Any creative process can be a question of trial and error, and that includes blogs. Not many of us write a piece in one flow, make a little tweak before considering it good enough to go and excitedly click ‘publish’.
Well some may, but they have clearly made a pact with the devil. Or they are a genius. More likely they just put out terrible blogs.
For the majority of us we are constantly adding in or taking out, moving parts to different places, then just before we send it out into the blogging world we see a gap or glaring error we had missed and thank the blogging gods we saw it in time. Then we are surprised when we look over to the right hand column (on WordPress anyway) to see how many revisions we have made.
Or maybe that’s just me.
For a song, it’s all that but bigger. Some songs just come out all in one big go and that is just fabulous. Some very successful, memorable songs have come out that way. Famously Paul McCartney woke up with the song ‘Yesterday’ in his head, then made some necessary lyrical tweaks and he’d created the most covered song of all time.
That’s Paul McCartney. But then there’s song-writers like me.
In fairness to myself, for most song-writers it’s a tentative start when we find, or stumble upon, a nice chord progression and then go along with it to see where it leads. Parts progress in a nice rush then stop. Some stop permanently, or get used in another song altogether. Or we add a bit, discard some ideas, swear a lot, then add a bit more.
The best part is when something comes and sets free the rest of the song. Suddenly you realise you have something. It can be so exciting. But the process can take weeks, or even months. And in the end you don’t know if it’s actually any good before you put it out.
My latest song, ‘Ask Me Again’, which came out on April 21st, was very much like that. Once I had it closer to fully written, I recorded a very rough, slightly nervous demo on to my phone. Being just a phone propped up against something, the sound levels are off, the playing stumbling, the vocal patchy. I was at this point still discovering the song myself.
If you are interested in part or whole, here is the demo on the link below.
Despite its un-promising beginnings I felt I had something. Studio time was already booked. From this basic demo the hours in the studio elevated it to its full potential. Thankfully I am fortunate enough to be able to work with a fabulous producer John Kettle. We discussed the song and it’s sentiments – how a victim of controlling behaviour in a relationship finds the strength to push back – and how it could be best served by the production.
At Johns hands we created a tension to the track. Layers were put down, foundations built. Guitar parts added. At this point obsession kicks in; nothing else matters other than what we’re doing in the studio. You want people to hear this.
Then over the next few weeks doubt has taken root. Is it actually any good? Will it connect? Yet despite this I’ve created the artwork. I’ve sent the song to Distrokid who distribute it to all the streaming platforms. Bit by bit I’ve created a video to compliment as well as promote the song, which in itself can be a creative trial.
Then it comes out, and that’s the exciting bit, but I’ve also steeled myself to the potential thud of indifference. Most people, friends, people I know, aren’t universally interested. The majority of the people who play the song are strangers and with no axe to grind and if they like it, that’s a real testament to whether what I’ve made is any good.
Here is the video for you to hear the leap from initial demo to completed recording and video:
Thankfully the song is being received well and streams are starting to rise rapidly. Since its release on April 21st it has become my most streamed song on Spotify, to date double more than any song I’ve written. Monthly listeners have gone from around 40 to; at present, 1,819. Music bloggers are taking notice including this one from Clive Pilcher at Take It Easy who I am grateful to say is very supportive of my song-writing.
Yet it all feels a long way from when I picked up the probably slightly out-of-tune guitar in my bedroom and stumbled into the beginnings of the song. But then like most things worthwhile, if it was easy, it wouldn’t be as much fun.
SONGS AND SCRIPTS AND DUNKING BISCUITS 
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