"I've got this theory about songwriting," he says. "I go to a tree, which has several doors in it. Every door has a bell that plays a melody when you press it, and has a pixie living behind it. If the pixie decides to let you in, he'll give you some kind of nucleus for a song, such as the melody from the doorbell or maybe a couple of lyrics. All the pixies have got different characters. Sometimes you'll get a snappy little fella who's very impatient, so that will have to be quite a quick song, but if you get a gentler, more patient pixie, you might end up with a ballad."It was great to pick the brain of another ARIA-winning songwriter and Sarah was charming. After reminding myself of Superjesus' material I'm surprised at some of the dark undercurrents in it but maybe that was grunge.
Superjesus' Sarah McLeod
Got to ask a few questions of Superjesus singer Sarah McLeod last night and found it fascinating to learn about her approach songwriting.
A couple of points really jumped out for me, first she said she usually writes in the key of A. This reminded me my formative years were spent listening to Metallica and they wrote almost exclusively in E (before dropping down and tuning up again in recent years). And now A reminds me of Apples, being the note they chime on boot-up. Anyway, she said she was surprised how low she sung on early songs and that it took her a bit of time to find her voice -- as it were -- and sing higher melodies.
The other point was that she went through bouts of songwriting, attributing this to creative flow but I wondered if deadlines didn't play a role when you're on a contract to a record label. Sarah said she'd work on material and then, before returning to it the next day, have another idea before listening to the first to avoid feeling like it was the one creative thread to explore. This seems like a good approach because often I'll find myself flogging a dead horse trying to make a song of a single interesting idea.
Sarah recounted that one of the blokes in ABBA had described songwriting as being like looking in a cupboard waiting for a monster to appear. You wait and wait and eventually get up to go to the toilet or something and there it is -- which I don't think suggested that he found his songs in the bowl but it reminded me of this line from Badly Drawn Boy's Damon Gough:
Funny business names
Previously I've entertained my loves of text and bad marketing ideas on this blog, so I thought I'd add a couple of Leeton business names that have recently amused me.Sadly I missed sharing the ad for "The Hairy Corner's opening" that appeared in the local paper last year.
I've been childishly giggling at the name ever since and considered making a prank call to see if they can offer me a hairy corner sometime. It wouldn't need to be big, in fact smaller is often better.
Kaka Pie is another business name that would've benefited from market research using even a small focus group.
In Greek the word 'caca' (which uses the hard c sound, like a k) means poo, so it was with some trepidation that I tried a kaka pie. It's basically a large flat-ish dumpling and tasty enough.
Cultured
When we moved in this was all grass.
Reminds me how disappointed I was settling into a lecture on culture at uni and they started talking about agriculture.
It's settling into one location that makes the investments in agriculture and culture both worthwhile.
You can see the chilli, pumpkin and beans but not the home studio in this pic.
Artshole
Can't remember which Facebook friend posted this pic. I've been thinking about writing a blog post on art for most of the year.The definition of art varies from 'works produced with skill and imagination' through to very subjective statements about recognising it when one sees it.
For a while I've been saying it's an outcome that engages with the expectations of the audience, because I think really good art anticipates your perspective and exceeds it. But then again, this is a subjective statement.
Scott McCloud has an idea that art is any activity that goes beyond what is necessary and provides a kind of additional ornamental 'look at me' sorta outcome. So that flushing the toilet with flourish could be considered art, I guess if I want to really trivialise it.
Anyway, this week I received payment for a video I made to promote my music. There are many music videos that I consider works of art, and they're a genre that fits nicely with McCloud's view of art, but it kinda illustrates for me that one person's marketing is another person's art. Reminding me of the classic debate about the distinction between commercial material and artistic works, which was something I first started thinking seriously about when reading Maxx Barry's book Syrup:
It reminds me of when I was writing about music and realised there is no distinction between mainstream and underground acts. They both produce musical noises, on record and live on stage, promoting the former with the latter and film clips, etc.
So once you deconstruct this distinction between art and commercial activity, all art starts to look like products and artists' expressions are acts of public relations and marketing. Or the artist might be the product, whatever.
Which leads me to conclude that the only art worth investing in are those works which inspire the community to make their own art and find fulfillment through realising an individual perspective on their environment and experiences. The rest of it props up egos and basically says your activities are only valuable if they produce a financial outcome.
One weekend activity
Previously I've mentioned how my daughter has started a sketchbook diary.This is her pic from the weekend, when she played Mario Kart on our new Wii.
The Wii was bought secondhand as I'm keen to play Skyward Sword and I think I unlocked a new level of geek (or maybe achieved a merit) when I spent Sunday updating the various hacks on the console so it would work.
Thankfully the internet has a record of the detective work undertaken by people smarter than myself in this area.
Headline doesn't match story
This story is very different to the headline.While sub-editing is increasingly sloppy on news websites, I'm suspicious since News Ltd's newspapers have been promoting the Coalition for many years.
Leeton Art Deco Festival 2013
Nice to see the 2013 Leeton Art Deco Festival using my design for their colouring-in competition, along with a couple of other ideas. One of the highlights in 2011 was seeing the Roxy's windows full of entries, especially the messier ones that hide the speed at which I put the design together.
Still unsure
Wagga's Daily Advertiser had this story on their site criticising the local council, complete with a quote from a former mayor (and former manager of the group who publish the paper) and a link to a popular online survey tool.
It was kinda bizarre and I'm still not sure if it was an April Fools joke or a suggestion to survey ratepayers about the decision to build a sporting facility rather than a convention centre.
PS -- Seems it's not an April Fool, here's a more recent piece.
Sketchbook diary: next generation
More around my suburb
I've posted a recording of this fence previously.
Methinks, it should have been impossible
Not to love all things in a World like this,
Where e'en the Breezes of the simple Air
Possess the power and Spirit of Melody
-- Samuel Coleridge
Vintage Canberra
One from the family home movie archives, a Super 8mm film shot by my parents in the early 1970s -- who both feature, along with my uncle Andy and his car, which was used by Queen Elizabeth II during her tour in 1954.
It takes a community
My despair for the future of human society started last year when I read comments from people intolerant of children on airplane flights. Yeah, I know kids can be a nuisance but it's not hard to block out their noise -- easier than blocking out the noise of the plane for me.
At the time I thought about how all these whinging adults were children once but probably don't have kids of their own. Then I started thinking how in some cultures the community takes responsibility for raising kids and realised people were assuming the future generation was in fact someone else's responsibility.
I was thinking about this again on the weekend when I took my kids to the playground in the centre of town. Some people, youths most likely, had tied knots in the cable that hangs the seat from the flying fox. I guessed it helped them use the flying fox but I use it fine without tying a knot in it and it was kinda tricky to get it back to the state where my kids could use it again without assistance.
Soon other parents were at the playground with their kids and we shared the flying fox for a while until the kids wandered onto other equipment. Then I heard a mum saying the kids would need to put their shoes back on because of the broken glass.
And then I saw all the empty bottles that had been all over the ground all along. They came into focus and I joined other parents in collecting the remains of Friday night teenage binge-drinking, which seemed obvious based on the sugary alcoholic drinks that had been consumed.
Broken glass in playgrounds is a regular hazard because the teens like to drink in these locations and, since they're probably already breaking the law, they don't seem to think much about littering.
It seems to me that teenage binge-drinking and the resulting vandalism, assaults, council levies used for cleaning, etc. are all part of the problem of people deciding that introducing their children to drinking responsibly is not their responsibility. These older children aren't quite adult enough to drink properly and so they consume crap and make a mess.
Since it wouldn't be interesting for most kids to drink at home with their parents, I think this is an area where a responsible adult could provide guidance. Which led me to think about the idea of using role models and then to realise that it takes a community to tackle social problems caused by alcohol since the law is ineffective or not policed.
Ideally I think the drinking age needs to raised, mostly because studies show the brain continues to develop into our third decade, but also because it's become a woeful rite of passage for many. While raising the age at which one can buy alcohol, I'd like to see encouragement for parents to introduce their older teens to alcohol in appropriate supervised social settings, like offering half a standard drink with dinner occasionally, as a way of establishing safe drinking practices and appreciation for how this social lubricant can be used responsibly.
At the time I thought about how all these whinging adults were children once but probably don't have kids of their own. Then I started thinking how in some cultures the community takes responsibility for raising kids and realised people were assuming the future generation was in fact someone else's responsibility.
I was thinking about this again on the weekend when I took my kids to the playground in the centre of town. Some people, youths most likely, had tied knots in the cable that hangs the seat from the flying fox. I guessed it helped them use the flying fox but I use it fine without tying a knot in it and it was kinda tricky to get it back to the state where my kids could use it again without assistance.
Soon other parents were at the playground with their kids and we shared the flying fox for a while until the kids wandered onto other equipment. Then I heard a mum saying the kids would need to put their shoes back on because of the broken glass.
And then I saw all the empty bottles that had been all over the ground all along. They came into focus and I joined other parents in collecting the remains of Friday night teenage binge-drinking, which seemed obvious based on the sugary alcoholic drinks that had been consumed.
Broken glass in playgrounds is a regular hazard because the teens like to drink in these locations and, since they're probably already breaking the law, they don't seem to think much about littering.
It seems to me that teenage binge-drinking and the resulting vandalism, assaults, council levies used for cleaning, etc. are all part of the problem of people deciding that introducing their children to drinking responsibly is not their responsibility. These older children aren't quite adult enough to drink properly and so they consume crap and make a mess.
Since it wouldn't be interesting for most kids to drink at home with their parents, I think this is an area where a responsible adult could provide guidance. Which led me to think about the idea of using role models and then to realise that it takes a community to tackle social problems caused by alcohol since the law is ineffective or not policed.
Ideally I think the drinking age needs to raised, mostly because studies show the brain continues to develop into our third decade, but also because it's become a woeful rite of passage for many. While raising the age at which one can buy alcohol, I'd like to see encouragement for parents to introduce their older teens to alcohol in appropriate supervised social settings, like offering half a standard drink with dinner occasionally, as a way of establishing safe drinking practices and appreciation for how this social lubricant can be used responsibly.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)