80s Rock

[billg]

I have a chance to submit a song for an 80s thing, ala Husker Du . . . I guess some people call it "shoegazer" music although I never heard that term until recently. This is the first mix. It's a tough call on vocal level because those tunes always had the vocals pretty buried.Anyhooo, comments welcome -It's called "My Insanity"http://www.billgaunce.com/song/108

[Mark Kaufman]

Want me to put you in touch with Grant Hart of Husker Du? I used to see him around all the time...I remember playing Trivial Pursuit with him at a party. He was wicked good at it. Twice he showed up at coffeehouse gigs of mine, only to glom my guitar and play a few of his own and leave.Look forward to checking out those shoes after work tonight.

[wta]

I think the backing vocals are really in the way, especially in the verses. Ya kinda droney sounding... Mmmm. The verses and chorus do sound pretty simlar as well, to a certain degree... I wonder if there is just too much going on, I'm not getting a 3d feel to this as I usually get when I hear your stuff maybe there is just too much up front? Hell what do I know I'm still trying to figure out how to tie me shoe! wta

[billg]

I think I'll try a mix with less compression and the backing vocals left out of the verses . . . except for maybe the last. I need to throw in a better guitar solo too. Back to the drawing board-

[windowman]

Hey Bill- This song kicks butt. It's very noisy, at times in a good way, at others not so much. Like wta stated, maybe the harmonies in the verse are a bit much. Lose those, and you've got some dynamic breaks. I like the drums on this too, way over the top, but in the tradition of what you're going for.I like the solo, it's melodic & has energy. Maybe just needs to be tightened up, but not in my opinion. To me the musical hook is the end of the phrases- B-G#-F#-E. Love that.And the lyric "But when they look inside they seeThat noise inside of meIs my insanity", really catches me. I don't know why, and it doesn't matter, but it's a great lyrical hook line.Somehow, you keep pumping out these little gems. Now, I'm gonna have to kill you.Wade

[matthoggard]

So thats what your insanity sounds like??Mine sounds like permanant feedback from Marshall stack!Pretty damn close for the genre. vocals probably need a some more verb. Vocal reverb was all the rage in the 80's. That will probably help give them more space.Musically I thought it was tight. Solo was cool too.well done.M~

[cameron]

OK, I'm old I admit, but I wasn't old in the 80s. So how come I never heard of Husker Du? Anyway, I found some samples of them on Amazon.com and took a listen. First thing I noticed is their hyperactive guitars actually had a pretty polished sound, sort of like 38 Special on speed, and the vocals were way buried. Your song is good-- better than their songs imho-- but somehow it doesn't quite sound like Husker Du to me. You have a unique vocal and guitar style that just comes through.Don't know if you changed it from yesterday, but I took a listen then and somehow it sounds less muddled to me this morning, so maybe you made some changes to the backing vocals already?Cam

[billg]

Ok, Wade needs to kill me, now I'm getting somewhere! I'm getting ready to sit down & see if I can "de-clutter" a bit.Matt, the song was inspired by my serious tinnitus. I did the music track first, when I sat down to try to think of a theme/direction for the lyrics all I could think about was this roar of lucusts in my ears. Sometimes it makes me want to jump out of a window.Cam, this opp isn't a direct ala but more for stuff in that direction. I haven't done anything to the mix yet.

[davekershaw]

Quote:the song was inspired by my serious tinnitus. Yeah, Pete Townsend gets that bad too, but then there's no real wonder there!This isn't as clear and defined as your usual work Bill, "too much going on" maybe, but is that the effect you went for, based on the "insanity" thing?I never heard of Husker Du either, so I can't relate it.Good track.Dave.

[cameron]

Could you guys speak a little louder?