General Music Chat

Well, folks, I've been playing with this band for a few months now (Backwater Junction). I've weeded out the bad seeds, reconstructed the genre into something a little more tasty, solidified a varied and interesting set of songs and set course for a steady set of fairs and festivals venues (I even got them in the studio for a demo-and yes, I'm taking a lot of credit that doesn't completely belong to me )...now I have one major question:

What do we do to ENTERTAIN?

I'm pretty proud of the set we have, but still, do we need more?

Should I do a monologue or joke?
Juggle or walk a tightrope?
Throw knives or do a dance?
Set fire to my pants?

(Three beers and I turn into Dr. Seuss...great.)

I'd love to hear some experiences of what y'all do to keep the crowd enthralled...

BTW, I FINALLY finished the mixing on my 2nd CD today (and have grown much, much older in the process). Please feel free to listen and let me know what ya think ( the last song on my profile, "Bumblebee and Butterfly" is one that actually didn't make this set-cool jazzy kinda thing, but didn't fit...The first nine are off the new one.

Very well produced... I liked Line in the sand(hard times) Just one thing... the vocals on all the recordings sound dry.... or not mixed in with the rest of the music? Am I saying that right? When the background vocals come in, they blend right in with the rest but maybe it's on my end... you can tell the vocals were done on a completely different track and maybe they need a little added ffect or a little lower volume?

Common Man is okay. Odd low b/u vox, but they work. Crip's right - vox need some FX. Just a touch.

Pluto - your voice reminds me of Alan Davies, esp in this one.

Guardian Angel is a nice melody with a good production. Too bad it's got those keyboard strings instead of live real ones, but whatchagonnado, hire a frikken orchestra?

Big City is pretty cool. Good guitar work & wonderful tones in here, too, even though it isn't in the forefront.

Something Special - didn't like it. Lyric's rushed at the outset. maybe that's what turned me off. Melody wanders around aimlessly too much for me.

Hope - I'da used a more "real" sounding piano sample. I like this song the best so far. Strong lyric with a good story. Vocals are stronger in this one, too.

Line in the Sand - it's okay. Good lyrical descriptions.

Underdog is another that reminds me of the Kinks for some reason.

Overall, I'd hafta say it's very good stuff, Joseph. Great productions. You've a good ear for what works. I didn't see any reference to Alan Davies or Kinks in your profile's influences section, & that really surprized me. The dry vocals was kinda his thing, too, & your voice is eerily similar. My only real complaint in the production area is the use of the bad keyboard samples. There are better ones out there. Your melodies tend to wander around chord structures rather than to mesh with them, or even create them. That makes them sound weak on a cpl tunes, as if the chord choice "forced" the melody line, rather than the opposite.

THanks for the input, guys! Yeah, the dry vocal thing is something I push for a lot (maybe I should reconsider it). I record everything dry and then nudge a little fx in at the end. I'll definitely take another look at it.

Phil, you made some interesting points...I'm going to hafta listen to the Kinks some more (it's been a while).

"Hope" is a real piano, with a dash of effects. Maybe too much?

"Guardian Angel"-That string thing is kinda new to me, and the samples we used for it are pretty new, but I know what ya mean. It definitely doesn't sound like a real string section.

"Something Special"-hmmm. You make a great point about the vocal melodies in my songs in general (I'm just not sure how to fix it!!) All I can tell you is that, from the first time I sat down with the acoustic and strummed through these songs, that's where the vocal melody was. I do work to some extent to "smooth them out", but to a point, they are what they are. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm a guy playing a guitar and singing over it (and, as you said, the chord choice forces the melody), as opposed to approaching the vocal melody from an outside point of view (as if I was JUST the vocalist).
That is something I will be studying up on. Thank you very much!

Hey Joe,
I finally made it down the list to "Hope" on your player. Rest assured I'll be checkin' them all out a bit closer as time permits. What I can say at this point is that your John Cougar roots show through loud and clear! (certainly nothing wrong with that)
Best of the season to ya, and good job with the band.
Howlin'

All good songs some better then others, the one I like the most is "The confession" production wise I have nothing to say if I can hear everybody in the song as it is the case in your CD is good enough for me.

Good luck with it.