This is gonna be short and sweet.
I’ve had friends ask, so let me say yes my house is still standing.
Two nights ago I woke up around 4 a.m. sweating my ass off and I could faintly smell smoke. At first I couldn’t understand why. I thought maybe my house was on fire. So I got up, walked about the house sniffing around I found two areas where it seemed to smell more smokey than others. But I couldn’t find any signs inside the house. I went outside to see the roof. No fire. None of the neighbor’s houses were on fire either.
Inside I went and fired up the lappy. On the news sites it showed a fire about 12 miles away. That explained that. I did what I could to cool off and get back to sleep.
I spent the weekend closer to the ocean in an attempt to escape the smoke.
Which brings me to today’s song. It’s a brand new song written by my friends Jesse Stern and Erez Ginat. Both have played with me in my band at some point. Both are fantastic players. Jesse came to me asking if I would record a vocalist for them. Sure! So they came over to the studio and recorded the vocals. Shane is the guys name. Apparently he was on American Idol at some point. He also has a couple of bands of his own. Fun guy to work with and certainly a very good vocalist.
It was one of those few times where I was in the studio engineering and attempting to keep my mouth shut. However, because I knew Jesse and Erez and ideas were floating around, my mouth opened up a few times and offered suggestions. The good thing is, they appreciated it and used some of them.
One of the things that changed on the fly was the key of the song. Originally a full step lower, I noticed and Shane stated that his voice was better in a higher key. I quickly made a key change in the audio files and we got the song done. Later Jesse and Erez retracked the bass and the guitars to the new key. I think it turned out really cool.
The song has a real nice flow. It’s got a really nice build. Shane really laid down a vocal that brought the song to life. At one point in the recording session Jesse exclaimed that he wanted to hear me and Shane drinking in a bar and singing back and forth. That would be a funny sight I think.
I know part of the reason behind the song, but I think the lyrics work out and tell a story that is much more universal. Everyone has someone in their life that they have some deep tie to. That tie is the thing that tells you how you’re a better person when they’re around. That’s the pure story of universality behind this song. I expect to hear it on a TV show or Film soundtrack at some point soon. It’s got a driving vibe that works well. Don’t ya think?
Hope your sunday went well.