Friday, July 30, 2010

Good and Bad

Well, the show on Wed night went really well considering the somewhat odd mega-Hollywood crowd. But I didn't sit down and crank out two songs like I had planned. There's always tonight...

But last night I got together with a possible new member of Lost on Purpose and ran through some songs. It sounded good. I consider that just as good, if not better, than writing something new. It's a step in a very positive direction.

I haven't recorded anything in a long time. I have over 50 demos to work on but I've been pushing the recent release of A Knight at the Crossroads too. Between those two things, the live version of LOP, my other band (The Ross Sea Party) and, oh yeah, LIFE, I find that my days are pretty packed, and times spent in front of the tv are a memory and luxury.

I'm at work now, making money so I can live in Los Angeles and occasionally work on music, and for once it looks like I might be stuck here well past 5 o'clock. If that doesn't happen I will have an hour and a half of 'free' time. I am putting it out here: if that happens I will write a couple songs. They won't be good, but I need to stay sharp.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

No... Yeeeeessss...

So the other day I said I would sit down and write two songs. I didn't. I had a bunch of other things to do (clean my room, do laundry etc) aka the least cool reasons possible.

However, I had a band practice with my other band (The Ross Sea Party), and afterward a few of us stayed behind and worked on new songs, played around with a couple other ideas and generally had a great time just playing and experimenting... so much so that I didn't get out of there until 1 AM.

That, in my book, is just as good as writing 2 songs.

We have a show tonight in Hollywood and I still have tons to get done in my personal life, but I'll see if I can find a spare 40 minutes.

Oh, and I have to factor in training for the upcoming Ninja Warrior tryouts in LA.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the life of an indie rock star.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Two Songs

Last week I got really frustrated with myself and my lack of musical production. I have dozens of partially-recorded songs that just sit around until I have the time and motivation to work on them, but it seems like nothing ever gets done.

So I decided to just sit down and write three new songs. I wanted them to suck - I didn't want to care and spend too much time on them, because what usually happens when I like a song is I stop working on it as soon as I hit a wall. Maybe I can't figure out the chorus, or the middle eight, or I can't think of good lyrics for the second verse. If it's not perfect I tend to quit. I wait for a moment of inspiration, often months or even years later (literally).

That's why I wanted to write three crappy songs. Just sit down and write without a care in the world. Finish the songs at any cost.

I did it once before, like five years ago. I wrote three songs in a day. One became Ophelia, on the Anniversary album.

Long story short, I did sit down and I got two songs out before losing steam. I like one of the songs a lot. I consider it a success. A very small success, but a success nonetheless. At least I did something.

I'm planning on doing it again tonight. This blog is going to be my motivation.

Restart

I'm going to start blogging regularly, I hope. I want to focus less on Lost on Purpose news, which is now primarily being done on facebook, but on the process of being an indie musician. I will focus on songwriting, or in many cases the lack thereof (too busy), of navigating PR, getting albums made, etc. The nuts and bolts of being a musician. We'll see how it goes.