For those who want to skip straight to the conclusion: It’s insanely powerful, with some amazing sounds, but has been a bit of a mixed bag with me. Some technical snafus as well as their “No refunds after downloading” policy will likely keep me from buying any other Spitfire Audio products. Now on to the details.
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I previously released a silly video in which I sang the outro of “Killing In The Name” by Rage Against the Machine in the style of Michael McDonald. I had a non-zero number of people on the internet say they wanted the full cover. At first, I thought that maybe they think they want the full cover but that in reality it wouldn’t be as funny or hold up for that long. I was wrong.
While I initially had my doubts whether a full cover could live up to a silly 30 second piece of absurdity illustrating what it might sound like if Michael McDonald and Rage Against The Machine were accidentally fused in a transporter accident, as I would be lying in bed trying to sleep, ideas would start coming to me. More and more ideas. Until I knew I had to be the conduit through which this alternate dimension cover came into creation.
I present to you, all 4 minutes and 16 seconds of this glorious abomination. In case you aren’t familiar with the original song, PROFANITY WARNING during the outro. It’s also way more enjoyable if you are familiar with the original.
NEW SONG! WOOOOO!Here it is! The new collaboration with Andrew L. Hunter, one of my best friends for almost 40 years. We’ve come a long way since the days of spending the night at my house and making up silly songs on a cassette recorder. As usual, Andy sent me the synth tracks, lyrics, and a melody and let me take it from there. To my ears, this is what happens if you you put Genesis, Duran Duran, David Bowie, and The Police in a blender and add a dash of that personal seasoning and a melange of other influences. Available on Bandcamp, Reverbnation, and soon coming to all major streaming and purchase platforms.
Just when you probably thought I couldn’t waste my talents on anything sillier, here is my impression of Michael McDonald singing Rage Against The Machine. PROFANITY WARNING.
Nick Thorburn of the band Islands composed the theme song for the wonderful “Ologies” podcast. Here we see some behind the scenes footage of one of the hottest studio musicians that Nick brought in to record.
Nick eventually opted to go instrumental after a falling out with his lyricist. Here’s rare footage of the original vocal track.
Sometimes you get a really silly idea. Then you go to execute that idea and it’s way harder and more involved than you thought, but you’re committed and make it happen. I commit to my absurdity. Music written by Foreigner (Jukebox Hero).
I feel like things that I learned during my younger years are more “sticky.” Songs I haven’t played in 30 years will come right back while on the other hand stuff I’ve learned more recently I have to refresh far more often if I want to remember it.
From the moment this song came out, I loved this band, the guitarist, Vito Bratta, and specifically this song and this solo. It was another major landmark in my guitar journey. Much to my surprise, when I decided on a whim to play this tonight, it took no refreshing. A few passes through it and it was right there, still permanently stored in the mental archives.
For a long time now I’ve battled with the dichotomy of my chosen careers, specifically the acting world. Acting is one of the things that fulfills me like little else. I feel completely in my element, satiated on the deepest spiritual level, and like it is one of my prime purposes for existence. I can’t imagine ever being completely happy without it in my life.
And yet, the reality is that it also causes me great unhappiness for what may be a majority of the time. It fairly constantly makes me feel “not enough,” “not as good as,” and makes me wonder what is wrong with me that I can’t see that keeps people from loving me more.
Luckily, I am a very self-aware person who has traveled far on my perpetual spiritual journey, and I know that those feelings are all ego-based. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean I have a solution or am able to not feel them. Every day I have the internal argument of thinking that if something causes that much internal strife, then maybe it’s something you should remove from your life, and yet I just can’t imagine doing that and being even remotely happy. It’s a quandary.
So I just try to take my own advice of “Keep your head down and do good work,” and continue working on myself, being present, letting go of ego, and just trying to better tomorrow than I am today. It’s just strange that something can feel so a part of me, so necessary to feed my soul, and yet make me so happy and unhappy simultaneously. She’s a strange mistress, the muse.
Vox Populi, The fun power pop cover trio I formed with David Houston and Matt Patterson put out our latest quarantine cover collaboration, “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” by The Rubinoos. A really fun, boppy, tasty power pop treat!
In this dream I had secured a dream of a gig for me (no pun intended). I was going to play guitar for Butch Walker, one of my biggest musical influences and inspirations, for a gig. We had convened for a couple of rehearsals at his rehearsal space, and on the second (and last) day of rehearsals, I thought a couple of my guitars might be missing. In this dream logic, I couldn’t quite be sure because there were so many guitars hanging from racks, that going through them was like going through lots of tightly packed shirts in a closet, so I wasn’t positive that my guitars were missing, but I was pretty sure.
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