Sometime in the 1990's, I was talking with engineer/producer John Sickett at a recording session in Hoboken, NJ. As usual, our chat centred around the state of the music commerce, note-worthy new bands and the projects in which we were currently involved. This particular day, we too discussed the new glut of singer/songwriters in the New York place. There was a tidal wag of emerging artists going solo, driving their songs in an attempt to get signed to a important record tag. I knew this first-hand for I'd been employed by dozens of them for gigs and recordings. "You understand, they gotta move away from the beat and get back to the song", John complained, referring to the current state of songwriting craft. His statement kick me hard. As a matter of truth, in my opinion, most singer/songwriters overly obsessed almost the beat and groove, while ignoring the real meat and potatoes of their go; the lyrics, arrangement, orchestration, song, harmony, etc. However, it wasn't fair the overall groove they dwelled upon, but the physical appearance of the drummer as well. Why the fuss?
cartier jewelry sale,,,In any accident, singer/songwriters all got the better end of the stick. Always dangling the carrot of later, greater success, they'd become disturbed when negotiating terms with musicians, weaving in teasers about the promising future of the project, the immanent record deal, or the numerous manufacture executives coming to the next gig. As a bargaining blockade, they would occasionally inform their musicians of being mercenaries. Ouch! Try that with your plumber, dentist, or store bookkeeper when it's time to pay your next bill. Let me know how that works out.
To be just, the singer/songwriters I'm describing for this disussion, were the Bleeker Street, solo breed I inspected or encountered in the 1990's. If you were an active musician during that period, had a pulse, and lived within 100 miles of the Big Apple, I'll bet you experienced some of this matter 1st hand. Happily, I can narrate you that I worked with a few incredibly awarded artists from this scene as well. One was Joy Askew. An unbelievable musician, writer and musician who had formerly worked with Peter Gabriel, Joe Jackson and Laurie Anderson, within many others. Another was Hub Moore, a heart-felt lyricist and a expert at the craft of songwriting. Also, there was Ben Folds. Ben, bassist Tom Spagnardi, and I worked on songs in the basement of my Jersey City brownstone, and then showcased them at The Bitter End and Sine. It was at a Sine gig that Ben was discovered by the lad who would be his business manager for many years.
The Silver Lining
Why The Fuss?
The answers to these questions would give us a structure in which to proceed. Often, however, the responses were vague and lacking, leaving us painstaking guesswork, or the process of musical trial and misdeed. Other tasks forward of us were to make sure rhythm partition parts, arrangements, orchestrations, dynamics, hit drum patterns, etc. The subtext of this location wIt��s about timely, "I'm not really sure what should be played in this smudge, but what would you guys play here?", allowing the artiste to prefer from a smorgasbord of possibilities, before performance anyone musical decision. Afterwards, when an initial draft was completed, the singer/song "writer" would usually capture the musicians representation at logging it during the rehearsal, thereby claiming ownership of the tune as its sole inventor. It didn't take long for me to accomplish that always the musicians contained in this process were contributing to the institution of the composition in some way. Hence, it is my faith that contributing musicians should get commensurate writing honor, and financial wage, in this situation.
There is great sarcasm in a composer relying heavily on a drummer, accordingly minimizing their role in the creation of their own tunes. But that's what I witnessed when working with many singer/songwriters in the 1990's. I prodigy, to what degree did Gershwin, Beethoven, Hamlish and other notable composers, depend on their drummers/percussionists for the headmaster motifs of their music? My suspect is not many at all. Yet, time and time another, I'd work with singer/songwriters who had no clear vision of arrangement, counter melodies, harmonies or orchestration for their own work. In some instances, the easiest element on which to offer input or proposals, was the rhythm part. For a drummer, this could be a incubus.
Yet, when things went fewer than faultless, or the flaws of the artist's work were exposed, guess which musician would get the reprove first? "Did we play the song this slow final time? What occurred to that drum fill you accustomed to play in that part? You didn't play this loud in rehearsal. Is that the drum outfit you use on your other gigs? Did you calculate off the song at the right rhythm? My age drummer always set up a conga drum with his outfit. Why don't you bring a shaker or maracas to the next gig?" I could go on and on here. My point is that the artist would say everything EXCEPT, "This song needs to be reworked", or "I need to come up with a better arrangement for this section", or "The tempo is too quickly for the melodic, so I've judged to slow it down", and so on. In appending, I NEVER listened an artist announce, "This song sucks and is officially hack from our set menu. Self-reflection and appraisal of this importance was an unusual attribute in these cases,One of The Most Classical Tiffany Rings You Are Unable apt Miss, unfortunately.
Cream of The Crop
Most of the songs, by the Bleeker Street artists I seasoned, fell short in many ways. Since I did very a morsel of work in this regard, I base it essential to make the best of situationssomewhat of a "polisher", so to talk. As bad as this may sound, there was a wonderful silver lining. In fact, there was not better on-the-job-training for a young drummer, in my opinion. It was making music against all odds, like swimming upwards, jogging with ankle weights or breathing through a fodder for long periods of time. By the time you got to the artists with well-written tunes, played by an ensemble of ace musicians, it was as reanimating as a cool breeze on a peppery summer day.
Exposed
Credit Where It's Due
Eenie Meenie
What A Bargain
Needless to mention, I wasn't the merely drummer helping singer/songwriters in this form. As a matter of fact, in the mid-90's, it appeared that singer/songwriters were appropriate increasingly fussy about their drummers, as they had an profusion of eager, hungry and affordable tub-thumpers from which to choose; a virtual list of electronic and orthodox drummers, if you ambition. It was evident that the drummer's physical look and neatness was a ingredient too. There were drummers who wore hats (mostly to cover a bald spot), clothed in costume for a "see", or spoke in an affected accent, way out of the bounds of their natural dialect. (There was one hat-wearing drummer from the Mid-West suburbs who put on an accent and patois as if he was raised in the Southern Baptist Church). There were theatrical drummers who pivoted sticks or played standing up. There were the worldly drummers who hired extra exotic percussion. These guys would have ethnic drums, border drums, djembes or vintage percussion in their set up. Sometimes they wore an African dashiki to express their inner ethnicity.
What Do You Think?
In those days, the criterion approach to fleshing out a song would start with the author and musicians assembled in a rehearsal room. The singer/songwriter would normally activity their song on a guitar. I'm no sure if you can narrate to this, but there was nearly a criterion singer/songwriter guitar rhythm those days. I describe it for strummed 16th memoranda with Charleston-like accents on knocks one, "one" of two, and four. If you need one aural example, retard out that song Breakfast by Tiffany's. This pattern was a song-killer. Rhythmically speaking, it was also athletic and did not permit as spaces (which are pivotal components of a comprehensive rhythm preparation). After the initial hear, I would query answers of the writer, including what mood they wished to deliver, alternatively if they could refer to a renowned song for a model in this instance.
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