Songs All Around You

So many ways to write. So many ideas all around. Day 28. Still on  fire. A little resistance creeped in around the 18th, which is interesting, cause it was my Birthday and I thought for sure I'm gonna kick ass. I guess I made it my priority to thank everyone on Facebook instead for the many Birthday wishes. I ended up singing my idea on my phone on my way to dinner.

My major breakthough has been lyrics. I decided that every song has to have lyrics. I usually take a pretty long time to write lyrics, especially if it's for my personal project. Yet, under pressure, knowing I only have a certain amount of time, and I need to complete them, I do. While the first draft is most likely not the final, what matters is to get creative, keep "throwing up" what comes out, brainstorm, let your train of though run it's route. Make up or enhance a story and run with it. To just let it flow and not over think or over analyze.

Getting up, taking a break is most definitely working for me. I purposely don't  try to find the right words while on break time. Instead, I make calls, play with the dog, completely switch off. I than return to the track with a fresh mind, and usually everything falls into place. (for the first draft at least)

Not only does it become easier, it's fun and exciting each and every day to just explore without the pressure of having to sound like something or someone or fit into a genre. Of course I want the songs to be great, find a home for them, ideally in film/tv or on someones album but writing just for the sake of perfecting the craft and fun takes the pressure away and get's you in the place you want to be. The "zone".  One of my favorite quotes "Nothing Happens Till Something Moves". [Einstein] Let your guard down stuff starts to move. And let's be honest, a song is hardly ever done in one sitting. It's all in the re-write.

I've collaborated with a few people for far, not as many as I had hoped but the ones involved  are super talented and fun. One person gave me a metal track and my first thought was "so not inspired, so not what I do" than I just muted everything except the drum and bass and did my thing (apologizing in advance to my collaborator, lol ) Thankfully he was open minded enough and took the leash off.

I started out as a solo writer and still love writing on my own, however, collaboration takes a project to another level. It's a challenge and a test. Do you listen to your ego or what's best for the song?  Obviously, the song always wins.

You're so much more vulnerable when collaborating. Sharing a half finished track or a raw,  out of tune vocal idea with someone can be uncomfortable for many of us, it's like showing up naked to their party. Trust is essential.

Although I did consider sharing some of the songs, I just listened to a bunch of them and they do sound kinda shitty for the most part, as the focus was not to fully produce but write fully structured song a day instead of just a hook or a few lines.

Plus, I don't want to spoil the fun that's coming in August, so bare with me until I reveal the next step!

Stay tuned for August mission!
xoxo
JVB

DAY SEVEN

It's been pretty fun so far.The biggest challenge has been to not write about the same old things and to use different approaches, let's say, one song starts with a vocal melody, another get's inspired by a drumbeat, guitar riff or synth sound. Yesterday was my first Collaboration on this project, felt good to only come up with lyrics and melody. I did feel a little resistance at first but once I let go of the "inner judge" allowing myself to just dive in, it became effortless.

I don't always have a concept when I write, some writers do. I usually let the music take me, picking a theme has been another one of my challenges. The beauty in writing is, it doesn't matter how you start the journey, as long as you end up with a completed song that resonates with you. A song that captures a feeling, a vibe, a mood. And of course if I was writing for a specific project, a music library, I'd have more of an outline and theme, most likely writing a sound alike. What's fun about this project is that I can write whatever I want without having to fit a format. It's fun to express myself any way I want, goofy, serious, off beat. No RULES! Of course in the back of my mind I am thinking about where that track could be placed and ultimately, I want to find those 31 babies a good home but as of right now. All I need to do is give birth to another creation. ;)

I've been pretty good as far as only spending a couple of hours on writing,  not all in one sitting, I work for 30 min, get the idea down, take a quick walk with the dog or do my workout  than come back with a clear head and fresh perspective. It's working really well.

The frustrating part is that I can hear some of the songs fully produced and want to do it right than and there (yes, I've spend several hours on a couple of songs I felt strongly about). I have to remember to just WRITE the song first, start to finish, THAN focus on production, although in some cases tweaking the sounds along the way is extremely inspiring, as long as I don't get caught up in "tweaking" that sound forever.

What I did notice is that I am more creative, ideas keep popping up consistently, I've recorded some ideas right after writing a track or while waiting for a student. The fossett is open and little symphonies keeps flowing, effortlessly. Day Seven accomplished. (Just realized, I spent so much time on this Blog it's already day Eight, hahaha.

Starting tomorrow,  I will post snippets of the tracks, I don't know if it would be a good idea to post the entire songs. (copyright, quality and time wise)

My goal is to do at least 10 Collabs on this project.
Stay tuned the fun is just about to start!
xoxo
JVB

Hit The Road Jack!

Otto's Daughter is back out on the road. It feels great! It's only week 3 it feels like a month. It feels good to be out there again, hitting the stages, going from town to town, making new friends, staying at peoples places, sometimes hotels. It's a different way of life for sure. While it's not always all glam, I have to admit I'm diggin it. The response is great and I'm extremely grateful to be able to do what I love! "Living The Dream"! Theme of the tour and title of our new EP.


I have so much more to report, plenty of pictures to post, so stay tuned!

xoxo
JVB

The Adventures of an Illegal Alien Part4

How I miss the lower east side. One of our coolest friends was Pete. He played bass in a well known band at the time and had an apartment on 14^th near 3^rd Ave.

Pete had a roommate, his name was Greg. Greg was hilarious, one of those typical, cynical New Yorkers with extremely dry humor. The sky was always fallen, doomed to be a slave to the grind struggling to make it with his music, hating his day job and life in general yet always displaying a little smirk while complaining. His music was pretty cool and I wish I could remember the name of the band. It was very NYC lower east side rock’n roll.

Well back to Pete. His apartment was very typical of Manhattan; small; the bathtub and sink were in the kitchen, a tiny shitter, yes, just a toilet in a room big enough to fit one in it; two small rooms. Pete was super cool. He used to wear a lot of kilts or tight jeans and was a total punk. He had bleached blond short hair, always leather clad with a ton of belts and buckles and dock martins.

We had such a Blast with those guys. Pete called his flat the “Freak out Pad”. How appropriate. He looked like a bad ass, actually a little like Billy Idol, but deep down he was the sweetest most generous guy you could ever meet.

One of many nights we went over to the “Freak out Pad” for some “home made” (fresh out of the can) deep fried beans, rice and chicken fajitas. Apparently that was Pete’s specialty and he loved to cook it. We brought some beers and the party began. The food was delicious, something I’ve never tasted before. I loved it, I remember it being pretty spicy; we told Pete it was delicious and something we could get used to. He had this big grin on his face and was extremely proud of his cooking.

Since Pete was signed to a major label, he’d pretty much get CD’s thrown at him all the time, so while we listened to music, we’d go through the CD’s and start sorting them out by “This Sucks”…”Got to Go” and “Pretty Good, we’ll keep it”.

I love NYC apartments, they might be small but they have a ton of character, you look out the window and always see a fire escape. He was on the top floor and his window overlooked a huge roof. So every CD that didn’t make it went out the window onto the roof.

We were laughing our asses off. This must have gone on for an hour or so, after a while we even tossed the once we kinda liked because it was way too much fun. The roof looked messy to begin with, apparently; we weren’t the first to think of the roof as a way to get rid of unwanted things around the pad, lol.

Many beers and a ton of laughter’s later, it started to escalate so much so that Pete decided the CD Player has to go too, hahahaha. And out it went. I don’t know what else we through out there but my stomach was hurting from laughing so hard.

Pete had this really cool skull that I loved and at one point he was about to toss that out too. Noooooooooooo I yelled, I want that; and mine it was.

It must have been around 4 am when we decided it was time to go back to our lovely hostel on 20^th. So, we headed out walking drunk on 14^th, laughing, me with my skull under my arm.

The area can be a little spooky at times but I swear no one dared to mess with us.

Cheers to the good times at the “Freak out Pad”

xoxoxo
JVB