So the process starts anew, and I am about to commence work on a new album - D(O)UB(T).
My last (and current) album, HELLHOLE, was a "traditional" pop/rock album. With songs.
D(O)UB(T) is going to be something rather different. The clue is in the title, I suppose. Even though it has been rolling around in my noggin for quite a while, it only occurred to me recently that I might, for the first time in almost 40 years, be having doubts about whether making music is the best way for me to be passing the time. Being in my 50s is part of the issue. Had it ever been my fate that my musical "ship" would have sailed, then surely it would have sailed 30 years ago. But it didn't even dock at my jetty.
And all the good things that might go along with a musical "career" hold little appeal for me now. I'm not fit (literally) to appear on a video, and in any event I think music videos are a waste of time and money. And clichés. As for photographs, I'm only safe for public viewing from the neck up. And the forehead down. And only through very squinted eyes.
Leaving aside the physical aspects, I'm not entirely sure if I have anything to say that would be of particular interest to anyone. So I would be less than ideal as a candidate for interviews. And anyway, most interviews are embarrassing for me to read at this stage of my life.
Live performance? Nein danke. No disrespect to anyone who does get up on stage and sing, but I've come to realise that I don't have the psychological need to have people gawping at me as they slurp their pints of corporate, mass-produced beer. Plus I can't play a musical instrument and sing at the same time. And I have no desire to try and get (and keep) a band together. Not for me. Not now.
But it's not just me that is the issue here. The music industry has changed out of all recognition since I took my first tentative steps to fame and fortune. You don't need a record label to record and release an album nowadays, thank goodness. But that's only half the battle. Ever try, on your own, getting airplay on a radio station recently? Or getting an album reviewed? Even by a blogsite? Very difficult to do on your todd. A record label would help in that regard, but I've given up on the idea of trying to convince some shyster to give me money to allow myself to be ripped-off. Of course, I could hire myself a PR firm and do a media blitz off my own bat, but I'm not convinced that would actually lead to anything. If hiring a PR firm was a guarantee of success, then everybody would be doing it, and nobody would be standing out from the crowd, so what would be the point? Anyway, I don't have the bread to fritter away on an irrelevance. Not now.
Social networks don't help. I'm sure I'm not the only creative person who suffers from the curse of the Facebook "like". If people like my music that much, why don't they take the next logical step and buy the bastid? Can't complain too much about this though, as I myself am a regular exponent of the "nice-to-be-nice" "like". If I'm not part of the solution, then I'm obviously part of the problem.
All the foregoing probably reads to you like a manifesto for not producing any more music. Actually, it's not. I'm still going to follow my creative muse, but I'm not so sure I'll put as much effort into promotion as heretofore. I'd likely get the same result... I still have the urge to compose and record music, but I probably have to work on the enthusiasm thing. Things may change as time elaspes. I'll promise nothing at this stage.
Getting back to the title of the new album, the placement of the brackets around the letters O and T is significant, as that leaves the letters D, U and B free and clear. If you know anything about me at all, you'll know that I'm a big fan of dub reggae and have made a number of attempts over the years at dub mixes. Not with a lot of success. But I seem to have worked out a satisfactory modus operandi and have produced a number of remixes recently with which I have been rather pleased:-
...and again...
I also recently did a remix of a track for an American singer/songwriter called Katey Laurel. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to put up a link to the track at this stage, but I understand it's going to be released in the Summer and Katey will be looking to get some sync action off the tracks, so that could be a bit of fun. The mix is wonderful by the way...;-).
All of this serves to illustrate that, now that I've worked out how to "do" dub properly, the new album is going to be less straightforward and more experimental dubwise.
As is my habit, I have a load of potential track titles stored up over the last few years - much more than I'm likely to need for the album itself, but there's always need for a few spare tracks to fill out an EP.
I'm not going to be writing too many lyrics this time out. I found it tough going on HELLHOLE, having on occasion to resort to using an online rhyming dictionary. Things were so much easier back in the day...:-). In any event, by now I've probably written about everything that I was ever likely to write about. The well may well be dry.
So it's going to be an instrumental-ish, dub-ish album with a whole load of tracks. God knows how long that's going to take me to complete. I'll allow myself the usual 18 months to get it recorded/mixed/mastered, but this time out I'll be using more synths than bass/guitars, so it might take a lot less time than 18 months. I'll certainly be composing using synths rather than axes, so that will help.
That's all I have to report at this stage. Keep watching this page for updates...
Regards,
djp
