Killer Clowns in Transit Vans - E.P Idea

A memory came back to me a few weeks ago.  It was quite a dark, disturbing one and I questioned whether it was an accurate memory or just something I had maybe thought up by mistake.  It was a memory from when I was about 5 or 6 years old.  It was about a bridge I use to go under sometimes when I would be visiting people in the nearby areas at the time.  It was an old stone train bridge and I remember thinking about how I thought someone dressed as a killer clown waiting in a van was there.  I thought about this and remember how I thought that the clown was there to take children.  I use to worry about walking under that bridge.  I questioned whether this had actually happened to me, or if I were just making this up.  I enquired on facebook whether anyone remember anything about a killer clown in a van.

I got a couple of replies from people who said that this apparently did happen.  Schools at the time we telling kids to walk straight home, and not to go near blue Transit vans.  Letters were issued to parents etc.  One story on the internet goes that the Killer Clown was a psychiatric patient who escaped from Carstairs Hospital, South Lanarkshire, and drove around in a blue Transit van.  He would offer kids sweets in playgrounds and if they declined, he would give them a Chelsea grin - cutting the face with a knife from ear to ear across their mouths.  Apparently another version of the story goes that there were a few of these clowns, and they were known as the 'Chelsea Clowns'.  This whole idea and story still fascinates me to this day.  Was it real?  If so, where are these guys now?  It made me think about Childhood fears and phobias.  I  am now going to possibly make an E.P along this idea.  It is personal to me, and maybe many people can relate to this too.

I have made this artwork for it, and intend to purely make songs from cut ups of old songs I have not used.

Watch this space,

Wullae

The Orange Line: Update and Collaborations

The blog posts are few this year I know.  This year has been no ordinary year for me.  I have had to deal with numerous big personal life changes.  All experiences I will no doubt write songs about in the future.  For the time being, I have 'The Orange Line'.  The progress has been leisurely, but moving at least.  Here is a summary of what contributions and work has been made on the music project so far:

Unidentified Flying Object - When the last blog was written, U.F.O was sounding excellent.  A standard Indie-style song, with numerous guitar riffs, consisting of different sections not a standardised Intro-verse-chorus-verse-solo-chorus-outro style set up.  Since then I have made the most progress on this track.  U.F.O is looking to be the benchmark to which all the other songs will need to live up to.  My good friend and musician Stuart Carroll (http://soundcloud.com/stuartcarrollmusic1) had recently recorded some new songs himself, which were sounding excellent.  The string arrangements were particularly good, and so I asked if he could provide me with strings for the song.  He agreed, and kindly sent me a few sets.  I arranged these with the song, and edited it all.  The intro in particular sounds absolutely fantastic.  This song will most definitely be the introductory song to the album when it is complete.  It is just the perfect introduction.  I myself have not had any time to record anything new on the track.  I would like to put some new vocals, and layers of different vocals on the track, but I am not finding time to do so.  I have also had a compliment on the song from a drummer Pat Elsley - who I will tell you more about later, saying that "just listening to 'u.f.o'. Love that intro!".  I am extremely pleased with this song so far.  I want to make it epic.

Superhero - I have the basic tune sitting, with just two guitars and a set of vocals.  I would like to try and record a better set of vocals, but the conditions here are just not right to record them as the song is a very shouty one.  I initially thought that Superhero could use some strings too, much like U.F.O, so again Stuart kindly sent me strings for this song; however after editing etc. it was just not working.  So I thought about what might suit the song.  It is very simple and I would like it to stay much that way, just simple and not a lot in it.  I began to think a clarinet would sound nice in it.  I contacted a Scottish Clarinet Quartet via soundcloud and asked if any of the members would be willing to contribute clarinet to the song.  I have as yet not received an answer.

Plasticland - I had a small window of opportunity one day and relearned an old song, I regard as an old classic.  I always thought it was quite a good song at the time I wrote it back in 1999-2000 time.  So I learned this, and recorded a very basic simple electric version.  I added three guitar riffs in the song and have left it at that at the moment.  I have no idea what to do with it yet, but I will have some ideas no doubt.

Generally there have been a few musical developments alongside and outside of 'The Orange Line'.  In relation to Mr Pat Elsley, this man followed me on Twitter.  Seeing that he was a session drummer, I thought I'd take the risk of asking him if he would like to add some studio recorded drums to my songs.  Surprisingly he got back to me quite interested.  I was absolutely delighted, as I have never actually had any studio drums before in my music projects.  Since then, Pat Elsley has listened to the songs I'd like drums for and said he will try and find time and see what he can do.  This is very exciting for me.

I have also had another music collab possibly happening in the near future, with a Miss Simman Raphael Lerew.  She is a singer/songwriter and is keen on doing some collaborative work with me.  I likewise am extremely keen on doing a project on some music with her as her music is excellent.  I would be very keen on having some female vocals on my work for the first time, possibly in some of 'The Orange Line' songs.  We have discussed the idea of a collaboration only briefly, but both agree to the idea.  This could be a very exciting venture.

On a sad note, and due to personal circumstances, I will be selling my much loved Danelectro DC-59.  I have written so many songs on that guitar, having it from 2002.  I will not then be able to record any guitar songs for the foreseeable once it is sold as my electro-acoustic and keyboard are still through in Glasgow at a family member's home.  I will get them back eventually and begin recording the rest of 'The Orange Line'; however the rest of it will all be acoustic, and any more guitar songs in the future I record will be acoustic.  I do not mind this fact too much as I am getting older and I think the acoustic would suit better anyway.  I do love my Danelectro and it will be sad to part with it once it is sold.

That is all for now then.  I am networking more and more with other musicians, which is making my music and my musical possibilities very exciting indeed.  I have Carmine working on remixes of my music; have a friend contributing strings to my songs; a drummer willing to collab to add drums to my songs; and the likely collab with a female vocalist and musician.  Things have been very interesting and I hope it keeps working out this way

Watch this space,

Wullae

http://wullaewright.bandcamp.com
http://soundcloud.com/wullaewright
http://www.twitter.com/wullaewright

The Orange Line: Artwork Various

The Orange Line: Slow Progress

I have not updated this blog in months. It has and will continue to be a busy time for me at the moment. I have been finding time since February to the present to record some songs. In this post I will go through the songs in order of when they were written, and what has been happening around the songs.

A Story of a Wall: I began work on this track, starting off The Orange Line. At first I recorded a simple version of the song, but felt this was too basic and was quite similar to the songs from 'Under the Pyramids' E.P (2011). So I recorded a new version, initially recording it as a rhythm guitar-based song, which changed the more I added layers onto it. The version at the moment has a distorted guitar noise at the beginning accompanied by drums. The song still needs work, but is sounding very good and has set the tone for the rest of the album. I also received a message from musican Carmine on soundcloud, expressing an interest in remixing 'A Story of a Wall'. I was absolutely thrilled that Carmine would be interested in remixing another one of my songs. I without hesitation agreed to this, and put an audio version without vocal on wwaudio. I cannot wait to hear the remix.

Unidentified Flying Object: During the time of recording 'A Story of a Wall', I was very very eager to record a song I was very fond of years ago, 'UFO'. I remember playing this song endlessly playing and adapting this song with Stuart Carroll. I began by recording the song on clean electric guitar. It sounded good, but needed more. I added distortion and some subtle drums, bass etc. The recording as it stands I feel is excellent. It does still need a lot more work, adding extra vocals, guitars and drums if possible. I am eager to include acoustic into this recording; however I am unable to get my electro-acoustic guitar at the moment so will have to see what happens.

Living on the Edge: I had begun different recordings of this song, and found them in a folder, after I had come up with an idea randomly. I had an old acoustic recording of Living on the Edge, which was made for the Cassette Tapes 2010 versions. I had not used this, so I thought about combining the two versions of the song: new and old. I have the new version as the intro, and acoustic for body of the song. I added new vocals, lead and noises over the recording. The version as it stands sounds excellent, however it does need more. I have been racking my brains trying to think of ways to make the song more interesting, whilst keeping it in the theme of the album. I would like some synth and drums added to it. I am unable to do this at the moment. So, I asked musician Carmine (www.carmine777.bandcamp.com), who has recently finished their album 'Aestival' and did a remix of 'Sleight of Hand' if they could help add to the song. Carmine has politely agreed to help. This will give the album a whole new dynamic and feel to it.

You Never said Anything: I had a window one day and wanted to record one of the lesser remembered songs from years ago. I lookd through the songs, heard You Never said Anything and enjoyed it. So I took to learning this again. I then recorded the guitar, vocals and then I added different layers of guitar and lead guitar. The song is quite basic, and could really use an acoustic guitar, bass and drums. It is possibly one of the most Indie songs I've recorded. This is where I want this record to be.

I have 'All the Time' in the works too; however I will need to make a new recording of this entirely. When I spoke to Carmine about the helping out with The Orange Line, he suggested that we make a new project between us. I am excited and delighted at this idea. It will be an international project, which is something I have not done before. It will be exciting to see what our musical styles together will produce. Only time will tell. This has been my last few months musically. The project is coming along at a slow pace, like 'In Cloud Cuckooland' (2010) which took two years to complete. I foresee The Orange Line being the same.

 Watch this space,

 Wullae

The Orange Line: Time

I'll update you on the recent (and very seldom) goings-on with me and my music. Of late, I've had so many other things happening in my life, it is incredibly difficult to get any time to record anything for 'The Orange Line'. The art work for the album theme has been easily created. I am very happy with this and I believe it will reflect well on the music.

I am having great difficulty getting both the time, and the quality right, for creating the music. Spare time is difficult to come by; quality is difficult to produce in such a short space of time. For instance, any recent small windows of opportunity are ruined by the fact that I can not find the sound for the guitar that I want. I scan over the effects I have on the pedal. Record small samples to see how they sound, and each time, they sound horrific or miles away from what I want. I'm struggling with this at the moment, but I'm hoping it will fall into place. This was a similar problem with 'Anonymous' in the beginning too. I do see 'The Orange Line' taking a few years to record and produce however, due to restraints on time and because I want this to be perfect.

In terms of song writing, the songs are all there anyway. Most written between the age of 15 and 18, the songs are all from old cassette tapes (see at soundcloud: cassette tapes from 1999 and more cassette tapes). This means I don't need to find the time to write a whole bunch of new songs, which can be difficult too. Some of these old songs are still really good, in my opinion. Simplier songs, at simplier times. I recently worked out 'A Story of a Wall' and 'All the Time'. It was brilliant to work them out again, and here them now. Such a difference. I can actually keep in key when I sing now, so the songs sounds so much better. I am so eager to hear a finished version of any of these songs.

I have no idea what half the songs are even about anymore. There are also so many songs that I never recorded and so cannot remember how they go. One song in particular that I remember writing when I was about 15, was called 'Vigilantes and Anarchy'. I do not remember even how it goes, but remember when I use to play it I thought it was brilliant. I am lucky I have the cassette tapes of the recordings I have. I want to make a great album. To hear these songs the way they were intended.

If any progress is made, I will upate here, but this project will take time.

Watch this space,
Wullae

The Orange Line: Ideas

I have not written on this blog for a long time, and that is because I have had nothing to write. Nothing to write about in terms of my music and any musical projects. I have had little time to write, record and definitely perform any music.

At the end of 2011 I looked back at what music I had written and the numerous projects I had created. I created four projects: 'Anonymous', 'Opus. 1', 'Overzealous Work Ethic', and 'Under the Pyramids'. I was maybe being a little over ambitious trying to create 3 albums in the one year. 'Under the Pyramids' was cut short due to time and inspiration. I did complete these projects and feel this was a very productive year. I was, and still am, particularly happy with 'Anonymous' as an album. I have not successfully written and recorded a 20 track album before.

Moving into 2012, I have focused on developing the artwork for the new project. I tend to write the music and develop the artwork around another. However, I wanted to paint the picture first. The theme. I didn't know what I wanted to do to be honest. I sat one night not long into the new year, and thought about the train journey I had going from Manhattan to Coney Island. I had looked through some photographs I have of me in New York in 2008. The journey I remember well. The ghetto housing, the rocking train; being in a city and place I didn't know. Going to somewhere, I had never been. I wish I could go back. It was a beautiful journey, in a very personal way. And so this, is what has developed the idea behind 'The Orange Line'. The orange line - or 'D' line, is the one that takes you from Manhattan to Coney Island. The project is about a journey. A journey from it's beginning, to it's end. But not a bad journey. A pleasant one. One that changes you. In the subtliest way.

So I looked through the photos I took as I went along The orange line, and I developed these photos in a way that is reminiscent of old artwork myself and my friend Stuart Carroll use to make when we were in the band 'the Heads of State'. This made me think about all the old songs we had made together, and never used. Never finished. Never heard them the way they were suppose to be heard. So I thought the artwork and old song - part of 'Cassette Tapes from 1999', would be perfect. And so I have listened to these old songs, and have picked several I will try and update and add to 'The Orange Line'. These songs are:

- All the Time (Thinking of renaming 'Dwindling in Zenith', which was the original album name we had for these songs way back in 2000)
- Nostalgic
- You Never Said Anything
- A Story of a Wall
- Plasticland
- U.F.O
- Superhero
- Beware: Beckon Angels
- Living on the Edge
- A.W.O.L
- Building a Nest (Written in 2009, and would be a perfect song to finish the album with)
- Fun Acid House
- A Stage with your own Fears
- Dreams are in the Skies
- Stand Alone
- Pay As You Earn

It may not be possible to recreate all these songs as I do not remember how to play even half of them. But I will have to re-learn them, and then try and work out all the lyrics too. I don't want to have to change these songs at all from the originals.

So, that is the start of 'The Orange Line'. This is as far as up-to-date as I can get. I have worked out 'All the Time', and will try and create a new version. I have ideas for it, and wish to start as soon as I can. I'm having difficulty at the moment trying to get drum beats appropriate for starting this album with, but I am sure I will get them in time.

Watch this space,
Wullae

The Orange Line, 2012