I spent most of Thursday in a small studio with the boys of Machiniso. We’re busy writing new material. It’s been a long time coming! So far we have four newish songs that are really starting to take shape. One of them is an old song of mine called Mundane Blues. I’ve never released it, but have played it quite a number of times with my old acoustic duo and a bit later on my cello! Bringing it in to the band, I offered it on a plate and said “do with it what you will!”. What’s come out is a brand new, slicker sound, with my simple bass riff sounding super fat and heavy, with extremely cool vibe sounds over the top, along of course with some nice hard hitting drums. The bridge section has a slightly new set of chords with same melody, and there’s a whole new section added thanks to the very quirky mind of Mr Scott Leishman. I’m loving it and can’t wait to play it live at our next Machiniso gig…which I guess will be just around the corner.
Writing lyrics and chopping out chords on 3 Oct 2013. In studio with Machiniso working on new material.
Another song I brought to the table is much less complete. It’s been sitting on my hard drive for about 6 years now and I was waiting for the perfect time to work on it. I couldn’t think of more perfect musical manifestation than Machiniso. The song is a tango. Similar in style to “The Dream” but much more latin in feel. In essence, I had a gorgeous progression and bass line. The band’s challenge is to add to that. So far, Scott’s added a small section which totally opens it up and gives it a sound I’d never have thought of. I love it. By adding those few bars, I’m now starting to think of other ways to take it, so I think that musically it will be ready next time we get together. Lyrics wise, I’m not really sure where to take it (although I did have a whole set of lyrics which I’ve decided to scratch now), but I’m thinking that I might just call the song “Tango” and work on it from there.
The other two; one is an instrumental Scott plays at for his solo gigs. Very pretty and smooth. It’s going to be a challenge to get it from his jazz guitar stylings to a good cohesive sound in the band, but we’re working on it. The other is a weird little thing (a good weird!), and it’s been inspired by a song that Rich Machine wrote. It has been titled Carousel because it’s a song that goes around and around…it should be a great one live!
Check out more photos from our songwriting session at our Facebook page. www.facebook.com/Machiniso