Music is Life

What topics do you like to discuss?

I like to discuss film and music with people, but I think I like to go into an amount of detail that makes people’s eyes glaze over. I enjoy deconstructing the writing choices in a film, or hearing the fine details in a song. I used to write articles for Star Trek Magazine, which was perfect as I got to watch episodes and channel my need to dive into the details, and get paid to do it, my dream job. But when I tried to explain the articles to a friend, they’d listen for about 3 minutes and that familiar glazed look would come.

That’s why finding kindred geeky spirits is so important, the world of podcasts opened my world to some of these people, a whole universe of people who want to discuss every last scene of a movie, song, or TV show.

Here are three podcasts I really recommend:

1) The JAM yearbook

2) Claytemple Media

3) LSG

Also my son and I share a love of Star Trek and Star Wars (I wonder where he gets it from 🤔), and love to chat about it and are currently enjoying the new season of Andor.

And here is an example of a recent piece of writing I did that dives into the process of songwriting:

To celebrate Dear Keir being played on the ‘rock and metal’ playlist on Amazing radio we thought it would be cool to take you behind the scenes of the making of a song we’re really proud of – and look at how it sounds and the message behind the song.

The lyrical seed for this track was planted when we heard a politician’s comments that seemingly rationalised the killing of children. That moment sparked a feeling of intense frustration and the crushing realisation of political helplessness – that feeling of being on the sidelines, witnessing injustice and being unable to do anything about it. The idea of writing a letter directly to the politician, and in fact all  politicians, expressing this despair, became the core concept of the song.

Set against the driving drums and the warm tonal quality of the studio’s (very beautiful) Gibson Les Paul (a touch of classic rock, whilst still keeping that jangly punk edge!), we wanted to create an interesting and unsettling tension. The reggae-inspired mid-section marks a shift, a moment of fourth wall breaking commentary before the inevitable eruption of anger. Our producer and engineer Laurence introduced the brilliant idea of the echoing, repeating vocal refrains which lends the track the sense of psychedelia that we wanted to permeate the whole record.

We wanted that final ‘warhead’ to literally explode into the final verses, with the screamed delivery and echoing reverb creating an almost onomatopoeic effect that mirrors the destructive power of the word itself. The return of the falsetto, still carrying the echo from the ‘warhead’ scream screeches into the song’s final acceleration and the shouted climax of “standing on the sidelines”. We hope this really captures that sense of powerlessness in the face of politicians treating war like a game and viewing our lives like  inconsequential statistics.

Our decision not to record to a click track was also deliberate as we wanted the song to breathe with the urgency and sometimes unevenness of a live performance. What you hear is us, playing live and loud, captured over a series of takes with Laurence’s intuitive guidance. “Dear Keir” is our examination of political indifference, disillusionment, and the power of music to channel those feelings of being on the sidelines into a defiant roar.

We are hosting a launch show in support of War Child at the end of May to mark the release of the record and raise funds for children affected by war.

I hope you enjoyed my various examples of topics I like to discuss. What topics do you like to discuss? I’d love to discuss them with you in the comments, and I’ll be checking out the other responses to this prompt.