Vancouver is a city bursting with talented musicians. Two such folks are my friends Stuart and Faith. Stuart you may well recognize as a member of my band Even Handed Odds (formerly CROWN), but he’s also got his own solo stuff going on. He was one of the first people I met here in the city, and we’ve been collaborating ever since. Faith is someone I met through Stu, and is a country-fied singer/songwriter who has penned some really catchy tunes. When I was asked to fill out a showcase at the landmark Railway Club, I was happy to include my two friends on the bill.
At the end of the night, the three of us got together and played this classic Beatles tune:
In what might be the nerdiest I’ve ever done, I have arranged and recorded another all-viola cover. This time, I took on another classic, “Don’t Stop Believin'” by Journey.
This video also allowed me to address one of my pet peeves about the song: “South Detroit” is Windsor, Ontario. Downtown Detroit is right on the rover, south of which is the border to Canada (it’s weird, I know). So there.
Getting good live video is tougher than I imagined. The lighting is always wrong, and the built-in audio on most video cameras is not that great. Luckily I managed to grab this tune from one of my gigs at Darby’s Pub.
Want to get some acoustic stuff up online soon as well, so look for that.
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Muse’s Absolution shares the coveted title of “albums I bought after hearing the single for the first time” with Radiohead’s Ok Computer. It wasn’t the big single “Time Is Running Out” that did it for me, incidentally, but the somewhat less-popular “Hysteria” that pushed me to the record store. From the first beat, “Hysteria” appealed not only to the part of me that loves hard rock, but the part of me that can’t get enough of cerebral and complex soundscapes. The rest of the album (those of you who have listened to it know what I’m talking about) is almost theatrical in its presentation – blistering rock woven into a tapestry of operatic composition. It’s a masterpiece.
Since then I haven’t missed a Muse album release date. While they achieved galactic superstardom on the back of the Black Holes and Revelations album, I was far more partial to their next album The Resistance which stands out to me as their best work. Their most recent album, however, gave us the song that is probably their single best individual contribution: “Madness”.
My dad was a big fan of legendary Brit-rock band Queen, so we heard a lot of Freddie Mercury in my childhood home. The thing that makes me love Queen and Muse is the fact that they do not shy away from classical European music (largely of the Romantic-era vintage, another personal favourite), with all its bombastic overtures and haunting ballads. It’s all there. Beethoven would feel very much at home playing backing keys for both bands. “Madness” is what happens when Muse tries to recreate Queen’s magic touch, and it hits all of my musical pleasure centres.
Because the song is so closely tied to its classical roots, I thought it would be an interesting experiment to try and re-create the song on my favourite classical instrument: the viola.
All parts, including percussion and ‘cello’ were produced using my viola with an occasional assist from my Line6 POD HD500. Most of the ‘effects’ on the string parts were added in production/mixing. This song sets a personal record for “largest number of tracks”, weighing in at a total of 18 separate parts. It was a monster to put together, but definitely a fun experience. Recording it forced me to come face-to-face with my own limitations as both a sound engineer (obviously) but as a player as well. I also got to stare the sonic limitations of my viola in the eye in a way that I don’t normally have to when it sits under my chin.
All in all, it was a fun project and I’m looking forward to doing more. If you like it, please share it!
A year and a half ago I wandered into Tom Lee Music Store and found myself in the midst of a year-end sale. Because it was marked way down, and because I had wanted one for a long time, I picked up an Ovation round-backed guitar from the Celebrity line. While I loved the guitar to pieces (especially in relation to the one it was replacing), it wasn’t too long until I felt like I had outgrown its sound and was looking for something a bit warmer and brighter. It was along those lines that I found Emily, my new guitar, who is a Seagull Entourage manufactured by Godin.
In this video, I take her out for a test spin on one of my favourite covers to do at karaoke:
I’m looking forward to recording a lot of great stuff with Emily. Incidentally, my recording of Niall Connoly’s “Skin and Bones” was the first song I recorded with Emily, and you can really hear the difference in the guitar tone between that one and my older recordings with Sarah (my Ovation).
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I first heard Niall Connoly’s ‘Skin and Bones’ over the PA after a gig and, flush as I was with musical juice, it immediately jumped into my head and refused to leave. I don’t know what it is about some songs that make them indelible, but I quickly became obsessed with it. The simplicity of the song belies the depth of the sentiment, but simultaneously allows for any number of different interpretations.
I’m not really a county fan, but this song was crying out to me for a pumpin’ back beat and some multi-vocal harmonies. It also needs some banjo, but as yet I do not know how to play that, so you’ll have to make do.
If you like this tune, please consider sharing it as widely as you can. The only reason I record this is for others to hear them, so the more ears the better!
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This song got stuck in my head as soon as I heard it the first time. I would very much like to emulate the simple backbeat in my own writing – take a very simple scale and turn it into something epic. Here I try to put my own stamp on this tune, which I am very much looking forward to incorporating into my live set.
I bought a camera to record my live shows. The video quality ain’t great, but if you can’t make it to a show, this is a reasonable alternative.
This is one of my favourite tunes to play. The long-buildup is great, especially since I don’t usually announce the tunes before I play them. Nobody’s really sure what it is until I start singing, which is the general idea. Anyway, enjoy!
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Back in undergraduate, I had a major chip on my shoulder when it came to trendy and popular things. My reasoning was that if it’s popular, it can’t possibly be any good. I’ve mellowed (a bit) since then, but I’m still very distrustful of mega-popular things, partially because I often find myself out of step with pop culture and partially because I try to avoid herd mentality whenever possible.
That being said, there is some stuff that is both popular and good, and my attitude often precludes me from enjoying it until it’s too late in the game. A friend recommended FutureSex/LoveSounds to me, and I decided that I trusted her enough to give it a try. I wasn’t really into the album so much, but I was impressed with the depth and breath of music on the album. It, along with his guest spots on Saturday Night Live turned me around on Justin Timberlake.
While this song is from a different album, it’s still a good tune, and gets people jammin’ when I play it. I hope you enjoy it!
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My mother was a huge Paul Simon fan. For a while, I used to listen to “Graceland” every night as I went to sleep. I think I could probably sing the whole album, karaoke style, from memory. In fact, Simon’s proclivity for blending different styles of music, as he does on the “Graceland” album, was a huge influence on my own musical preferences and tastes.
This song, which is a regular feature in my live show, is probably one of his best (and that’s a high bar to clear). I tried my best to do it justice.
Crommunist 