SEEKING
Band to Join, Vocalist, Rhythm Guitar, Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Drums, Other Percussion, Violin, Saxophone, Keyboard, Piano, Background Singer, Flute, Other, Mandolin.ABOUT
Short version: looking for collaborators in songwriting, online or otherwise.
Long version:
I wouldn't mind the occasional jam, just for fun, on some classic rock, Floyd, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Trower, BOC, etc. I'm also on SoundCloud and Kompoz, under the same name, and can be messaged there.
My main interest, though, is in songwriting/collaboration; in these days of the Internet, distance should be no bar to the endless possibilities in musicians everywhere acting as a responsive community. So what I'm really looking for is musicians of all ages/talents/genres to work with in writing original music, mine if you think you have something to add, yours it you think I might.
Of the songs I have here, only Solace and Presque Vu have been professionally mixed/mastered- the rest are my amateur-level mixes. All guitars are mine except for the leads on Solace and Presque Vu (I consider myself a competent rhythm guitarist, but not much on lead outside of simple, structured melodic bits like those on Gunslinger and Small Hours, or sloppy, aimless crap as on Down There) See each song's notes for individual musician credits.
The song is the thing, making it the best it can be without limiting it to only what I can do with it. For me, that usually involves collaborating with folks at Kompoz, but it could also mean file swapping with musicians from here. Some examples of what I'd like to hear for my music- the second chorus of Gunslinger (beginning at 2:18) has a Morricone-esque female vocal that is actually a synth; it was a brilliant idea by the keyboard player who contributed it at Kompoz, but I'd love to have an actual female vocal there, maybe something along the lines of Floyd's The Great Gig In The Sky. Also need bass lines for Small Hours/Dream Coda and Fiat Lux (and would like to hear keys/strings for Fiat Lux); maybe a keyboard (Hammond?) for Mrs Grales; a harmony female vocal for By Cottingley Beck; violin/cello/flute parts for anywhere they might fit- pretty much all ideas would be considered, including for lead guitars by real lead guitarists. Also drums- only Solace and Presque Vu have parts played by actual drummers (from Kompoz), all others are pasted-together clips. My style tends more to the slower, Pink Floyd-esqe, not very exciting for drummers I guess, but there's room on Gunslinger, Cry Uncle, and Down There for someone who has the ability to record and would like to try to add a bit.
(Avatar photo is from Feb 2022, age 65)
- Screen name:
- Cry Uncle
- Member since:
- Feb 24 2012
- Active within 24 hours
- Level of commitment:
- Committed
- Years playing music:
- 25
- Tend to practice:
- More than 3 times per week
- Available to gig:
- 6-7 nights a week
Influences
David Gilmour (definitely my #1), Mark Knopfler, Steve Morse, Buck Dharma, Robin Trower, Alex Lifeson, Billy Gibbons, Nancy Wilson; also Stephen King, some older science fiction, and history for song concepts. (I'm kind of a bookwormy geek)
Lately I've been getting into more basic blues stuff, Warren Haynes and big time into Joe Bonamassa, though I'll never be able to play like those guys. (See also David Gerald in Michigan, on my Music List, and his video version of I'll Play The Blues For You for the sort of thing I mean. He does a nifty little run at around 4:18 that really brought out the hellYEAH! from me.)
EQUIPMENT
Epiphone Les Paul Ultra III, Line 6 Variax JTV59 (good for alternate tunings e.g., Zeppelin's The Rain Song and my Dream Coda), PRS Torero SE w/active EMGs, PRS CM25 SE Custom 24, Michael Kelly Hybrid Special, Schecter C1 E/A Classic; Headrush Pedalboard, Line 6 Helix LT. Odds and ends effects including Rocktron Banshee talkbox and a Truetone Jekyll & Hyde V3. 40W Fender Champ and a 50W Kustom monitor cab for temporary use as FRFR speaker with Headrush/Helix pedalboards. Running Reaper and CakeWalk Guitar Tracks Pro 3 on a laptop my wife bought for me a few years ago. Sufficient for live sound to jam and for basic recording purposes.
MUSIC
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Solace (Song For Dina) (alternate version)
Solace (Song For Dina) (alternate version) Album: Fiat Lux Genre: Rock
An alternate version of the original mix, this one mixed and mastered by the bassist on the tune, "stnbrgrbass." Slightly different arrangement for vocals, instruments and fade. My guitar composition and initial arrangement/mix; Kim Noble with her lyrics and vocal melody; bass by "stnbrgrbass"; piano by "kaysirrah"; "dwfreak" on drums; lead guitar solos by "Graiouf." Created at Kompoz, summer 2019. Jan 2022- dedicated the song to my late wife Dina.
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Gunslinger
Gunslinger Album: Fiat Lux Genre: Classic Rock
"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed"- the opening (and closing) lines of Stephen King's magnum opus, the Dark Tower series. This tune just sounded like "western theme" as it came out, so...5/19/19, added bass line contributed by Kompoz collaborator "mattbwatts"; 9/15/19, added keys by "Dominkus" from Kompoz (his keyboard part includes that Morricone-like "female vocal" in the second chorus). Re-mixed 10/16, getting where I want it to be.
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The Clearing At The End Of The Path
The Clearing At The End Of The Path Album: Fiat Lux Genre: Classic Rock
A companion piece to "Gunslinger." My composition and guitars; bass line by "stnbrgrbass" at Kompoz (makes the song, IMO, the sort of countermelody John Paul Jones might have come up with); flute by "Jooiing," also at Kompoz. (Drums/percussion are clips pasted together) Still kind of rough, plenty of room for improvement.
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Mrs Grales (Chance Of A Ghost)
Mrs Grales (Chance Of A Ghost) Album: Fiat Lux Genre: Classic Rock
"Mrs Grales" from the classic SF novel "A Canticle For Liebowitz." My song concept, guitars, arrangement, and mix. Vocals, vocal melody and (IMO brilliant) lyrics by Kim Noble. Standout bass line by "stnbrgrbass." Drums/percussion are clips.
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Cry Uncle!
Cry Uncle! Album: Fiat Lux Genre: Classic Rock
Really just kind of an exercise in rhythm guitar- how many guitars can you layer before the shape of the song is lost?. All drums/percussion are clips. (For a live performance, that drum/percussion break halfway through would be extended) Bass line by "engels" at Kompoz.
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Presque Vu
Presque Vu Album: Fiat Lux Genre: Classic Rock
A Kompoz collaboration begun in Oct 2018, almost halfway through the Trump years, or what history will one day refer to as "WTF, America?" My title/concept/overall instrumental composition and arrangement, rhythm guitars, and initial guide mix; "Wire-and-Wood" on vocals, his melody and lyrics; piano by "Labodaz" (intro is his composition); bass by "p-bass-player": perfect-for-the-song lead guitar by "JB2012"; drums and final mix/master by "pseudoambient." Title is a reference to (from Wikipedia)- "French, meaning 'almost seen'... the intense feeling of being on the very brink of a powerful epiphany, insight, or revelation, without actually achieving the revelation. The feeling is often therefore associated with a frustrating, tantalizing sense of incompleteness or near-completeness"- the way I feel about politics in America today. (Update- 11/7/20- feeling much better now)
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Small Hours/Dream Coda (Eli's Song)
Small Hours/Dream Coda (Eli's Song) Album: Fiat Lux Genre: Other
...drifting off to sleep in the small hours of the morning; then a distinct but incomprehensible voice leads you into a dream that becomes a bit more frantic, begins to fragment, one you don't want to leave as sleep wears off; then the climax of sleep and dreams, the wakening- first disoriented, then gradually, like a radio being tuned, finding the focus you will need to face the big hours of the day. Is the dream over only because you've awakened? Or have you only awakened because the dream is over? This is really (and pretty obviously) two tunes I've clumsily stitched into one, but I think it works ok, with room for improvement.
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Fiat Lux (WYSIWYG)
Fiat Lux (WYSIWYG) Album: Fiat Lux Genre: Other
If there was (is) a god-creator...imagine being a disembodied, pure and perfect awareness, existing for eternity in absolute isolation from anything but itself to be aware of- an action of self-regard without beginning or end, untainted (and unrelieved) by context that could give meaning to the idea of "self." Anyone who has ever stacked brittle hours tossing and turning in the fever of insomnia can grasp the thin edge of the feeling, of an eternal and breathless insomnia, but without even the mitigation of tossing and turning, since there's no body to toss and no space to turn in. "Let there be light!" was a desperate blurt, a plea more than a command; creation an act of necessity in relief of an isolation and boredom so complete as to satisfy one definition of insanity. After all those small hours of eternity, now he's just trolling...
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By Cottingley Beck
By Cottingley Beck Album: Fiat Lux Genre: Classic Rock
Another Kompoz collaboration; some rough edges to be worked off, but there's enough there to get the idea. My title/concept, overall instrumental composition, guitars, and initial mix; "LindenCircle" singing his lyrics/vocal melody; bass line by "bassman78fr." 12/31/20- added piano by "Mapleman" from Kompoz. As of 1/2/21, all drums/percussion are pasted-together clips. Looking forward to maybe adding some harmony vocals (especially female), etc. (See Wikipedia article on the "Cottingley Fairies" for the story behind the title as metaphor, taken together with Fiat Lux))
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Down There
Down There Album: Fiat Lux Genre: Classic Rock
Not a nice place to visit, and you damn sure don't want to live there- Down There is just a dark and sneering place, about as far from the innocence of Cottingley Beck as you can get, no real solace to be had here. The title is an idea derived (very loosely) from Stephen King's "Hearts In Atlantis." Bass guitar by "stnbrgrbass" at Kompoz.
