Songs – Today, Fortify
Instruments Recorded – Drums, Bass, Rhythm Guitar
Recording Session
This session was the beginning of the recordings of "Today" and "Fortify" (Henceforth refered to their titles w/o open and closed colons!). I think for those who know us, and have listened to us (if not, pls go to http://www.myspace.com/spongemusic), Today is a very familiar song. Its that kind of song which runs a million miles around your head w/o you knowing it... leaving you momentarily blank. Next, your mouth starts moving. Face it. You start singing along. I mean, I really never knew this fact till I was convinced by a few people say how catchy it really was. Well.. trust us to be cynical and hard on our own music.. and trust Mr Fiq to write a song like this just to blow you (and us) away.
Anyway, since I just talked about this, perhaps its a good time to talk about the collaborative and creative process between us banditos (that's just a term for bandmates which sounds better and not always... funnier). Many people have asked me (at least when I first tell them I play in a band), who writes the songs in the band, or how the songs are created. To quote them:- "Hey! So who writes the songs? YOU? *excited voices*" Unfortunately, no. Not all at least. In fact, only one (I'll talk about it when we blog about the session on it). So far I must say majority of our songwriting (the chord progressions, the melody plus some lyrics) must be credited to Syafiq. In fact, our journey as a band with our own songs began with "News". And it was really almost all done by the time he let us listen to it for the first time. For the current tracks which have been revealed, "News", "Astray" and "Today" were first played to us with Syafiq's singing and strumming. Woah. Trust us. We liked what we heard. But just to burst Syafiq's bubble and maybe musicians who just come up with "originals" and expect them to be good and heard immediately, we have trashed and dumped songs when we really listened to them. In fact many. Know why I will probably only have one song written by me in the record now? ;)
Just to be clear though. Some songs go through a different evolution. For e.g. Fortify. It began when Syafiq strummed a chord progression (if I am not wrong its E5, C9, A5). This lead to a sudden explosion of a melody for the lead guitar riff in my mind! With just these two elements, the band explored and created what was Fortify. Rahmat came up with a singing tune and the lyrics soon after and the rest... as the cliche says, is merely history.
I'll let Rahmat elaborate on Fortify in the future (if he ever posts), but for me, when I listen to Fortify I just think of two lovers lying in bed, looking into each other's eyes, in a moment of quiet peace (w/o any other additional movement in bed). This is definitely one of my favourite songs in the album, but I have heard many who have felt the contrary. Comments heard for a particular gig were - "Why did you play that STUPID SONG???". Not exactly a compliment. Oh and thanks Nadia for buying us all Chicken Rice (including Nick) that session (and the remark!). Haha... we still appreciate the realness of your (and many others') advice. Such comments really brings us back to reality whenever we start thinking (like many Singaporean bands) that we're rock stars and so good that we should be heard WORLDWIDE just because we have a few songs under our belt (I'll leave this rant for another time. This post is getting too long).
So, back to the recording. Qader, Syai and Syafiq, began by tracking the rhythm parts again. Nothing new there as this is how it always works when you record a song. Unfortunately, for Today, we realised that the crashes (a crash is one of the metal disc/cymbal at the side of the drum kit) at Nick's studio did not suit the song (no fault of Nick). And this was AFTER we had recorded the entire drum, bass and rhythm track which took about 2 hours. Definitely a downer when every crash sounded like a chinese cymbal in a Chinese Orchestra (no offense to Chinese Orchestras).
It felt a little worse because we realised at the end of the session we had to re-record the drums, and thus, the bass and rhythm guitar track. :( Well... Fortify escaped such an outcome though. And the drum, bass and rhythm guitar track for Fortify were kept.
End
So, what's the lesson to be learnt here? I think for bands who are really serious about what they do, its important for the drummer to have their own cymbals (crash, splash and right). Some drummers even bring their own snares. In fact, from the Ballyhoo talks we have been, its even advised for guitarists to bring their own amps (I wish I could) so that their tone can always be retained. Many local musicians go "WOW. WTF". But think of all the travelling small time bands in other countries (out of Singapore) who drive around with nothing but their gear (which includes, full drumkits, amplifiers and mics, yes mics) and get poor for long periods of time just to pursue their passion. Just think how many make it in the end (oh wait. Let me rant about the so called "lack of government support" in the Singapore music scene another time. Argh, why does this keep coming up in this post).
So yes. Having your own equipment is really important unless the studio really has all your favourite amps/gears there. For Syafiq, Syai and me, we aren't really able to afford our own big amplifiers right now (and its not worth the hassle transporting them all around yet), so we make do with what Nick has which is what we really want actually. At gigs, we just make do. We would love a van but... oh well. Anyway, I promised pictures so here's Syafiq on that day itself... looking longingly (lovingly?) at Nick after doing some tracks.
Before I forget. Nick was really great. As he kinda felt bad for the drums (despite even doing his best and letting us try all the crashes he had at his studio, which was really amazing of him), he told me to come down to finish up the intrumental tracks for Fortify on the next day (Chinese New Year Eve) and record for free. See why we made such a good choice in choosing him? ;) "Nick, you rock man..."
1 comment:
anytime, people, anytime!
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