Bradley's Buzz

Darkness Dissected

It's Swivek week here at Bradley's Buzz - all posts, all Swivek, all days... so with that idea I have decided to give you the Swivek fans what we, the Blondie fans never get from Debbie - a breif (yeah right) look at the individual songs on the new album darkness + light! Yes, the why, who and what of the 12 songs picked for this rambunctious release that I know you have all downloaded and listened to by now - take your time with those comments and reviews, but get them to us as soon as you can ....

The Album -
I have wanted to be a rock singer since I was but a wee tyke, and though I never actually got a band together or anything, I did write lyrics upon lyrics and usually had the mental sound of what I wanted the song to sound like. Once I met Patrick English in Idaho and we discovered Acid Pro and loops, I was finally able to make music and even make CDs with my mug on them - how I loved it. But in the early days of the loop biz all of the loops were electronic and fuelled by the electro clash movement which was fine but not the way I necessarily wanted to go. These days, there are loops available for the one man rock band and that's how it got started with this album. Finally, I was going to make the rock album I wanted to make and nothing could hold me back. However, once I started working on tunes I realized an all out rock out would tend to sound a tad too samey so at the same time that Patrick emailed me to see if I wanted him to do some songs for him, I emailed Patrick to see if he wanted to some songs for me. We were obviously on the same level, and his electronic booms were going to go great with the rock guitars and riot boi act I was creating. Plus with Patrick on board, his record executive intuitiveness was going to come into play and he could help weed out the bad songs, improve the good songs and generally tell me what and where to put the stuff... and so after finishing about 16 songs, we got the 12 that made it to the finished album.

The Songs
01. darkness + light - the perfect opener, and not just because it's the title track but it's also the very first song I wrote for the album and the first song Patrick heard when I sent him the songs. I bought a Garage Rock loop package and was listening to a lot of the Gossip and Wheatus when I started the album. Of course I was still on my pissy Army Fatigue bag so this one lyrically is a kind of hybrid love song/political bash citing both the bad bad boy who never did any good and that bad bad boy in the White House who also never did any good, but I wanted the album to have a bit of a happy tone as well (i.e. darkness + light) and that's why by the end of the chorus, I know we're all going to be allright. When I started working on this one and came up with the title and lyrics I realized that the title would make a great album title as well, so I decided from that very first song the album would be called darkness + light, whether or not this song actually made the final cut - luckily, after much problems in the singing dept. I was able to complete it - an organ solo, a couple "aaahs" and guitars all over and it was done.

02. Pissed - The second instrumental piece Patrick sent me after we started working together. I love the pulsing vibe and the breakdown he put through out the song. Whenever I start a new song, I go through my huge pile of old lyrics before committing myself to new lyrics usually anyway - with this one that's what I did and as soon as I pulled out the lyrics to Pissed and did a little rearranging I knew I had it. One more pissy anthem only this time it's a real situation. The lyrics were written in 1997 after telling a certain person how I felt about them, the silence on the other end of the phone said it all for him, and though I wanted undeniable bliss I was left pissed! The same guy shows up in a number of songs I wrote around that time that I ended up making Swivek songs..

03. Garboesque - The second song I worked on for the album. I had it all on this one, it had a smooth electro back drop and the great bass line and drum line and all I needed was some rock guitar, so I found the loop that became the chorus but then I couldn't find a song to fit into the chorus. I tried writing new lyrics (twice) and I tried every single song in my back catalog even considering doing it as a cover of 'Blue Monday' when I took a look back through my lyric folder and realized "Garboesque" written in 1994 when I obviously wanted to be alone would work great. A little tale about letting people fool themselves into finding love while I stand firm about being alone. Because I wanted the songs to have a positive feel in there somewhere and because I now don't want to be alone without the Leivas, I added the final lines "if you're all alone/ and find me all alone/ you could be alone with me."

04. You're Not The One - This is my all time favorite track on the new album, which is why when considering a single for release, and given this as an option, "You're Not The One" became our lead off single. It was the third track I did and from the very first loop and the first note I knew it was going to be "You're Not The One" - a lyric I wrote in 1991 after someone wanted to do me and I was much too tired to care. It's hilarious and fun and yet even though the narrator isn't being slightly pissy, it has a nice tone in the fact that even though he isn't getting or giving anything he wants, he's willing to do the person regardless. In my head this song was always a rocking little number with melody changes and my vocals grungy and loud. When I pulled off the chord and melody changes with drum and guitar loops aplenty, I knew I had to do it right on with the vocals and I think I did it. Incidentally, the vocal track you hear is the one and only vocal track I did. That's right, just like Debbie I pulled it off in one take!

05. Power & Passion - Probably my second favorite track if for only the fact that this sounds like I'm performing with a real band. Of all the grungy rockers on here, this and "You're Not The One" are the two that came out not only exactly how I planned them but better. Both had me fearing I wouldn't be able to pull off the lyric I had firmly engrained in my head that I could sing. But just like the other song, I think I wanted to do it right so bad, that I just worked on it and worked on it until I turned the mic on. Again, this was the one and only take on the vocal. This was my attempt at the Gossip sound, a little grungy, a little attitudy, and a lot of fun. A tale of what happens when you let your guard down and believe that your dreams can be bought by the highest bidder, but though the power and passion of the bastards in the night can hold you down, your own power and passion will prevail.

06. Can't Say No To That - What a frickin' hoot this was and is.. the first version is quite a train wreck and how I pulled it all together I'll never know. This one I had the title for before ever coming up with the music or lyrics, all because I got some strange porno email pic with that caption. I liked it and it did remind me of sex, which reminded me of the Leivas, which reminded me of what I just can't say no to. I was sure Patrick was going to cut this one, if for nothing other than the fact that it is pretty wild but I guess he liked that and I'm glad cuz it totally makes for a fun spin. Plus the more I hear it, the more I love how actually synchronized the music is; the loops are a jumble of hard rock buzzing guitars and drum rolls but if you listen you can hear how the melody totally works and the repeating lines. I'm proud of this one - oh and again one take on the vocals, but only because it was such a bitch to sing and I knew if I had to redo it, it wouldn't have the same wild feel. Luckily, it worked.

07. Auto 54 - This driving little anthem (get it!) was my best pal Lisa's favorite when I played her the tracks I had finished when she was in LA way back in July. I've always wanted to write a car song, as I was a bit of a car buff when I was a kid, and still would love to get my hands on some old classics. The lyrics are pretty self explanatory, a bunch of sexual overtones disguised in car references, and actually the most fun of my 'love songs'. Although I left it kind of ambiguous as to whether the love affair is between a person and a car or two people. You know like those people who date someone just for what they have. Anyway, I had written one other mobile kind of song in "Thrust" which Orange Television recorded but I had actually written these lyrics before that one. As for the actual Auto 54 - a car I'm sure exists - it could have been Auto 64 and made more sense and I have yet to look up the automobiles being offered in 1954 and which I would love, but the '54 sounded better; and the idea is that the car is just so exciting but not near as exciting as the person driving it. I wrote the lyric in 2002 during "Mexican Gods" but never found a tune for it, then the minute I came up with this bass line, and looked through my lyric page, there was Auto 54 right on top and it fit perfectly. The 'la la la's' were not in the orignal song and were actually going to be edited out, I was really just fooling around but I liked it. Also, the whole lyric is inspired in part by a song about a Chevy by the LA band Fuckbunny.

08. Johnny Misunderstood - For the record, this song is not really about a real person, so much. Johnny is actually the combination of two different bad boys I tangled with back in the day - the boy in high school who came to school with his switch blade out and the boy who had the Camaro Z and vowed to take me away from Wisconsin, we didn't get too far before his chassy (spelling?) broke - probably around the same time my chastity broke. But anyway, as for the song, I was on my way to work when I heard a Buzzcocks song on the radio with one more reference to a Johnny - you know he shows up in every other song and realized I had to do a song about Johnny too. I wrote the lyrics and had this grand idea of a 2 minute new wave masterpiece a la Elvis Costello. But by the time I wrote "Johnny" I had finished about 8 songs and they all had a big rock feel and I wanted something a little lighter. Plus I couldn't find any new wavey loops good enough, so I switched gears and came up with a simple synthy loop and an acoustic guitar and suddenly it all fit. The bitch of it was singing in a slightly higher key as I had a cold at the time and was working on vocals for three different hard to sing songs. But it all came together and Johnny the rebel, who at least in song still has my heart, ended up a great little 2 minute new wave song after all.

09. My Wounds - I owe this song all to Patrick; no he isn't the bastard in the night who runs through the song instead he's the one who told me to write one more song for the album. My Wounds was the very last song I did on my own for the album. I had done about 11 songs on my own and we had done 2 of Patrick's when I asked him for his help on the track list; he knocked three of my songs off the list, decided to do a moody closing number for me and wanted me to write something wild and thrilling. Luckily, I was in the mood. I found the great rounding guitar loop and a ton of drum loops I liked - all from my new anniversary gift of Acid 3.0 and I started going through old lyrics. What I found was a combo of two songs - the first verse and the beginning of the second verse come from a lyric written called "Something Snapped" while the first two lines of the chorus - "who says livin' for nothing's living cheap/ who cares about wounds as long as they're deep?" come from the chorus of an old song written for OTV called "Whim Theif Gash." The rest of the lyrics were sprinkled in with the bitchy moody gloom the song needed. I found great jungle drum beats and little splashes of synths to put in and I wanted it all to last for around 3 minutes. I poured myself a Captain & Coke, put on my attitude hat and sang a song about emotional and physical abuse the only way I could. I love this song.

10. Need - The first instrumental track Patrick sent to me once he came aboard the album. I hated this song for a little while - not because of the music, I loved the music but for the life of me I could not come up with lyrics. I had written lyrics for two new songs while waiting for the music from Patrick and because I had moved from Wheatus & The Gossip to Carly Simon, they were both pretty introspective and sexually driven. They didn't work for his music at all. I loved the little bleeps and decided that would be the chorus, if I could only find a chorus to use. I went through all my lyrics repeatedly trying to find the right song and the right mood and eventually just put the headphones on and felt the vibe. Along came brand new lyrics - still kind of introspective - the Leivas does come home wearing a tie and very much sexually driven - fulfill the need and you'll be freed.

11. Radio - Just like "Power & Passion" with its lyrical take on selling out, "Radio" takes the act to a fun place rather than the gloom found in the previous song. This is my hatred for the Britney's of the world coming through all glossed up like one of her very own songs. I know I sound bitter and it's because I am - not because people like her are stars and you have to read about my songs on a blog rather than in the pages of Rolling Stone but because while she's making a ton of money for not being able to carry a note bands I like aren't getting recognition or deals because of the way they look despite their talent. It was Wheatus that was the first inspiration for this song - their Fuck Sony album spoke to me and the music I came up with is my attempt at Wheatus, a bunch of chunky loud synth loops with guitars and organs - my pal Lisa thinks it sounds like Jet so perhaps it could be described as Wheatus meets Jet; as for the lyrics I was attempting humor and saracasm and think it all works very well. Despite my idea that it's a bitchy tune it comes off as the very pop that I'm kind of making fun of - catchy and dare I say, experimental at the same time? Either way it was a nightmare to mix, first my vocals were too loud then the music was too loud then parts of the music were too loud and parts of my vocals etc. etc. eventually I just used multiple tracks of my voice and the music to come up with the best sound. And it's going to be the next single so I hope everyone loves it!

12. Intensity Is Recommended - The very last song completed for the album so just like our first song, it's appropriate it's the closing track. This is all Patrick - music and lyrics and it's the perfect closing track for the album; overdubs of my voice, Patrick's signature electronics and mood and melody changes, the song starts quiet (with a heartbeat) and moves in - intensity til the end. Even after the last part ends, the song (and hopefully the whole album) sticks with you.

and there you have what I thought or think or did during the recording and writing of what has been called my "magnus opus" of an album. Hopefully, you guys are downloading and listening and will share your thoughts - aren't you so glad you stopped by here today??

posted by swivek @ 2:15 PM