#Lyrics, #music, #The XCerts

Changes.

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A nice A4 pad bought a couple of years ago to reuse as the new project aims. The fountain pens can get busy again now.

New Project. (Stay Positive).

Songs and lyrics from myself? They have been continued to be written over decades. Since the 1980s. I’ve never put down a guitar to be honest. Dipping in and out playfully writing a fair few tunes on the acoustic.

Last weekend, three of us (guitarist: drummer: bass player) got together in a Coventry, UK rehearsal room and played through some old XCerts songs. Together for the very first time playing in earnest. It was pretty good. We all agreed that it rocked! Positivity was rife. We quickly recorded two of the songs at the end of the session of playing for 6 hours. Feeling tired by then, it should have been recorded earlier in hindsight. I now know the Shure MV88 microphone I bought to be used on an iPhone with lightning adapter is pretty awesome though.

This was the first rehearsal for 42 years for myself! Myself and the drummer, when both in Team 23, last played together 42 years ago. My brother on guitar? He’s been playing for decades and we have picked up guitars and played songs together from time to time every year.

Why a new project?

The XCerts are not doing the live gigs as planned in July. The original XCerts guitarist is now committed to playing gigs in bars in Spain. He has joined up with some local musicians and they are doing cover songs for the tourists.

Carry on and still do the gigs? Not with the other two guys having their own full lives of full time work (brother) and family commitments (drummer). Also distance is an issue. I live well over 130 miles away from the other two. Can’t just meet up and throw a couple of hours at this project a couple of times a week.

The logical planning. With a new future aim to develop, the focus now is on getting back into that same rehearsal room (they have an adjacent recording studio) a few times this year. A progression of booking the studio room from time to time, recording new songs and also some older ones from the past over the months ahead. The project will be finished by autumn/winter this year. A few Summer open mic nights are, fingers crossed, in the planning too. My brother will be playing newer guitar parts in the older songs. And contributing to writing and getting the riffs for new songs.

Myself? Feeling positive now after the initial recent conundrum hit me over the head. Now being the only original XCert! Also. I feel that a new ‘band name’ is needed. A fresh outlook of creating this musical adventure to wipe away old baggage.

Already, over the last couple of days, three early Gray Summers songs, that I wrote in the 1970s when in the XCerts and Team 23, have been updated both lyrically and dynamically. Also, I have now written down a list of song considerations. Ones chosen to suit a band dynamic. As said at the start of this blog. Songs have always been written for fun since I was no longer a committed band musician back in 1982. I have left the acoustic sing solo/story telling type songs alone. A little too soft for the palette of a rock and roll vibe.

NEW INCLUSION. FORGOT THAT I DID THIS LITTLE AUDIO BELOW A FEW MONTHS BACK.

The Wind of Sorrows needs a musical direction. The acoustic here is just playing a basic oddity rhythmic sing a long to/chunking style structure needed for the tune to hang its hat on. What usually happens when I do this, is isolate myself outdoors, sing the tune by walking along a beach or within some local hills. I then ‘hear’ what could work instrument and structure wise to support the melody. A tapped out drum beat to get the whole vibe started tapped out on a piece of nature. A tree is quite nice!! Joking. Usually my legs. This below I sang a few months back. Only revisited over the last few days. I had a chorus in my head for another song starting with ‘Today, could be the end of all today’s, etc. Still need to finish the lyrics. But it links very nicely. Problem sorted.

So, without further ado…..here is some more of the phenomena known as ‘Gray Summers warbling whimsy’. I’m no six string guitarist but it helps to know some basic chords I suppose. Best listened through headphones really. Works better for capturing depth. Otherwise I sound like Mickey Mouse!

Simply sung to get at a tune and keep it there for later revisit.

And yesterday a nice little catchy bass line was written for the Wind of Sorrows developing song. Inspired!

Wind of Sorrows. Got to finish the chorus on this one.

SONG LIST: Song projects to have a go at………

Here’s the Weekend

Satisfied

She Said

Feeling in the Groove

Mistaken Identity

One of the Boys

Losing Out

Year One/O

Wasting My Time (living in the 9 ‘til 5)

Wind of Sorrows/Today

Trust Me

16 Hours

Velvet Suits

Giving it Time

Always So Blue

The Velvet Touch

There She Goes

Baby, I don’t want to dance

November, the stereo and you

Pink hearts, Black holes

Stop this Heartache

STOP THIS HEARTACHE. A song I wrote after the XCerts split in 1979.

Once, I crashed out at a party

Emotions seemed forever to stand still

A broken sense of innocence

Hey! What’s going on!

I believe if looks could kill

I just think that they might.

Oh it’s awful real

But it just seems surreal

Some futuristic dream

Of something cold, unseen

And it’s looking down on me.

It’s late, too late

The hours just seem to walk on by

I could not do anything more than

Say goodbye

Well boys it’s time to leave the show

And I hate to see us part like this

And I hate to think of what we

Might have missed.

Oh it’s awful real

But it just seems surreal

Some futuristic dream

Of something cold, unseen

And it’s looking down on me.

Stop this heartache (woah oh oh)

Stop this heartache

Coz it doesn’t wanna show

That it came from out of nowhere

And it don’t know where to go

No it doesn’t wanna show

That it came from out of somewhere

And yet it feels so all alone.

24 thoughts on “Changes.”

  1. I’m sorry to hear that the XCerts won’t be gigging as planned this summer, but I had held my breath for a moment! I read about your 6 hour rehearsal and thought, Brilliant!!
    I hear you about the challenges though.
    As I am reading this early in the morning, I had woken with an old song in my head. It was, Blue Velvet. Thus, imagine my surprise when I saw the following synchronicities of song titles!

    Velvet Suits

    Giving it Time

    Always So Blue

    The Velvet Touch

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    1. Hi Sheila. I’m getting up to speed again today reading my fave bloggers. So very keen to get the headphones on and catch up on your songs. And read your insights. May take a few at a time though. You are very prolific! 😊

      Steve, my brother, is a fabulous guitarist. So it will be great to channel his skills into future new songs. John, the drummer, has high family commitments. And myself being 130 miles away has a lot of consistency problems and so it will be much slower progress than I first imagined. To keep the motivation going? I can’t go on stage as a ‘deppy’ and fill in and play with a band for some absent bass player at local gigs. I just simply can’t focus being in a covers band. I need every ounce of energy for my own songs.

      The rehearsal was great. We really rocked for older guys. Suppose it never leaves you if it is your own songs.

      Velvet is a really nice word to use in melody. The Velvet Touch lyric in these few example lines are:

      Give me something real that I can easily call my own,
      Whisper those three perfect words over the telephone.
      That’s something I can understand,
      Like the Velvet touch of your sweet hand
      When it ain’t planned.
      Something deep inside me sighs
      Every time…….every time.

      Cheers Sheila.

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      1. Beautiful lyrics, Gray. Yes, I totally get that about not playing covers. Richard went through that years ago with the band members of The Righteous Buds/Les Izmoor. Ugh! Most players don’t have the skills, talent, insights, and such to write songs though, so they are satisfied with playing covers. Plus, a lot of players just want to play songs people know, and that venues will pay them to play to draw cowds—I get that aspect of it too. But your inclination to write is admirable! And we agree you should follow that impetus. No matter who listens when you play. The open mic opportunities sound aWEsOMe too! Take advantage of whatever is close or reasonable for you to do that. I am still hopeful that Richard and I will do some open mic events after we move. Or online. We are still considering doing a podcast.
        Thank you for checking out any of my posts, Gray. I knew you were taking some time for yourself and that is always necessary for our health, well-being, and refreshment especially during robust creative times.
        All the best to you as well.

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      2. Time spent not thinking blog subjects is quite nice. Your insights into live playing has resonance. We, at 17 to 18 years old played lots of pubs doing covers. Our drummer John is in a Soul band playing all sorts of past hits. A great fun time vibe band and great musicians. I know locally that there are bands that play regularly doing these gigs too. It is just that I can’t do it. In the Team 23 we played a Sam and Dave song and then took to Dancing in the Street. It was within a vibe of dance tunes we wrote at that time. It was our nod to two great songs that were inspirational. To put them into a live set of all your own self written songs is pretty much showing confidence I suppose. Jerome the singer and myself had to have self belief. We were driven to do this. Jerome’s early songs were absolute diamonds. He certainly knew how to write a haunting lyric alongside a fabulous melody. I felt proud to play his songs and develop the bass riffs and harmony vocal sounds to suit them.

        I don’t mind sitting now and doing some small open mic nights with Steve, my brother, up in Shrewsbury. Steve’s old work colleague organises them. So it should be a fantastic distraction and good to sound out new songs. Cheers Sheila.

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      3. Ah, yes, there’s a time for everything. Covers are good if hired to play those and to prove ones playing. But had The Beatles or Rolling Stones only played covers… well, you get my point. Not everyone is a songwriter though. That’s what we are looking for overall—bands to play our originals.
        You’re absolutely right about when a band is young that’s typically when they play lots of covers. And once a band is established they play originals with a few favorite covers thrown in. I’ll go take a listen. Thank you, Gray.

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      4. When you mentioned about expectations Sheila, I thought I’d add a little audio from the past for you of The Wind of Sorrows. It’s embedded in the blog now. The rehearsal from last weekend needed some recordings of decent nature. But we felt it best to put some stuff out there once getting some vocals down next time. We were concentrating on the instruments. Cheers.

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  2. oh wow oh wow, this is big stuff. with some pretty sweet lyrics. this part of band life I miss, putting in hours and coming out feeling that good kind of tired. can’t wait to listen.

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    1. Cheers cookie. It’ll be a fair few weeks to organise another get together and get back down to the rehearsal rooms. So hopefully it’ll be all on the up from then. I didn’t know you were in a band! So you know and understand the vibe. Brilliant.

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    1. Happy Easter to you too Brenda. It is as it is and just has to be made the best of with the evolving situation. I would love stability for the get together sessions over the months ahead. Spoilt back when, in the 1970s, I suppose. It was then that we just played music all the time with people always around. Cheers Brenda.

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    1. Thank you Destiny. It is just one of those things. Talking of your ‘starbright/starlight/big old universe out there’ poetry themed recents? I shall Cosmically Order answers and solutions. May they come along on a wonderful poetically driven Moonbeam. Cheers. 🙏🏽

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      1. it will eventually fit together…you’ve invested much of yourself in this….adding an order on your behalf too… moonbeams rarely disappoint. 😁
        glad to see you back 🙏🤍

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      2. Nice to be back Destiny. My little circle of friendly bloggers are priceless. Brings much to the positive values in life. Thanks for the ordering of moonbeam energy. You’ve got me singing Nilsson’s Moonbeam Song now! 😊🙏🏽

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  6. One must always keep and open mind. The best laid plans are just that, ony plans. As for the song, I enjoyed that. Have you considered adding a sax? With a title like Wind of Sorrow, a wailing sorrowful reprise might be interesting. Keep up the good work.

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    1. Cheers Danny. I know a sax player. Angie, my wife, employs her in the shop. She agreed to do some bits on a few tracks when I asked her. I have a nice bass line to this song now. Just needs a musical direction now to the instruments vibe. Have a chorus too. With songs you simply present them to the others and see if it works. If it doesn’t you just move on.

      I was watching a very interesting video today on Mental Health and musicians. Not heavy, but very interesting. I didn’t hunt for it. The same guy does a great video advice upload on how to get the perfect rehearsal plan. Hence seeing the MH video. Cheers Danny.

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      1. I am fixated on your song. I feel the sax needs to be off in the distance. Literally, in the next room (doors open of course) so as to create a distant wailing. Like a train whistle off in the distance.

        Mental health is an issue for all these days. Any advice on how to best mitigate it is worth a listen. All the best

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      2. That’s hopefully not an ear worm scenario Danny. 😊 I have a very nice bass riff now, a chorus and therefore the beginnings of a plan. The guy doing the Mental Health in musicians was pretty much spot on. I intend to listen to it again. Lots of great advice and thoughtful insights. Much matched my own feelings.

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      4. I looked at it again tonight Danny. Still great advice.

        His ‘how to create the perfect rehearsal room situation’ upload was spot on too. He plays bass and sings on it. But goes through step by step advice. I agreed with a lot of his suggestions. Rehearsals can be so loud that you can’t sing comfortably at all. I found difficulty last weekend. The mic system provided was top notch too. But feedback off the vocal mic was harsh if I turned up the volume to be heard above the room dynamics. We were together for the very first time playing in earnest. Up to that point the three of us were learning alone. Bedroom with headphones for Steve and his guitar, The Den on low volume bass amp and vocal amp for myself and John the drummer writing down drum sequences of the XCerts songs that my other played way back then. Not hitting his drums at all. So enthusiasm won the day. Produced a great vibe. But no true structure.

        Thing is, I don’t want a repetitive copy of what was. I want the two guys now to play as they themselves play. So much more naturally. If the sax player learnt that ‘do, do, do’ tune on Wind of Sorrows and played it. It should have a massive phrasing emphasis on the melody notes played that totally belong to her own unique style.

        I’m typing this Danny because you have expressed how we work as musicians writing songs together. Be your own expressive personality is my way to go.

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