'the difference'

glad to say its in the bag
its the best darn feeling that i ever had
when harry met sally, in a dark alley
killed it off with a shotgun marriage
and i don't care never been to louisiana
drove south, got as far as atlanta
that said, she don't know the distance
who cares cos' i can't tell the difference

...that's one of mine that is. its the first verse of 'the difference', the opening track on 'maximum dave', the second truism album. if you ever wondered what kind of music i was making in 2003... there's your answer...

http://www.last.fm/music/Truism/Maximum+Dave/The+Difference

potted history time, at that point 'truism' was a duo consisting of myself and friendy... we both did bass, guitar and vocals, and it was generally a case of swapping things around depending on the song... i have a copy of our first album 'freshly baked' somewhere, but i don't think it plays all the way through owing to us having the bright spark idea of putting it onto black discs (there was a monochrome/cost-cutting theme to the packaging, and at the time it seemed like a catchy way of expanding it, not realising that they wouldn't play on all CD players... as a further aside, the album was recorded onto cassette and then transfered via PC... now that is proper old-school.)

anywho, i had me a lil' listen to this track the other day (via the magic of last.fm as it isn't actually on my computer!!) ...it was the first time in a while, and i was pleasantly surprised by it.

its this idiot on guitar and vocals (i think the beat came out of the DJX - far out), and now looking back i can kinda see how i was developing my style at the time... i don't really sing in that voice anymore, i rant a lot more these days, my pitching has definitely improved... but it feels like somekind of proto-bwoi sound...

8 years ago... wow.

some of the album is a bit sh*t... the last one in particular 'neon' is in major need of a re-work... which it will almost certainly never receive, partially because (and lets face it, i wrote it so i can say this) the subject matter is laboured to say the least... we never actually had a vocal line when we recorded it, so we pretty much just stapled one onto it...

i like the chorus, although i have probably sung it taking the piss with plummy vowels and everything, one or two times too many...

she believes in romance
neon asks her to dance
this could be something - i don't think so
she looks like the stars
talks straight to his heart
this could be something - i don't think so

most amusingly, judicious application of compression and a  de-esser rendered really made heart sound like arse... and there-in was born a whole year of amusing jokes based there-on...

the verses were some contrived tale of a writer hiding behind his characters, who were destined to fall in love and one of whom was called neon... or something

we definitely wore our influences on our sleeves back then... there's a definite theme of 'eels-love' running through 'maximum dave', but in all honesty i reckon we can be let off...

a- because the eels are cool
b- because we we're still learning our chops, using the old school learn by making and doing method...

one of my favourites is 'electrik cow', a song about mental girlfriend... the chorus on that: super-eels-y!!
the verses however are vintage fatbwoi...

more than just emotion - its a new height in devotion
cut you and she's bleeding
don't know what caused them - she has feelings she can't divorce them
says she "i'm made for you"

and personally i love the moo-ing on the chorus... let's be honest about this... ALL songs need moo's on the chorus... and that is science_FAKT!

http://www.last.fm/music/Truism/Maximum+Dave/Electrik+Cow

both those tracks can be downloaded via last.fm should you so desire... i actually really enjoyed listening to them, i remember how i felt about them at the time (proud)... i was also really struck by how my song-writing (and playing) have come on since then... my structuring has definitely improved...

i can't wait to hear what kind of sounds i'll be making in 8 years time... i wonder what will be different?! but i'm definitely looking forward to it... gotta love the creating vibe, and trying out new things...

although i'm probably done with the barney songs now...