The Musical Diary of Greg Scheer

Now for some good old three chord punk. I can’t remember what ignited such an angry song. I seem to remember some frustration with a music department’s bureaucracy, but that doesn’t make for very good punk rock, now does it? Whatever the cause of the frustration I was feeling, it channeled itself into this song of spite for the love that left: Maybe That’s the Same Thing.

I’ve always imagined it taking its cue from the somewhat-unknown-but-in-my-estimation-classic “Another Lone Ranger” by David Kubinec, brimming with crazed anger. A friend who heard it remarked that it sounded like early U2. That would make sense; they were a big influence on me. Mission of Burma, Joe Jackson, Iggy Pop–they’re all there.

So now question is whether I’m too late for old new wave or too early for new old wave?

Continuing my Half the Man marathon, “Not At All” is an epic song featuring a Faustian character who comes to the end of the line and realizes that all his life’s dreams are evaporating before his eyes. It was originally entitled “Dialogue with the Devil” as an homage to the Bruce Cockburn song of the same name, and also to make it clear who the “you” is, with whom the singer has bargained his soul.

There are lots of things that please me about this song and recording, and probably just as many that leave me unsatisfied. The main question that’s nagging at me is whether this is epic enough. That is, at 7 minutes and 23 seconds, it’s certainly of epic proportions as far as pop songs go; but is there enough Sturm und Drang in the performance and recording to sustain that?

Like all of these recordings, I’ve spent so much time with the song at this point that I’ve lost all perspective. I’ll be happy to put it away for a while and let you, my faithful readership, chime in with your wisdom and clarity.

Weekly? Did I say weekly? Well, I just couldn’t wait that long to add another song to the Half the Man project. So there!

“True Confessions” is sort of a mid-life reflection, which, of course, means that it’s too old and wimpy to be anything like rock and roll. So be it. The kids can ride the endless merry-go-round of their youthful fads. I’ll cast my lot with Jethro Tull, who is too old to rock and roll and to young to die.

I finished this one ahead of schedule because when I opened it up this morning I realized that it was more complete than I’d remembered. I finessed the levels a bit and out came a reasonable-sounding mix. The energy of real drums would add a lot to the track (any volunteers?), but otherwise I feel like the song is hanging together well as an Elvis Costello-esque anthem.

What do you think?

As promised, here is the first of my weekly posts from the upcoming album, Half the Man. “Walking the Wire” is one that I’ve played dozens of times solo since I wrote it in 1997, so it’s particularly gratifying to flesh out some of the things I’ve heard in my head all these years.

As with all of the songs I’ll be posting throughout the summer, I’ve given myself a time limit of a week per song to force myself to finish the recordings. My hope is that uploading these “good as I can get in 7 days” drafts will allow me to gain a little distance and perspective by the end of the summer. At that point I should have a good idea of which songs are working, which need a little attention, and which I need to drop from the album.

And now it’s your turn. Give me some feedback. Do you like the song? Is the recording working, generally? Are there specific problems that jump out of the mix? Any feedback you have is welcome. Here are some things I’m thinking about:

• I like the mix generally. (As of 7:04pm today.) I especially like the bass, I’m pleased with the re-recorded lead vocal, and it feels like the song’s groove is in the pocket (always a concern when multi-tracking).
• I thought I needed a drummer n the song, but now I’m liking the combination of percussion.
• I’m wondering if the vocal echoes in the chorus are too much.
• When I come back to this I’ll probably do some minute tweaking of the lead vocals.
• To my ear there is a “sonic glue” issue that I’ll need to address with either reverb or in the mastering phase.

Who wants to make a CD?

I do. I’ve been sitting on an album worth of rock songs for far too long, and this summer I’m going to finish it. I’ve got draft recordings of every song, and I’m going to finish a song a week until it’s complete.

And you’re going to help. Yes, that’s right. This is going to be something of an open source project. Here’s how you can take part:

• Listen to each recording I post this summer and give me feedback on what you hear. At the end of the summer I’ll let all of you vote on which songs will be included on the CD and which song should be the “single.”
• I could really use some help with graphic design, packaging and marketing. Anyone willing to help out?
• I could use some additional tracks: backing vocals, some solo work (e gtr, dobro, piano, sax, etc), and especially a rock solid drummer.

Check out the current Half the Man page, which has the current song list and latest recordings.