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Post by Mfitz804 on Jan 8, 2021 23:44:53 GMT -5
Back in the day I was a big heavy metal fan, then 1991-1992 rolled around and 90’s Alternative was all the rage. That’s what we wound up playing. The band was around in some form since I was 13, but it was 1994-1995 that we really started writing our own material and playing in bars and clubs. Then, summer of 1995 we recorded our demo. Now I feel compelled to share a track with the group. The music was written by me, using parts of two songs that we had worked on for a long time through many different iterations. When we got our (what would be our final) singer, he wrote lyrics in a notebook that he carried with him. At a very early rehearsal, I played the music for him and he thumbed through his book and found something he thought would fit. We recorded the first full play through, and I still have that recording. I was the only guitar on the band at the time so I improvised a simple solo part. When it came time to finalize it, I decided why not go back to the tape and learn the improvised solo I had recorded. We kept it that way forever. Were we good? Not really. Did we have fun, get girls, and play original music at paying gigs? We sure did. This one is called “Critics”, and our singer even acknowledged that he had no idea as to what it was about. ‘78 Strat through a Mesa Boogie stack and a Tube Screamer.
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Post by ninworks on Jan 9, 2021 5:56:33 GMT -5
Very cool Mike.
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Post by Riff Twang on Jan 9, 2021 8:15:04 GMT -5
Very energetic.
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Post by Mfitz804 on Jan 9, 2021 9:39:54 GMT -5
^ Thats about what I can say about it.
I am fortunate to have recordings of some of this stuff. I have recordings of the very first song I ever wrote, the first time we played through songs, video recordings of our first two shows.
Not quite sure what compelled me to share it now, but I figured what the heck.
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Post by Auf Kiltre on Jan 10, 2021 22:24:29 GMT -5
Well hell, that was fun. Your singer kinda nails the Cobain-era vibe, actually very well. You guys keep it all together at la frantique pace.
Thanks for sharing.
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MoJoe
Wholenote
Posts: 855
Formerly Known As: quiksilver
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Post by MoJoe on Jan 12, 2021 1:16:49 GMT -5
Proper riffing and strong vocals.. Like. 👍
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bassngtr
Wholenote
I am all about the bass...
Posts: 149
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Post by bassngtr on Jan 13, 2021 13:47:00 GMT -5
VERY cool Mike! Guitar sounds great, riffs and solo both. Quite good quality recording IMO - I wish I had recordings this nice.. I am a drummer and noticed the '90s sound of the snare - was it possibly a piccolo snare? I was in a band whose drummer used a piccolo (I played bass in that band). Your drummer was good quite IMO. Good bass drum work.
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Post by Mfitz804 on Jan 13, 2021 22:20:27 GMT -5
The recording was done on DAT tape, top of the line in 1995. It was done at a studio in Brooklyn that was in a guy’s basement, but he actually did recordings for some semi famous local bands (Thpe O Negative being one of them), and he had recently recorded a song for the soundtrack of “Dumb and Dumber”. After the band broke up, maybe a year or so later, I called the studio about getting a copy of the DAT so I could have a CD made, as we circulated the demo on cassette. I was pleased to find out they had the capability and they made me the CD. Only recently I decided to upload it on SoundCloud, to further preserve it. This one was another favorite of mine with a similar vibe. This one I wrote on the Staten Island Ferry with a pen and paper and no instrument. I took my notes home, took out a guitar, and it kind of worked. It’s also the only song we had that I wrote the lyrics for. It was about one of our friends, who thought they were the coolest person in the world, and that everything they were into was the best, but yet if by one agreed she would get annoyed and accuse people of trying to be like her. We called it Conformity. Same gear, I’m not playing the lead part on this one though.
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pdf64
Wholenote
Posts: 558
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Post by pdf64 on Jan 14, 2021 6:53:03 GMT -5
Here's a better link
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pdf64
Wholenote
Posts: 558
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Post by pdf64 on Jan 14, 2021 6:59:07 GMT -5
Here's one of mine that came to mind, I was going for that grungy punk thing But I was 20 years late to that party! Lyrics are always a struggle for me; the chord sequence had a disquieting feel to it, so I used the theme of Donnie Darko / alternative reality as an inspiration
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Post by Riff Twang on Jan 14, 2021 7:05:41 GMT -5
I like Conformity too. The chorus(?) progression is very catchy. Sort of a combo of grunge and metal to me.
Good job pdf64 too. That song moves along.
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Post by walshb 🦒 on Jan 15, 2021 19:12:14 GMT -5
Mike, I've heard plenty on the radio that was nowhere near as good. The chord progression during the verses sounds really familiar, maybe somebody stole it from you!
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Post by Mfitz804 on Jan 16, 2021 22:17:24 GMT -5
Thanks guys. I have no illusions about the stuff we played, it wasn’t great but at least we knew how to play our instruments. Back in the post-Nirvana era, everyone who could buy a guitar thought they could have a band. But I’m enjoying putting this stuff out here. Here’s another. I wrote all of the music on this one as well. Couldn’t really tell you what the lyrics to this song are about, never really asked. I’m doing the rhythm part again, on my ‘78 Strat. This one’s called Help Wanted.
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Post by Mfitz804 on Jan 16, 2021 22:18:08 GMT -5
I should add, it seems the SoundCloud links may only appear in the Desktop version.
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Post by LesTele on Jan 17, 2021 19:09:45 GMT -5
Dear Leader, that is some good rocking😀
I’m glad that I existed as young guitar slinger in an analogue age. - late seventies. Next to no recordings and because the camera phone was at least 20 years away, only a couple of embarrassing photos.
I’m happy with that. I have my memories.
When I reappeared in the mid-eighties it was cover band dross. My nineties and early noughties were presumably captured on phones by tourists enjoying ‘traditional’ Scots folk sessions.
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