BEING IN THE BAND is the blog of RoySeven lead singer Paul Walsh.
You can read Pauls blog in full here.
Dance, Dance, Dance
I
know I haven’t written in a while. Bad form. Thing is, everything and
nothing has been happening. Well actually, it’s been quite productive
and interesting for a change, so I really should have written. Forgive
me.
We spent around four weeks on this one song called “Dance
Dance Dance”. I’m not afraid to name it as I don’t really care what
becomes of it. Anyway, we were all delighted and relieved to finally
finish it, and send it off to Germany with the sort of shoulder shrug
of indifference that you’d gesture if someone asked your opinion of
“the kooks”.
Off it went into cyberspace and we were all
looking forward to starting something new and banishing what seemed
like a persistent ghost in the studio. Thing is, our manager and label
came back and they both love it. Gadzooks!!!! They suggested we
continue to work on it as well as any new songs. Stone the crows,
that’s the last thing we wanted to hear and really we didn’t care what
they thought of it, we wanted rid. With a collective sigh, rather like
the one you’d give by track 8 of any “Coldplay” album (see what I’m
doing here?) we got back into the song and tried to right the wrongs.
The elusive mid tempo epic still hasn’t reared its head so we may as
well keep plodding away at this.
The verse of this song was
quite fragmented and relied heavily on a loop beat that wouldn’t be out
of place on a Beyonce album, so we took that out and left it beating
four to the floor. With the addition of some verse guitars it sounded a
bit more like a royseven song and off it went again to Berlin for the
thoughts of those in positions of power. Luckily, they liked the
changes and although the song isn’t “there” yet, it’s a step closer to
what we need and so we’ve been given permission to move on. I’m going
to keep working on the verse at home as I think I can do better and
write something more in keeping with the spirit of the chorus, so watch
this space. Eamonn’s relaxed lyric writing style has given me a new
angle with which to approach my own work so I really want to try it out.
Saturday 26th September 2009
The Academy
For
the Dirty 9s, things have been steadily moving along. They’ve clinched
a support slot with “Codes” in the Academy which they really wanted.
We’re all fans of the band and they’ve a few dates lined up together
but this is the one they really wanted. With the excitement that comes
with playing on a decent stage that has a reliable PA, we all bundled
into the venue in great form. They were on first, so we knew it
wouldn’t be mobbed but for me this was a chance to have MCD see the
band, and hopefully like them. I had the production manager from MCD
watch the boys during the sound check and he liked them, offering to
arrange a few more shows for them between now and the end of the year.
Here’s hoping it comes to fruition.
Monday 28th September 2009
Light at the end of the tunnel
We
were all getting frustrated with the producer/recording situation as it
seems like we’ve been going nowhere quickly. Pretty soon it’ll be
November, then Christmas and before you know it we won’t have an album
release until October 2010. So, I sent an email to our label and
manager, doing my best to be diplomatic despite our annoyance. My
suggestion was that we line up a second option fast before the year
comes to an end.
Within a few hours I had an email back, and our
producer had confirmed, a studio suggested and low and behold, Royseven
will be in Hamburg for all of November recording album two. Happy Days!
We’re excited, nervous and half waiting to get a call to say,
“actually no, it’ll be January now”. But we have to remain positive and
now it’s time to look at the songs we have and start rehearsing what we
have. The plan is to spend the first two weeks in Hamburg on
pre-production with the producer and the second two weeks recording.
That’s a relief as initially we’d suggested a two week period full
stop. It’s great to have an additional two weeks to get to grips with
how he works and make some improvements to arrangements.
It’s
really felt like we’d never get back out there, to record or gig, or
have a profile but it does seem like this is going to happen, thank
God. At least I’ll have more interesting things to chat about here!
Royseven is back! Nearly.
Wednesday 30th September 2009
The Big Blue
I’ve
been sitting on this song. Not literally of course. I’ve never tried
that. Anyway, I know the melody is strong in the verse and chorus, but
I haven’t been able to finish the lyrics. As I mentioned in a previous
blog, Karl (who manages Codes) suggested that I revisit the past to
write the mid-tempo radio friendly song that we need to complete the
album. So reluctantly I decided to do it and I finished the lyrics!
Bonus. It’s kind of upsetting that I can still tap into that. I’ve been
priding myself on having moved on, a new relationship, the passage of
time and distance between us. But the reality is, I’m still in love,
and my only way of coping with this everlasting unrequited love is to
screw it/exploit it by writing songs that I can benefit from. It’s my
only possible comeback (of sorts). Anyway, I know that this is the only
song with a theme anything like the last album so that’s ok. We
haven’t/won’t be repeating what’s gone before.
Here’s a home video we shot in rehearsals of a new track in its infancy. An acoustic version of: The Big Blue.
Enjoy.
