Believe it or not....I occasionally get asked how to write a song....that's a great question but as songwriting is not an exact science it's a question that's almost impossible to answer...
This is generally how we work it up at EB towers....but not always...
Andy will have a complete backing track ..that he will have moulded it into some sort of rough arrangement ....I will then scare all the neighbours by screaming and shouting over it until I consider I have something worthwhile sending...this I suppose is what you would call the " Demo stage "
Andy will mail me and say..." Dave you are a musical genius of the very highest order and I will bestow jewels and nice things on you " or " you're joking aren't you "..but maybe put a little kinder than that ...
If it is rejection of my idea I go and lay face down on my bed and don't speak to anyone for about two days but if it is the former and the idea has been accepted it is pizza's all round....
Funny enough one of the first tracks on our Facebook page " Dark Clouds " was given a distinct thumbs down initially and I was just marching upstairs when I received a second mail saying " actually there may be something there " so I quickly did an about turn and marched down again...there have been times when unfortunately...
It has been thumbs down....and I have rather foolishly erased everything from my hard disk recorder and then a thumbs up and then I am marching back up the stairs again not sure how to break the news....
So....if it's good news and I haven't wiped it off.....I send it to him.....we then are literally back and forth for a couple of days with mails etc...I will then say .." Do you need anything else " and he will say " no " I will then March up the stairs and sleep beneath the warmth of a job done good...
Maybe two days later...I will receive a mix via email...which I will listen to generally on a decent pair of headphones and try and listen to see if there is anything he's kicked out and if he has I will mail and say " you know that bit that..." and he will say " track doesn't need it " and I will say " I think it does " and we will bicker like this for quite a long time until I realise that Andy's right and acquiesce.
The writing can work the other way as well.....
I will write an entire track with words ,music ,melody and give this to Andy...he will then use his considerable skills to turn my demo into something you could play on the radio....a perfect example of this would be our track Cry...which incidentally I have no memory of writing...but I was looking through a pile of old cd/rw discs and found this little one verse /chorus idea that I had done with me bashing away on the piano trying to keep up with some mad beat ...I took away the mad beat and there was the beautiful haunting ( I hope ) melody you hear today.... ...Andy constructed the music around that demo vocal and the first verse and chorus is actually that demo vocal..
I think all the best songs come together pretty quickly...but then again not always...and where does it all come from ....thankfully ..I have no idea...
Dave
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