Category Archives: Video

Sting’s Songwriting Process – A Video Insight

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I stumbled across this old video of Jools Holland interviewing Sting (circa mid 80′s) recently and it gives a brilliant insight into the way that Sting gathers, processes and demos his songwriting ideas before introducing it to the rest of the Police band members

Even though the video primarily focuses on how he come up with “Message In A Bottle” (one of my all time favourite songs) there are plenty of pearls of wisdom to be had if you listen for it.

Look out for the introduction of Dennis as one of the central characters in his songwriting process.

I loved every minute of this video especially the old recording technology I mean, I used to have one of those Tascam 4 track machines (ahh, the memories of it all). I hope you enjoyed it too, let me know what you think.

Peace,

Corey :)

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SongDare #4 – I Predict A Riot (Kaiser Chiefs)

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Yes, it’s another SongDare. This time I do the Kaiser Chiefs song “I Predict A Riot”

This song was requested by Joel Stibbard.

I must say, I knew very little about this song and the Kaiser Chiefs before I took on this SongDare but I’m glad I learnt this tune because it’s an absolute ripper of a song.

Embedded in the English punkiness of the tune is a serious message about a generation (or even a society) of people who have lost their way and because of this, tensions rise to breaking point. The chorus in the original make you want to shout “OI, OI, OI”

Love it…

Peace,

Corey :)

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SongDare #3 – Exit Music (For A Film) (Radiohead)

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This song was requested by BT Cassidy who is is by far the biggest Radiohead fan that I know :)

Enjoy…

This song presented some challenges for me, especially trying to decipher the timing in the “Breathe, keep breathing” part of the song. I think I nailed it pretty well though however, I do love the darkness this song portrays through its lyrics and tonality.

The original version of this song is so very haunting and its my hope that I can retain some of that in this version.

Let me know what you think.

Peace,

Corey :)

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My First Record – Jeff Wayne’s “War Of The Worlds”

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Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the...

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I don’t watch that much television but one of my favourite TV programs going around at the moment is RockWiz on SBS.

On the show, every participant on the program is asked one of two questions as part of their introduction.

1. What was the first record you ever bought (or was bought for you)?
2. What was the first concert you ever went to?

Today I’m going to deal with my first record… It was Jeff Wayne’s “War Of The Worlds”

My Auntie (Mum’s sister) got the double LP for me for my 9th or 10th birthday because every time I went over to her place I would take her copy of War Of The Worlds and put on some headphones and spend all night night listening to it over and over and over again while looking through the extensive album notes and pictures.

I still have the album even now, it’s a treasured part of my music collection.

The War Of The Worlds album captured my imagination and it really influenced my musical leanings as the album turned me on to the concept of orchestral music (I didn’t start studying music until I got into high school).

I found this video of the introduction and the first piece of music (The Coming Of The Martians) performed live and conducted by the composer himself, Jeff Wayne

Man, what a gig to be part of.

I must say… Richard Burton still has the best speaking voice EVER.

Peace,

Corey :)

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SongDare #2 – Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden)

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This song was requested by Stewart Cook who is one half of an enterprising duo along with John McCall that run the Live ‘n’ Local Open Mic at The Metropolitan Hotel every Tuesday night so if you’re in Adelaide you should check it out. It’s Awesome!

Anyway, here’s the video. This is for you Stewy!

I found this song particularly challenging to pick off because of the detuned nature of the guitar arrangement. I hope that my standard tuning acoustic guitar version does some justice to this great song.

Peace,

Corey :)

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SongDare And Other Video Projects

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Picture of a canon video camera.

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Ever since I wrote Pomplamoose & The Covers VS Originals Argument in late July I’ve been mucking around around with my Canon video camera, working out how to use it and, at the same time, trying to work out what my promotions and marketing angle for me using video would be.

Obviously my first step is to put my own songs onto video. I really do think that for me, video is going to become an integral component in my online music marketing however, I’m also going to take a leaf out of Pomplamoose’s book and start experimenting with playing covers.

Why not? There’s a couple of ways I’m going to do this.

First of all I’m going to start a video series on this blog called I Wish I Wrote That where I pay homage to the songs and songwriters that have inspired me throughout my life. It’s where I can show you through video who my musical influences are and it will also give you an opportunity in sharing with me your musical influences as well.

I’m looking forward to some fascinating conversations from this…

Secondly, I’m starting an ongoing series of videos where I play any song that is requested of me, from you. The concept is called SongDare and it’s an idea that has been running through my head ever since I started seriously playing covers either as a soloist or with bands professionally, about 5 years ago.

The concept is very, very simple.

You request a song, and I mean any song, no matter how bizarre or beautiful it may be, and if I can play it just by using my voice and an acoustic guitar, I’ll video it and put it up on YouTube and embed the video on this blog.

As well as putting my own songs onto video, SongDare is something I’m really excited about.

It’s always amazed me the diverse range of songs that people would request me to do for them at my cover shows from Duran Duran to Meatloaf to Garth Brooks to Beyonce. I do love a challenge and SongDare gives me a chance to have a go at playing anything and everything.

So, I now open it up to you.

Contact me with your request and I’ll do my best to learn it, cover it and put it on video for you. When your song is ready to be put online I’ll let you know and send you through the YouTube link. I’ll personally make sure that I put your name in the credits.

Which means YOU get instant bragging rights.

Remember, your SongDare request could be your favourite song or, a song that you’d think would be hilarious to watch me attempt to play.

All I can say is bring it on… I dare you!

Peace,

Corey :)

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All You Need Is Four Chords To Write A Hit Song

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Below is a video of a skit performed by Australian musical comedy act “Axis Of Awesome.”

This video clearly demonstrates how important song lyrics and vocal melody are in writing and how the song arrangement (in this case it’s the chord progression E B C#m A) is a foundation in which the lyrics and melody of the featured songs are built upon.

It’s also very, very funny to watch. Enjoy!

Peace,

Corey :)

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Pomplamoose And The Covers VS Originals Argument

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In my last post “CD Baby DIY Musicians Podcast. I Love It” I mentioned that I would share any DIY music marketing ideas that I come across with you. I will then attempt to incorporate these ideas into my own music marketing.

What you’ll read below is one of those ideas.

Before I downloaded all of the CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast series I was listening to them one at a time as they were being released. The latest podcast, features an interview with Jack Conte from the duo Pomplamoose.

Pomplamoose has gained massive amounts of exposure worldwide for two main reasons:

1. Their creative “video songs” have been collectively viewed over 10 million times (yes 10,000,000)
2. They use cover songs to their advantage.

Lately I have been getting more and more interested in using video for my own stuff as well as for the Open Mic Network so stumbling across this podcast was very timely indeed.

Until now I had not heard of the term “video song” but CD Baby describe it as a new medium of music video “…in which the imagery is an inside look into how the song is actually created.” Here is an example of one of Pomplamoose’s video songs, an excellent cover of “September” by Earth, Wind and Fire

This leads me to the second part of why Pomplamoose is so successful, it’s their use of COVERS (I can hear you cringing through the computer monitor but hey, hear me out for a second…)

For me, the answer to the covers vs originals questions goes like this…

For me, it all comes down to the attitude you have towards the music you’re covering, there is a difference between an artistic homage to a great song and a blatant rip off just to make some cash. I believe that you can still have artistic integrity while doing covers.

It’s not the song itself but how you cover it that should be the most important thing to consider.

Jack Conte in the interview was saying that for Pomplamoose, making video songs of well known covers enabled them to gain a huge amount of exposure and in turn grow a large fan base who want to be turned on to their own music.

He also goes on to say that covers are a good business decision, in fact it’s your duty as a musician to do covers, how will you stand out in the crowd if you don’t give your audience something to relate to?

Personally, a great song is a great song no matter where it comes from. Whether you wrote it or not a great song should be played, it should be listened to and it should be appreciated for what it is… A work of art.

What do you think about the covers vs originals argument? I know that it’s one of those arguments that will never be resolved but hey, it’s great fun as a conversation topic. Let me know your stance on this I’d love to hear your views.

To end my rant here is another Pomplamoose video song, a classy rewrite of Michael Jackson‘s “Beat It.” Nice!

I’m now inspired to play around with some video and if you’re lucky, I’ll put some up for you to check out.

Peace,

Corey :)

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