Exorcising the Pop Song demons

Long before I turned into this movie-score composing nerd, I was just another guy in another local rock band. It was a great life - work a couple days a week getting paid to drink beers and play music in a bar, with the rest of the time devoted to creating music and horsing around... probably more fun than you can even imagine.

Music started to matter to me when I was 10 or 11 when I discovered Queen's "A Night at the Opera" (the one with Bohemian Rhapsody). It was art of such complexity and invention that I knew immediately that it was not only the kind of music I loved but also would strive to create. The next 20 years became a constant evolution of music writing, recording and producing. I wanted to learn how to do everything - sometimes in a band, sometimes on my own. As the technology improved, my skills and ambitions did as well. My love of both pop and progressive, complex music led me down a path where I tried my best to create my own strange hybrid of both worlds.

This new album SONGS MY MOMMY LIKES... represents (at least for now) my final statement on those ambitions. Yes, there were hundreds of songs and plenty of albums that preceded it and this collection may not be the definitive representation of my aims as a songwriter... let's just call it a mental house-cleaning of songs that never had a proper home. They were all written in the sunset of my live band career or shortly thereafter and are all remastered from the original digital 2-track tapes. In many cases I added additional overdubs to make them more complete. I dig them - hope you do too!

And now a few words about each.

_________________________________________________

MOTE IN GOD'S EYE

When my band career was finally over and I had settled into a 'normal' life, I still found myself needing to write and record pop music, despite my growing attraction to movies and their music. I had an electric guitar and amp simulator on loan from a friend and this was one of several songs that emerged as I was getting my new studio situation sorted. The title comes from a classic science fiction novel and I'm sure was the impetuous for the rest of this James Taylor / Phil Collins mash-up.

A LITTLE PLACE

Also written in that same time-period, this began by me "borrowing through inspiration" the opening riff from a Keb 'Mo song and just expanding from there. Lyrically, it's all about the joy and comfort I always feel when I disappear into my studio alone with nothing but hours of creative freedom ahead of me.

NOTHING

Lyrically rather bleak, this was originally a demo for my last band Lukas Buck and probably represents my desultory mental attitude at the time. I wanted out - hell, we all wanted out. It never quite fit as a band song so I rerecorded it when I moved out and added a sexy saxophone.

BETTY GRABLE

That last band Lukas Buck tried desperately to survive the departure of our lead singer and songwriter so we returned to our original songwriting and singing roles. We felt we had something to prove to the devoted following we had established over the years and this song was my first attempt at a crowd-pleaser. It was unashamedly country pop and I thought it was quite clever and catchy. It was nice little hit with our fans and we recorded a proper band version for our EP. This is my original demo performed by the band and so technically it's a 'rarity'.

SHE'S LOPSIDED

This is the newest song in the collection, written long after everything else and on a whim... sometimes they just happen that way. I finished it, put it away and promptly forgot about it for years. Then one afternoon it popped back into my head... along with an idea for a video to accompany it. I enlisted my neighbor Kate, her sister and a friend and over a couple days shot and completed the whole thing. It was a fun, fast and creative 48 hours - always the best kind.

GLASS AND A GRIZZLY

I've had a book of American Folklore since I was a kid and during those dwindling band days I began to plunder it for song ideas. The legend of frontiersman Hugh Glass instantly struck me and I whipped this out as a potential fun live song for the band. That never materialized and it went into the bin. 20 years later the story became a hit film THE REVENANT starring Leonardo DiCaprio and suddenly I looked like a prognosticating genius. If only we'd recorded it when we had the chance...

DOWN BY THE RIVER

A young guy in a band is a dog and someone you don't want your daughter anywhere near. This song is a long hard look at myself during those days and not at all flattering. I don't often write lyrics about myself or my experiences - this time I definitely did.

OCCASIONALLY

I'll never forget the riotous laughter when I presented this demo to the guys in the band. I guess it was a little too pop for even them to tolerate. It happens. But I always liked it and still do. Silly but fun.

ROADKILL WALKIN'

A demo that everyone DID like and a staple in our live shows. Not sure why we never recorded a proper band version so I sweetened the original up here with some countrified steel guitars and what-not. Not sure where the story comes from - maybe I saw a bum shambling along the street during one of a million long road trips to a gig.

KAYLEIGH-ANNE

Okay - this song might be too pop and silly even for me. I wouldn't have even included it except that I've always loved the instrumental intro and bridge sections. They definitely deserve a better song. Lyrically, this about a chick... of course.

EVERYWORD

For some reason, during the band days we were friends with a lot of 'exotic dancers'. One in particular, Theresa Marie, was a gifted lyricist and her songs always intrigued me. I asked her if I could put music to one and she was happy to oblige. Unfortunately, she drifted out of our lives before I was able too complete it and so to this day I have no idea if she's ever even heard it.

SWAGGER

Another band demo that went nowhere. It remained a bare-bones sketch of a song (just vocal, drum machine and the clavinet riff) but I knew with a little effort I could make it presentable and wanted it on this album. I added some guitar and a few other things to fill it out and was pretty happy with the final result.

GOING GONE

Sometimes you work so hard on a song only to discover at the end of the day that you can't stand it. This was one of those. But revisiting it now I discovered that it had potential and so I tackled it again with some new overdubs. I guess I was too hard on it originally because I think its a fun little pop song now and lyrically, it makes me smile.

BUTTERFLY

Always one of my favorites. I think the lyrics confuse a lot of people and there is some jarring imagery in it that cuts across the grain of the pretty music. I get that. But I was going for irony and juxtaposition so mission accomplished, I guess. The line "the poppies bloom while the systems fail" is one I'm especially proud of and pretty much sums up my intent with this song.