Author: Toby Hawkins

About a song – Dream again

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As it was recently the anniversary of Shakespeare‘s death, it came to my mind to tell you about this little song o’ mine.

Dream again was written in September 2012. The original title was Dream again (Caliban’s song) and it was inspired by and built around Caliban’s speech from Act 3, Scene 2 of The Tempest. I even directly quoted it in the chorus.

I’m not going to claim an in depth knowledge of the play and its symbolism, so in some ways perhaps it was foolish to write a song inspired by it. However, I was rather taken with the speech when it was featured in the opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympics as well as with discussions about the nature of the character in the play. In particular I liked that despite being described as a monster, there are hints that he is better than that.

I’ve written a few songs that touch on the idea that we all have the potential to be great as well as monstrous. I think acknowledging this is helpful on a personal level and also helpful in being empathetic towards others whose motives we might not initially understand.

So this is kind of an introspective take on that idea. Vaguely from Caliban’s point of view as imagined by me. I’m pretty pleased with the words to this one, actually. In particular I like the ocean/brine twist on the phrase “can’t see the wood for the trees”.

This seemed a fairly obvious choice for a Roo’s Radio song, and I thought Claire’s voice would be a good fit. We moved the key around a bit before it felt right. This was one of our earlier songs – check out this 2013 video of us performing it – which was finished pre-album, so it was a fairly solid option when it came to putting the album together. It fits really well with some of the other songs in terms of meaning (However, Way out) as well as following on directly from Clouded’s theme quite nicely (given that Clouded is about being lost at sea and The Tempest starts with a shipwreck).

My bandmates and Paul took it to a whole ‘nother level, as always. I particularly love Paul and Ally’s rhythm and Cec’s harmony. As well as Claire’s beautifully sung vocal, naturally.

Dream again
Oh! these thoughts of mine,
I’m having difficulty telling
all the ocean from the brine
I thought I saw a better me
I walked a world apart
But then discovered that it couldn’t be

These voices are whispering to me

Looking in your eyes
I find I’m fallen down but then
I wake to realise
There’s nothing in me now
That would sooner leave it all
and exit with a crooked bow

These voices are whispering to me

And when I waked
I cried to dream again
Opened my eyes
Remembering the light

Faith, I know not where
I am heading and I’m not sure
why you’d ever care
If all it ever took
Was one small bite then dare I
take a second look?

These voices are whispering to me
Tempting me; offering the sky

And when I waked
I cried to dream again
Opened my eyes
Remembering the light
Shutting them tight
I tried to dream but then,
Facing the day, I move on
With fading memories of night

The plans we make

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Well well..

This month a day’s recording became a weekend’s recording. Not a solid weekend, mind. But a very enjoyable weekend.

In order to accommodate the people I’d asked to contribute to Somewhere in between, I had to shift things around, and we decided we needed to record the drums before Sunday. It also worked to throw the bass into this session as well. The original plan was to start early evening on Friday, get a scratch track done, then set up and record the drums, and then record the bass.

Traffic on the M25 threw this plan out of the window, so the new plan became to record the scratch track Friday evening, which we duly did, then do drums and bass on Saturday evening. By this point we’d also determined it would make sense to get the lead vocals done after the bass, which we could then comp and edit on Sunday morning ready for Han Goslett to come in and do her vocals.

And so it was that I trooped to Awesome Source studios with Paul and Si on Saturday evening. A good time was had by all. Pizza was consumed, sick beats and phat bass were laid down. It was, once again, a wonderful experience to see something I’d written come alive with other people’s creativity. The night was wearing on by the time we got to the vocals. But, minor disaster! My sinuses thought it better to flood with mucus. Singing “Subwhere id betweed” wasn’t really cutting the mustard for Paul and a fresh plan was settled upon.

An early start on Sunday was conceived, and, fresh from a very hot shower and hopped up on vocalzone, I recorded an 8am Sunday vocal rather than an 11pm Saturday vocal. Potentially less rock and roll, but definitely less congested. The wonderful Han came by mid morning to record her harmonies and a lead part for the end of the song. Then we had the multi-talented Tom from Beer Pressure coming to play both a keyboard AND lead guitar part.

The benefit to “front-loading” the recording process was that, following a late, relaxed lunch, we only had the acoustic guitar and a guitar/vocal intro to record before calling it a day nice and early.

There might be a slightly longer wait for this one as mixing won’t happen ’til next week, but it’s turned out well so far.

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Lyrics – Somewhere in between

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Oh yeah, it’s recording week again this week. They do come around.

I’m kind of toying with the idea of including earlier phone recorded versions of the songs in these posts where I tell you what I’m recording and allowing you to read the lyrics. Not 100% sure whether that’s a good idea or not. I will continue to think about it. So you know.

Anyway. This week I’m recording a li’l mid-tempo thingamajig called Somewhere in between. Kind of hoping to avoid a soft rock feel. We’ll see how that goes.

This was apparently the first song I wrote in 2012. Around the same time as As Any Fule Kno, Longshore drift, I don’t think they’ve told him and a few others that have yet to surface.

I don’t tend to go for intensely autobiographical songs, but this is a kind of tongue in cheek closest I’ll get. I take enormous satisfaction in mugwumpery. Of the fence-sitting variety. I find it hard to settle down to a concrete opinion on things. Somewhere in between is usually where you’ll find me. It’s not super clever lyricality you see.

I guess in this case I applied it to songwriting and music. They say that life is about the journey, and I get that. But sometimes the destination can be fun too. And I do still find it amusing that I don’t really feel like I have anything important to say, but I still keep saying stuff.

So there we go. Got some more great musicians coming in on this one. Very interested to see where it ends up.

Somewhere in between
Don’t ask me
Where this all goes
Don’t tell me
I’m trying not to think about it
The answer’s rich
And the question’s poor
Did you ever stop to dream?
And did you never ask to skip the journey?

Somewhere in between
Is where I’ll be

Take this down
It just might be
Write it down
It could just be worth remembering
See I’m not sure
I’ve ever chanced to say
A single word that’s mine
A single thought that bore repeating
But I’ll still be singing

Somewhere in between
Is where I’ll be

If there’s a single truth and I don’t get it
If I’m forever lost and still repentant
If it’s the only way I can make it through this
If there’s nothing else to say I’m in between

Gigs gigs gigs

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I still haven’t really decided how tenuous to the site theme posts on here are going to get. I mean obviously it should be music related, but how much do you care about personal stuff? How much do I care how much you care? How much do you care how much I care how much you care? And so on ad nauseum.

This is a long way of saying that I’m going to talk about gigs. On the back of going to see MxPx on Saturday.

I’m not very punk rock. I like punk rock, but not in enormous doses. I did very much enjoy going to a punk rawk show though. I must have first heard MxPx in 96 or 97, when I picked up a Move to Bremerton EP on the basis that I had heard of them in connection with Aaron Sprinkle of Poor Old Lu. Never got to hear them live though. That is, until 20 years later. It’s been about 10 years since I last went to a big punk rock gig (Less than Jake, does that count?). All I can say from looking at the crowd is that punk rockers got older. As did I, I guess. All in all though, it was a great set, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Next gig should be Foy Vance. L’il bit different, you’ll agree. I also haven’t had a chance to hear Foy yet, but I’ve only been listening to him for a year or so. Looking forward to that one too. He’s got a way with a tune that one.

Sad to report that I didn’t manage to get tickets for Radiohead at the Roundhouse, which would have been sweet as a nut (sweet like tropicana), but I did manage to get Glastonbury tickets. I also haven’t, uh, seen Glastonbury (see, it kind of fits together!) before. The line up looks pretty cool. I’m hoping that my favourite performance won’t be anything I can predict, but from the bands listed thus far it should be pretty cool to see Muse, Adele, Beck, ELO and Sigur Rós. Amongst others.

That’s where it’s at this Monday. We’ll see if we can get you some new music this week. Dependent on factors outside our control, but rest assured you’ll hear it first here.

Studio day – Mind your PMQs

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Tracking Mind your PMQs

I won’t take you on a magical mystery tour of the day this time, as it’s not proved to be my favourite format for reporting studio days. Instead, I’ll just throw out thoughts in random fashion. That’s proved popular so far. In as much as I haven’t had any comments posted saying that you don’t like it.

One of the amazing things about recording every month is the fantastic improvised bands we end up with. This month’s offering will feature splendmazing (getting bored with my superlatives) contributions from Paul, Ant and Matt O all of whom it was a pleasure hanging out with during the day in addition to adding their musicosity (almost definitely a word) to the song.

I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned, but Mind Your PMQs was only written in the last couple of weeks, so it hasn’t had time to embed too much. There was a little more writing on the spot than we’ve previously experienced, which did lead to a slightly longer day and we’ll need an extra evening session this week to get the backing vocals done.

It’s an obvious thing to say, but doing this regularly really does increase confidence. Particularly with vocals and acoustic guitar. I’m still a bit ‘fish out of water’ with the electric guitar (borrowed from Aj of strangeday fame this month) but I do have enormous fun playing the parts. Once we’d worked out what the parts should be.

The vocals were pretty good fun to do. We were really trying to get some passion in there and I attempted my best Dave Grohl impression (I’m rocking the Discount Dave Grohl look at the moment) for the final verse. I’m interested to see how it comes out. Hopefully Paul will be able to work his majicks.

I will say this. This recording/releasing lark is getting addictive. I’m already trying to work out how I might be able to step up the pace to twice a month. Stay tuned chizzlers.

Mind your PMQs – lyrics

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Good Wednesday to you all. I headed over to the studio last night to do some final writing and guide tracking on a song that I will be recording on Saturday.

This one’s interesting and a little tricky. Inspired by some of the behaviour of parliament, in particular during Prime Minister’s Questions, and having come up with a title that’s probably attempting to be funnier or more clever than it actually is, I have gone ahead and written a “political” song.

It’s really a catalogue of things that frustrate me about modern politics and journalism, neatly tied up with a smartarse title and no particularly helpful solution. I understand that there are different political philosophies, I just wish we’d recognise we generally have more in common than we realise. I don’t think all politicians are bad. And I don’t think any party is ‘wrong’. But I’m not particularly impressed with how the whole system is getting along in the UK.

I do also think there are people that are wholly out for themselves at every level of society. I would never presume to accuse a specific person of this, as both sides of the political spectrum are far too fond of doing. I may have my suspicions, but none of us knows the whole story.

So this song isn’t directed at any party. Or even just politicians. It’s meant to be a plea to have some damn humility. I’m aware that it may well be misinterpreted, or (more likely) unnoticed.

I say tricky (I did, honest, it was just a few paragraphs ago) because it’s really hard to write a song where you’re being critical without being guilty of the things you might be criticising. I don’t want to be too negative, but I also think certain behaviours shouldn’t go unchallenged. And honestly we’re all guilty of some of this stuff at various points. Ad hominem is the most insidious logical fallacy because it’s so easy to attack people when we’re angry.

I’m posting these lyrics knowing full well that they might not be finished yet. I suspect even once they’re in the can I’ll have my doubts. That’s probably a good thing.

There’s a whole ‘nother post to be written at some point about my (I think) judicious use of language that some deem offensive to stress a point. Some people won’t even see a problem. Others will be curious. There may even be some people who are disappointed. I don’t want to cause unnecessary offence (please don’t read the lyrics below if such language does offend). If the line prevails come Saturday we’ll probably release a censored version for sensitive ears.

Here we go then. My first attempt at some kind of protest song.

Mind Your PMQs

This is little better
Than a playground argument
I find it hard to tolerate
Your willful insolence
Bluff bluff bluster
Ad hominem
Straw man straw man
Ad hominem again
—
Scaremonger, warmonger
Others are to blame
Exaggerate our differences
Shoot them down in flames

And I can’t believe
This is how we get things done
Starting to feel
That you’re stringing us all along

Turn a profit line your pockets
The little guy’s at fault
Cherry pick your data points
Sell the bastards short
Use other people’s weaknesses
To undermine their claims
Rig the rules, damn the fools
Everyone’d do the same
—
Oversimplify the issues
Turning up the sound
Pick a side pick a side
Refuse the common ground

And I can’t believe
This is how we get things done
Starting to feel
That you’re stringing us all along

Greed will be our ruin
Pride will kill us all
Hatred our undoing
Ever as it was
Greed will be our ruin
Pride will fuck us all
Can’t stop this hatred brewing
Are we headed for a fall?
It’s simply not worth the fight
If what you’re fighting for
Isn’t love, kindness, bravery
Not evening the score

And I can’t believe
This is how we get things done
Starting to feel
That you’re stringing us all along

Oberland released. Finally!

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Hurray it’s here!

Check out the following:

It’ll also be available in the usual stores in a week or so.

Don’t forget you can subscribe to the mailing list, where you’ll generally be the first to know about any releases.

Enjoy!

*me wittering, mostly.

Harmonious

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I’m totally going to put this one out there without too much thought. I was driving home and two of the following list came on shuffle and I decided I would tell you all my top seven uses of harmony/backing vocals. Odds are I’ve forgotten something crucial, but the internet’s such a transient place that I don’t suppose it will matter. Today’s top seven lists are tomorrow’s discarded clickbait. Not that this place is very good at being clickbait, but you know what I mean.

(By the way, I know seven is trendy and only for clickbait, and I was originally going to do five. But then it turned into six. And then seven. That’s the way it goes folks. Sometimes I’m accidentally trendy. But never accidentally clickbait. Or deliberately.)

Anyway, there’s not much I do that isn’t harmony/backing vocal ridden. With Roo’s Radio in particular we’re all about the vocal layers. So here’s my favourite harmony/backing vocal moments in history. As ever, in no particular order.

Ben Folds – Fred Jones, Part 2
This is a gorgeous song, whichever way you cut it, but when John McRae (from Cake, y’all) kicks in with his harmony I fall over. Metaphorically.

Radiohead – Black Star
Another beautiful song, with very few backing vocals actually (just the barely audible chorus one). Then in the 3rd verse the electric guitars depart leaving just bass, drums and vocals and out of nowhere this incredible harmony pops up and floors you. I realise this is another way of saying “I fall over”. And the harmony starts on the line “I keep falling over”. See how well I plan this shit?

Nitin Sawhney – Say Hello
Good grief I love this song. Honestly I just want to tumble into this song and float away. Then at the end you get the chorus with its multi part vocal AND this guy singing in Indian (?) comes in and then the song wins at everything.

Five Iron Frenzy – On Distant Shores
Dennis Culp is a harmony genius. If you need proof, listen to the chorus of On Distant Shores. I love this song anyway, but I have to loop the chorus (since it only happens the two times) as the backing vocal is so stunningly creative. Zoinks!

3dBs Down – (pretty much any of them)
Speaking of Zoinks, I couldn’t talk harmonies without mentioning the dBs. That I’m in a band with three lead singers is almost entirely down to them. And their arrangements are fantastic fun, very creative and so full of energy that I don’t want to fall over. I’m struggling to narrow this down, but let’s go for Quick Fix, Greatest Day or Fish Hook as prime examples. Well, if you’re going to push me, let’s go for the chorus after the solo in Fish Hook where the instruments cut out and all three vocals collide splendidly over a big fat pick scrape.

Poor Old Lu – Slow
I just love Aaron Sprinkle’s backing vocal part that comes in at the end here. So much so that I think I partly stole it for the end of Dream Again. Oops. That’s all I really have to say about that.

Imogen Heap – Hide & Seek
This song is basically all harmony. It’s lovely. My favourite part? “Ransom notes keep falling out your mouth”. Amazing.

Ok I’m all done. Did I get it wrong? Think I’m an idiot with an idiot coating? Got better suggestions? Better start a blog of your own because I turned off comments. Shazam!

Oh, also, I’m not linking you to youtube videos of these. I don’t have time. If you care, you know how search engines work. I’m a giver.

About a song – Zack Plank

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My initial demo of this song came up on random this morning, so I thought I’d take a little time to give you some insight into this little beaut. Ha. Insight.

I know you’re interested, so I’ll let you have a listen to the initial garageband demo I put together. Pay attention in particular to the laughable programmed drums – especially the intro that is almost stolen from Lead Me On 2012. It’s quite easy to see how much the other members of strangeday bring to my song ideas looking at the contrast between this and the final song.

I’d decided I wanted to do something like the ending of Goodnight by easyworld, getting faster and faster and then coming out at a slower speed. The band came up with something different, and I like it! We ended up dropping instruments out one by one until just Aaron was left, doing something otherworldly with the electric guitar. Then we’re all back in for a normal chorus, followed by a chorus where we swap the first and last sections around as far as the chords were concerned. This allowed for a switch up of the melody and for us to bring in the coda. Nice.

I had the idea for Zack Plank whilst reading a book. I think it was A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. The book casually mentioned two of the craters on the moon at one point. There’s one named Zach and the another called Planck. For some reason, in my mind, the two names became one: the name of a little boy who lives on the moon.

The song was originally called The life and times of Zack Plank (I changed the spellings of both craters – who knows why). The story I had imagined was that Zack ran away from everything and ended up on the moon. He wanted space and he got it. And he is kind of ambivalent about the success of his plan.

It’s all an attempt at a metaphor for pushing people away, only to find how well you can manage to isolate yourself completely by doing so. We added the coda at the end whilst recording and I love how it sums up the creeping dread of the situation: “What if I never come home? I never meant to come this far“. Incidentally, the last half chorus into this coda, with Paul’s snare fill linking the two is one of my favourite things we’ve recorded. If I ever listen to the song, I have to play this section at least once more.

As a character and story, I feel like I’d like to come back to Zack eventually. Whether I will or not is another matter. I didn’t really go too far into the actual story with Zack Plank, just the feelings involved. I could explore it more I think. As far as I’m aware he’s still up there.

When it came to the artwork, we’d been using photos for our single covers, so I thought it would be fun to get some public domain photos of the craters themselves and overlay them. Luckily the images existed and I created my very own new lunar crater based on Zach and Planck.

Zach + Planck = Zack Plank

And here, for posterity and your enjoyment are the actual lyrics. See if you can spot the line I changed in the first verse.

Zack Plank
I wouldn’t like to be in your shoes
Follow your feet into the emptiness
Desolate in the skies
You’re on your own oh no
But do the stars shine that much brighter for you?
And it’s a long way down
It’s a long way down
If you choose to think about it

Hey, I just wanted to be far away
Don’t bring me down
Hey, just like me to wind up lost again
I came in last again
Looking down
I can’t see the end

Well it’s the boy without an atmosphere
Faking fear and an attitude
Finding you’ve got space to spare
Star of the whole show oh no
With the real world that much smaller to you
And are you coming down?
You’re not coming down
Is it easier to stay?

What if I never come home?
I never meant to go this far