Foundation Foundation

Our second jam session kicked off rough, all thanks to yours truly not knowing how to CONFIRM A STUDIO! Ok self anger, aside, the amazing guys at Drum Asia managed to get us a space on the stage area. Yes, we had to cut down the jam session time from 3 hours to 2, but I was working with the best musicians so, 2 hours were plenty!

Ee Jeng got there early, so did I. Was I going to take advantage of the extra minutes I had with him to write something new! Hell yeah! #everyopportunity

yeah I am doing hashtags now. boom.

I had been working on a new song called Nice, got some help with the chords from a friend all the way in Australia (thank you, internet) and within 15 minutes, Ee Jeng and I had the song off and running and as Omar and Dave came in and set up, the song had a life of its own and within an hour we had most of everything we needed!

I know this is not news to musicians out there about what it takes to pull a song out of thin air, but I have been struggling. Especially since I have been writing on my own for years, only recently able to write things on a piano. It's my fauly; to let my pride lead me to where I am today. I could have always asked for help! Now that I have absolutely put that on the shelf, I am throwing "please" and "thank you"s out like candy! Or.. advice.

Anyway, 2 hours flew by and we had 1 new songs and re did the 3 from last week. Me, the person who thought she had plenty originals in the bag, realised that she has lots of originals yes... but all of them incomplete. I need to sit down and finish these songs! They all have really good ideas and hooks but they dont have a second verse and all the options out there doesn't help! Bridge? No Bridge? hook? How about some weird section that no one expects! Options options...

Oh well, once we were done, we packed up and headed for dinner together. I like this part of the evening, the part where I hear some of my friend ideas for the songs, ideas on what is going to happen with it next, what it could be called while we also catch up with other parts of our lives. I am lucky that I work with my friends for a living.

Bass's down, pillar time.

Yesterday I got some musicians into the studio to work. There was no reason for them to have allocated time for me, to come into studio and to help me out with something devastatingly important to me, yet they did. 

I got to the studio (Drum Asia) a little earlier than everyone else, sat down at the piano and tried banging to my not-so-great chords in preparation for them to come in. They slowly made their way to the studio, setting up the instruments and just catching up. We as musicians , dont always get to just hang out with each other outside of work, and have even less opportunity to meet and hang out in studio to just play for fun. 

Then, I took a deep breath and told them what the first song would sound like. I played a sample and some examples of songs with a beat I liked and Omar (drums) picked it up in a second. I gave Dave (bass) and Dean (guitar) the chords I was interested in and .. off they went, with or without me. The song had taken shape and … it was a life on its own. It was like we were creating a whole new person in the room (lets’ not get too descriptive). 

Dean, Omar and Dave looking at the chart I sent them.. which someone else sent to me. =) 

A few weeks ago I met my producer, Rozhan, and he told me that this whole process was like creating a child, and when the album was done, it would feel like I have given birth! Hahahaha what a perfect way to describe it. 

Like a parent, I can’t wait to see the songs grow. 

We managed to go through 3 songs that evening. And the best part was that the guys were excited to hear the next song and then the next and tried different things with the song and asked me if I liked this, or if I liked that. Being decisive was important too, because I can hear the song in my head and so it made it easier to decide what I want and not want. But these guys were giving me so many good ideas, I wanted it all! But… some songs should not be suffocated with excessive detail. Guess I will have to update you to how that feels when it comes to it. 

Trying to do two things at once... 

Next session comes the coming Tuesday. Hopefully I can make this a weekly thing. The goal date has not changed. But here we are on the road to it and I am excited!