Drowning puppies
To borrow a metaphor from Dean Kamen's company we're
getting close to drowning puppies. In any creative project, there are 2 phases;
in the first we come up with as many ideas as we can and dream big. The idea is
not to set boundries and allow the project freedom to define itself. At this
point, usually we hear orchestras and 21 song albums. We spend a lot of time
trying to answer questions like: what would we get if we mixed artists from
very different genres? We always try to evolve each record because I hate to
repeat myself. I really hate to repeat myself. We don't consciously write a
record for the fans, but it's always a subconscious pressure after you're
successful, you want each record to sell better than the last. We have to keep
tabs on how much we're writing for other people, and I sometimes drive myself
nuts figuring out what connected on the last record and what didn't. We come
back to always doing records we like though, because than there are at least 6
people we know who will like the record. If you try to chase the market you can
end up with a record no one likes. So in phase one, every creative idea is like
a puppy and we try to have as many as possible. I probably put down 70 musical
ideas that I liked enough to record, which has lead to 13 hooks and concepts
that are seeds for potential superchick
songs.
In phase 2, the project starts to
take on a very different tone. Last night we had our first puppy drowning
meeting. You look at your deadline and ask yourself how many songs can we
realistically finish before D-Day, which we've already pushed back 2 months, so
there's no moving it again. We've only got so much time for each puppy. So for
some of the puppies to live, we've got to drown the other ones. OK, Melissa
hates that analogy so I'll say it this way. If we're gonna finish the songs we
need, we can't keep making up ideas. What engineers would call "feature creep"
after the tendancy for people to keep adding features to the product which makes
the development time longer. So we've reached the turning point. From here on,
the emphasis becomes on finishing the seeds of ideas we have into songs and
songwriting is only incidental, but even at this stage of the game, I'm open to
new songs, because sometimes it happens and it may be quicker than rescuing a
song that just doesn't want to work. We've got our 10 songs, but if one of them
really starts to be a time-suck, than I'll move on to one of my B-options. From
here on out, we've only got 2 months before mixdown. Less than one week per
song. It's going to be a lot of late nights to finish this one in time. But we
feel pretty good about our songs. Well actually we've only got one complete
songs.. most of what we have are one verse, one chorus. Which is enough to
pitch the vision for concept and sound. We know we can deliver the music, it's
tailoring the melodies to tricia's vocals that we have to make sure of. You can
spend an awful long time making an awesome track and discover that you don't
have a hook to go over it. So, phase 2 begins... I have 3 verses to lock down
in the next couple days, to get our 10 complete seeds, 2 of which need music and
melodies and lyrics, one of which only needs lyrics. I'm gonna go work on that
one now.. it's really pretty amazing to me, that enough of you care about this
band to put it where it is. I feel honored to write for all of you. I am
optimistic that this will be our best album yet, although I fear that it may
instead be our Paul's Boutique.
Posted: Wed - August 18, 2004 at 01:04 PM
