Hey folks, sorry it’s been a while since my last update. I’ve not been too well lately and I’ve also been very busy but I’m back now with a new track for you anyway

As I’ve mentioned a few times I really do love to play pretty much any style of music and I certainly think you’ll see an eclectic range of tracks here. With that in mind, here’s something a bit different. It’s a track I did a few years ago called Funky Munky. It was one of the first things I recorded after getting a new Wah Wah pedal and man you can tell, it sounds like something from Shaft New toys and all that. I love anything funky and especially Wah Wah guitar. I was just playing around with this. I also had some fun with the bass line and electric piano. There’s a percussive acoustic guitar rhythm in there too but it’s pretty well buried so listen close for it.

I programmed the drums with an application called Reason by Propellerhead Software, it’s pretty well known and it’s a really great tool I must say, especially when linked to Cubase with something like Rewire. Ok enough technobabble for now but those who understood that will appreciate it I’m sure… I hope anyway

I’m a huge fan of the director Kevin Smith and his films, ever since I saw Clerks I’ve always enjoyed his sense of humour and Silent Bob is genius. So when I heard the line “That’s one funky monkey” in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back I knew I had to sample it. Sorry Kev I expect a call from your lawyer shortly. There’s also a line from Chasing Amy where Banky says “A man and his monkey, no there’s a concept I can’t get enough of” which I thought complimented it well.

Hope you enjoy the track please feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments, I like to hear opinions good or bad, it’s an open forum. I hope to get back up to speed soon, still feeling a bit rough but as always I’ll try to keep it funky…. where did I leave my flairs

Peace

Dan

 

 Sonic Real Estate - Funky Munky [4:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Here’s another acoustic track for you to have a listen to. It’s also another one I recorded while in France a couple of years back. It’s a simple arrangement with just 2 acoustic guitars and a vocal but when I wrote the song it just seemed like the sort of thing best kept simple. I considered adding drums, bass and the whole shebang but I really think it’s probably best left as it is.

It’s a pretty self-explanatory song if you listen to the words. I love comedy programs and funny films, I think it’s the escapism of it probably, as it is for everyone else I suppose. I always loved programs like Cheers with it’s familiar characters. Somehow the world they inhabit seems so much nicer and fuzzier (if that’s a word) than ours. I just wrote this tune one day after watching one such program, looking out window and realizing that real life can be a bit shit in comparison. Hardly profound I know but there it is. So that’s the basis of the song really, that feeling you sometimes get that you’d like to live in one of these programs where everyone’s always happy. “Crawl right through the screen” as it says.

Musically it’s just a few simple chords but I think it’s quite nice. The recording is a bit rough around the edges and I might re-record the song to improve it a little but I just wanted to get the track down before I forgot it really. I think a harmonica or something similar might be a nice addition but I haven’t got one in the right key at the moment. I used to use harmonicas quite a lot with my tunes, probably inspired by Neil Young who’s something of a hero of mine. I even have one of those neck brace things so I can play the guitar at same time, like a proper folkie, all I need now is cardigan and a pipe Sadly most of my harmonicas have been lost or claimed as toys by my brother’s kids. I’ll have to start building up a collection with a few keys again and get back at it.

(click image to enlarge)

So there you go, hope you enjoy the tune and please feel free to comment and let me know what you think. It’s true what they say you know “sometimes you wanna go… where everybody knows your name” hehe

 

 Sonic Real Estate - Reality? [3:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Hey folks, another track for you to wrap your ears around. I’ve gone for something quite old this time, it’s my old band Kagnee. I played bass and did some singing in the band along with various other things. We were a good band I thought but possibly lacking some organization… well alright seriously lacking in organization It was the best band I’ve ever been in though both musically and in terms of fun. I had to quit the band sadly when I got seriously ill but I still have fond memories of our time together. The old website I built is still up over at www.kagnee.com check out the animated intro I did with the darts, I’m still proud of that, it took bloody ages.

Warning this track shouldn’t be played if you’ve had a sense of humour bypass and get easily offended!!

This is a very funny tune, it was in fact one of the first tunes we ever played together, it was written by Spenner our guitarist and singer and started off as a little acoustic until the rhythm section got hold of it, we soon knocked the crap out of it. It became a crazy rock and roll tune as you can hear. I always thought the lyrics were hilarious but I won’t explain them to you and ruin the fun, you can work it out. Needless to say “I Ain’t No Tommy Lee” hehe

I’ll never forget we played this to open our first ever gig, it was in the canteen of LIPA (Paul McCartney’s music school) and before we’d even got through the first 4 bars we’d emptied the place. Seriously, completely emptied it, people were actually running away going “what the f&*k is that?!! Arrgh my ears”. I think about 2 people stayed and it was pretty hysterical. We got the same kind of response wherever we went after that and very few people “got” us. The fact that we changed styles every 2 seconds probably didn’t help, people can be so narrow minded. I remember doing a gig in Rhyl (North Wales) where we just started playing country songs for a laugh and all these young punk kids were shouting “just play some punk will ya!!!!”. Ah happy days.

We recorded this in a little studio on a farm near Wigan. We just banged it out pretty quickly as we paid for the studio from 11am till 7pm but got lost and went the wrong way down the motorway, nothing new for us. The studio was in a barn surrounded by kennels with gray hounds and other dogs in who kept howling. They didn’t “get” us either, philistines!!! It came out really well though I think and I’m very proud of it.

We even got the chance to get a copy of this tune to Tommy Lee, the man himself. I dunno what he made of it but I like to think he laughed and saw the funny side. I was told by a friend that someone he knew was doing the sound at a gig where Tommy Lee would be playing in Amsterdam, I passed him a couple of CDs and asked him to give them to Tommy, and if possible get him to sign one for us. He did a blinding job and came back with this. (click image to enlarge)

I was made up and it’s pretty funny. So there you go, that’s the tale of Kagnee and Tommy Lee, hope you like the track. That’s enough of my old rock stories for now… well… of course there was the time we needed to find 5000 brown M&M’s or Ozzy wouldn’t go on stage….

Peace,

Dan

P.S – This one’s for Charlie since I know he likes Vibraslap so much, something by Kagnee you won’t have heard mate

 

 Kagnee - The Horse & Cart (Tommy Lee) [2:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Well, hot on the heels of the first track the other day I’ve got another one for you. It’s just a quick acoustic thing this time though and it’s a cover of an old Jazz/Blues tune by Louis Jordan, “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t?” … my baby Shocking grammar I know but a really good tune non the less. It’s something I only learned how to play recently as well. I watched a comedy series I love called “Spaced” with a friend and the song was featured in it. She mentioned how much she liked it and it got me thinking, after a quick look around on the Internet I found the chords and just kind of bashed out my own version. Bosh!!!! As I believe loud stereotyped cockneys often shout.

I’ve simplified the arrangement a lot as it was written for a big Jazz band but I think it still works ok. This recording was done not long before Christmas and it’s just something I did very quickly with one microphone. I recorded the main guitar and vocal and then overdubbed the little lead guitar later, it took about 20mins start to finish. The fast food of music I suppose but hopefully a bit less harmful to your arteries

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The picture above is of my studio which I like to call the Bunker, for no other reason than it’s a nice place to hide away from the world at times. My refuge if you will. I’ve always been interested in science and this is probably my equivalent of a lab, I’d like a lab too but I really don’t know what I’d do in there, other than don my white coat, play with Bunsen burners and try to look intelligent. It needs some work to be honest, the computer I use (which you can see a bit of under the desk) is… well… to put it bluntly, completely buggered hehe I’m hoping to sort that out soon when I get a new machine though. The studio is pretty basic and I do everything on the PC really, I work a lot with Cubase VST and Propellerhead’s Reason software which does the job for me. I got the mixer quite recently and it’s my first digital desk (shudders), I’m still getting used to it but once I get it all automated I’ll be really happy, I can sit there watching the faders go up and down on their own, smiley face… sad face… smiley face… sad face… you get the idea. What better way for a grown man to spend his time I ask you?

I’ll post more information about the studio and how I record stuff as I go along if anyone’s interested. I don’t think this track will be on the album really it’s just a little bonus thing but I thought you might enjoy it. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Happy new year everyone

Dan

 

 Sonic Real Estate - Is You Is? (acoustic demo) [2:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download