Posted by Michael at 10:38 on November 12th, 2009.

This new collection of songs is more of an "broadly accessible" kind of thing, which is another way of saying "I'm selling the fuck out and I want to appeal to everybody."

Well, not really. As long as it's not written to specifically sell clothing and soft drinks, pop rock is cool by me. A lot of my favourite bands could probably be classed as pop rock - The Beatles, Queen, The Police etc. There's always been a side to me that wants to write grandiose, epic classically inspired 15 minute opuses, but there's another side to me that just wants to fit in, y'know?

I don't really know too much about the purpose of music, I don't know if it's more for the listener, or more for the creator. I guess it's a balance of both, but I know nothing about where the two extremes meet, or how they should meet. And in all honesty, I hope I never figure it out.

 

Goodnight metal, it's been fun.

Posted by Michael at 09:05 on October 31st, 2009.

They say that if you love something, you have to set it free. So with those wise words, I'm going to hang up my broadsword and loincloth and say goodnight (for now) to true heavy metal. Who knows? In the future I may cross paths with metal again, but I can't see into the future. Anyway, here is the track that Odin, Satan, Thor, Zeus, Osiris, Crom, that woman with snakes instead of hair, all those guys, are calling "the most metal song the world has ever heard." All I ask is your email address, and it's yours for free, because I love you. And metal.

Street Team!!

Posted by Michael at 15:16 on August 20th, 2009.

Join the street team!! (which basically means we'll load you up with free stickers, flyers, samplers and other awesome crap every time we're on tour/doing a show)

Where credit is due.

Posted by Michael at 00:54 on August 12th, 2009.

Here it is!! EP number 4, there's no "theme" to this as such, like there was with previous episodes. It's called "Toehider Too!" because it has more to do with the very,very first EP I did (which isn't part of the 12in12 thing).

But if I may, I'd like to do a track-by-track analysis of "influences" (read: rip-offs).

It Landed on My Face - The immortal words of Scott Howard when he discovers the he, in fact, is a werewolf. I wanted this to be a cross between Stewart Copeland (drummer for the Police) and the intro to "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straits. Also, there's a lot of stealing from the music from "Teen Wolf" in general.

Man I love that movie. I'd do anything to be a werewolf. I'm hairy enough.

Lie Still - Man, you know how rad "Go" is by Pearl Jam? I was trying to go for that, except with Vinnie Appice (Ronnie James Dio's drummer). This song features an "anti-Carmine" lick as well.

(If you know what an "Anti-Carmine" lick is, then I want to marry you.)

Lyrically, it's about embracing the animal within, which is another way of saying I want to be a werewolf so bad. It features yet another Teen Wolf reference, as well as a reference to "The Howling", and "An American Werewolf in London". I also compressed the vocals pretty hard, to get those big gasps of air in between phrases, a la Muse's Matthew Bellamy.

Take it, It's Yours - The chords are a complete rip from The Used song "on My Own". I tried to go for a Goo-Goo Dolls style epic pop ballad, relying heavily on acoustic guitars, and an orchestra. There's a drum fill at 2:56 which is an exact rip from the Rainbow track "Catch the Rainbow". I actually didn't mean for it to make the final mix, but I must have forgot about it for whatever reason, and it's there now. Cozy Powell, if you're up there shaking your head at me, I'm sorry man, but your drum fill changed my life.

I Must Say Yes - See, this is what happens when you a.) Listen to too much Queen, and b.) watch too many Sesame Street reruns.

Let it be known that I in fact stole this title (with his permission) from a great friend of mine named Aaron Courtney. I used to play in bands with him over in Western Australia, and he used to come out with the most hilarious stuff, and this line was one of them. I got in contact with him and asked for his permission to use the line "yes, yes, I must say yes, twice in a row! yes yes." and he'd completely forgotten about it!!

I also made my yodelling debut on this one too!

There's also a small section that says "a million voices strong" which is actually only 60 voices. I overdubbed myself 60 times, but when I got to that point, it wasn't really sounding any bigger, so I stopped.

Here's that section just by itself - [click]

But one day I'll overdub myself 1,000,000 times. One day.

Oh yeah, and once again a Teen Wolf reference in there somewhere.

Malcolm, Dust 'em - I stole this title from my son Kaiden. He spoke of Malcolm Dust'em when he was about 3, and I still don't exactly know what he meant, but he told me that Malcolm Dust'em married a giant. So I wrote a song around it.

The verses are a nod to what I consider to be one of the greatest melodies ever - Mike Oldfield's "To France". There's a section that is intensely auto-tuned. I was inspired by a video that I saw somewhere, where some douche is "performing" some piece of crap song, and he had an auto-tune thing going on his voice, and I think it was making him sound more out of tune.

There's also plenty of Max Headroom-isms throughout the song. The middle riff is very similar to a Genesis song called "Back in NYC"

I also do a skeksis impersonation in this one, here's that vocal track by itself - [click]

I also do a pretty bad death metal growl in there as well.

The film "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" had a lot to do with this song as well.

Suburban Descent - 1 - This has an opening riff pretty similar to King Crimson's "3 of a Perfect Pair", and the vocal line is influenced by "Supper's Ready" by Genesis. I was also trying to go for a little Thomas Newman, and the film "American Beauty" in general.

*EDIT - My brother also pointed out to me that the opening part sounds really similar to Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells".

This song is part of a much longer work, which will be released in spurts as the months go by.

 

So there you have it! My favourite quote of all time is from Igor Stravinsky --

"Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal."

(I'll probably rip off Stravinsky himself on the next album.)

 

Diffusing a bomb

Posted by Michael at 15:10 on July 24th, 2009.

"I only play what the song needs"

I f*cking hate it when people say that. You think you're so high and mighty to "know" what a song needs? What makes you think you're so clever?

Music absolutely does my head in. When an idea springs to me, I have to exhaust every single possibility imaginable. From there I can hear what a song doesn't need. How can anyone know what a song "needs"?

A listener couldn't know, they can only rate a song by what a song has, because they're not going to be able to change it to what they think it needs... And besides, the listener standing to that guy's right may think a totally different thing.

A songwriter could never know what a song needs! Why wouldn't he/she give everything they have?

Maybe they know what a song doesn't need, but my opinion is that music is so, so infinite and confusing and beautiful and terrifying, there's so many directions you could turn, so many options and ideas... ARGHH! How the hell am I supposed to know? How could anyone know?

 

I COULD SAVE EVERYONE IN THIS BUILDING, OR I COULD BLOW THEM ALL UP, INCLUDING MYSELF!!! I'M RUNNING OUT OF TIME!! DO I CUT THE RED WIRE, OR THE BLUE??!