Just arriving home after another solid recording session for the upcoming Division CD, “Control Issues”. Mike (Blevins) and I had three uninterrupted hours to bang through material and, other than the threat of snow and making one another laugh, we managed to stick to the schedule.
Maybe it’s coincidence, or maybe not, but the last two songs that I’ve gone in to record are both songs about a slow and steady descent in which the person singing the song crosses over from normal to psychopath. Mike, who is engineering the disc, was really helpful with some ideas on how to deliver melody lines, how many harmonies lines to have and how hard to hit them. I think his guidance has helped to deliver more of the ‘slow burn’ journey instead of me just delivering each line as hard as possible. He really understands dynamics, and probably missed his calling. He could be a great director in Hollywood…in the demented, Kubrick, “no you can’t go to the bathroom” kinda way.
Today’s song was “.45 Intent”, about a young man who gets the girl of his dreams only to find out she’s not what he wanted at all. It’s sort of like “Blind Date” meets “The Tell Tale Heart”. The entire song came from a line that crept into my head while I was at a goth bar in Louisville: “In this bar surrounded by the ghosts of Bettie Page”. The pin-up queen has since left this life and I’m not sure if that’s profound or I just sort of want it to be as an artist.
The song also features optimal placement of the F word. Shocker.
Division is performing in two short weeks at The Broad Axe in Hagerstown, MD. March 14th will be our first trip to the place and we welcome anyone who wants to come down, check out the new tunes and have a drink. Till then, back to work, slackers! Be careful in the snow!
One love,
nK