I think I might like this one. It’s almost funky but not quite. It was sort of a throw away at first. I wanted to have x number of songs in progress by y date and this one was thrown together to make my deadline. As it progressed though, I started…

My favorite part of this song is the D major 7 chord at 0:30, bar 19. I just wanted to share that. Robbie does not like the fascist in the white house at all. The sound of his voice makes Robbie want to vomit and the actual words fill Robbie…

The first mix for the 2019 RPM Challenge. I’m pretty sure I am going to re-record the lead guitars before the month is over. The lyrics were inspired by an @_floridaman article about a guy who drove a Ferrari into the ocean because god told…

Something about this song. I think I might really, really like this song. This is the reason why I allowed myself to use music written prior to February 1st this year. I bought a new guitar back in May and at some point during the early summer…

The 2018 RPM Challenge is underway! One song down with only four days left! This one is overly political, and like most of my favorite RPM songs from the past, it’s in an odd time signature. The guitars are all Les Paul. The rhythm used a Vox…

I liked this one a lot more while working on it than I do now as I listen to a mix. Urgh. The lyrics were written while sitting in an emergency room waiting area. I actually managed to write two song lyrics while sitting there that day. It’s been…

I think the lyrics unconsciously mirror how I feel right now. This was the last song to get lead guitars and it sounds it. This was the last song mixed and it totally sounds it. I’m tired and I wanna go to bed. The guitars are all Les Paul…

This was the first idea I worked on this year. 5/4 time, as usual. Lyrics were made up on the spot and I don’t think they mean anything. Guitars are all Les Paul. Rhythm through a Vox MV50 and lead through a Fender Bassbreaker. I don’t hate this…

This one hasn’t quite fallen out of favor yet but it probably will. The interesting factoid about this particular song is that the bass and drum parts were written and recorded on my iPhone while sitting in a hospital room. Later, the lyrics were…

10 songs mixed! I didn’t think I was going to make it this year, but I’ve got a submittable batch of tunes with 2.75 hours to spare! Magic! The rhythm guitars are Les Paul through Vox MV50, and the leads are Les Paul through Fender Bassbreaker…

This one was kicked off kind of late in the game. It was originally supposed to be acoustic guitars but I went for my Strat instead. Lots of sauce all over this recording. Rhythm parts were through a Vox MV50. Leads were a Les Paul through a Fender…

This one is kinda fun to play. I can’t say that very often about my songs. I’m lame like that. Overtly political, but what am I bitching about? There are so many possible answers to that question. Les Pauls all around. Rhythm direct through…

I kept going back to a songwriting crutch for this year’s RPM Challenge. The idea is to use the same bass line for verses and choruses and have everything else change around it. This is an example of that. Rhythm guitar is a Les Paul direct…

This is the first time I’ve ever tried to write a song in 5/8 time. I like this one, but I think there’s too much going on in the mix. For the last couple of years I’ve been in the habit of double tracking all of my vocal parts. While recording…

This one is the keeper. Every year there is one song that works for me from the first moment the idea starts bubbling up right through the exporting of the final mix. This is it for this year. Another overtly political lyric over a repeating…

This is an RPM2018 outtake and boy is the album better off without it. The word that kept coming to mind while “mixing” this was turd. Rhythm guitars are ES335 to both the Fender Bassbreaker and Vox MV50 direct outs. The lead is the Strat through…

Technically this counts as an RPM2018 leftover, but only barely. It started life as one of three riffs that I recorded using the Music Memos app on my iPhone. When March 1st arrived that was all there was. Maybe two measures. But I figured that…

Another RPM2018 left over. This was supposed to be the quiet little album closer. It was going to have tons of reverb and delay going on all over the place. Too bad the song pretty much sucked. I dropped it about 3 seconds after I finished recording…

This one started out with really quiet verses and really heavy choruses. That was the whole idea for the song. Great big honkin’ chewy dynamics changes. In fact, the working title was actually “Dynamics”. Then, while recording vocals, I thought…

Probably the most ambitious idea I had for RPM2018 which is probably why it got dropped. That and the simple fact that it’s the worst vocal I’ve ever recorded. The idea was to write three short songs and stitch them together into one big song…