This is our 40th song, and in our humble opinions, there have been a few really good ones. We’re probably at a 10%-20% success rate, and only a 10%-20% abysmal failure rate, which is pretty good. However, for many people we talk to, Elizabeth is still the best song we’ve put out. And that’s kinda annoying, because it was song number 4. The thing about Elizabeth, you will remember, is that it’s a “hate song,” which people seemed to like. So, in a blatant attempt to try and build on that success, here is another song with the word “hate” in the chorus. We hope it will become your second favourite song, so that we can feel like we didn’t peak in January.
Song
Discussion
CHRIS: First off, just as Steve did with Elizabeth, I have to emphasize that this isn’t actually about anyone or anything. The phrase, melody and rhythm of the chorus popped into my head awhile back and I liked its shape, and then I built a song around it. The singer could be singing about a person, or about themselves, or about any of the political parties that have totally sold out their principles for the sake of trying to buy votes oh god what a horrible election campaign that was.
Ahem. Sorry. I’m back. AS I WAS SAYING. I wrote the chorus first, words and music, and then flushed out the verses from there, but did not have lyrics. Then, as with everything in my life, I waited until the last minute to finish writing and recording this song in a two hour window last night.
Even though it doesn’t sound studio-quality, I think it’s pretty cool that we’ve gotten into a grove where we can make a song come together that quickly. If you’re curious about process, this song was pretty typical. First, I got the whole song structure in my head–decided how many verses, choruses, how long each will be, will there be a bridge, will the song fade out or end abruptly, etc. If it’s a complicated song I have to write that down or block it out in the recording software, but this one was simple enough to just remember.
Then I program in the drums. Sometimes I play them on my keyboard, but usually I draw the drum pattern onto a grid and then get the computer to play it back. The rudimentary music theory I learned in piano lessons comes in handy here while trying to translate a rhythm in my head into quarter eighth and sixteenth notes on a screen.
Then I play the bass guitar in on my keyboard with my actual fingers and everything. However, I don’t record it as real audio first. Instead, I create a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) track, which is kind of cheating, because it means I can go back through afterwards and edit specific notes. If I hit a note I didn’t want to, I can delete it. Or change its pitch, start time or duration. And I can also ask the computer to quantize the notes, which is the musical equivalent of “snap to grid” in a graphic design program.
Then come guitars. For this song I doubled the acoustic guitar part, playing almost exactly the same thing twice and then panning each guitar hard left and hard right. You probably perceive it as still being just one guitar part (even though you can hear two if you listen for it), but it makes it sound more full.
The last stage, after tracking vocals, is the mix. I’m not great at this, partly because I don’t have proper studio monitors and instead mix almost exclusively in headphones or through a mono keyboard amp. We don’t usually do a lot of fancy effects, but compression (which levels out the dynamics so that some parts don’t sound much louder than others) is key, especially on acoustic guitars and vocals. On this recording I also added some EQ to the vocals for presence, a deesser effect to remove ‘s’ sounds, and some very light plate reverb.
Ok that was probably boring, but hey, I thought you might be curious, and I didn’t have anything else to say about the song. Hope you hated it! And by hated, I mean loved.
Lyrics
I’ve got mounting evidence
Got a whole new group of friends
Lots of time to make amends
You’ve got mounting hesitance
And mounting intransigence
No more time to make amends
It seems to me
That the person you used to be
Would hate what you’ve become
Remember what it was like?
Remember that night tonight
Wet hot summer on a bike
Go back, try to start again
Go back, find some brand new friends
There’s still time to make amends
It seems to me
That the person you used to be
Would hate what you’ve become
Credits
Words and Music: Chris Tindal
Chris Tindal: Vocals, guitars, bass (keyboard), drums (programmed)
Steve Salt: Has 99 problems, and most of them are computer and/or recording related
Claire Salloum: Was in a really amazing show last night and is so talented
For someone who loses the beat on or around the third clap/bang/what have you, I thought the insight into what you’re doing was great. Also made for some nice procrastination!
And I must say, I am missing Claire’s drawings. I think for the next couple she should get to draw first and then you guys write!
Only 12 to go – that’s so cool!