LostTheTone
Elegant Djentleman
A couple of years ago when I used to post here a lot, I was in a band and we even managed to get into the studio and record a few things. But due to the inevitable bassist being a massive asshole creative differences, that eventually went absolutely nowhere and we never even got the songs we recorded out to anywhere at all, not even to social media or whatever. But I was talking to the guitarist the other day, who I'm still mates with, and he said he had sneakily put the only track we finished mixing onto his YouTube, on the basis that it was totally written by me and him anyway, and the bassist wasn't going to keep playing it live as he tried to reboot the band. So I figured I'd throw it up here and see what you lads think - I really loved this song, it was by miles the best thing we did in the band, and even the production is pretty good.
I'm singing on this track btw, but the guitarist is the real star. The main riff just slams, and my man Ash did a stunning job playing it. It was originally written for two guitars, but he had to play it live all by himself, and it still sounded great.
I'm singing on this track btw, but the guitarist is the real star. The main riff just slams, and my man Ash did a stunning job playing it. It was originally written for two guitars, but he had to play it live all by himself, and it still sounded great.
It is a bit bittersweet to listen back to this, because I remember so clearly how good it felt to work on this track. It would be about the fifth song we wrote as a band, but the earlier ones were pre-existing songs that the bassist had left over from earlier versions of the band which I just put lyrics over. This was the first properly new track for us, when things really clicked for us, or at least for me and the guitarist. It felt like we were maybe going somewhere, like people would possibly pay to hear it.
A big part of that is because the bassist (and only original member of the band) basically didn't care about lyrics or vocals at all, and was also handing out old tracks that had previously had vocals on but which he had decided to ditch because one of the previous singers had left, and I had to re-write entirely, but he'd ask me to make it more like the old ones. It was a problem. So getting onto things that were genuinely fresh, and where the music wasn't already locked down so I could ask for a breakdown or a little link to break up the verse and the chorus, that was good. Plus the guitarist liked me to use my clean voice, which I was also very keen on, and slightly more thoughtful lyrics.
As it transpired, this project was (alas) not going anywhere anyway. And that's because we were already going out and playing shows hundreds of miles from home when we didn't have any of the music to use to promote ourselves. No video, no behind the scenes, no nothing. And this was a band that had last played years previously, so we got basically no interest. Which happens, but the bassist was pushing so hard to get us out and playing, but he refused to play support slots and he would take gigs 4 hours away where our friends couldn't even show up, so we played to almost literally no-one. The only gigs that went well were ones where the local support bands friends did turn up, but we had no idea whether that would happen until we actually got there. Memorably my wife went back to the front bar and reminded the support band that actually there was another band still to play upstairs. And my wife is a pocket rocket, when she yells, large men move. So we actually played one good show.
We spent a LOT trying to make the band happen, with merch and studio time and so on. And actually I don't have a problem with that at all. We just shouldn't have been playing shows until we had music recorded and ready to play, and obviously we shouldn't have been playing shows 4 or 5 hours from home for our only shows. Thing eventually came to a head after a double header friday/saturday gig - Both gigs about 4 hours away from home, and about the same away from each other. The first gig was a total washout. The second one was slightly better but the support act's fans didn't stick around.
I was mad AF about it. We had more gigs booked even further north and the bassist was talking about a tour of Scotland (WHY!?!?) and we still didn't even have any music to show people. That was when I said that we either cancel the gigs and start over later in the year, or I'm quitting and they would have to cancel the gigs anyway. Bassist wouldn't even think about it, so I walked, and that was that.
Later on the guitarist, drummer and I talked about starting our own project, but one had a kid and the other is now doing more folksy stuff with his new girlfriend. And fair play to them both. They were good lads, they worked hard and put their hearts into everything we had done. All three of us kinda got batted around by a bass player who really wanted the rockstar fantasy but wanted to do everything right this second. He wanted to be the booker and promoter, so we let him, and that burned us.
I remember the drummer suggesting we should play a local venue his old band (Rammstein tribute band, so the same kind of crowd) had played several times, and the bassist just flatly said no he didn't want to. No reason given. It later turned out that at some point he had had a massive argument with the owners, and they wouldn't have him back. And then it turned out that there were quite a lot of venues that wouldn't have him back. Not because he put on bad shows. But because he was a massive asshole who was impossible to deal with. And I guess we discovered that to our cost.
But for all of this, and of course all the money that it cost trying to do way too much stuff all at the same time... Man, I love this song. Not just because I wrote it. I think its good. I really wanted to keep working in this direction and see where it could take us.
A big part of that is because the bassist (and only original member of the band) basically didn't care about lyrics or vocals at all, and was also handing out old tracks that had previously had vocals on but which he had decided to ditch because one of the previous singers had left, and I had to re-write entirely, but he'd ask me to make it more like the old ones. It was a problem. So getting onto things that were genuinely fresh, and where the music wasn't already locked down so I could ask for a breakdown or a little link to break up the verse and the chorus, that was good. Plus the guitarist liked me to use my clean voice, which I was also very keen on, and slightly more thoughtful lyrics.
As it transpired, this project was (alas) not going anywhere anyway. And that's because we were already going out and playing shows hundreds of miles from home when we didn't have any of the music to use to promote ourselves. No video, no behind the scenes, no nothing. And this was a band that had last played years previously, so we got basically no interest. Which happens, but the bassist was pushing so hard to get us out and playing, but he refused to play support slots and he would take gigs 4 hours away where our friends couldn't even show up, so we played to almost literally no-one. The only gigs that went well were ones where the local support bands friends did turn up, but we had no idea whether that would happen until we actually got there. Memorably my wife went back to the front bar and reminded the support band that actually there was another band still to play upstairs. And my wife is a pocket rocket, when she yells, large men move. So we actually played one good show.
We spent a LOT trying to make the band happen, with merch and studio time and so on. And actually I don't have a problem with that at all. We just shouldn't have been playing shows until we had music recorded and ready to play, and obviously we shouldn't have been playing shows 4 or 5 hours from home for our only shows. Thing eventually came to a head after a double header friday/saturday gig - Both gigs about 4 hours away from home, and about the same away from each other. The first gig was a total washout. The second one was slightly better but the support act's fans didn't stick around.
I was mad AF about it. We had more gigs booked even further north and the bassist was talking about a tour of Scotland (WHY!?!?) and we still didn't even have any music to show people. That was when I said that we either cancel the gigs and start over later in the year, or I'm quitting and they would have to cancel the gigs anyway. Bassist wouldn't even think about it, so I walked, and that was that.
Later on the guitarist, drummer and I talked about starting our own project, but one had a kid and the other is now doing more folksy stuff with his new girlfriend. And fair play to them both. They were good lads, they worked hard and put their hearts into everything we had done. All three of us kinda got batted around by a bass player who really wanted the rockstar fantasy but wanted to do everything right this second. He wanted to be the booker and promoter, so we let him, and that burned us.
I remember the drummer suggesting we should play a local venue his old band (Rammstein tribute band, so the same kind of crowd) had played several times, and the bassist just flatly said no he didn't want to. No reason given. It later turned out that at some point he had had a massive argument with the owners, and they wouldn't have him back. And then it turned out that there were quite a lot of venues that wouldn't have him back. Not because he put on bad shows. But because he was a massive asshole who was impossible to deal with. And I guess we discovered that to our cost.
But for all of this, and of course all the money that it cost trying to do way too much stuff all at the same time... Man, I love this song. Not just because I wrote it. I think its good. I really wanted to keep working in this direction and see where it could take us.
