Tag: independent artist journey

  • The Dark Harmony That Gave Egoman Its Edge

    The Dark Harmony That Gave Egoman Its Edge

    Feverishly working on a backend system that will not only simplify my life, but will also improve your experience as a part of my Jody Army. There’s a good chance I can still get it fully working before Friday when Egoman releases. The first song I ever used a vocal tritone harmony on.

    For the system, I put the pieces together correctly, but for some reason it isn’t sending the email. Somewhere in the system I mussed up a setting or the information in a variable. Once I find it, it should work flawlessly. Which will allow me to get out weekly emails with much less effort. Or to send them bi-weekly or monthly based on your choice. The page/part where you can choose how often, that works.

    Power to the listener!

    With this week’s release it was power to me when I took a concept from my then roommate, Jeff Scott Soto. He had recently recorded a track for a situation where he’d asked me to do some gang vocals on. Then he did a bit of a volume ride to bring in a vocal harmony. I’m pretty sure he lifted it from Prince, and I lifted the idea from Jeff.

    The impetus of the song itself came from a mutual friend of Jeff and I. We were all given a shot at writing some songs for an actor who had joined a hit TV show (Melrose Place) and somehow also got a record deal. A small group of us wrote songs for him and I was asked if I’d be his touring guitar player if things took off.

    Egoman was my contribution. It was heavier than the selections the rest of us had submitted, but he was looking for something heavy with a grunge vibe. Yeah – it was during the grunge era. In the end, the situation fizzled despite some cool songs and all the demos.

    I took the song as my own and de-grunged it as I didn’t see myself as a grunge artist. Though I did keep it more simplistic by not going with a flat out guitar solo.

    The part in question in terms of the vocal harmony and a volume right happens in the chorus. There’s a dark harmony that rides in every other time the title is sung. It coincides with the dark nature of narcissism and the dark corners of fame that come from it.

    To say that I enjoy singing and playing this song live is an understatement. Mainly because it reminds me of a time when a fair amount of action was happening around me and it seemed like the world was going to be my oyster.

    Stay tuned for more coming next week.

  • With You Release – An Amazing Remix of Creativity and Sound

    With You Release – An Amazing Remix of Creativity and Sound

    The late nights never seem so bad. Suddenly I’m having late nights again and it’s not exactly by choice. It’s a drive that has lit back up and there’s a vibe of forward movement that has been missing for about 3 years. And it’s a journey that I’m on …With You.

    As I’m getting the technical side of things to finally settle down a little bit, it’s always hard when a little problem rears up with it. Last night was just such a thing. Then again this morning it had another mishap, that has since taken care of itself. It’s causing me to look into another bit of gear to hopefully solve the issue.

    There’s a new fire under my feet with all this tech improvement. It’s getting the musical juices going as well. This week I’ll be finishing up a version of a wedding song for a friend, where I’m doing the music and my friend Claude J Woods of Earth, Wind and Fire is doing the vocals (I may sing on it as well). It’s for a private affair and I’m happy to see it come together.

    There’s another slight change that you’re not likely to notice, so I’ll point it out. If you’re new to my musical world, and you want to sign up for my email list – you currently are unable to. I’m hoping to have that rectified by next week. I’ve dumped the 3rd party list server that I was using. It’s become long in the tooth, isn’t worth the money it’s costing and won’t be able to do some of the things I’m working on, to make it more enjoyable for you.

    I’ll keep it at that until I have it up and running.

    This week will see the release of …With You. A song that is a real amalgam of things. Different time signatures, different arrangement value and almost a backward feel to the type of music that was going on when the album originally came out. Now it feels more at home in today’s musical landscape.

    ...With You single cover art.

    I’m happier with this mix due to some of the effects that are now available that I didn’t have in the late 90s. Yeah, it’s that old. It’s not rerecorded, just remixed and remastered.

    Remember I’m on this journey …With You and I want you to feel included. Thus, if you’re not already part of the Jody Army, do return to my domain in the next two weeks and join the ranks. Your data will only be between you and I and I have another trick coming up that sleeve that will make being a part of the army very worth while.

    Until next week, remember to keep you ear to the grindstone, and float along in the Breezes.

  • Battling Tech Woes and Health Hiccups to Launch a New Anthem

    Battling Tech Woes and Health Hiccups to Launch a New Anthem

    Another week has come and gone. Holy shit I feel a bit like I haven’t made any progress. Last week I was in process of destroying something because it wasn’t working after weeks of trying. Here’s another week and as I’m writing this, I’m destroying the last try yet again…

    My option is to avoid one particular aspect to the email server. It’s something I never use anyway and I’ve spent weeks attempting to get this one thing I have no intention to use, to fuckin work.

    Hopes were high on this go around. Everything was working great. Then it came down to this one last thing – a webmail interface – and that’s when the hacks began. Each hack slowly ended up killing a working aspect of the server until most of it was broken. ARGH.

    Kinda like the tooth I had fixed this week as well. Last week I had a dental visit and tooth cleaning. In the vigor of the flossing, the hygienist managed to pull a filling out – no pain, but I had a what the fuck is this moment.

    Of course I had to return another day for them to go about replacing the filling and fixing it. Kinda like how this server is going. Though I will now only install the working files I have and not attempt to go for the last bit that doesn’t work. I’ll be done with it and life will be grand.

    Oh, let’s also add to the health storyline…

    Went in to see the knee doc to figure out why my knee was swelling under normal use. X-rays came back clear. The decision was to stick a needle in there and drain the fluid, plus add a little cortisone.

    All lovely 12ccs of liquid came out, not sure how much cortisone they put in. But I was out being athletic within the hour.

    Probably a lot like what pro level basketball players might be like. The knees take a beating with all the running around and jumping on a fairly hard court. I’m sure they see their share of knee issues.

    Which segues into today’s release of Do You Want to Play Rip City Remix. Another version of the sports song for another sports team. I dig their name Rip City Remix. Makes me think I ought to find a remixer to remix this version for them as well… Hmmm…

    Stay tuned for more.