Original Song: A Lot Of Ways To Die In Alaska (Cliff Cavan Goes Postal Remix)

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Cliff Clavin in CheersOne of the biggest drivers behind the creation of an original song each month is to create something that the other people I play with would take and evolve into something else. We’ve played around with a few of them in rehearsal situations but never got as far as recording… until now! I’m incredibly excited at being able to post up a new version of the original song I posted earlier this month: A Lot Of Ways To Die In Alaska – thanks to the collaborative efforts of Aaron Cliff.

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25 Weird Instruments In Rock

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weird instruments in rockWhenever songwriting inspiration is hard to come by I’ll often reach for an instrument I don’t normally use. Now I don’t have access to the wide range of noisemakers that major bands do – and thankfully they do like to push the boundaries as this list of weird instruments in rock illustrates.

Read on to check them out (and watch the YouTube clip of the song)…

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Squier Telecaster Relic Review

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Squier Fat Telecaster Relic 5There’s nothing like the subject of relic’ing to polarise a crowd. On a whim I decided to have a crack at creating a Squier Telecaster Relic and the results aren’t too bad!

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Line 6 Variax 700 Bass Review

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variax bassI’ve reviewed the Variax guitar, but what about its bass brethren? The Line 6 Variax 700 bass is more subtle but arguably more effective as a modelling instrument. Why? Read on…

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Line 6 Variax 600 Review

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Line 6 Variax 600A guitar that can imitate some of the best classic guitars of all time? Sounds great in theory, but the reality lacks a bit on this front. What the Line 6 Variax 600 is is a very versatile instrument that will be a great addition to a home studio. Here’s the scoop…

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Original Song: A Lot Of Ways To Die In Alaska

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I recently read a great story on the ESPN-owned sports/culture site Grantland about the Iditarod dog race by Brian Phillips. So many lines in the article grabbed me that I started playing around with some lyrics based on them for another original song this month.

This was another quick recording process using Garageband as usual. Playing it on a guitar didn’t sound quite right so I did my usual and turned to the piano to see how it felt. I played the keyboard bits played on an Arturia Experience “The Factory” Hybrid synth but as a midi track. Sadly my pianist skills aren’t quite at the level of this song so…

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TC Helicon VoiceLive Play Review

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voicelive playStepping away from stringed instruments, let’s take a look at my latest toy: a TC Helicon VoiceLive Play. Vocal processing is a dangerous area to enter as you can end up losing the human touch, but the VoiceLive Play seems to have found the perfect balance.

So what’s the story…

Item: TC Helicon VoiceLive Play

Inspiration: I’ve been looking at vocal processors for a long time but everything I found was too expensive, too complicated, or too harsh. The motivation is primarily around home recording but I didn’t want to limit myself to software – I wanted a box! The real hook for me was watching the extensive set of video manuals for the VoiceLive Play that TC Helicon have produced and can be found at their website. It just seemed so easy to use.

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Fender Frankenstein Precision Bass Review

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Frankenstein Precision bassesTime for a look at the Fender Frankenstein Precision Bass in my quiver, except it’s not one, it’s two. I put both together using a variety of Fender and non-Fender parts, and they have both become the instruments I use with The Hellbenders. Definitely more rock focussed than the rest of the stuff I do!

And so we begin…

Item: Fender Frankenstein Precision Bass

Inspiration: The Fiesta Red one is easy to explain. When I first got hold of Bass Culture, The John Entwistle Bass Collection book it was his famous Frankenstein bass that I feel in love with most – so I decided to create my own.

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Review: Fender 1962 Jazz Bass Reissue

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Fender 1962 Jazz Bass ReissueThis time it’s my Fender 1962 Jazz Bass Reissue under the review spotlight. This is a bass I’ve had longer than any other in my arsenal and it is always the first port of call when I’m recording.

And so we begin…

Item: Fender 1962 Jazz Bass Reissue

Inspiration: Before getting this bass I’d always played either a Rickenbacker 4001 or a Fender Precision bass – although I had generally changed the Precision neck for a Jazz neck. I just always felt a little more comfortable with the narrower neck. Obviously it was a crime to only have P-basses, so finding the right Jazz was always on the cards. For some reason the stacked controls of the ’62 always appealed so I grabbed it!

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Original Song: Tired

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At last, a proper original song for April! This one really did start from scratch earlier this month off the back of a few nights where I just couldn’t sleep. This is about the fourth incarnation of the song as I was struggling to find a way to play it. Guitars didn’t work, so I turned to keyboards, but they sounded thin. Then a week ago I saw a documentary about the making of Nick Cave’s Murder Ballads album. A lot of the keyboard work in it is played with the left hand. Now I’ve always treated keyboards as a right hand instrument – no way those keys were going to take over the bass part! But I tried it – and it worked!

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