Leave It All Behind

One kooky thing about this song is the chorus. That weird guitar noise in the chorus is actually a keyboard ran through a distorted guitar amp. I love making crazy weirdo sounds. It's probably better that I don't have a band, because I would be able to make a whole lot more weird noises if I didn't have to hold down rhythm by myself all the time. In this song the stomping noises were done by my foot on a guitar case. Gotta make due without a drummer!

The guitar in this song is tuned low to high DADFBD.

This song was the last that I wrote for the album, I sort of gave myself a deadline at the end and this one snuck out. Sometimes deadlines can make cool things happen, sometimes they make nervous breakdowns happen. But since I can record everything at home, and have unlimited time pretty much, it leads to me trying to make everything perfect, but perfection doesn't exist. HERE is a link to a Seth Godin blog. I like some of the things that this fellow talks about. I think he helped me finish my album and take the plunge into being a working musician.

My new album The Great Unknown is available to buy HERE

Your Every Move

For the guitar geeks out there, this song and Gone Now are both in DADGBbD tuning. Only this song has a capo at the second fret. Apparently this is my bitter song tuning, because both of those songs are kind of pissed off tunes.
In the beginning of the writing process I was just messing around with writing a 2nd song with that tuning for live purposes. I only take one guitar with me when I play live, so the less amount of tuning I have to do the happier the crowd is....or the drunker they are, I'm not sure really.

This song is about women who use other people just to get ahead. It specifically veers towards the entertainment/acting realm (yea you Paris). Women who show skin just to get ahead. That's all I have to say about that.

James Lee Smith recorded some amazing lead on this song. That solo definitely brought the intensity level up. It's always great to have some different guitar playing perspective on my recordings. He recently told me it was his favorite guitar solo that he's recorded to date. Pretty Awesome.

Also, my girlfriend, who this song is definitely NOT about!, she talked me into keeping the "Hip Hop" beat that is in this song. It was originally used as my click track to play along to, but she heard me playing it and made me keep it. I'm glad she did. It became the opening track on the album.

Gone Now

I've decided to give a little insight into each individual track on "The Great Unknown." I'm going to do this in chronological order just for the fun of it. Today's track is Gone Now. Let's get to the oldies!
This song was originally released about 5 years ago on an out of print album of mine called "My Memories and Me." This is an ex-girlfriend song in all it's splendor.
I added new vocals, backwards guitar, claps and foot stomps to the new version.

The opening riff is highly, HIGHLY, influenced by Edith Piaf. The initial idea was to combine the sweetness of a French song with the intensity of the alternative/folk/indie/nonsense that I do. The guitar is tuned low to high DADGBbD. I think the tuning came when I was trying to figure out the Edith arrangement that had violin, horns, and whatever else those crazy French people play. Stay tuned for more!

-Todd