric piano solo from guest artist, the amazing Rick Barkhouse.

The Evolution of a Song part 2

The next song that has a checkered lineage is D2 (discovery part 2 that is, officially known as Mad Night). In a fashion similar to D1, it was born as a midi demo, (only this time done entirely on keyboards) until it gradually evolved into to a gtr, bass, drums, keys/sax and vocals piece.

This tune was a favorite for the band live and was a new sound for us, derived as it was (and indeed much of the album has been) on a 12-tone row and permutations therefrom.

We went to Shattered Wings and recorded live-off-the-floor with David on bass. We overdubbed guitars and whispered vocals. I really like this version but Aaron wanted to re-do it so we did...with Claude on bass. Anyway D2V1DC:

Then we re-did the song afresh at Ange's with Aaron, Claude, Ange and I live-off-the-floor with various edits and overdubs done later.

The Evolution of a Song

I have mentioned several times we have a new bassist and as Ange is on Maternity Leave (official sounding term for being maternally pre-occupied) Guy Dagenais, Aaron Clark and I have been working out the material from the last two Cds in a trio format.

As I listen to the tunes sometimes I am struck at how they have evolved from mental sketches to computer-based demos, to rehearsal re-arrangements to recorded tracks, and finally to performance tracks to suit the ever-changing line-up. Here's an example of what I mean.


The first part of the epic track on the new CD is a piece called Convent. That's its offical name. In rehearsing we have always referred to it as D1 (discovery part 1 ie). So here are some versions of it.

D1 computer demo. This is what I brought to the band. I played all the parts on guitar and bass and midi keyboards. I used Toontracks drum sample software and a Godin Multiac to trigger them (that is, I played the drums on my midi guitar...a lot of fun that) as well as added some odd-meter drum loops among that. There are two bass solos at the end. One we dropped out along the way and the other we totally changed. The 12/8 13/8 section (the bluesy part) got trimmed in half and ended up with sax on it (and no drum loops sfx which the demo has in abundance). Anyway here it is:

Now here is the version as it came out of Shattered Wings studio with Gary Lauzon on bass (recorded live off-the-floor). The ending is totally gone and Gary's solo is improvised. The sax section is far smaller and the "Dame Dame" part has undergone a transformation with the addition of guitar etc. This version never made it to the overdub stage so there is no Ange on it exept her tracking parts (keyboards and sax uni stuff; no solo and no vocals). It also is unmastered and has only the roughest of mixes. Here it is anyway:

Here it is again with a new bass-line (after Gary quit the band) which we gave to Claude to learn. I totally threw out the bass solo and left it as a vamp between drums and electric guitar (it's at 4:52-5:16; I like that part actually). This version is the same tracking as the other one so lacks Ange's sax solo and vocals but does have the uni sax lines at 4:37-4:50 and all her keyboard parts. I give you D1 V1 DC:

Finally here is what it sounds like on the CD with all the parts added, mixed and mastered:

This last version was a total re-record. Aaron had changed his grips, Claude was on-board, and we had rehearsed the new version which we recorded at Ange's place. I added some guitar parts later (Dame Dame part) and Ange did her keyboards and sax solo as overdubs. We recorded the vocals at my place later.

I have a bunch of these songs and I'll post them in the coming days.

The evolution of a bass part.

I had mentioned earlier that I would post some of the work of the various bass players who, although might not have actually had their work on the final CD for one reason or another, nevertheless contributed to the project dramatically.

The first player I'd like to mention is Keegan Melville. He is a young lad to whom I have been teaching bass and theory and has become a masterful player. Not only is he musical and has developed great chops, but he has an excellent attitude and a real knack for soloing. He played on the demo of D3 and it was that version I gave to the band to learn (this version is a straight 3/4 and different from the swung three we ended up using):

We also had Keegan join us when we were recording for the CD and we all recorded the following version. This time the swing feel is evidenced but for various technical reasons (one of our recorders broke so we didn't get Ange's parts nor a good mix on drums, not to mention the fact Aaron just sprang this version on us that moment!) we didn't use it.

As well as Keegan, we also had bassist Gary Lauzon in the band at the start of the recording. We were able to track various pieces with him on bass.

Klak Score and info.

Progressive Ears is probably the only web-site I actually spend a lot of time with and through it I have met many interesting and very cool people. There was a thread on it awhile back where a several poets and people of a similar bent, posted their surrealistic stuff. There was a wealth of stuff and one in particular really struck me as a perfect song lyric.

I approached the author, Geordie Robertson, about using the words in a song and he gladly agreed. I also asked him if he had others and he sent me a batch. I wrote Klak using the original poem that caught my eye and also added another that he subsequently sent, as the chorus.

I posted the lyrics earlier, but I'll re-post them here as I also have the score ready to post so I might as well have one spot for both. So....the words first.

Klak

My baby klaks,
like the teeth of a shotgun cow,
dead meat, hits the killing floor.
My baby ticks,
like a deathwatch beetle,
waiting patiently beneath,
linoleum.


My baby fucks,
fucks like a hurricane,
tearing up the coastline at,
break-neck speed.


The other poem (whose name I have forgotten as the poem proper was subsumed by the song)

I dreamed I was homeless, wandering the strange avenues
In a daze lost and lonely, I called out for you.
I dreamed I was home lying in, your arms like a child.
Until laughing and loved I, kissed you awake.


When I put them together it came out like so:

V1
My baby klaks,
like the teeth of a shotgun cow,
dead meat, hits the killing floor.
My baby ticks,
like a deathwatch beetle,
waiting patiently beneath,
linoleum.

C1
I dreamed I was homeless, wandering the strange avenues
In a daze lost and lonely, I called out for you.

V2
My baby fucks,
fucks like a hurricane,
tearing up the coastline at,
break-neck speed.

solo section

V3
My baby fucks,
fucks like a hurricane,
tearing up the coastline at,
break-neck speed.

C2/3
I dreamed I was homeless, wandering the strange avenues
In a daze lost and lonely, I called out for you.
I dreamed I was home lying in, your arms like a child.
Until laughing and loved I, kissed you awake.


and the score:









As promised, I'll soon post various examples of bass playing our revolving door bassist policy has yielded.

Original art work and scores.

I have mentioned several times already that the title of the Cd was inspiredby my step-son's art-work and short story. I don't have the story here, but I do have a scan of the art and here it is:




On a similar note here is the score for the title track "Evil Clocks part 1"


Page 1:




Page 2:




Page 3:




Synth Solo phrases.



The solo sound was played on a Korg legacy series MS-20 plug-in. The notes themselves were played with a M-Audio Axiom 61, but the modulations and knob twistings were all done on the MS-20 controller. There is a lot of modulation routings going on and I was able to play them all with my left hand (three fingers spinning controls, which, given the small stature of the controller is really quite easy).

So that's that. Tomorrow I'll post Klak and dig out those files fo keegan etc.

More bass player info. part 3.

Ok. We've gone through the bass player saga, but I have to mention two other lads who were approached. The first is my bass student Keegan Melville. He has been taking bass lessons from me for over 1 year and it has been my distinct pleasure to watch him transform from a musical but inexperienced player, into something approaching a bass monster. Considering he only turned 16, the monster title is well within his grasp, in fact, if he sails through the next year's worth of material at the rate he did the first year he will be quite intimidating. I have been showing the guy all the ecclesiastical modes in one, two and three octave positions, all the symmetrical modes, a batch of pentatonics, harmonic and melodic minor (and all the modes therein) as well as tons of chord theory and lots of chart playing. He has aced it all. No wonder then we decided to have as a guest on the album.

When we decided this we were without a full-time bassist and as such it was looking like a great idea to draft a different bassist for each song. Guy was going to play "Evil Clocks 1", Keegan was going to play "Invitation To The Dance" (ie Discoverie part something or other), another buddy Francis Dupuis was going to play Scales, Gary was going to do MadNight, I was going to do whatever. All of this changed when Claude came on board and we assigned many of the untaken parts to him as well as some of the parts I had already done.

Even still, during March break Keegan came out to the sessions and layed down two versions of "Invitation et al". The first was a straight-ahead 3/4 feel that the song was originally cast in, the second was this swing groove that Aaron all of a sudden decided to play (this of course goes to the heart of the nature of the intended band dynamic; the ability to change a part to fit the moment). Keegan did amazingly at both. We unfortunately couldn't use his versions for various reasons. The first was that one ADAT tape machine busted just as we started tracking him and unfortunately the drum mix was substandard. The sax solo didn't get recorded and the drum part (while fresh and exciting) was too wobbly to keep (although we did decide to keep the hard-bop 3/4 swing groove that showed up on subsequent versions and ultimately the final one). Keegan also did a version in my studio for the final demo track (ie the one I bring to the band to learn). I will post both of them soon so you can see his prowess.

This brings us to the last bassist; Francis Dupuis. Francis and I have known each other for 35 years and are really good buddies. He and I went different paths in our lives; he is a successful graphic artist and I actually make my living more as a composer than a player. We have always been in bands though. Asking him was a natural choice, but as he (like many other bassists it seems) was going through a lot of personal matters he ultimately decided not to play on the CD.

Claude then had a clear-board.

After Claude left we were in the air as to what to do. Keegan was seriously considered, but given the fact he is still in high-school and has several other projects he is involved in, that seemed improbable. Guy Dagenais was contacted and at first was delighted. Several personal issues however became too time-consuming so he reluctantly passed, but we kept the door opened. He agreed to actually come into the fold several weeks later, actually the same week that we asked Francis to come down.

We had also gotten in touch with a few others but either the distance was too much for them (a point I'll never understand) or their schedules were too full to make revisions to suit ours (and I guess vice versa). Francis is still keen, but as Guy was asked before we had to honour our words (and as he fits perfectly with Aaron that becomes a serious point in his favour). As Francis and I are in another band already, that isn't too much of a problem.

So there is the (probably continuing) saga of the Rebel Wheel bassists. I won't even go into the ones I had in Toronto (now anyway) like Ken Miskov and Ed Campbell both of whom are monsters and often spot each other on gigs (very handy). Then of course we have the diminuitive Pelle Vadim who did an excellent job on the first Rebel Wheel CD (the out of print CD-R...hmmmm).

Tomorrow I'll post some links of the various players tracks and I also have some sheet music ready to post of the Klak and Evil Clocks (the other tunes are written down in a perfunctory fashion, but I'd like to clean them up before I post them).
Happy Easter.

Groove Achieved or More Bass Player info.

So. In the song "Evil Clocks part1" there is a recurring section that lightens up the otherwise heavy-handed frenetic meanderings of the band. Guy Dagenais, the current bassist in Nathan Mahl (which I mentioned I was also in) gladly accepted my offer to play both a series of fretless solos and a steadying 5 string groove. He did. Wonderfully. In fact the song came alive and I decided to put down the vocal parts I had always been singing as a result (I often have vocal parts I sing along to tunes but generally they are silly and often dismissive and never meant to be heard). Ange was able to solo beautifully over those sections and the innate contrasts were made even more obvious.

Fast forward several months, where after much talk, Guy agrees to come out to our rehearsal spot (no longer in Carlton Place as that extra 20 miles from Ottawa seemed to be a deal breaker for many a bassist) and he Aaron and I went through some tunes. From note one it was obvious he was perfect; his time-feel was totally in the pocket and his ability to change a part to accommodate whatever is happening at the time invaluable. Much as we enjoyed the dedication, musicality and chops of the other lads, the abilty to improvise or alter a part to fit the dynamics of performance (where we might play a riff a bit differently or miss a cue) was sadly not in their repertoire. Finally we were approaching the idea Aaron and I had for a long-time; odd meter grooves but still pocket-oriented and able to twist and turn as performance and inspiration hits.

So, our new bassist was now onboard and I would like to take this moment to officially welcome Guy Dagenais to the band.

Music and bass players.

So the album is out there now garnering praise and dismissal as is expected. Generally the feedback has been very positive and while I am far from expecting any big financial coup, there is every indication we won't take a bath this time out either. We'll see of course, and given the fact we are well on our way in rehearsing a new CD, we'll keep doing this no matter how well or poorly this album actually does.

Reading those lines back it seems somewhat dismal and actually this is far from the case; the feedback has been great and we already have a positive review.

Tommy Hash's review at ytsejam.com

So. I have explained the album in the last few blogs and most of the details surrounding the recording; all that is left are some insights into the players themselves and of course, the ever changing group dynamic.

We'll start with bassists. When we first started, Gary Lauzon was on board. We had done a series of grueling gigs going from Pennsylvania to Quebec city and topped off two seasons of gigging with a show at The Nuance Festival in Toronto. It wasn't all that well attended, but we had a great time and felt very happy with our performance. Wilton Said and his band invited us to play and stuck around to hear us (we were on last after the dinner break) and were both perfect hosts and audience members.
Speaking of which, while it isn't politically correct, I'd like to call out the other bands on the venue who left at supper and never returned. Normally I expect that kind of thing but what made this event somewhat exceptional was their unsolicited verbal promises to check us out ("we're really looking forward to hearing you guys") and all their onstage requests to "support the local prog scene" yet as soon as they were finished they bolted out of there. Yah Counterpoint and Lorne Hind I'm talking about YOU!!! Wusses all! If you want support, you have to show some in return. We drove all the way from Ottawa to make sure we were early enough to cheer you lads on. That won't happen again!

So now where were we? Oh yah, bassists. So we were tight and ready to record. Some of the intended songs we already had down cold, some others were in developement. We went to Shattered Wing and laid down the tracks for MadNight, Klak, Wordplay and Convent. It didn't take long to see that Gary had lost interest in the project. Wordplay and Klak were keepers, but the rest just weren't in the pocket.

This time out we played without click tracks and were relying on the internal rhythmic dynamic of the players. Given that Klak and Wordplay both had lots of sax solos (the solo section of Wordplay was completely improvised in the studio by the band while Klak had a defined structure) we put Ange in her own iso-booth. When we realized that we were getting better results with the bass turned down I knew we were in trouble.

I took the keeper tracks home, did the bass myself and we started discussing the situation. Gary was going through some rough times at home and that combined with the realization I was replacing his parts anyway prompted him to quit.

That was a big set-back but fortunately for us, after several weeks of searching, Claude Prince joined. Claude is ex-Nathan Mahl (a band I am in now) and was aware of our stuff and eager to join. He is a solid bassist and while he hadn't been in a band for several years, his not-too-rusty-chops and innate musicality added a great boost to both the band's morale and overall vibe.

We then had to bring Claude up to speed. We had done a recording session at my place for a week in March (March break in fact as my wife and kids had gone to Florida with their Grandparents) where we had keeper versions of Evil Clocks, Hags 123, Settling of Bones and Scales. Claude's first job was to replace the bass-lines I played (except for Wordplay and Settling ie where we kept the ones I had done). he did that incredibly well. We were very excited about having him in the band.

We then rehearsed all of Discoverie, both in anticipation of recording it live-off-the-floor and also for gigging. It's a good thing we did as we were asked at the last moment to replace a band at Progtoberfest. We did and it went swimmingly (more on that later). We never actually recorded Discoverie as one piece. Not only were the hags sections already done (with the exception of vocal fix-ups) the last piece wasn't fully written. We had a performance version of it worked up, but I really wanted to include a group percussion/vocal chant in the orgy section. I was still fucking about with it so we decided to record each section seperately and it went incredibly well.

As it happens we never went with the percussion idea, certainly not because it was pretentious or over the top (since when did THAT matter in prog?) but simply because as percussionists, Ange, Claude and I left quite a bit to be desired. In the end Aaron's look of panic convinced me we should shelve the percussion concept. I still hear it in my head but it just wasn't feasible.

So we finished tracking everything, we did Progtoberfest and I went into the interminable foray of mastering the album. It is generally not recommended to do your own mastering and usually advisable to get a set of fresh ears, but after the hideously compressed version I got back from a unnamed mastering house, I figured I might as well do it; it certainly couldn't be worse.

The fact is I am used to wearing a lot of different hats in any given tune. Just today I was playing a song for my 12 year old drummer step-son and asking him what time signature it was in. He answered correctly "5/4". I then showed him how I counted the chorus (12345,22345,32345,42345, 52345, 62345, 72345, 82345). He asked me why and I answered, so I can tell easily how many bars that section has. He looked puzzled and asked me, wouldn't I know that already having written it and all? Well yes, but when I am playing it, I'm not the composer anymore I am the guitarist (or keyboardist or bassist etc). The idea is that each fucntion has a distinct territory it works in and it is necessary to function in those limited parameters in order to do that specific job.

So I mastered it but it took about three months of testing mixes on every system I could find, hundreds of dollars of gas (my car was the benchmark after awhile) and lots of band frustrations. Through-out that process, just as I gave out final pre-release copies to everyone, Claude came into a rehearsal totally bummed out. It didn't take long to hear the problem (although it did take considerable coaxing) and it was clear we were soon going to be looking for ANOTHER bassist. Sheesh.

I really wanted this album to be a group effort and wanted the players who took the album live to be the ones on it. It made so much more sense. Diagramma v1 (the five song version ie) was all me and while I think it sounded great, (and not too much like a one man band), I also knew that the rest of the band didn't have as much of a vested interest in those 5 songs. I tried to avoid that happening again. As I pointed out to Claude, I could have easily had that puppy finished 6 months ago if I were playing bass on it; it was getting the logistics of the whole band recording that was time consuming (that and the actual recording process itself).

During all of this we did a track for 10T records Undercover album (Jethro Tull's Cross-Eyed Mary)and I played bass along with Aaron on drums. We overdubbed Ange's sax and vocals the next day and my guitar, vox and keyboards later that same night. We could easily have taken a similar approach for the Clocks CD that would have saved us a lot of time.

We didn't. But the cool thing is, we took 13 months to record it, there are 13 songs, and the cover idea was an evil clock that had a face that went to 13 instead of 12. (The album is exactly 1 hour long by the way). All in all the personalities and conflicts actually made the CD what it is, so I guess everything is worth it.

Tomorrow, or maybe later next week I'll introduce you all to our NEW bass players (who actually is on teh album anyway) and the recent line-up of the band. We are tighter now than ever before and the groove pocket Aaron and I have been searching for has finally been achieved!