Ok I've done the songs and new music need new covers. And a title. What did I come up with?
Inspiration
At first I had this trendy phrase: "Over My Dead Like", which I often say these days among friends and family ("Like" as in facebook likes of course), if they go too far. A picture from a holiday in Sicily, Italy fitted right in, with a rebel guy (like me) throwing stones into the sea:
Throwing stones, dare me!
Just to keep an open mind, I tried a different approach. I took some items outside in my backgarden
floorboard, like a mirror, a classical Perez guitar (my latest), and a vinyl album with a picture of
...me.
I photographed away. All very brownish, autumn, rootsy, so I took that further, when I put a few of these into some online photo editors and let my creativity have its way:
Mirror effect 2
Mirror effect 1
Mirror effect 3
Floorboard backgarden
Frontcover: the first brownish ones
Front and back cover examples
About the title:
"Doesn't Ring A Bell"
There's a lot I want to be, but not "famous" in the "media personality" way. A status. I'm a musician, not an artist, I always say. So JoosTVD doesn't ring a bell and if he does, you won't hear it.....coming!
Design with effect
Best effect in my opinion.
Just
happened to hit upon the title while writing a lyric. Maybe I read it
somewhere or heard someone's remarks. I always love the double sided meaning of these
sentences, in this case "JoosTVD doesn't ring a bell" .....really? Sometimes I knock. Who is this guy? Is he someone famous?
The end results:
Front cover with nickname
Front cover for online distribution
Back cover
Inside cover
Next: let me hear a new song, wait... you say you've got a video?
Well, it's that time of the year. It's getting colder and colder and I'm getting older and bolder, haha.
I've got 12 songs getting in great shape. I'm having fun. Detailed mixing is now in process. Progressing bit by bit. Great! It's not my most favourite part of the whole cycle of writing, recording songs, but hey:
Let's see....
I've started it, so I've got to finish it.
What's the problem then, lowland dude?
It's just that new songs keep crawling out of my brains and fingers and that's ok, but I also want the best songs on this album. It's not a question of more or less songs. Those 12 have to fit together as a whole and now I feel that something is not really gelling. Some variety in style and themes are needed towards the end of the album maybe, which songs are more serious lyrically and harder/ darker in tone. Maybe that's more like it...well let's see. Is it the sequence then?
There's already a lot of energy and dynamics throughout, so now I've got this new tune, very smooth and relaxed, but still funkish jazz without the cheese. Just before my uptight eyes it's soothing me like a mushroom. Maybe that's the one.
Aha, there it is...
Of course, as an experienced listener, I know and you know, that the first songs often can make or break an album. How many times have you stopped listening after 3 or 4 songs already? Well I have. Skipping. Otherwise it also has happened that I could not stop listening to the same album over and over, peeling off layers of sound and ideas.
So the flow of the songs is very important to make a lasting impression to the listener. That's why I still like the challenge of the album concept as one continuous stimulans of surprises.
Hai there folks on the world wide web, how you're all doing? It's been a while and that feels good. That last TVD album sure did stir a few ears, so I'm really enjoying the afterglow.
Well, you have to dissapear once in a while, don't you? Vanish you dutchman!
Take a deep breath of fresh air. The summer breeze helps to relax, it sure feels good.
But I'm a restless soul....
I've got an instrumental album in the can (For Your Pleasure Vol.3. Not sure when it will be finished, but I've got more than enough to fill more than one album.
Yes this is the first one...
.... and here's the second one
To take the time off of the whole process of songwriting, playing, recording and all the the usual bullshit and excitement of finishing an album, I usually start all over again....uhh don't help me... yes... addiction no.1.
To take my time off, I take my time off.
Of course I sleep...eat...sit down, talk with the wife, enjoying daily life with the kids (they grow up so fast!). For the needed stimulation of writing songs, especially lyrics, I watch Hollywoodfree european, eastern movies and follow TV series
F?ck
(for example Mr.Robot, The Walking Dead, Fargo, House Of Cards), I read biographies about...Nilsson. It's all about fun and excitement to get in the right frame of mind. To vanish gracefully.
For aspiring songwriters especially
Not a day goes by without touching a few strings or hitting some black or white keys. I often (try to) play songs of the famous american songbook (Nat king cole, Gershwin, Porter) next to the usual pop standard fare. Educational. There's the constant stream of possible ideas floating in and out, so I've got about 10 contenders (recorded, arranged) for the new album. There will be more. One is instrumental and two have already vocals. The rest needs lyrics. That's the tricky part that sometimes needs more room to grow to find the right words. I need the distance for reflection. When I've got the melody I usually start singing spontanuously, expressing blablanana nonsense vowels, that often help to find the fitting words.
Hai there...I almost forgot this blog! No, I still follow everything....sometimes at a distance. Really had nothing to say for a while, I'm a musician, remember? Networking is just a little part of the "job". Holidays then?
Well, I do enjoy this endless summer we´re having up here in the Lowlands. Took a week off to one of the most beautiful islands in the north of the Netherlands, Terschelling.
To breath in some inspirational winds is comforting, trying to avoid the, mostly drunk, youthful & annoying tourists is another thing for a vanished dutchman. We cycled till land's end and enjoyed the white sandy dunes and the North Sea. I always take my notebook (an e-book & headphones are in the package too) with me to escape my day to day routine. That's what helps to get fresh ideas. Indeed, back home, it all got me in the right musical groove. O, I really feel some sort of happiness in the flow of the moment when inspiration strucks! Time doesn't excist for a creative dreamer. But it´s not like that everyday....
Yes, I'm back in the race. New stuff in the works. I just don´t want the patchy expanded album pattern anymore. If I have about 12, 13 GREAT different songs, that will be enough every year. It just takes too long to handle it on my own. Got a lot of ideas already on the harddisk, so I don´t worry.
My latest effort "The ballooning Brouhaha" does pretty well on the streaming front (streaming IS the future, that IS now, cd is out) and on the radio. Croydon Radio (London) spreads my stuff on a regular basis. I love feedback. More potential listeners for me. Aaaah, it's free anyway....CU!
By the way....on the front news, the list of favourite dead musians grows a lot faster now... (a lot of babyboomers from after WW II), fortunately you can still check them out, the music, the image stays forever:
Kevin Ayers (Soft Machine), Alvin Lee (guitar virtuoso, Woodstock), Peter Banks (ex-Yes), Hugh McCracken (Session guitar player), Phil Ramone (Producer, recording engineer), Andy Johns (sound engineer), Storm Thorgerson (graphic designer), Richie Havens (Woodstock), Alan O´Day (songwriter), Ray Manzarek (Doors), Trevor Bolder (bassplayer), Bobby Blue Bland (blues singer), George Duke (piano wizzard) and a big inspiration on my songwriting and playing, the great laid back man, we call him the breeze: J.J.Cale. All inspirational in some kind of way. RIP.
Every year I've got a brand new batch of songs that reflect my state of affairs, my moodswings, frustrations, tribulations and the lot of everyday life. Here's the story, the inspiration behind them.
I don't want to explain what the lyrics are about though, I'll leave that open for interpretation.
"Is there a important message, theme in there then?" I hear you ask.
Maybe. Look at the cover, you can say that the balloon with the printed world stands for the bloated, forced way people treat the earth and eachother (I'm no exeption). Blowing it up. Well, what´s the brouhaha of it all?
And you see me just letting it go. Letting the world pass me by or trying to catch it with irony in 13 songs.
Well, here we go!
1.Brouhaha!
I didn't intend to leave it as an instrumental, as I found this funky chord progression easy to work with vocalwise. I just found some melodies on the keyboard. "Brouhaha", a word you hear me shout, I used to hear it in my youth, whenever someone in my neighbourhood did his hoopla (dutch=heisa) trick: "well, what´s the hoopla/ brouhaha all about boy?"
2.Stupid Song(s)
The irony. The (s) gives the songs a double meaning. I always like to play the joker. I work at night, where they always turn up the wrong station on the radio. With stupid songs creeping into my ears. Couldn´t resist to write something...stupid.
This is one of the 2 songs Wijnand Brant got his sologuitar on. At the end you hear him duel with himself. Fire!
3.A Trip Together
Wrote this one very quick on guitar, sang the melody spontanuously on top of it. One of those that wrote itself. I think it works well, because there´s a intensity and balance between the groove and the melody, a tension I often go for. You can dance to it too.
4.Talkwalk (Looking For The Boz)
Boz, we all know of Scaggs, don´t we? Wel he´s an old hero of mine. Sophisticated, cool shades. This is a musical wink, tribute to his work of the seventies. Notable is the obvious similarity in arrangement feel between his "Lowdown" and this song, but I did it all in the name of inspiration. Yeah, really.
5.Here She Goes Again (Yo Mama)
The old rock´n roll feel in this song has to do with my mother. She used to drive us kids nuts with that volume knob, when she turned up a new album she´d just bought. Loud! I mean loud. She angrily turned it off when she found out that the song she was after (but didn´t know the title of),wasn´t on it. A very intense woman with a deep rooted bluesattitude, that´s why....
Meanwhile, I played drums in the loft and my older brother played his Hendrix licks for hours in his room underneath. I mean loud!
6.Sunday train
Wrote this on piano and although I'm not classically trained, I've got just enough fingers to handle a few keys to come up with a few tunes. Couldn't do it in one take, so I rehearsed the hell out of it. Challenging stuff for me to sing it with the right power and dynamics.
7.The Route Through The Quiet Jungle
Melody, breaks combined with a steady groove and city noises, that's it.
8.Don´t Mind The Blues
Guess I don't mind that much, but blues singing especially comes from my gut. It's always a challenge to find a fresh topline to keep that blues alive. This song brought that to me.
9.Big Bad Boy
Variation in style. Never dipped in this one, but a little country keeps me upbeat. Yie-haa!
10.familiar Lines
Yes, the thin line between love and hate. I hear The Metropole Orchestra (if they ever hear this...call me) behind this, just like they did with Todd Rundgren. I play most of the orchestral stuff, except for a few sampled violins that suited and complemented the basic arrangements. Majestic.
11.Disco Scream From The Sinking Loveboat
Instrumental disco. Whatever happened to the (seventies TV) loveboat.....? As a variation of the excisting instrumental melody Wijnand Brant goes in overdrive with his guitarsolo. I had to edit and alter his stuff in order tomakeita totally. To round it off I put a titanic and desperate scream for dramatic effect.
Nope, it's not the wife..
12.Social Spy
The obsession for social media transmitted to an intense funky groove.
13.I Am Older Now
Ballad of the old kid. Sounds a bit desperate, but it expresses my lack of self confidence that sometimes bothers me. Guess it happens to most of us.
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