What tZer sounds like...

tZer · #1 12-02-2008, 01:06 PM

I was digging through a folder and found a few loose recordings from one of my old bands. We were working up some original material that my good friend writes and these little nuggets were some rough-draft versions we cobbled together.

I was waiting until we got them more 'polished' before I started seeking feedback but circumstances have put that project on hold - so as for polishing - not gonna happen any time soon. But I wanted to share and get some feedback. I was tickled by some of what I heard... fun stuff and for better or worse, that's what I sound like (or sounded like about a year ago...)

The first recording is a song called "Nightingale" - and is actually us doing a ska version. The tune originally is more 'Elvis Costello-ish' - but we decided to have some fun with it and slap the ska thing to it...

Ska-tingale

This one is called "Treason" - and it's another rough draft version. It's also got a bit of the ska thing going. We seem to gravitate that way a lot with our original stuff.

Treason

We did all the recording in my friend's basement and were working really hard to get as close to a "studio" sound as we could with out limited resources and knowledge...

That's me... be gentle!

--tz

MakiSupaStar · #2 12-02-2008, 01:47 PM

You know I'd dig the Ska-tingale. Love the song. Would love to see some real horns, instead of that confounded keyboard patch. Either way, great song though. Is that you doing the vocals? Great vocals. Fun song. Dig it. Thanks for sharing. I only listened on my tinny little MacbookPro speakers. Will grab it listen to it properly at home. Cool stuff man.

tZer · #3 12-02-2008, 02:18 PM

Thanks, man! - No, it's not me singing. That's a JJ - our singer. He's a killer singer who can improvise with the best of 'em! It's not often you find a guy who can just drop into a jam and can completely invent vocals on the fly. JJ can do that very well!

That version was a one-off, thing where we just said, "screw it... let's try it ska... 1, 2, 3, 4..." and that's what fell out. Matt (the keys player) was poking around with horn ideas, but if we were going to take that one to the next level we'd definitely be using real players.

Thanks again!

MakiSupaStar · #4 12-02-2008, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tZer

Thanks, man! - No, it's not me singing. That's a JJ - our singer. He's a killer singer who can improvise with the best of 'em! It's not often you find a guy who can just drop into a jam and can completely invent vocals on the fly. JJ can do that very well!

That version was a one-off, thing where we just said, "screw it... let's try it ska... 1, 2, 3, 4..." and that's what fell out. Matt (the keys player) was poking around with horn ideas, but if we were going to take that one to the next level we'd definitely be using real players.

Thanks again!

Yeah. I have few of these type of recordings lying around with my old band Fuzzymoto. Some are actually pretty good but we scrapped them because of a tempo flux or a flub here and there. Still fun to go through.

tZer · #5 12-02-2008, 03:14 PM

Old recordings are always fun. I can hear the cool stuff and ignore the crud pretty easily but I am always afraid that if I shared 'half done' stuff, that others would just hear the parts that were half-baked... Screw it... One of these days I'll have a recording that I feel really good about. Until then, half-baked is better than no-baked.

We put that project band together a few years ago with the intention of teaching ourselves how to write, engineer and produce our own music. We'd record lots of rough-draft versions and use them to craft the songs. The whole time we were doing this, I was also learning about the ins and outs of ADDA converters, mixing consoles, mics, and so on... every session was a new learning curve to overcome and ultimately our lives caught up with us and now we have about 7 or 8 half-baked songs and no finished products - yet... LOL

We hope to revisit these raw versions in the future and finally produce what we've been calling the "no excuses" versions. But until then - excuses, excuses, excuses...

Big Joe · #6 12-06-2008, 08:14 AM

I can't really hear your playing on nightingale but that's the computer I'm on...

That one is very Oingo influenced on the music side.

Treason is at a louder level, that song is awesome!

Very cool! Really makes you want to move!

tZer · #7 12-06-2008, 10:16 AM

Thanks, Big Joe!

I am a huge fan of "Treason" too. Jim Ibur wrote that and it's a barn-burner for sure! Tons of fun to play.

"Nightingale" was written by a brilliant author named Joe Steinman. He and Jim used to be in a band here in St. Louis called Five of These. They had some of the coolest, most original tunes. Joe, Jim and Robynn Ragland (who went on to actually have some of her solo work played on major market radio and even Dawson's Creek, I think...) are all brilliant writers! I've been collaborating with Jim since the middle 90's and will continue to do so for years to come.