Salsa Bar Lothario Blues - A Latin blues in A minor? What could be more fun? Rhythm courtesy of my recently acquired Fujigen Fender Tele.
GodZone Land - Those moments when you can't believe how lucky you are to be alive and to be HERE NOW.
Get Your Hands Off My Guitar - Inspired by the all too frequent experience of someone picking up one of my guitars and playing it way better than I can.
Monument - Time for a Roger Waters-style rant about the inevitable futility of war.
Midday Train - I was just experimenting with D chord forms and out it came. Lotta fun to play.
Words Fail Me - I started writing this shortly after I met my wife, Winnie. It's taken about ten years so far but I think it's coming together. Big thanks to the fabulous Jackson Sisters for the classy backing vocals.
Part-Time Lover - Been playing around with this one for a long time. I always thought it would suit a Bonnie Raitt sort of singer. Any volunteers?...Bonnie?
I'm Not Psychic - Well, come on fellas...haven't we all been here?
Red House - Is there anything more fun to play on guitar than a slow 12-bar in Em? I doubt it.
Thanks to Jimi Hendrix for this open-mike favourite.
Plastic Bag Song - Dedicated to anybody who has ever picked up a piece of rubbish dropped by someone else. Oh, and also to David Gilmour, who has led me to discover my Stratocaster's middle pickup.
Ruff Enough - Dedicated to the Angels of SayulitAnimals (who provided the pin-up image)...and with apologies to Jimmy Vaughn & The Fabulous Thunderbirds ("Tough Enough") and Dorothy Butler (who created "Scarface Claw" for her iconic NZ children's book, "Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy").
Quadralogue P1 & 2 - Perhaps not for the politically-shy. The rhythm line almost as heavy as the subject matter but, hey, don't get uptight (just wanna get settled for what you know is right). This is a reprise of a number I originally recorded some years ago and is the first real outing for my new Ibanez RG470AHZ axe (replacing my very brief ESP experiment). The P1 is, of course, the Pakeha part and P2 is a Maori perspective. One day, I would like P3 (Tagata Pasifika) section and a P4 (Asian) bit, all built around the same Em chord progressions but with their own rhythms and harmonies. Heck, NZ being an immigrant nation, we should probably throw in a P5 for all the South Africans that are settling here...
Down Here - Really, really happy with the way this one came together. I guess we all have a "down here" somewhere in our lives.
I've also created a slideshow for this song which can be viewed at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyT9wqRq3k0&feature=youtu.be
Kick in the Crunch - What can I say? As the song goes, "I can't help being a Bogan boy". I made a few changes to my trusty old Stratocaster while recording this - mostly in the quest to retain tuning stability during whammy bar dive bombs (not normally a strat strong point). I think it worked but I have since acquired a "shred guitar" made by ESP. So look out for more "metally" stuff in the future.
Cortez the Killer - Not for the faint-hearted. A Neil Young song of course - although I have stolen a good chunk of the intro from Warren Haynes' splendid rendition of the same song during the Dave Mathews Band concert in Central Park. World-weary vocals courtesy of having had the 'flu for a month. Over-driven guitar courtesy of my new Marshall Guv'nor Plus pedal pushing my poor little Vox tube amp towards an early grave.
Got You In My Pocket - Bob Herbert came up with the basic riff and I did the lyrics and the bridge. Bob says I do too many songs about love, etc. Still, getting a reasonable number of plays on SC.
Crossroads - As a young lad, this song irreversibly etched rocking twelve bar blues into my DNA (assuming that Dad's high volume playing of Louis Armstrong didn't get there first). Anyway, so here is my cover of Eric Clapton/Cream's cover of a Robert Johnson song.
Oh Diana - A straight-forward little number I've been tinkering with for years. Bob Herbert adding an oh-so-subtle touch of electric guitar with his SRV Strat.
Don't You Cry Boy - I started out on this trying to get a Ry Cooder country blues thing happening, but I couldn't resist stomping on the Bluesbreaker pedal and so it turned out sounding like me instead. Oh well...
Newfie Girl - Someone said this sounds a bit like ZZ top - which I take as a compliment. This is my BIG HIT SONG on Soundcloud. My wife Winnie is a Newfie, by the way, so, all you ladies of Newfoundland, PLEASE, it's just a song.
Moving On - Because, by choice or not, most of us have had to move on at some stage.
It's a long one but I make no excuses for that. In fact, this would have to be one of my oldest songs and I think I've been playing with it for ten years or so (you'd think I'd get it right by now).
Champagne Love - Featuring a cool, clean electric guitar solo by Bob Herbert - which meant that I got to play tambourine (who would have thought it would be so hard).
Sometimes - Blues/Jazz lounge thing. I stole the lyrics for the final verse off Peter Green.
Nobody Baby - A cautionary tale in a 12-bar format.
Fragile Mother - A folk/world instrumental featuring a bit of Eastern rhythm.
Million Star Hotel - A love song to the Australian Outback.
We Need To Talk - Because, sometimes, we really need to talk.
On The Coast Today - Any surfer knows how it feels.
Get Your Hands Off My Guitar - Inspired by the all too frequent experience of someone picking up one of my guitars and playing it way better than I can.
Monument - Time for a Roger Waters-style rant about the inevitable futility of war.
Midday Train - I was just experimenting with D chord forms and out it came. Lotta fun to play.
Words Fail Me - I started writing this shortly after I met my wife, Winnie. It's taken about ten years so far but I think it's coming together. Big thanks to the fabulous Jackson Sisters for the classy backing vocals.
Part-Time Lover - Been playing around with this one for a long time. I always thought it would suit a Bonnie Raitt sort of singer. Any volunteers?...Bonnie?
I'm Not Psychic - Well, come on fellas...haven't we all been here?
Red House - Is there anything more fun to play on guitar than a slow 12-bar in Em? I doubt it.
Thanks to Jimi Hendrix for this open-mike favourite.
Plastic Bag Song - Dedicated to anybody who has ever picked up a piece of rubbish dropped by someone else. Oh, and also to David Gilmour, who has led me to discover my Stratocaster's middle pickup.
Ruff Enough - Dedicated to the Angels of SayulitAnimals (who provided the pin-up image)...and with apologies to Jimmy Vaughn & The Fabulous Thunderbirds ("Tough Enough") and Dorothy Butler (who created "Scarface Claw" for her iconic NZ children's book, "Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy").
Quadralogue P1 & 2 - Perhaps not for the politically-shy. The rhythm line almost as heavy as the subject matter but, hey, don't get uptight (just wanna get settled for what you know is right). This is a reprise of a number I originally recorded some years ago and is the first real outing for my new Ibanez RG470AHZ axe (replacing my very brief ESP experiment). The P1 is, of course, the Pakeha part and P2 is a Maori perspective. One day, I would like P3 (Tagata Pasifika) section and a P4 (Asian) bit, all built around the same Em chord progressions but with their own rhythms and harmonies. Heck, NZ being an immigrant nation, we should probably throw in a P5 for all the South Africans that are settling here...
Down Here - Really, really happy with the way this one came together. I guess we all have a "down here" somewhere in our lives.
I've also created a slideshow for this song which can be viewed at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyT9wqRq3k0&feature=youtu.be
Kick in the Crunch - What can I say? As the song goes, "I can't help being a Bogan boy". I made a few changes to my trusty old Stratocaster while recording this - mostly in the quest to retain tuning stability during whammy bar dive bombs (not normally a strat strong point). I think it worked but I have since acquired a "shred guitar" made by ESP. So look out for more "metally" stuff in the future.
Cortez the Killer - Not for the faint-hearted. A Neil Young song of course - although I have stolen a good chunk of the intro from Warren Haynes' splendid rendition of the same song during the Dave Mathews Band concert in Central Park. World-weary vocals courtesy of having had the 'flu for a month. Over-driven guitar courtesy of my new Marshall Guv'nor Plus pedal pushing my poor little Vox tube amp towards an early grave.
Got You In My Pocket - Bob Herbert came up with the basic riff and I did the lyrics and the bridge. Bob says I do too many songs about love, etc. Still, getting a reasonable number of plays on SC.
Crossroads - As a young lad, this song irreversibly etched rocking twelve bar blues into my DNA (assuming that Dad's high volume playing of Louis Armstrong didn't get there first). Anyway, so here is my cover of Eric Clapton/Cream's cover of a Robert Johnson song.
Oh Diana - A straight-forward little number I've been tinkering with for years. Bob Herbert adding an oh-so-subtle touch of electric guitar with his SRV Strat.
Don't You Cry Boy - I started out on this trying to get a Ry Cooder country blues thing happening, but I couldn't resist stomping on the Bluesbreaker pedal and so it turned out sounding like me instead. Oh well...
Newfie Girl - Someone said this sounds a bit like ZZ top - which I take as a compliment. This is my BIG HIT SONG on Soundcloud. My wife Winnie is a Newfie, by the way, so, all you ladies of Newfoundland, PLEASE, it's just a song.
Moving On - Because, by choice or not, most of us have had to move on at some stage.
It's a long one but I make no excuses for that. In fact, this would have to be one of my oldest songs and I think I've been playing with it for ten years or so (you'd think I'd get it right by now).
Champagne Love - Featuring a cool, clean electric guitar solo by Bob Herbert - which meant that I got to play tambourine (who would have thought it would be so hard).
Sometimes - Blues/Jazz lounge thing. I stole the lyrics for the final verse off Peter Green.
Nobody Baby - A cautionary tale in a 12-bar format.
Fragile Mother - A folk/world instrumental featuring a bit of Eastern rhythm.
Million Star Hotel - A love song to the Australian Outback.
We Need To Talk - Because, sometimes, we really need to talk.
On The Coast Today - Any surfer knows how it feels.
