Day 2: Do It Yourself, By Yourself
Do It Yourself, By Yourself:
The main attraction for attempting to record at home was being able to put ideas into affect quickly. I sometimes have fully formed songs in mind, and I like to get them recorded in some form as quickly as possible.
Sign Waves was a song that was almost completely formed in my head before I’d played a note. The structure was based around the bass guitar and the drums, this is the only reason why Marie and Lukey didn’t play on the recording. I think I’m an OK drum player (drumming’s not usually the first thing people don’t like about my music), but either way I don’t think the song would have turned out the way it did if I didn’t record it right there and then. I recorded (in makeshift studio # 3) the bass and drums in the morning, 3 takes apiece, wrote the guitar part, recorded it, wrote and recorded the lyrics in the afternoon.
In my mind the music had a kinda Stone Roses vibe. We’d also seen Happy Mondays the week before, their use of overdriven chorus inspired the lead guitar, and lyrically the ideas came from the damage our obsessions with our online personas can cause. We’ve been promoting our music online for years now, the positive feedback has been overwhelming, but you occasionally get shitty humans who wanna tear you down, just cause. You gotta work hard to take that on the chin.
I consider Sign Waves one of the songs I’m most proud of, but in the context of Big League it’s bitter sweet. While the song probably wouldn’t have existed had I not recorded it by myself, 18 months down the track the band is a different beast, we work better as a team, and because of that the music is always getting better. From here on in I want Big League’s great songs to be songs we make together.
- TV
Lyrics
Sign Waves –
News line designed to keep you down,
Top 10, tell a friend to feed the buzz,
Savages come to knight you,
When the real world can’t unite you,
Text on a screen, is that what they mean,
When it says that machines will kill us all,
Click bait, demonstrate what’s wrong with me,
Behave we’re sign waves that cross occassionly,
They’re gonna give you the run-around,
Sampling how their voices sound,
Shit-can the person seen from vinyl castles,
Meanwhile, penile to those that keep you safe and sound,
From alien forces,
Evil sourceress,
Flying fortress,
You know you want more of this,
You know you want more of this…
See You Fly –
From the cut of the seasons clothes,
Judgement woes, who would know,
New car and a big abode,
Kids have grown, talent shown,
Consume ‘til it’s so-long,
Study’s wrong, never gone,
If you don’t recognise the type,
Their ego’s ride on recumbent bikes,
Hypnotized by the city lights,
Range-roving out to see what’s bright,
Remebering what the stars look like,
Firestorm burning through the night,
We cling to loved one’s hold them tight tonight,
But still it’s good to see you fly,
It’s good to see you fly…
Watch the face on the TV show,
Wind will blow, too and fro,
Edge towards the shimmering doubt,
Call in you can vote him out,
News flash to cut to you,
If they knew scenes to view,
‘Til the trees are pulled from the ground,
Signs are loud, a symbol like a cloud,
It’s good to see you fly…