It seemed like an odd choice to release The DownTown Demos. I really didn’t think the sound of the demos would stack up against previous releases, mainly because they weren’t recorded in the studio. Well, technically the tracks were recorded in a studio to begin with, with the exception of Live. I did go into the studio to experiment with the Bong Bros. and cut close to 15 tracks. The results varied but I did have a blast working and recording the tracks. It was kind of like being the star of my own musical fantasy camp. Just me and my guitars alone in a recording studio, laying down as many tracks as possible.
When I was finished recording, I came home to listen to the results. There were a few tracks that I thought were very cool and decided to flesh them out a bit more, recording bass guitar and some extra guitars. I did this on my Tascam 8-Track Digital recorder, putting the studio mixes on Tks 1 & 2. This gave me 6 extra tracks to work with. Once I was finished overdubbing the extra tracks, I mixed the 8 tracks down to 2-Tk stereo. The last song I recorded was Live and that was the only song not recorded in the studio. I did it all on the 8-Tk.
One afternoon I decided to record something using the MP3 I had with beats. I got a killer guitar sound on my Stratocaster and recorded the instrumental version for Live, originally called Stratoblaster. All of the tracks sat around for a number of years until I decided to try and write lyrics and put melodies to some of them. I eventually would finish 3 of them by arranging the tracks of each song into verses and choruses. Then I would splice the parts together creating the entire song. Once again, I put the mix on Tks 1&2 of the 8-Tk, and then recorded my vocals. When I finished doing the vocals, I mixed them down to 2-Tk stereo.
It was at the start of 2018 that I decided to finish writing the lyrics to The Wish, which in turn would be the starting point for the Better Day album. While working on the lyrics to The Wish I went back to my instrumental tracks and tried writing lyrics to a few of them. The 1st one would end up being Live. I thought the lyrics were very positive and life-affirming. Little did I know that about 10 months later I would be diagnosed with MDS, short for Myelodysplastic Syndrome, a pre-condition of Leukemia. As I’ve already chronicled here previously, I got a Stem Cell Transplant in May 2019, which is a cure for MDS.
The strange thing about the song Live was that I thought I wrote the lyrics after my transplant. It wasn’t until I went into my workbook when I was writing the lyrics to Shadow Walk that I saw the date for the lyrics of Live—January 2018! Talk about life imitating art!! They say that truth is stranger than fiction and here’s a case that bears that out. Somehow my subconscious was telling me I needed to have a positive frame of mind for something that was coming my way.
Shadow Walk is the other song with vocals on The DownTown Demos. I was originally going to call it Lucifer but thought that might be too provocative. I was having a bit of trouble with the lyrics until I realized the title of the instrumental track was Shadow Walk. I really like that title and in a way, it turned out to be what a song about Lucifer would be about. And no, I do not believe that Lucifer is Satan. That’s an old wive’s tale—The Fall of The Angels. He’s the Archangel with bad PR, made to be a scapegoat.
Now I know what you’re thinking because you’ve been taught that Lucifer is the Fallen Angel known as Satan. Remember, the Bible was written and compiled by humans. The fall of the angels is a metaphor to show how Lucifer lets his pride bring him down. But there’s something about the story that doesn’t ring true, which is that angels weren’t created that way. It’s a contrived story for the purposes of Religion. It’s humans who make judgments. It’s in our nature, not that of angels. The angels give selfless service to humanity. That’s why they exist. But there’s this one bad apple who rebels? Really?? I don’t think so. But I digress…
The other thing about writing a song called Lucifer was the problem of not wanting to say his name even though it’s written from his perspective. It then occurred to me to approach the song like The Stones did with Sympathy For The Devil, when Mick sings “hope you guess my name”. This gave me the idea to start the chorus with “do you know my name?” I wanted to conjure up the feeling of dread that would be present in a “shadow walk” with the music and lyrics. I try to end the song on a positive note by saying he will guide you back with his light. Lucifer means “shining light”.
If you look at the people I thank on the sleeve of the DownTown Mystic cd, you’ll notice I thank Viceroy & A Band of Angels on it. Viceroy is another name Lucifer goes by. Even he doesn’t want to say his own name because of the connotations associated with it! Shadow Walk refers to the dark side we are all capable of having. A “shadow walk” could refer to an addiction or a troubled soul. As I see it, from my experience, the Archangel Lucifer is there for humans on their “shadow walk”. He’s the Archangel of Fear and Despair, not something the other archangels raise their hands for. He holds a place for us without any judgment so that when we are ready to accept help, he’s there for us. Think about what he’s seen. It’s a scary place for sure, which is why the music is so foreboding. When it comes to the existence of “The Devil”, my sources in the Spirit Realm say it’s not so.
KoolSkool is a fun track. I had asked the Bong Bros. to create an old-school hip-hop beat for me and then played a rhythm to it on my acoustic guitar. There’s a song from years back by the Irish singer/songwriter Donovan called Goo Goo Barabajagal, which is strange enough. For some reason, the groove on KoolSkool brings Donovan’s song to my mind. When I listened to the track at home I thought I’d experiment with some lead guitars. The interesting thing for me on KoolSkool is the fact that I recorded 2 separate guitar parts that harmonize in spots with the exact same phrasing! It’s really wild because I don’t think I could have planned them that way. I remember feeling very fluid that day and just wanted to get my playing recorded. It was hearing the playback that blew my mind! LOL
The other instrumental is AcousticHeart. This is probably my favorite track from the recording sessions with the Bong Bros. and one of the few ideas I brought with me in advance. It’s a different kind of groove but it works so well, building as it goes. I’ve always liked the music and wanted to create a full song from it. After a number of attempts that fell short, I finally figured out a way to write the song. The new song is called When The Angels Sing and it’s quite special to me. The next studio album will be Biblical for sure. 🙂