NOW WAIT FOR LAST YEAR
me – vocals
also
studio 12 Jan 2002
w/ weaklazyliar
backing vocals on:
“Secondhand”
“Empty Space”
Thursday I was at the studio, finally. We did backing vocals for NOW WAIT FOR LAST YEAR. Nothing that took more than one pass for the most part, some doubling of some of them. After doing a few bits we decided to re-do the lead vocal on a different mic for a warmer sound. This song, as I’ve said before, has undergone about 4 different versions, I think. Though I had originally intended to have it on the CD it ended up dropped. Too many slow songs and, at the time, it was one more. But now it’s back (at least in the running to be on the CD, we’ll have extra songs in the end) in 4/4 form, and somehow, when all was said and done, a verse long since dropped has reappeared somewhat at the end of the song.
This song was written before “Slumberland” was written, though they came in succession. It was the song where I began to realize that I was heading in a different direction than the rest of the old band. There were long discussions about its length, and it was the first time that I ever flatly said I wouldn’t change a song. To be honest, though, I was wrong, and it was too long. Funny, too, because I did make a lot of compromises on “Slumberland” with the band, and when it was finally recorded solo it ended up being very close to it’s original form. Where as this song is probably closer to what the band had wanted (faster and shorter). But at the time I wanted something different… moodier and slower (I’ve written plenty of that in the interim, so changing this song up now is fine), but really I think it was more about asserting a growing self-confidence in my songs at the time.
The wacky world of my brain.
Saturday afternoon I went to Zero Return (another Atlanta studio. Rob from Man or Astroman is the co-owner and is producing their CD) to do some backing vocals for weaklazyliar. They are re-recording the CD they had been working on, from scratch. It’s paying off for them, though, because I think the sound they’re getting now is exactly what they were going for. The drums, in particular, sounded much better than they did before, and the acoustic guitar as well. As I type they have probably finished mixing it, if they were able to keep the schedule they set. I had a catch in my throat that would not go away but everyone seemed happy with the results. Which was good, because I was really hoping to sort of make a subtle pitch for myself with the studio. When I was recording Thursday I got into a sort of depressing conversation about what my goals are with music (info like, a friend of mine, Josh Joplin, is out with his band playing halls, opening for Matthew Sweet and the like, but is still only getting paid $150 a gig or so). I think my goals are a little too vague at times. To be honest I would be happy at this point to somehow manage a living between music and freelance web design, if only I could also manage some national notoriety at music. It’s funny to realize suddenly that you really ARE just doing it for the music, and that you just want to be respected for what you have to say and how you say it. The upshot being that the discussion was depressing but didn’t leave me depressed, if that makes any sense. So, I decided in the course of it that I was going to try and make music more of an actual CAREER as well.
Unfortunately I’m still not quite sure what that entails. I don’t mean I want to get into the industry again, but I would like to get paid to sing and play, to subsidize what I do. So my current first step is making myself known to the other studios in town, for backing vocals and the like. It’s not going to feed me but it will at least help pay for the CD in some capacity.
