One Night - SAC Challenge 2014 Trusting the Subconscious

      Trusting the subconscious.

ONE NIGHT-WEEK #5

There is so much happening behind the curtain of our conscious selves. From blinking eyes to beating hearts, the breath that fills our lungs to the yawn that takes us over when we see someone else do the same. It's true that we can play around with trying to control these functions of our bodies...but they don't need us meddling in the everyday actions of their routine. If we were truly aware of every experience we undergo, every conversation we over hear, every little detail we unravel in our memories...there is a good chance we would all be lost in the labrynth of our minds making communication in the outside world almost impossible.

The subconscious songwriter is a pretty magical thing. I am sure I am not the only one who has sat down with a guitar or at a piano and wrote an entire tune as if someone was dictating what to say. In fact the first 100 songs I wrote primarily came out that way. I was protective of them, as if they were works of art that someone had painted and to change them or touch them in any way was against the laws of nature. I do miss those early songs, and the simplicity of how they came about.

The week before music became my life's passion, I was sitting in my video game store. I had purchased it a few years before and during the days things were kinda slow, so I sat in the back staring up at the monitor just in case a customer came in. On the desk in front of me was an open book. Empty pages waiting patiently for me and my guitar to write something new. In this challenged state, I spent 2 hours writing a song called "Broken". My defeat and lack of joy behind the counter of a store when all I really wanted to do was play music, was captured in a song that my brain had put together over the last couple months. The song was in a minor. It was slow...and heartwrenching, and when I reached the end of its creation, I was at the bottom of the ladder. I needed something to pick me up. It was in that moment that I had decided to sell the store and pursue music full time. I spent the next 25 minutes writing a song that would not only be on my first album, but be the lead track, win me the Bear's Rock Search and soon be charting across Canada. 

I was much younger than...for those that know me now. This was filmed in 1998...and well..youtube didn't come out till 7 years later. 

Now back to the subconscious. I am a firm believer that much of what we say, and almost all of what we write is coming from the subconscious. Put together nights, weeks, months and even years before. Its the reason it flows out of us sometimes. It has already been written.

This weeks song came to me out of an actual experience and as I reflected and took part in daily writing...I tapped into all kinds of things from this week and the past that related to the idea.

ONE NIGHT - is the title.

Sometimes we only need to catch up on sleep to put everything back together. I say it to my kids when they wake up in a bad mood...I feel it in myself when I burn the candle and push too hard. The brain is no different than the physical effects we feel in forms of aches and pains...and like our muscles and joints...it needs to not only recuperate...but reprogram and file away the thousands of events that happen to us everyday. If we push to hard, our brain like our bodies and cars need fuel...and coincidentally...this weeks song was written after I ran my vehicle out of gas.

Now you might be wondering, how does one do that. There are warning signs, lights, sounds to remind you. There is a reserve in the tank that should get you to where you are going. And the funniest thing about this running out of gas scenario...its not the first time I have done it. In my life, it has happened 5 times. I have established the primary reason it happens, and a few secondary's. The main reason  is a positive thing. It centers on my belief. I believe I wont run out before I get to the next station. So i push it...to the limit. I'm cocky and think that it won't happen to me...until it does. 

The tow truck that came (i had young children in the car to witness this...lol...proud moment) took almost 2 hours to arrive. I would have walked, but this was on a highway and my kids that were with me are 7 and 9...and for the first time in my life, I had recently purchased CAA. They were hook me up. But two hours? When the guy arrived, I walked up to his Cab trying to speed the process up. You see they give you 10 liters of gas to get you to the next station. As I neared the drivers door, I

saw something quite strange indeed. You see this guy's tow truck was a flat bed. And pinned up against the back on the flat bed itself...scared shitless...was a tiny little cat. On the outside. Shaking, scared...and probably just used up a few of its lives on the 60 minute trip it just took to come and rescue me. The driver was completely unaware that he had a stowaway.

Now what happened next was nothing short of comical. As he went to the compartment on the outside of his truck to retrieve the Gas Container...it was nowhere to be found. This guy travelled 60 minutes to come give me gas...and he brought no gas! 

These are moments when laughter is the only weapon you have. So he hoisted me and my kids up on to the flatbed and drove us to the nearest station.

Even tho, my bad day was nowhere near as bad as this guys...Sometimes staying in bed, seems like a much better idea. Hence the reason for this weeks song.

                            

Thanks for listening, and reading. 

Appreciate it.

North Easton

One Night - North Easton

I don't wanna wait for another bad day to find me
Every time I look there's another closed book behind me
Open up the shutters no I won't get up
Take away my covers but I won't get up
I don't wanna face another bad day
Inside me

One night to clear my head
I'm too tired to make it out of bed
Stuck in the middle of a life that just wont change

One Night to let things go
Too many times I am woah
Stuck in the middle of a riddle I can't escape
Stuck in the middle of a riddle I got, and yes little less thought about the things that make me go.

I dont wanna think about the chase, I dont wanna waste a minute
Focused on the finish line
But everytime i see the same old day after day I stop and
settle for the red light
Roll over but I wont get up
Start over but I wont get up
I dont wanna wait for another bad day to find me.

One night to clear my head
I'm too tired to make it out of bed
Stuck in the middle of a life that just wont change

One Night to let things go
Too many times I am woah
Stuck in the middle of a riddle I can't escape
Stuck in the middle of a riddle I got, and yes little less thought about the things that make me go.

I keep falling..Somebody..catch me. Somebody Catch me
I keep falling...somebody slow me down x2

Suddenly Love is - SAC Challenge Week # 4 The Cliche

There are two kinds of people in this world...

Those who write a cliche into their songs, and those who write many cliche's in their songs. (Check out this collection of TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE movie clips)

An original idea is extremely hard to achieve. Take the image above for example. If you look up love in Google images, you will find countless pictures of silhouetted couples kissing... Although we love great ideas, and new things, we feel comfortable ordering the same food, buying the same clothes, telling the same stories to different people day after day.

My father always told me "That good guys finish last" "You only live once" "If the shoe fits...wear it" "Dont hold your breath" "Quit while you're ahead" "Better late than never" "It never hurts to try"...and "never play leapfrog with a unicorn"

K that last one wasn't his...in fact none of them were, but when I hear or read these expressions, I think of him. A cliche is a very powerful tool in writing, and Christopher Ward "Hit the nail on the head" when he spoke of the importance of a cliche in a hit song. Upon further research...every hit song has a cliche in it...if not many. Think of the ironic cliche of Nickelbacks Rockstar. Nickelback who rose to fame and impacted so many singers with an original voice and great tunes...and then...cliche after cliche song that has turned most of the music world against them. This very song here lists all of the cliches around being a rockstar...which Chad Kroeger now has (hockey rink inside his house in the bastment...studio out back) and of course 56 million views on the video alone. Cliche's work. The big challenge is writing something original around the cliche that makes it stand out.





So for me...this week...I listened...I read...I looked around...and settled on a familiar cliche starting with "LOVE IS". Christopher himself used this in a hit song for Alanah Myles. Brilliant...so why not start there...I thought. Also sticking with last weeks journey...I decided to start this song with the chorus

Suddenly Love is

Chorus:

Suddenly Love is, love is just a place

Suddenly love is love is just another word that you cant explain

Love is love is just a face

That you can't erase 

Verse:  

Lips press down on a cigarette

light another up and you take a breath you

cough and close your eyes and  focus

Climb into the car in the parking lot

Look into the mirror with the same old thought

will anybody even notice

Foot to the floor, and the race is on

Try and get away from a ticking bomb

Drive into the dark before the world it closes (Chorus)

Chorus:

Suddenly Love is, love is just a place

Suddenly love is love is just another word that you cant explain

Love is love is just a face

That you can't erase 

Lost in the riddle of the radio

Heart beat pounds against your throat

Its hard as hell to See the signs  

Flashback  flickers, painful pictures, 

Time is quicker, everytime you wait...for the right..

Time..

And the red light, turns white...You can't stop...

or change your mind...You are caught between 

the faded yellow lines... 

  

Bridge:

Honestly its Hard to breathe,  I see your ghost

Slip into a  memory, cant let go

Honestly Its Hard to breathe breaking glass, the empty street,

the faded past is Out of reach, fear is taking hold

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I tried to use as many cliche's as possible without stepping on the potential of the song. They are bolded above.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and listen to the tune.

"Until next time" "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" "Another day another dollar" "Always look on the bright side of life"...and blah blah blah.

Cheers everyone
North

Strong - SAC Challenge 2014 - Week # 3

Getting out of the box can be a difficult process. We as people are constantly finding ourselves in daily routines. How we wake up, what we wear, the way we brush our teeth, the path we take to work, where we stop for coffee and the words we greet people with...it seems like everything in our lives is a pattern...and breaking that is no easy feat.

This week's song did take a different path that the rest of my other songs in a long while. As most of my songs have extremely simple instrumentation...(acoustic and voice...or piano and voice), I thought it would be good for me to pick up the electric guitar and try my hand at rocking out a little more.

A friend of mine (Jith Paul) is putting together a movie called Clean Slate, and he asked me to write a track for it. I took the inspiration from his story and put this song together. The screenwriter (Paolo Della Malva) has a girl struggling to get up on stage. She is hiding out in the bathroom with her friends and band mates trying to coax her up to perform. Stage Fright...a real thing, as I am sure some of you can probably relate. Putting ourselves out there is not an easy thing, especially if we are singing something that we wrote ourselves. Eyes judge...just a fact of life...but I digress.

So...the song is called Strong.

And seeing how the event takes place in a bar, I went with more Rock than usual approach. I started writing the chorus first this time...normally I let me verses lead me to the chorus. I also built the song up from drums instead of music. Created the beat that I wanted...added in some bass...and then started creating the rest of it off that.

Lyrics normally come first or at the same time as my music...but this time, I waited and recorded the song and created lines over top of it. I did however have some melody in my head as it is near impossible for me to write without some kind of melody hook driving me forward.

Have a listen to the song here.

Tell yourself the fear it helps
The final bells are ringing clear as hell
Its time to get your shit together
its now or never you gotta face

Close your eyes And take a breath
count to ten and do your best to let it go...let it go

Pre:
Everytime you fall behind,
You look inside to find the reason that you wont...back...down..

Chorus:
Oh..you gotta get strong, you gotta get tough
You gotta get better than ever and love
What your gonna do, when you give what you got
to the world in front of you.
Love the life to live it long
To fight the fight...you gotta get strong

Verse 2.

Look into,the simple truth and try and find a way to get it
You gotta take a chance and let it, let it change your point of view

Hit the brakes and count the days, and just forget your last and past mistakes,

Let it go 

Chorus:
Oh..you gotta get strong, you gotta get tough
You gotta get better than ever and love
What your gonna do, when you give what you got
to the world in front of you.
Love the life to live it long
To fight the fight...you gotta get strong

Bridge:
Life is counting all the faces,
all the seconds we've all wasted
Life is counting all the space-

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Thanks for taking the time to check out my blog.

Feel free to comment.

All the best 

North Easton

-never stop writing.

Just Go Out - SAC CHALLENGE 2014 (Week #2)

 If you learn to keep in the shadows, not stare too long, and wear an interesting hat...people watching is a pretty easy thing to do. The interesting hat is so that when people catch you looking at them, they notice the hat first. And when they look back at you, they think you have noticed them looking at your hat...it's pretty much clear sailing after that. I know this from my countless days of being a private detective...well...sitting in front of the T.V. and watching private detectives. In fact, I can say that most of the cool knowledge I have obtained in this world comes from guys like Magnum P.I., Simon and Simon, Remington Steele and Angela Lansbury...yes...i just said Angela Lansbury. This lady was cool. And with all respect to Sir Paul McCartney...him and her kinda look the same (look it up) which brings us back to people watching.

So ten minutes of writing in 5 separate locations can  certainly get the brain moving. I think once you get past the literal and start letting the imagination and senses take over, songs exist around us in everything. The lives of people you don't know can be as fascinating as you would like them to be. Why someone is acting the way they are?...the conversation they could be having with each other? (check out Tina Fey and Steve Carrell in Date Night for more inspiration), the thoughts they could be having in their heads...watching people argue, or reach out for each others hands...a child looking up to a parent hoping for a treat in a store, the reaction the parent gives back...a guy riding his bike in the snow...the smiles and frowns of the people caught in traffic.  It truly can get your brain and heart wrapped up in a bunch of cool scenarios.

For me, I settled on a situation I watched unfold while enjoying a cup of coffee in a local coffee place...(no brand names here without compensation). There was a girl sitting by a fireplace reading a book, the look on her face was not a happy one.

I could not see the title of the book which got me thinking even more. She was near the window and kept looking up from her book to the outside. When I looked around the shop, I could also see a young guy in a suit waiting in line texting on his phone. A common everyday thing I have seen many times. It got me to thinking about these two and the lives that they wish they could escape to. 

And...in true songwriter form...what if their lives connected in another place further down the line?

This is what I came up with.

JUST GO OUT - NORTH EASTON

She sits by the fire, hands on a cup
Face in a book, soaking it up
Cant find the look that somebody took away from her
Eyes on the page, mind in the past
it was a heart break that led to the crash
And its hard not to let the inside change your day

Chorus: So just go out...take a walk
Let the sunshine change your thoughts
Just go out...Stop the clock and run away
Just Go out...and let it go, its time to bre-athe life in nice and slowly
Find another way...just go out today

He waits in a line, fixed on his phone
Talking to someone, while standing alone
Stuck in the same old, tightrope, blindfold...digging for some change
And he's tired of the push, and the feel of the weight
On the inside he's ready to break
And he cant understand why everything stays the same (chorus)

Bridge Life is...waiting..
Try and save it
Dont look away

SHe's under a tree, hands in the grass
Face in the clouds, wind on her back
She looks like a girl who's got the whole world in motion
ANd then he comes along, wearing a smile
She sends it right back with a whole other style
He can tell that the belle has the rest of her life wide open (chorus)

For all my Canadian Songwriting Compadres...keep writing...I am loving what you guys are all doing. It's a blast listening to each of your stories unravel. And for the love of god...STAY WARM.

-North