RPM Challenge song #6. Look at me, half way there! Everything I had for the month was really slow until this fell into my lap. I sort of forced it, but it was fun to record. The lyrics are a ghost story about a spirit that haunts the Mt…

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…

It only took four songs for me to start writing lyrics about being worried about finishing RPM on time. Typical. This was originally just a few separate 8 bar phrases. Normally I'd spread them out and create some sort of song form out of…

This is one of those songs that I had in my head complete (except for the lyrics) and I was really excited about. Unfortunately, what we have on the demo sounds nothing like what I was hearing in my head. With the possible exception of the snare…

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…

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…

This song makes it's third appearance on alonetone. Once from a cassette tape of the band playing it back in 1997, once from my first crack at an album in a month back in 2007, and now this. This song was so simple and basic and nothing but…

This was written while I was working in a studio back in 1994 or 95. It was originally just a few little piano licks that I arranged into a song. I remember at the time I had trouble playing some of the parts on guitar, and some of the sections…

This is another Prime Meridian song. I wanna say late 1997 or early 1998. We tended to write songs in bunches, but I don't think so in this case. If I remember correctly, this one just sort of fell into place somehow. We were noodling around…

We wrote this one in... I wanna say... 1998? Had we ever moved beyond Maria's basement I would have pushed to get this released as a single. I thought it was our best shot at a hit, even if my lyrics were just god awful. The guitars here…

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…

Another song with lyrics that I have no recollection of writing. What the hell is it about? I had six songs recorded and mixed before I realized I didn't have a single time signature other than 4/4. I remedied that right quick. This is…

This one is a mess. Everything is too busy. The mix includes massive compression everywhere because I did a crappy job recording things. During the mix I changed the bass sound, changed the drum sound, went from having the two rhythm guitars…

I had 10 songs in progress. Now that I have no more opportunities to record vocals between now and the end of the month I had to drop one of the songs. I felt kinda bad about it. Losing one of the songs ruins a gimmick I was working with…

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…

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…

I didn't plan on having this (mostly) percussion free. It was just that when it came time to work out a drum part I... you know... didn't. The electric guitar is my ES-335. I can see everything I can see how things go I can know…

Not sure what to make of this one. I like the mellowy groove, but I don't particularly care for the lyrics. Especially given that they are pretty much about writing lyrics. Sometimes I just run out of ideas, you know? The electric guitar…

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…

Another longish song that has a 12-string guitar part written and recorded for NaSoAlMo. The lyrics are sort of me being a sore loser after the mid-term elections. The electric guitars are all Stratocaster. all aboard the train its…