Some new tunes

1st the new stuff. Lately I have been on a Charles Bukowski kick and among all that reading, I have been writing stuff that tends to focus on the similar seedy underside of life (read lots of substance abuse, grimy apartments, general low budget days and mostly transient company). I have had a ton of these type of tunes in my day stretching back to Vancouver 1979. In fact one of my favorite lyrics dates back from then (I have stains on my fingers I smoke too much). Really.

Over the years I have written various pieces with that same perspective and on the first Rebel Wheel CD as part of a larger suite there was an instrumental piece called Whore's Breakfast. I wrote that particular section during a week-long acid buzz in some hotel room in Brockville in 1981. I always meant for it to be the centrepiece of a song collection, but I was having difficulty reconciling an almost modern classical instrumental with more lyrical songs. Several times through-out the years though I was able to get close.

Now, thanks to Bukowski, I have managed to get a bit closer, so with that in mind, I'll post some new tunes that try to encapsulate that part of my life. Keep in mind these are demos only and that I have tracked all the instruments myself.

The drums are Toontrack's Vintage and Custom kit samples and I used heavily edited midi files as well as my Roland midi kit to trigger them. The bass is my Fender Jazz through my Millenia media pre-amp and the gtr is my Howard Roberts through my Mesa-Boogie amp (mic'd with a Neumann and Millenia pre). The vocals are through the same mic and pre configuration.

The drum parts were played on an old ludwig kit and edited pretty heavily to create a passable performance. I also used some edited midi files. The bass is again the Fender Jazz through the same rig. There is no guitar on this one, rather I used Logic's electric piano, clav, synth and organ plugs.