In an effort to celebrate the official launch of djphillips.com, challenge my songwriting/ recording abilities and to take my own swipe at a 30 Day Project I will now post a new song idea every day for the next 30 days. These are not necessarily finished products. They are not necessarily fantastic pop nuggets. But they will be new ideas (written at least within the last few weeks). They will be (pretty much) on time. And they will be original.

I’m putting these out there-- warts and all-- so let me know what you think! The songs that get a good response will be the most likely to be included on a future release.

Red vs. Blue

This idea has been kicking around for a long time but it's just never formed into something I really liked. It's basically just about how politics bores and annoys me. Regardless of ideology, I just want everybody to shut up sometimes. Highly likely, right?

This is another one we worked up back in Brother Big Bad but never totally finished. I took a lot from Marc and Andy's drum and bass parts and tried to recreate them here, so thanks again guys!

This is another exercise in only using two chords in a song. Sometimes it can be effective if done properly. I'm not entirely convinced that this is an example of such a time.

Red vs. Blue

It's not a war but it's more than a game
When they start the counting of bodies in numbers instead of names

It's a chore to take all this down
When it doesn't matter what we say because it always comes around

To the war, the war, the war, it's always about the war

It's red, it's blue
All the votes are counted and we're all getting screwed
It's me, it's you
All the delegates are counted and they've earned the right to choose for us

It's the poor that we all bargain for
But only if they vote our way, it comes down to the score

That's right I said the score, the score, the score, it's always about the score

It's red, it's blue
All the votes are counted and we're all getting screwed
It's me, it's you
All the delegates are counted and they've earned the right to choose for us

It's the core, the core, the core, it's always about the core

It's red, it's blue
All the votes are counted and we're all getting screwed
It's me, it's you
All the delegates are counted and they've earned the right to choose for us

In an effort to celebrate the official launch of djphillips.com, challenge my songwriting/ recording abilities and to take my own swipe at a 30 Day Project I will now post a new song idea every day for the next 30 days. These are not necessarily finished products. They are not necessarily fantastic pop nuggets. But they will be new ideas (written at least within the last few weeks). They will be (pretty much) on time. And they will be original.

I’m putting these out there-- warts and all-- so let me know what you think! The songs that get a good response will be the most likely to be included on a future release.

Just The Way I Am

Halfway done! Woo! I have to say, I've really enjoyed this project, but I'm also looking forward to being done with it for a while. I have some fun ideas for another project or two on the horizon, but there will definitely be a break between. I like to sleep.

"Just The Way I Am" is the idea I worked on yesterday, so I had a head start today. I've been messing around with this riff and chorus for a long time now. In fact, I had forgotten about it until I came upon another rehearsal recording from my Brother Big Bad days. I had never come up with a verse I was happy with (noticing a trend here?) so I figured now is the time!

It's not my cleanest work guitar-wise, but I think you get the idea. I had a really fun time putting together the MIDI drums based a little bit off of Marc's drum part and my own imagination. I'm pretty happy with the result.

I don't think I'll ever be a recording engineer or anything (nor do I really want to) but I feel like I have a much better handle on this kind of recording now. There's been some yelling at the computer, yes, but much less now than when I started. Now it's more incredulous like "Why did you do that?" or my favorite "Why would you do something like that?"-- as if the software has ill intent. Maybe it DOES. I am still pretty slow at the whole process but now it's because I want to tinker with the mix and add more things whereas before it was because I was completely over my head and had no idea what I was doing.

Lyrically, this song is just about accepting yourself for who you are. I was lucky enough to grow up in an accepting household with loving parents, but I'm twisted enough to sing and write from the perspective of someone who didn't and that's what I am going for here.

The jam in the middle is pretty heavy for a rock/pop/country song with a cajun beat but hey, that's just the way I am!

Just The Way I Am

Call me out to make your vision fit
But I'm the kind of kid that doesn't want to shift
It's just the way I am

Now shut your mouth as a parting gift
Now that's the kind of gift that could mend this rift
It's just the way I am

Canvas blank enough to vent your rage
But there's already something written on this page
Yeah, it's just the way I am

Shake your head, say it's gone to hell
But I'm not here to make you feel good about your sense of self
Yeah, I'm just the way I am

It's just the way I am
It's just the way I am
It's just the way I am
It's just the way I am

Call it morbid curiosity
But that's the kind of thing that I don't want to see
It's just the way I am

You and I can both agree
That you're the kind of person I don't want to be
I'm just the way I am

It's just the way I am
It's just the way I am
It's just the way I am
It's just the way I am

In an effort to celebrate the official launch of djphillips.com, challenge my songwriting/ recording abilities and to take my own swipe at a 30 Day Project I will now post a new song idea every day for the next 30 days. These are not necessarily finished products. They are not necessarily fantastic pop nuggets. But they will be new ideas (written at least within the last few weeks). They will be (pretty much) on time. And they will be original.

I’m putting these out there-- warts and all-- so let me know what you think! The songs that get a good response will be the most likely to be included on a future release.

Circle

I have felt like crap all day, so this was a tough one to come up with. For the first time in this project, I decided on an idea, started working on it and then abandoned it halfway through. I still think the idea is good, but the melody is at the top of my vocal range and just the thought of singing that high makes my head hurt even more than it already does. Wah.

So instead, you get an instrumental. I thought I would try something minimalistic using only two chords and see what I could make happen. It's one of those pieces that's better if you close your eyes. I didn't really have a deeper meaning for it at first, but as it was coming together I thought it would be an interesting musical metaphor for a life cycle. We're born alone, we die alone and lots of stuff happens in between but all under the same survival routine of eat, sleep, breathe. Maybe it only got that heady to me because I'm tired.

I started with three similar guitar parts and then eventually layered on bass (baritone guitar) plus strings, drums and piano all using MIDI patches from Logic. The piano sound is great, but the rest sound pretty fake-ish to me. If you imagine they sounded real though, it would be pretty cool. I'm pretty happy with the parts themselves though, considering my keyboard skills generally amount to little more than the knuckle song.

Hope you enjoy! Here's to a headache-free tomorrow!

In an effort to celebrate the official launch of djphillips.com, challenge my songwriting/ recording abilities and to take my own swipe at a 30 Day Project I will now post a new song idea every day for the next 30 days. These are not necessarily finished products. They are not necessarily fantastic pop nuggets. But they will be new ideas (written at least within the last few weeks). They will be (pretty much) on time. And they will be original.

I’m putting these out there-- warts and all-- so let me know what you think! The songs that get a good response will be the most likely to be included on a future release.

Beautiful Disgrace

Today, I had a live question and answer webcam teaching session on JamPlay. Since it was an extended session and because I thought it would be fun, we used the time to create a new song and record it on the spot. I can't really take much credit for this one, since the JamPlay members chose the groove, the loops, the guitar tone, the key, most of the chords and made suggestions on the melody. It was truly a collaborative effort.

Special thanks to these JamPlay members:

kgp1, oddtyme, peax, tompan, T Russ, tammy7689, Sylvia, stratmusic, mkorsmo, suzieq, evilconcept, thumper, philipdj, state007, polymorph gentleman, janospain, itsmekeuh, rhoadsfreak, guitarfreak and squirrelzilla.

They were all actively (participating or at least making a snide comment here and there). Hopefully I didn't miss anybody!

Basically all I had to do was clean up a couple of areas, add some background vocals and come up with lyrics. The groove has a very sultry vibe to it, so I knew it had to be something on that path, lyrically. I decided to write it about a cheating lover. She's beautiful, but a beautiful disgrace.

Beautiful Disgrace

You said you would see this to the end
You should have let him know
That you two were more than friends
You should have let him go

You're so good at sneaking around
You should have let him know
You'll never really lay it down
You should have let him go

Nothing more than a beautiful display
She's looking at him
Nothing more than a beautiful disgrace
She's gone

He's taken care of everything you need
He really trusted you
All you did was think him weak
He'll never really learn the truth

You're so good at sneaking around
You should have let him know
You'll never really lay it down
You should have let him go

Nothing more than a beautiful display
She's looking at him
Nothing more than a beautiful disgrace
She's gone

In an effort to celebrate the official launch of djphillips.com, challenge my songwriting/ recording abilities and to take my own swipe at a 30 Day Project I will now post a new song idea every day for the next 30 days. These are not necessarily finished products. They are not necessarily fantastic pop nuggets. But they will be new ideas (written at least within the last few weeks). They will be (pretty much) on time. And they will be original.

I’m putting these out there-- warts and all-- so let me know what you think! The songs that get a good response will be the most likely to be included on a future release.

I'm Free (He's Dead)

I wanted to do something bluesy today, so this is what I came up with. I think that there are good elements there but that it might be a little disjointed. I couldn't find a seamless sound between the half and double time parts, but I think you get the idea. I went for a nasty guitar tone and just played it loose and sloppy. I was making the melody up as I went in the vocals and I'm actually pretty happy with how it turned out. Towards the end I wanted to put some harmonica on there but since it's going on 3 AM here I thought better of it. Next time.

I read a story not too long ago about a battered woman who killed her abusive husband. I'm not a violent guy, but seems like a pretty legitimate reason to kill a guy-- if there is such a thing. The story is basically from that perspective.

I'm Free (He's Dead)

Crack shot and he hits the floor
He got what he deserved and more

And I don't regret a single bullet in his head
And he won't be coming to bed this time he's dead

The smack down will never come again
Kneel down and confess my sin

And I don't regret a single bullet in his head
And he won't be coming to bed this time he's dead

I'm free, yeah
I'm free, yeah
I'm free, yeah
I can't believe what I did
With my old man's gun
But I did what I did
And now I'm glad that it's done

In an effort to celebrate the official launch of djphillips.com, challenge my songwriting/ recording abilities and to take my own swipe at a 30 Day Project I will now post a new song idea every day for the next 30 days. These are not necessarily finished products. They are not necessarily fantastic pop nuggets. But they will be new ideas (written at least within the last few weeks). They will be (pretty much) on time. And they will be original.

I’m putting these out there-- warts and all-- so let me know what you think! The songs that get a good response will be the most likely to be included on a future release.

Down

I've been getting really into this live Donny Hathaway record the last few months. I looked him up because I didn't remember much about him and I became fascinated with his story. To put it succinctly he suffered from intense bouts of depression, became a paranoid schizophrenic and eventually killed himself. Check out this documentary for a way better synopsis.

I've had the chorus idea for "Down" for a long time but I could never come up with a satisfactory verse. It wasn't until I thought about it in conjunction with the Donny Hathaway story that it really clicked with me. Donny said at one point that he wanted to die just to get relief from the voices in his head and eventually he killed himself to try and do exactly that. So, this song is basically singing from that perspective. The second verse is about how during one of his last recording sessions, he claimed that white people had hooked up his brain to a machine and were trying to steal his music.

I can't claim to have Hathaway-level funk in me, but I tried to keep it as funky as I could and it was fun to do. I used several drum loops but tried to keep the drums with a real live feel. The bass part is once again me on my baritone-- this time trying a little slapping. Eek.

I had a blast with the guitar solo and it's probably my favorite part of the song. I also "played" the clavinet and organ parts by laying them down a couple of notes at a time with the MIDI controller. With the clav part in the 2nd verse, solo and outro I put down a simple three-note lick then added delay to make it sound twice is fast. I then added a second delayed clav part and then pushed it back so that it came in an eight note later. So what started as me using my very very rudimentary keyboard skills for a simple part turned into something that sounds much faster, rhythmic and hopefully cool.

Down

I hear voices in my head
And I don't know what they want from me
I hear voices in my head
I just wish that they would let me sleep

Just make it stop
I just wish that you could see
Make it stop
That I would die to free

I've been down
I've been all but underground
I've been down
I've been gagged and tied and bound
It's all over but the shouting
So dim the lights and kill the sound
Goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now
I've been down

I've got people in my dreams
They've got me strapped down into this machine
I've got these people in my dreams
And they're stealing every word that I sing

Just make it stop
I just wish that you could see
Make it stop
That I would die to free

I've been down
I've been all but underground
I've been down
I've been gagged and tied and bound
It's all over but the shouting
So dim the lights and kill the sound
Goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now
I've been down

Goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now
Goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now
Goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now
Goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now

I've been down
I've been all but underground
I've been down
I've been gagged and tied and bound
It's all over but the shouting
So dim the lights and kill the sound
Goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now
Goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now
Goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now
Goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now, goodbye now
I've been down

I've been down
I'm getting down
I've been down

In an effort to celebrate the official launch of djphillips.com, challenge my songwriting/ recording abilities and to take my own swipe at a 30 Day Project I will now post a new song idea every day for the next 30 days. These are not necessarily finished products. They are not necessarily fantastic pop nuggets. But they will be new ideas (written at least within the last few weeks). They will be (pretty much) on time. And they will be original.

I’m putting these out there-- warts and all-- so let me know what you think! The songs that get a good response will be the most likely to be included on a future release.

Speak Up

I finally got a MIDI controller working with Logic (about 100% of the credit for that going to my awesome aforementioned friend Vince), so I decided to do a dance-y number. I've been wanting to do something more dance-oriented for a while plus I saw Phoenix last night and they were amazing. They really made me want to wiggle, so I am hoping for that effect with you fine folk.

Musically, I was just making the song up on the fly which was a really fun experiment. The danger is that you never know if you're really going to come up with anything worthwhile and have to scrap the idea for now. I had the idea of the shouted line "the last one to shout is the first to go" in my head. So I was trying to figure out what that might lead into and what it might mean. I started with just the drum and bass groove and I really wasn't sure where I was going to go with it. Luckily I worked out the chorus after a little while and built around that.

I created the drum loops myself with the keyboard and played the bass part on synth (obviously). So other than guitar and voice, it's all synthesized this time. Definitely a fun experiment and I'm pretty happy with the results.

I couldn't resist laying on a double guitar solo at the end. There's not much content to it, I'm just kind of weedley-wee-ing all about. It was fun, but I would probably do something more focused if I did more than a demo.

Lyrically, it's just kind of a general encouragement for people to speak up and say what they think. It's more about having confidence in what you believe than in any sort of political statement in this case. But you could pretty much take it whatever way you wanted and I don't mind that too much!

Speak Up

You've seen it all now
Oh, you've seen it all
You've seen the rise and fall

But you've kept your mouth shut
Oh, you've kept your mouth shut
You say it's not your call

But there's so much you want to say and you know
The last one to shout is the first to go

Now put your hands up
It's time to stand up
We've gotta hear ya
Come on and speak up

It's time to step up
So keep your head up
We've gotta hear ya
Come on and speak up

You've come to terms now
Oh, you've come to terms
You think we'll never learn
But you've kept your mouth shut
Oh, you've kept your mouth shut
It's not your concern

But there's so much you want to say and you know
The last one to shout is the first to go

Now put your hands up
It's time to stand up
We've gotta hear ya
Come on and speak up

It's time to step up
So keep your head up
We've gotta hear ya
Come on and speak up

Hey, hey, hey, you've got to speak up
Hey, hey, hey, you've got to speak up

The last one to shout is the first to go
Now put your hands up
It's time to stand up
We've gotta hear ya
Come on and speak up

It's time to step up
So keep your head up
We've gotta hear ya
Come on and speak up

In an effort to celebrate the official launch of djphillips.com, challenge my songwriting/ recording abilities and to take my own swipe at a 30 Day Project I will now post a new song idea every day for the next 30 days. These are not necessarily finished products. They are not necessarily fantastic pop nuggets. But they will be new ideas (written at least within the last few weeks). They will be (pretty much) on time. And they will be original.

I’m putting these out there-- warts and all-- so let me know what you think! The songs that get a good response will be the most likely to be included on a future release.

When I Go Back to Ohio

Well, so far week two has been way harder than the first week. I've had to force myself to record/write a few more times and the ideas didn't come as easily. I think maybe just the excitement of the new project has begun to wear off a little. The good news is that I'm still going. This is the point of the exercise really. To stretch myself and learn how to write and record songs when I'm not really feeling it. Luckily, I have this running list of ideas to help me out. If I hadn't been accumulating those little bits over the last year or two, I'd be stuck a lot more often.

"Ohio" was more fun experimenting with guitar tones and a little bit with loops. I wanted to do a loop for the odd time signature part but I ran out of time and patience for now. The chord progression/melody is about three separate ideas thrown into one. The odd time signature intro/ interlude came from what was originally going to be a birthday song for my good friend Vessela. I had planned to write it in collaboration with mutual friends Valerie and Brendan while in Boston for Vess' birthday but it never happened. Sorry Vess!

The verse riff is a reggae-ish idea that I've had for a couple of months but couldn't find a good chorus for. And the chorus was an idea that's been floating around for a little while now.

I'm at the ripe old age of 28 now and my 10-year high school reunion is coming up this summer. Honestly, I'm not really worried about it because I like and keep in touch with quite a few high school friends already (thank you, internets!). But it's symbolic of the larger concept of trying to prove oneself as an adult. Ultimately, I think most of us care a lot less about what other people think than we let on and it's really about proving ourselves to ourselves. "When I Go Back to Ohio" is not so much about the literal Ohio as it is the figurative Ohio. Your Ohio could be anything really. Dream away, dreamers.

When I Go Back to Ohio

I'm gonna show them all what I have done
What I have become
I'm gonna show them that I've grown up some
But I have just begun

When I go back to Ohio
When I go back to Ohio
I'm going back to Ohio

It's in my best interest to tell the truth
I still have much to do
I'm more anxious now than in my youth
I still have much to prove

When I go back to Ohio
When I go back to Ohio
I'm going back to Ohio

When I go back to Ohio
When I go back to Ohio
I'm going back to Ohio

In an effort to celebrate the official launch of djphillips.com, challenge my songwriting/ recording abilities and to take my own swipe at a 30 Day Project I will now post a new song idea every day for the next 30 days. These are not necessarily finished products. They are not necessarily fantastic pop nuggets. But they will be new ideas (written at least within the last few weeks). They will be (pretty much) on time. And they will be original.

I’m putting these out there-- warts and all-- so let me know what you think! The songs that get a good response will be the most likely to be included on a future release.

Skullduggerous

I'm not feeling so inspired today. I think I'm just tired. Too many late nights mixing demos! I decided to go with an instrumental this time. This is basically just the result of me playing with loops and guitar modeling plug-ins in Logic. I would say that this is definitely not my best work, but it was still kind of fun to go a little guitar crazy and play around. I even did a little troubleshooting when a snafu cropped up!

The song has a pretty sinister sound in the A sections, so Matt Korsmo's description as "skullduggerous" fit nicely as a title. Thanks Matt!

In an effort to celebrate the official launch of djphillips.com, challenge my songwriting/ recording abilities and to take my own swipe at a 30 Day Project I will now post a new song idea every day for the next 30 days. These are not necessarily finished products. They are not necessarily fantastic pop nuggets. But they will be new ideas (written at least within the last few weeks). They will be (pretty much) on time. And they will be original.

I’m putting these out there-- warts and all-- so let me know what you think! The songs that get a good response will be the most likely to be included on a future release.

Letting Go

This afternoon I had lunch with my friend Vince Romanelli. Vince is a good drummer, great friend and a whiz with all things recording and producing. We were talking about the 30 Day Project and we decided to try and make something together. I've had the musical and lyrical idea for "Letting Go" in my head for a couple of weeks but it turned out quite different (and better) with Vince at the helm.

The whole thing centers around this open string pull-off guitar lick that I never actually play on this recording. Once Vince added the cool marimba and loop stuff, it just didn't need to be there anymore. One of the challenges I'm trying to get into with this project is to be able to step away from my guitar a little more with song ideas. It's not that I don't want guitar in my songs or anything, but I want to stretch myself a little and step out of the comfort zone. This song is kind of like a mid-way point towards that.

Vince and I knocked out most of the song in a couple of hours this afternoon. Which stands in stark contrast to the hard time I had once I took it home to finish it off. I'm pretty happy with the result, but it was an arduous journey. Without going into too much detail of my temper tantrum, let me just remind you all to save, save, save. You never know when your program is going to crash and take away your last couple of hours of work. Lesson learned. Again.

Lyrically, this was a tough one. A friend passed away a little over a year ago and basically the song is just about trying to remember but to also let go. Whenever I think about his death, I always think of his wife and how she's doing and how silly I am for feeling so sad. Not because the feelings are disingenuous, but because others are suffering so much more over the same loss. I'm not sure if anyone can relate, but hopefully the melody is catchy enough that it doesn't matter too much! I was trying to break out of my usual rhyme scheme ideas too. I'm not sure if these exact words will stay, but maybe the same rhyme scheme with better lyrics.

Letting Go

I know it's hard to believe
That there will ever be
A sense of relief
You don't believe what you read
Your heart just bleeds and bleeds and bleeds

It never seems to redeem
It only claims defeat
It won't wash clean
You can't believe what you see
Your heart just needs and needs and needs

Oh, she's so alone
But oh, she's letting go
Oh, she's so alone
But oh, she's letting go

I bare it all in a song
But it feels like a con
I feel like a fraud
It comes out wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong

I'm in places I don't belong
But we just go one
Until our number's drawn
And we're gone, we're gone, we're gone

Oh, we're so alone
But oh, we're letting go
Oh, we're so alone
But oh, we're letting go

We're just an inch or two away
We're just an inch or two away

Oh, we're so alone
But oh, we're letting go
Oh, we're so alone
But oh, we're letting go