When I signed on for this development deal with Island Film Group, I had some concerns on how I was going to create "On The Clock". What I mean by this is that over the past 14 years, though I have always taken music seriously as a job, I have never had to create on a daily basis or a schedule. When I wanted to write I did, and if I didn't, then there was no one to account to besides myself or my past bands' wondering where the new songs were. Now that I am required to submit new songs monthly as per my contract, I am no longer allowed that luxury. This is both a great and difficult thing. It's great because now I am forced to be productive constantly, and hard because of "that whole artist thing". What is that whole artist thing? What I'm talking about (and let me me know if you disagree/agree fellow creators) is the whole notion that it is hard at times to put your stuff "out there" to the world unless you feel it is "perfect", and harder even when you know there is no such thing. Most artists/perfectionists I know (myself included) find themselves at times wondering if their stuff is good enough/will be accepted once it is released, be it paintings, songs, scripts, etc....
You can find yourself a lot of times in what is known as "Analysis Paralysis". Once I became aware of this term, I saw how many times I have fallen into it myself. It can be defined as the "inability to make an investment decision because of the sheer quantity of information to be taken into account". How does this relate to music? Well, for me it means that probably songs I might have really ended up liking in the past never were written due to the fact I was stuck in the beginning stages of them, was to concerned with how they would turn out, and thusly abandoned them altogether. Kinda like getting in the way of yourself for no reason. Still with me? Good...
That said, since I became aware of this personal tendency, I have made it my goal to just "run with it" more often. Sure it might turn in to a crappy song, but worse than that if could turn into NO song. And with my current situation, that definitely is the greater of the two evils!
So, now I am back and feeling pretty good about the creative thang with two new songs completed in the past week that go by the names of "Sparkle & Fall", and "Big Purple Robe". "Sparkle & Fall" is a remake of a song I wrote for LT that was rarely performed live, and never recorded. I have a couple of riffs/ideas that I have hung onto since I was 19 that I've never quite found a place for put keep in my pocket waiting for their turn to find a home. It's nice to check one of those off the list!
I'd describe it as a Toad The Wet Sprocket song being attacked by New Order, but you'll have make up your own mind when I post it on my myspace site for preview next week! The second one, "Big Purple Robe" is a little country-tinged love song that I hope to sell to an artist in that style of music who could deliver it with a little more down-home feel than I. We'll see where that one ends up...
All in all, it gets me just that much more excited to continue working on my solo debut E.P. in August, aiming laser-like for an October release. I'm getting a more and more clear idea of where it's going to go style-wise, and what songs I want to record for my first solo offering.
In domestic news, last Monday Mandi and I celebrated or 3rd Anniversary of the lovin by going to Coastal Kitchen and exchanging gifts. She got me a new camera that doesn't annoyingly insert glowing balls of light into every picture you take, and I got her a Wii. If you haven't played a Wii, it's got the ability to make everyone love it even if you don't like video games. She's wanted one for a long time, and women especially seem to love it despite my Grandma saying that I bought it for me. Grandma, I'm not THAT lame...
In other news, my family is in from Hawaii this week and we've been having a great time as my "little" (taller than me) brother Mateo is gearing up for his 17th birthday on Friday. I only get to see my parents/siblings maybe twice a year, so having them for a birthday is really fun for me. I don't know if any of you have any younger siblings with a big age gap (10 years) like my family has, but it is really weird to have them grow up when still think of them sitting on the driveway in a "onesie" eating Arrowroot cookies. You want to protect them from all the bad/painful parts of being a teenager, but we all know it's something everyone's gotta do. At least I can still kick his ass in wrestling...most of the time.
-K
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