Robert James

A simple 12-bar in 6/8 time. I almost like it.

The guitars are all Les Paul.

Turn the page again
It’s time to start anew
From the top this time

don’t think we can make it
Don’t see there’s much chance
Round and round and round we go
That’s all we know

We can’t make a difference…read more

Eh.

I thought it would be cool to write something in drop D and then play it on a 12 string. Then I could drop two D’s! HarHarHar.

The lyrics are about how scary some of Donald Trumps followers are. If he wins in November I’m moving to Europe.

Rhythm guitars are my Takamine F 400S…read more

Eh.

I thought it would be cool to write something in drop D and then play it on a 12 string. Then I could drop two D’s! HarHarHar.

The lyrics are about how scary some of Donald Trumps followers are. If he wins in November I’m moving to Europe.

Rhythm guitars are my Takamine F 400S…read more

This one had throw away written all over it from the first moment I thought of it. It’s my second entry in the Ice Cream Chords challenge over at FAWM.org. I kept this one in Major and it’s just as fruity as one would expect. The lyrics are meaningless. It was raining when I wrote it. Brilliant…read more

I’m really disappointed in this one. I don’t like it. I wrote it last night and recorded it today. I think if I changed the lyrics to be about hookers I could probably sell it to Poison or Motley Crue. I feel dirty and ashamed of myself.

The lyrics are even worse. It was an attempt…read more

I wrote a blog post about Donald Trump. The gist of the statement was that every four years we joke about how if the Republican Presidential Candidate wins the general election, where are we going to move? Canada? UK? In the post though I said that a Donald Trump win would probably turn the…read more

Written in pieces back in 1994 and 1995 during my “arrangements that are to complicated for humans to actually play” phase. Recorded in January 2015 during my “Ancient History Revisited Volume 2” phase. Mixed in September 2015 during my “I actually have songs recorded that are ready to mix…read more

The final RPM Challenge/FAWM song for 2015! I’m done! Garageband has this running at 66bpm in 6/8 time. It probably should be 132bpm in ¾, but you live with what you have, right? I didn’t really plan on saving this for last as it was one of the first songs that month that I thought might…read more

The rhythm guitar is a scratch track. Can’t you tell?

Have you seen the movie The Theory of Everything? I highly recommend it in a “I hate these damn movies that make me ball my eyes out” kind of way. The lyric to this song is sort of inspired by Dr Hawking’s diagnosis. He’s given two years to live. Can you imagine how crushing that must have…read more

This song has been the biggest mess of the month. It was the second idea I had, the first that wasn’t dropped. I have fought with it more than any other song I’ve ever recorded. The drum parts have been recorded twice. They rhythm guitars have been recorded three times. The lead guitars have…read more

This song has been the biggest mess of the month. It was the second idea I had, the first that wasn’t dropped. I have fought with it more than any other song I’ve ever recorded. The drum parts have been recorded twice. They rhythm guitars have been recorded three times. The lead guitars have…read more

This song has been the biggest mess of the month. It was the second idea I had, the first that wasn’t dropped. I have fought with it more than any other song I’ve ever recorded. The drum parts have been recorded twice. They rhythm guitars have been recorded three times. The lead guitars have…read more

7/8 time and the song form is A-B-C-D-A. Just a goofy little attempt at not repeating sections. This is the second time this RPM I’ve done that. Sort of.

I don’t know where the idea for writing about Darwin came from, but for me when an idea comes I just have to roll with it. Even if it…read more

I woke up this morning and looked out the window at all of the snow. The endless landscape of blank, frozen emptiness, and I just felt sick. I wanted nothing more than to go back to bed and sleep until May. So what did I do to combat this depression? I wrote a lyric titled Seasonal Affective…read more

I woke up this morning and looked out the window at all of the snow. The endless landscape of blank, frozen emptiness, and I just felt sick. I wanted nothing more than to go back to bed and sleep until May. So what did I do to combat this depression? I wrote a lyric titled Seasonal Affective…read more

50/90 is over. What do I do now? The plan was to do the same thing I did after RPM and FAWM ended… just start another album in a month project.

Well I started it, but it’s going really slow. There are only five songs in the works, and this is the only one finished. I had thought to…read more

I liked this one a lot more before realizing (after all of the tracks were finished) that the guitar part is awfully similar to a Throwing Muses song from the brilliant House Tornado album.

My plan to double all rhythm guitar and vocal parts means the chorus on this song has four voices (two…read more

The first song completed for the 2015 RPM Challenge. This is historic for me in that it’s an RPM song that used a real amplifier instead of a software simulator. It’s not my cool Marshall, it’s my Fender who once took a bath in gasoline (long story).

Not sure I’m happy with this. I’m too…read more

The first song completed for the 2015 RPM Challenge. This is historic for me in that it’s an RPM song that used a real amplifier instead of a software simulator. It’s not my cool Marshall, it’s my Fender who once took a bath in gasoline (long story).

Not sure I’m happy with this. I’m too…read more

As a warm up for the RPM Challenge I have gotten into the habit of digging up old mostly forgotten songs from my carefree youth and recording new demos. This year seems to be mostly focused on a band I played in between 1997 and 2000. This song was written shortly before the band broke up and…read more

I had declared the NaSoAlMo project complete after starting the eighth song. Then I had some free time and started this cheese ball. Later I added a 10th song too. What a nitwit.

This marks the end of both of my mini-goals for November. I wanted every song to have at least a little acoustic…read more

I had declared the NaSoAlMo project complete after starting the eighth song. Then I had some free time and started this cheese ball. Later I added a 10th song too. What a nitwit.

This marks the end of both of my mini-goals for November. I wanted every song to have at least a little acoustic…read more

It wasn’t until I was sitting in front of my computer trying to write lyrics to this one that I realized it is very, very similar to a song from last year’s NaSoAlMo. Sorry about that.

If I told you that the lyrics to this were based on an episode of The Walking Dead, would you know which…read more

Song three of (probably) 10 for NaSoAlMo. I’m still going with the plan of longer(ish) songs that feature at least a little bit of 12-string guitar. So far so good.

I sort of like the chorus on this one, but the verses aren’t all that hot. The lyrics are just whatever popped into my head…read more

FAWM’s 50/90 starts on July 4th, Independence Day in the USA, and wouldn’t you know it New England got hit by the remnants of a hurricane that night. Hurricane Arthur was pretty much just a rain storm by the time it hit us, but it was still song worthy.

I’ve signed up for 50/90 a couple of…read more

Less than an hour after declaring my bluesy October project at an end I came up with this. It’s almost like I don’t even listen to myself.

The guitars are all Stratocaster and the lyrics are about raking leaves. No, seriously.

October Music Continues with a second song with a bit of a swing to it. The guitars are all Stratocaster and the lyrics were written off the top of my head in about 3 minutes. I think this one is a tad too long, but otherwise I don’t loathe it.

50/90 is over. What do I do now? The plan was to do the same thing I did after RPM and FAWM ended… just start another album in a month project.

Well I started it, but it’s going really slow. There are only five songs in the works, and this is the only one finished. I had thought to…read more

Unless my math skills have failed me, this is song #50 and 50/90 is complete! WOOHOO!

This song broke my one 50/90 rule… sort of. The rule was that all ideas get used immediately. Nothing gets dropped and everything I try stays. The idea was that I didn’t think I would be able to get…read more

RPM 2k15
vocal by Gregg Todt

is it the medication
that makes her stare off into space?
those little pills in the bottle
grab your collar
smack you in the face
i want to make an appointment to see
that drug, so he will give her back to me
give her back (give her back) to me
give her…read more

I thought going into 50/90 that I would need to do some quick recordings of really simple arrangements. Maybe just acoustic guitar and voice. Nope, not really.

This isn’t meant as filler. This idea is something I noodle on almost every time I pick up a guitar, but I have never tried working…read more

So 50/90 is an unnatural forcing of a crap ton of songs in a relatively short period of time. We’re half way though and I’ve learned one thing. I’ve learned how easy it is to repeat something you’ve already done. This one sounds a LOT like a song I mixed and posted last night.

The lyrics…read more

With Mr Sandbags (beats and reichatron), as band “Elusive Gene”.

Played on BBC Radio Introducing. :)

Opening song by Kent Good. We played pretty good in Feb. We are not “chops” players, but i think we rocked this one pretty good.This song will evolve a bit as we break it in live.

A song of love, loss, and unrelenting hatred for those pin-striped S.O.B.‘s.

WARNING: You might hear an occasional F-bomb.

A song of love, loss, and unrelenting hatred for those pin-striped S.O.B.‘s.

WARNING: You might hear an occasional F-bomb.

(Syd Barrett) - early Pink Floyd song written by Syd. I gave it an Eastern treatment with harmonium, hand percussion, and guitar.

Apologies to Peter and the rest of Genesis - from back when they were good - 1974

And the lamb lies down on Broadway.

Early morning Manhattan,
Ocean winds blow on the land.
The Movie-Palace is now undone,
The all-night watchmen…read more

“Stupid Punk Song” is… well… stupid. I woke up one morning and the entire song, lyrics and all, was stuck in my head. I let it rattle around for a few days before putting it down on my new 8-track. I played it for Break Even once but they didn’t seem too interested. Rightly so.

This is a pre-release of a song from my new album. The song still needs some polish and rubbing. I will change it out once i get done with the final version. The lyric was written a long time ago, of what could or couldn’t have been:) Thats the problem, your the stereotype until someone gets…read more

Nice melodic pop song. Mostly guitar instrumental with a roll your top down, feel good outlook.