 |
Music •
Biography •
Press Kit •
Randomness •
Lyrics Gigs • Photos • Writing • Fun Stuff • Links • Contact |
Saturday, November 02, 2002 The Song List I keep a list of all of the songs I've written and co-written in a notebook, and I just typed it into Excel for easier accessibilty... there are 51 songs on the list now! Wow. And that's just from the last three years--I picked up the guitar three years ago in October and started writing soon after. Of course, some of the music is pretty bad, stuff that I'd never want to play for anyone else (that is, if I can even remember how they go). But around half of the songs are worthy of being played in public, and a handful are really good. (I'm biased, though, I know. :-) Or maybe my own worst critic.) It's kind of cool to look at the list and remember the stories behind songs that I don't play often anymore, though. "Here" was written for a close friend who'd struggled with anorexia in the past and was fighting to change the way he thought about himself. "Did I Even Know You at All" came out of watching a good friend change as she entered college, doing things that she would have spoken against before. It was disturbing and sad at the same time. Two years ago, my younger brother came to me with a short story and wanted me to read it for the annual variety show at church; I was already performing a monologue, so a second reading would have been redundant. As a compromise, I reworked his writing into lyrics and set them to music--the result was "That Day," which we performed together, both singing and playing guitar (it wasn't the greatest collaboration ever, especially since we barely had time to rehearse together before going onstage, but there are things more important than a perfect performance). "Future's Night" came from uncertainty about where I was headed in my life and asking God for direction. We always want to know the future, to plan our lives out, but having such control is often the worst thing for us. We screw everything up when we try to do it ourselves instead of letting God take the reins. I used to have a (rather short-lived) band called Chrestus Way: Brian Kuzma on vocals, piano, and guitar; Mark Ostroski on cello; and myself on vocals, piano, and guitar (Jake got into the act on percussion later); Brian and I wrote a few songs together: "Future's Night," "Waiting Contradictions" (which I still play, modified a bit), "Forgiveness: Peter's Story," and "In the Shadow of Your Wings" (a nice Caedmon's Call-esque number). The crazy thing about the band was that Brian, Mark, and I played a couple of variety shows at our churches, and then the entire crew played a show in Dearborn opening for Son of Adam and Code Bloom, two local bands. We got paid a nice amount of money for the show--our first real gig--and broke up soon after (yeah, that makes sense... kill the band after you get paid). It was too hard getting everyone together, since we were scattered all over metro Detroit (Ann Arbor, Redford, Commerce Township, Detroit itself). But the band was fun, and it had potential. Too bad it wasn't realized. For a long time afterward I wanted to put another band together, one made up of at two-three vocalists (including a guy and a girl), upright bass, percussion, violin, flute/tin whistle/recorder, piano, and guitar, with the option of going electric with a drum set (definitely need a couple of multi-instrumentalists so the band wouldn't get too large). It never happened, so I got serious about taking the solo route. I still love playing with other people though.... ^ Top | 7:42 AM | | | 
|
