Drum Tracking On The New Album

And so we begin the next step in finishing Forthcoming Trains; the drum tracks and I managed to get through 11 songs, but feel a need to re do Drinking Again.  Starting working around 1 and finished up before 6, not bad considering we're fighting the damn 4 track for a decent drum sound.  But I do think that the majority of the songs it did come away fairly good.

I'm surprised on how fast this album has taken shape over the three weeks in March. It came fairly quickly by revisiting the old lyrics that I have stored up and rearranged some of the other tracks from other albums into a whole new version of the song.   I didn't want to just do cover versions like we did on No Exit, with the exception of Knocking On Heaven's Door, I covered myself, even going back to 1979 on a drums only track and rearranged it with some new words and with the help of the capo that Diggy Kat got me a few years ago made it into something it wasn't back then.  With myself strumming a few chords the lines of Seems To Me You Have Changed came into my mind and I started singing the original song How Hard It Is (to find that you're finally gone).  The original version was done with some coffee cans and an cymbal that seen better days before I got a hold of it.  It's not a final go on the album but so far what I heard it sounds worthy enough.  Anyway I still have to deal with another 10 songs before we start chopping things down to a selection of 12 songs.

While Jack Orbit's name pops up on the original lyrics and credits of said song, Jack hasn't been in person in the makings of this album and Geoff Redding for the most part has played some electric guitar and some acoustic but it has been myself and Martin Daniels piecing things together.  However while on a conference call with Jack, he did give his blessings and hopes he can hear the finished product too. 

Some songs of that past I wanted badly to redo and Midnight Run was one of them.  In 1985 the original version was on the R.Smith/Route 66 album and it was a fucking bitch to do a straight ahead 1/2 beat, instead of the usual 4/4.  We tried to redo it for the 20 album but the guitars were too fast for the drums to catch up.  This version is more true to the 1985 arrangement.  

Another reworked version was Somewhere Between You And Me, which was the final song recorded and while the 1989 version had a straight reggae beat (or attempted to do that), this version is straight ahead acoustic rock and roll.  It's much easier in this day and age to do acoustic rather than electric songs, I follow better on the drums on the recording the tracks afterward.  Ever since A Long Time Forgotten, a lot of the Townedgers albums have gone more acoustic than electric, not by accident but rather by not having to deal with loud amps and trying to shout over the noise.  Last years album 30, had the fewest acoustic numbers but still I did enough of them to give a bit of variety to the flow of the album.  But even with the finished product I'm still tinkering with it to see if I can make it sound better.  Or get valued opinions from Martin or Geoff or the producer at hand, in this case Hugh McConnell who I have worked with for over 20 years off and on. 

There's variations in McConnell's production work then Richard Dennanbaugh or Brian Mullahan, but in Hugh's case when he works on a TE project he's cracking the whip to get it done, whereas Richard would be more of a laid back approach, or if I produce it, I tend to work until I either get bored and shelve it or in the case of Pawnshops For Olivia have a creative spark and finish the album in record time.  I had to, I had to keep my mind off the GD floods that was commonplace that year, just like last year.   But still if McConnell wasn't on my case getting it done, the other guys were.

Spring has arrived and I took time to go out to the Nature Center and count the trains that run through the area and seen 5 of them today, double than the last time I was out there.  I gave myself the window of a week to do drum tracks and they're half done after one day.  A good sign.  Which leaves the rest of the time to either add some more backing vocals to the completed tracks.  Once done, the next weekend will be mixing the songs for radio consumption and for my pleasure since the albums don't sell.  I suppose if I was more outgoing rather being the introvert that I am, that the music would speak for itself more often than not. 
But it takes forever to get the right take down pat, we rarely ever get a first take done although on the new album there are a couple songs that are first takes. If they're good enough they'll be on the album.

I'm also aware that being over 50 that my years of rock and roll are just about up.  It's hard to write new songs when you really don't have the hunger like you used to have and believed that we could make a difference with rock and roll, but it's a hobby nowadays and don't pay the bills like a real job does.  I don't forsee myself 10 years from now doing new songs, I don't think I'll have the capability to do that. What's a 63 year old dude going to write about that hasn't been written or played before.  You can't write about high school girls without sounding creepy, so can't do that.  But you can still write a song about love gone bad, or yet another train song or a song for the road or protest songs about Dick Cheney being a asshole that should drink his own fracked water.  It's sad seeing the world that I used to know being drowned in spilled oil in your river or lake, watching honey bees being eliminated due to Monsanto poisons and week killers. And seeing fewer and fewer music stores to hang out.

But I still play music because I still have fun with it, just like hearing the results of a finished album.  And so here we are again adding the drum tracks to the numbers and hoping that something will be played on the radio. If the stars align just right, the album will be out by the end of May maybe.