I’ve been trying to come up with a good name for the band. It’s surprisingly difficult, and I’m not surprised that bands often go through a whole host of name changes in their lifespans. I’ve been lucky enough in the past to avoid these difficult decisions by joining bands that already had a name or forming bands where there was general agreement from the word go. I have admit, I’m struggling for inspiration.
I don’t want to try something too pretentious, while I know that ‘jokes’ quickly wear thin (just ask the Test Icicles). A quote or vaguely obscure reference would be good, but from what? What hasn’t been said already?
At the moment, I have:
Blink in Reverse – a Douglas Coupland reference and a really nice concept, but runs the risk of being referred to as ‘Blink’ and I don’t really want that association with Mark, Tom and Travis.
The Safety Net – no real reference here, but I’ve Googled it and there doesn’t appear to be a band already using this name.
The Written Word – this appeals to me, and I didn’t get any hits on Google or Myspace for bands using this exact name.
Never Writ – taken from Shakespeare’s Sonnets 116. I’m not huge on poetry, but I like that.
Broken-Heart Lungs – I have a recording of Tegan Quinn playing at the Juno awards and she mentions singing quietly to avoid disturbing her neighbours. She words it by saying she was trying not to use her ‘broken-heart lungs’. I like the phrase and I like the meaning, but it might be a bit of a glass half-empty kind of name.
More vanity today I’m afraid. I don’t really have much else to post at the moment. I’ve been working on some words and recording riffs and verses in snatches. Nothing’s finished, nothing’s polished. I recorded this in my living room a couple of months ago and I’ve just taken the privacy settings off of it on Youtube. It’s one of my favourite songs, one of my favourite bands, but I’m not saying it’s a good version – I just like finding songs I can easily sing in my own accent.
I’m jamming with friends today. I’d honestly forgotten how difficult it is, after years of playing with the same, accomplished musicians, to start a band and get used to new people and their playing styles. I’m not sure if the band will come to anything, but I’ll hopefully get a few more ego-stroking Youtube videos out of it.
I’ve been working on a cover of Such Great Heights by The Postal Service. It’s one of my favourite songs and I’m really excited to be putting my own twist on it. Last week I was finally able to get my hands on a vinyl copy of Give Up, with bonus covers and remixes disc. I was lucky enough to pick up a copy of Wincing the Night Away in the same shopping trip, so this track is a perfect representation of my past week. Enjoy.
So I’ve been looking out some songs which might be good to cover as a starting point for the new band that we’re trying to get together. Rather than go for true ‘classic’ songs, I’ve been looking more at tracks which were big in the nineties and will provide a little bit of a nostalgia kick if we ever decide to play them to an audience. Also, I grew up in the nineties and they give me a little kick too.
This is a track which I’d completely forgotten about until my brother put it on a few months ago. It’s pretty perfect.
So I finally decided to man up and set some of the random videos I’ve uploaded to Youtube over the past year to public. I tend to record these when I don’t have time to do anything more in-depth but I want to remember how a particular song goes. They end up on Youtube when I want to show them to someone, normally a band-mate or my brother. Here’s one that’s at least short and sweet.
ReelGlasgowKid 