Thursday, 9 September 2010
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
The story behind: Trip to Mars
At the age of 14 and 15, I'd sometimes sit at night, in my room in the dark. The darkness and solitude could be so influential on my song writing. I sometimes stared out my bedroom window, looking over the rooftops of the distant houses, at the hills. They would blend in with the black sky. Every now and again lights would appear in the sky over those darkened hills. In the quiet darkness, it crossed my mind, what must it be like to live up in those hills? In that darkness? And then I thought about the lights, and what if, what if U.F.Os and aliens do exist, and what it would be like to be taken away.
Thinking about the idea, it seems silly to me now. Not to doubt there are other life forms out there, but that there are U.F.Os that abduct humans and other creatures does seem far fetched. But still, the idea of getting away from it all, to be completely taken away to somewhere you don't know, seemed, exciting.
I used to gaze out at those hills at night and the thought would never leave my head, so one night I wrote what became the music to 'Trip to Mars', on my Scotland flag acoustic guitar. The song is full of simple chords, and a simple lead with it. At the time it was great guitar playing and song writing for me; but i had only been playing for a year or so at that point.
The lyrics came to me whilst playing the tune at night, and fit really well. I particularly liked the melody of the chorus, which sounds better live than on a recorded version.
About 10 years later, and I am listening through old cassettes and hear a badly recorded acoustic version of 'Trip to Mars'. I listened and that chorus hit me and I thought, no matter how easy this song is, I want to make a new version of it. And so I began recording it.
Track 11: Trip to Mars (In Cloud Cuckooland)
In the night,
In my little shed,
On the darkened hills,
Live man walking dead,
Notice something I had never notice before,
A little light, in the sky, that took me by surprise,
By surprise, by surprise,
Please come down my friends,
It's getting dark,
Deserted here,
Take a trip to Mars,
Please come down my friends,
It's getting dark now and I wanna leave,
So please,
My mood changes,
Operate on me,
Took a normal man, took a normal man
Misty darkened sky, misty darkened sky,
Pray for life, pray for my life,
Every night, every night,
Please come down my friends,
It's getting dark,
Deserted here,
Take a trip to Mars,
Please come down my friends,
It's getting dark now and I wanna leave,
So please,
Lay your head and breathe,
And breathe,
Written in 2000; rerecorded in 2010.
Watch this space for more the story behind,
Wullae
www.soundcloud.com/wullaewright/trip-to-mars
www.myspace.com/wullaewright
Download 'Trip to Mars' on soundcloud for free.
Thinking about the idea, it seems silly to me now. Not to doubt there are other life forms out there, but that there are U.F.Os that abduct humans and other creatures does seem far fetched. But still, the idea of getting away from it all, to be completely taken away to somewhere you don't know, seemed, exciting.
I used to gaze out at those hills at night and the thought would never leave my head, so one night I wrote what became the music to 'Trip to Mars', on my Scotland flag acoustic guitar. The song is full of simple chords, and a simple lead with it. At the time it was great guitar playing and song writing for me; but i had only been playing for a year or so at that point.
The lyrics came to me whilst playing the tune at night, and fit really well. I particularly liked the melody of the chorus, which sounds better live than on a recorded version.
About 10 years later, and I am listening through old cassettes and hear a badly recorded acoustic version of 'Trip to Mars'. I listened and that chorus hit me and I thought, no matter how easy this song is, I want to make a new version of it. And so I began recording it.
Track 11: Trip to Mars (In Cloud Cuckooland)
In the night,
In my little shed,
On the darkened hills,
Live man walking dead,
Notice something I had never notice before,
A little light, in the sky, that took me by surprise,
By surprise, by surprise,
Please come down my friends,
It's getting dark,
Deserted here,
Take a trip to Mars,
Please come down my friends,
It's getting dark now and I wanna leave,
So please,
My mood changes,
Operate on me,
Took a normal man, took a normal man
Misty darkened sky, misty darkened sky,
Pray for life, pray for my life,
Every night, every night,
Please come down my friends,
It's getting dark,
Deserted here,
Take a trip to Mars,
Please come down my friends,
It's getting dark now and I wanna leave,
So please,
Lay your head and breathe,
And breathe,
Written in 2000; rerecorded in 2010.
Watch this space for more the story behind,
Wullae
www.soundcloud.com/wullaewright/trip-to-mars
www.myspace.com/wullaewright
Download 'Trip to Mars' on soundcloud for free.
Monday, 6 September 2010
The Story Behind: Building a Nest
The natural wood flooring always looked dirty. No matter how many times you cleaned it, it always looked dirty. And as I sat on it, looking at how to assemble my newly ordered bed, I felt rather content. My girlfriend was helping me construct it. It took us a while to build it, but it was so nice. Just the two of us, building the bed together. We were both happy and discussed our future. The building of the bed was almost symbolic of what we both wanted; to build our lifes together.
I had had the idea to name a song 'Building a Nest', which was reserved for a song that then became 'The Halo Effect'. I liked the title. I thought it was kind and thoughtful, beautiful and gentle. The idea of two little birds building a comfortable and cosy nest together, to raise children in and live there, just seems idyllic to me. The title then sat there for a long time with no music.
One day, I sat in the same flat as I had built the bed. I had started to write a really easy, simple tune on the acoustic. My girlfriend was in the room with me, doing something on the computer. she thought it sounded nice, which I take as a compliment as she does not always agree with my music taste. I began experimenting with it, using my echo machine pedal. It sounded excellent and I recorded a version like this. But I didn't like it in the end, and reverted back to just playing it acoustically on its own. I recorded it like this, and added only one other guitar in the back ground. Gentle.
I then, quite quickly wrote the lyrics for the song, and recorded the vocals in essentially one go. There are three sets of vocals on it, and all were recorded only once. The recording was very simple, quick and turned out well. When I completed the final piece I let my girlfriend hear it. She liked it. Now my wife, she likes me to play it at live gigs.
Building a Nest
We Built a Nest together,
Where we can live forever,
Love so strong,
When we are one,
Fingers embrace one another,
Silver wrapped around our fingers,
Showing true love,
And devotion,
Can't imagine life without you,
Couldn't wake to a beautiful sunrise,
Each day would be so lonely,
My life would be so, so lonely,
You make my life worth living, yes it's true,
I'm so lucky, lucky to have you,
Keep building a nest, with me,
We cuddle on a peaceful bench,
And reminisce of our best years,
As we watch,
Our children grow,
And as with a wilting flower,
I lie with you until your final hour,
Delicate, beautiful,
I breath I love you ,I love you
Can't imagine life without you,
Couldn't wake to a beautiful sunrise,
Each day would be so lonely,
My life would be so, so lonely,
You make my life worth living, yes it's true,
I'm so lucky, lucky to have you,
Keep building a nest, with me,
Written in 2009 for Be Lucky
Watch this space,
Wullae
www.myspace.com/wullaewrightbelucky
www.myspace.com/wullaewright
www.soundcloud.com/wullaewright/building-a-nest
I had had the idea to name a song 'Building a Nest', which was reserved for a song that then became 'The Halo Effect'. I liked the title. I thought it was kind and thoughtful, beautiful and gentle. The idea of two little birds building a comfortable and cosy nest together, to raise children in and live there, just seems idyllic to me. The title then sat there for a long time with no music.
One day, I sat in the same flat as I had built the bed. I had started to write a really easy, simple tune on the acoustic. My girlfriend was in the room with me, doing something on the computer. she thought it sounded nice, which I take as a compliment as she does not always agree with my music taste. I began experimenting with it, using my echo machine pedal. It sounded excellent and I recorded a version like this. But I didn't like it in the end, and reverted back to just playing it acoustically on its own. I recorded it like this, and added only one other guitar in the back ground. Gentle.
I then, quite quickly wrote the lyrics for the song, and recorded the vocals in essentially one go. There are three sets of vocals on it, and all were recorded only once. The recording was very simple, quick and turned out well. When I completed the final piece I let my girlfriend hear it. She liked it. Now my wife, she likes me to play it at live gigs.
Building a Nest
We Built a Nest together,
Where we can live forever,
Love so strong,
When we are one,
Fingers embrace one another,
Silver wrapped around our fingers,
Showing true love,
And devotion,
Can't imagine life without you,
Couldn't wake to a beautiful sunrise,
Each day would be so lonely,
My life would be so, so lonely,
You make my life worth living, yes it's true,
I'm so lucky, lucky to have you,
Keep building a nest, with me,
We cuddle on a peaceful bench,
And reminisce of our best years,
As we watch,
Our children grow,
And as with a wilting flower,
I lie with you until your final hour,
Delicate, beautiful,
I breath I love you ,I love you
Can't imagine life without you,
Couldn't wake to a beautiful sunrise,
Each day would be so lonely,
My life would be so, so lonely,
You make my life worth living, yes it's true,
I'm so lucky, lucky to have you,
Keep building a nest, with me,
Written in 2009 for Be Lucky
Watch this space,
Wullae
www.myspace.com/wullaewrightbelucky
www.myspace.com/wullaewright
www.soundcloud.com/wullaewright/building-a-nest
Sunday, 5 September 2010
I.O.U
I arrived home from a terrible day at work on Saturday, feeling horrible and grotey. I switched the computer on, listened to it bleep and clunk start up, and typed in my password. Had the intention to try and recreate dubstep using my bass and pedal, which I knew would be incredibly difficult.
So, I wired up my Zoom pedal and bass to my computer and began to experiment with the sound. Number 35, adjusting the tone, pitch, volume; messing around the pedal. I was lazily using my fingers and the pedal and began coming up with a really easy bass riff. It sounds brilliant though. I play the note a few times and then push the pedal back for a small bit and it turns the note into a rusty sound. Almost reminds me of something Kings of Leon would have done on 'Only by the Night' or 'Because of the Times'.
I then wanted to do this tune to a drum beat, to get a good sound. I found a perfect one, that I have in a folder of numerous sample beats I downloaded in 2008. It is a dry, rock beat with a few fills. The drum loop only lasted for 20 seconds or so, so I had to edit it and make it last an entire song length. Put the edited beat on Making Waves, recorded the bass riff, and then put them both onto Audacity. Sounds fucking awesome.
It was sounding so good, and I had had an idea a few days ago to re-record an old rock song, called IOU, written back in 2005/06. So, I started to re-learn the guitar riff, changed the fret, and it fit perfectly with this new bass riff and drum beat. Too good to be true actually. So recorded that. The timing of the beat is slightly odd, so at first the guitar is trying to find itself in the song, but as I got into it, it worked better than I would have expected.
At this point I wondered what else I could do to it with the time I had. It sounded so good. I thought, if I do something to the drums it could sound even better. So I copied the fills in the drums and layered them over one another, at slightly different times. This then created amazing drum fills. I was so happy with the result, that I edited the fills from the middle of the song until the end. It sounds pretty impressive. I ran out of time to keep working on it, but I will hopefully have this song finished soon.
Watch this space,
Wullae
www.myspace.com/wullaewright
www.soundcloud.com/wullaewright
So, I wired up my Zoom pedal and bass to my computer and began to experiment with the sound. Number 35, adjusting the tone, pitch, volume; messing around the pedal. I was lazily using my fingers and the pedal and began coming up with a really easy bass riff. It sounds brilliant though. I play the note a few times and then push the pedal back for a small bit and it turns the note into a rusty sound. Almost reminds me of something Kings of Leon would have done on 'Only by the Night' or 'Because of the Times'.
I then wanted to do this tune to a drum beat, to get a good sound. I found a perfect one, that I have in a folder of numerous sample beats I downloaded in 2008. It is a dry, rock beat with a few fills. The drum loop only lasted for 20 seconds or so, so I had to edit it and make it last an entire song length. Put the edited beat on Making Waves, recorded the bass riff, and then put them both onto Audacity. Sounds fucking awesome.
It was sounding so good, and I had had an idea a few days ago to re-record an old rock song, called IOU, written back in 2005/06. So, I started to re-learn the guitar riff, changed the fret, and it fit perfectly with this new bass riff and drum beat. Too good to be true actually. So recorded that. The timing of the beat is slightly odd, so at first the guitar is trying to find itself in the song, but as I got into it, it worked better than I would have expected.
At this point I wondered what else I could do to it with the time I had. It sounded so good. I thought, if I do something to the drums it could sound even better. So I copied the fills in the drums and layered them over one another, at slightly different times. This then created amazing drum fills. I was so happy with the result, that I edited the fills from the middle of the song until the end. It sounds pretty impressive. I ran out of time to keep working on it, but I will hopefully have this song finished soon.
Watch this space,
Wullae
www.myspace.com/wullaewright
www.soundcloud.com/wullaewright
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Silence Broken
So, what has been happening over the last month or so? I realise that I have not posted a blog since early August. I apologise for the silence, but it has been broken now and will hopefully continue to stay this way. So again, what is new?
I have been periodically writing fragments of lyrics here and there in my 'memo' section of my phone. I have a memo entitled 'Song ideas - titles, lyrics, etc' where I jot down lots of ideas. When a song forms, then I paste it onto another document. I finished a set of lyrics recently entitled 'Watercolour Memories', a sad song about Alzheimers Disease.
Musically I have lots of unfinished songs and pieces of music lying around, including: piano songs, new version of Red Bridge, Watercolour Memories (Be Lucky Version), Dance songs, and a version of 'Kats' by Hercules Mandarin, to name a few. All to be finished; more time required.
I will hopefully put a version of 'Watercolour Memories' on soundcloud.com for download. I am also hoping to put old songs on soundcloud.com for download too.
Watch this space,
Wullae
www.myspace.com/wullaewright
www.soundcloud.com/wullaewright
I have been periodically writing fragments of lyrics here and there in my 'memo' section of my phone. I have a memo entitled 'Song ideas - titles, lyrics, etc' where I jot down lots of ideas. When a song forms, then I paste it onto another document. I finished a set of lyrics recently entitled 'Watercolour Memories', a sad song about Alzheimers Disease.
Musically I have lots of unfinished songs and pieces of music lying around, including: piano songs, new version of Red Bridge, Watercolour Memories (Be Lucky Version), Dance songs, and a version of 'Kats' by Hercules Mandarin, to name a few. All to be finished; more time required.
I will hopefully put a version of 'Watercolour Memories' on soundcloud.com for download. I am also hoping to put old songs on soundcloud.com for download too.
Watch this space,
Wullae
www.myspace.com/wullaewright
www.soundcloud.com/wullaewright
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Pleasant Statistics
I have distanced myself from my blog and music for some time now. There are two reasons for this: 1. I have been quite busy, which then affects 2. where, i have had absolutely no time to write, record or practice my music.
I have had small periods or moments of musical delight, which have been very short lived. I have recorded a piano tune; but have done absolutely nothing to it. I have also come up with a lovely and rather pleasant sound guitar riff; which, I have had absolutely no time to do anything with it. I have also written more lyrics; which I have not finished. I have even been beatboxing to myself in my places of work, and recording the beat box and lyrics on my phone, as to not forget about it later.
However, amongst all this short term music bliss, I today went onto my www.soundcloud.com/wullaewright page to find some interesting statistics about the tracks I have up there. My songs are popular (or have been listened to at least) in these countries: Turkey, France, Italy, Tunisia, Peru, Japan, Indonesia, U.S, and the U.K. I am clearly delighted at this; to be out there so far and wide, and hopefully that will grow. However, what made me even more delighted was to see that an individual had downloaded one of my songs. I assumed it would be someone in the U.K., and maybe in my circle of friends, but it turns out it was an individual in Tunisia. Someone in Tunisia liked my song that much, that they felt compled to click on the 'download' button, and now has the song on their computer. This, to me, is a beautiful and intriguing thought. Thank you Tunisian person. Thank you.
Watch this space,
Wullae Wright
www.myspace.com/wullaewright
www.soundcloud.com/wullaewright
I have had small periods or moments of musical delight, which have been very short lived. I have recorded a piano tune; but have done absolutely nothing to it. I have also come up with a lovely and rather pleasant sound guitar riff; which, I have had absolutely no time to do anything with it. I have also written more lyrics; which I have not finished. I have even been beatboxing to myself in my places of work, and recording the beat box and lyrics on my phone, as to not forget about it later.
However, amongst all this short term music bliss, I today went onto my www.soundcloud.com/wullaewright page to find some interesting statistics about the tracks I have up there. My songs are popular (or have been listened to at least) in these countries: Turkey, France, Italy, Tunisia, Peru, Japan, Indonesia, U.S, and the U.K. I am clearly delighted at this; to be out there so far and wide, and hopefully that will grow. However, what made me even more delighted was to see that an individual had downloaded one of my songs. I assumed it would be someone in the U.K., and maybe in my circle of friends, but it turns out it was an individual in Tunisia. Someone in Tunisia liked my song that much, that they felt compled to click on the 'download' button, and now has the song on their computer. This, to me, is a beautiful and intriguing thought. Thank you Tunisian person. Thank you.
Watch this space,
Wullae Wright
www.myspace.com/wullaewright
www.soundcloud.com/wullaewright
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)