Inspiration

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Howdy folks, I felt that as I’ve been a Lucky Soul for nearly a year now (where has the time gone?), that I’m well over due for posting my first ever blog. So, without the use of a safety net or general anesthetic, here goes.

I’m happy to say that we have managed to overcome a major hurdle, one of many no doubt, on the road to making the next album. What we’ve achieved is to learn, create, learn again, create some more, do a bit more learning, record, do some editing, re-record, change keys, re-learn, re-record and then finally mix demo recordings of a bunch of songs that will go on the next album. And they sound bloody great, even if I do say so myself.

Why put sooooooo much time and effort into recording mere demos of songs I hear you say ? Why not just go into a nice studio, with great equipment, friendly staff and the best coffee that money can buy and make an album? Well, when playing a song with a band in a practice room you think you know what it sounds like and what works and what doesn’t. And sure, one can learn a great deal about how to best play a song by simply playing it, but you can see (or hear as the case may be) a song in a different light once it’s recorded and you listen back to it. Often it turns out as you had expected, other times it doesn’t. And not to say that when a song sounds different from your expectations that it’s a negative thing for you can be pleasantly surprised too.

So, the benefit of all the loooooong days and even loooooooooonger nights tinkering away with instruments, lyrics, melodies, knobs and sliders is to gain a fresh perspective of our songs. And now it’s time to start the next batch, some of which we prepared earlier and all of which will be just as tasty. And we’ll get straight on to it, right after we get back from our lil’ trip to Russia

For your viewing pleasure I’ve included a photo of the view from the window in my home studio where the previously mentioned songs were lovingly mixed. This is the view that I would look at for inspiration and occasionally in desperation. Sometimes I’d just gaze and procrastinate, which can be quite useful at times too as it turns out. So if you’re in need of something to focus on for inspiration or just a distraction try looking at this picture. It may help.

Till next time,

Ka kite anō

Mr Atkins

p.s. the blob on the window isn’t a small smelly gift from a passing birdy, even though it might look like it. It’s actually just paint.