2 new songs..

Sterling30sg · Joined: 03 Sep 2002 Posts: 186

I'll Just Be On My Way

&

Mia-Leah

www.soundclick.com/sterling30

bbchris · Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2003 5:40 am Post subject: Re: 2 new songs..

Greg - I just had a listen to "I'll just be on my way" - I've always liked the sound of your voice. I like this - the acoustic guitar and your voice are enough to move me. So Sixties feel to this. Very short and ends early which is great cause it made me listen to it again!!

Mia-Leah - is pretty too. I think I like the first one more though.

You ought to take that Stephanie instant play thing off your page as I didn't realise it at first and thought - what on Earth is that keyboard sound that doesn't fit in - hahahahhaaha

I'd love to sing with you one day. :banana

Sterling30sg · Joined: 03 Sep 2002 Posts: 186

Thank you so much Chris but I must confess to you that I only write and arrange the songs, I don't sing them, the person who sings them is my friend Dwight..

I sure wish I could sing Chris but that wasn't in the cards for me.., thank you for the nice compliments.

bbchris · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 3:03 am Post subject: Re: 2 new songs..

Oh sorry I got confused about that - tell your friend Dwight I think he's got a great voice! So you write the music & words? That's a great skill and achievement in itself - music publishers want to hear great songs and to hear a good singer singing them. The first song is definitely marketable but the second one is weaker. In my publishing opinion.

So Gregg, what inspires you?

Sterling30sg · Joined: 03 Sep 2002 Posts: 186

What inspires me Chris??? I dunno.., music for me is something I always have tried to repress for some strange reason, it doesn't come to me the way it does for most other people.. I don't need alternate tunings or any type of theory or even an instrument to compose, I've always done that in my head as long as I can remember.., I had no other option growing up, there wasn't time for instruction and no instruments either.

But that has it's drawbacks. It very possible to create really elaborate songs, and hear them exactly as they should sound but trying to recreate that for others can be very difficult, often impossible at times..

But as far as what drives me??? Not much really.. I did always want to be the person who could write another artists first #1 song, that's something that'll make me put some effort into this and would really be an accomplishment to me, but it seems to me there's a seniority type system in the business cause I feel I've allready done that several times now but it won't be premitted to happen..

So for now we just have a large backlog of songs we just might do alot of acoustic versions only of and when it's called for we'll do some more elaborate arrangements..

I can talk to Dwight about doing a song with you Chris, there is a duet I wrote several years past you both might like.., I'll just have to dust it off and write some lyrics but Dwight is never in any hurry to record so I can't give you any timetable on it + you both might not like the song either.

I did do a recording with an artist a few thousand miles away a could of year back and it came out very good.., I just sent her an arrangement and she laid the vocal track at a studio where she lived. She did get the melody wrong but that was mainly due to a flawed arrangement, that's what threw her off, but still did a wonderful job regardless..

So if we did it you would get a [correct] arrangement with Dwight singing his part , you then yours and the last verse you would both sing together.., it could be done I suppose..

bbchris · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2003 9:22 am Post subject: Re: 2 new songs..

OK! Sounds good to me Gregg. No rush from my end either as there's a lot happening in my life now but it's the sort of project I'd love to stick my teeth into. Let Dwight know a babe from HK wants to sing with him! :aua

Very interesting what you wrote about yourself. No lessons? Imagine what you'd be like with lessons!! hahahaha Your songwriting dream sounds like an achievable dream to me. It's a great dream. You need to have great sounding demos - which you do for the acoustic track. You then need a good publisher to push the songs for you. Or take the deep plunge and market yourself.

I found the way you described songcrafting so interesting - I work in a complete different manner - I always write the music first and then add lyrics to them. Of course I may have the lyrics in my head before but it's always music first. I prefer to collaborate with people. It draws out the best of both worlds. :banana

Have a fantastic weekend Gregg!

Sterling30sg · Joined: 03 Sep 2002 Posts: 186

As far as lessons go Chris.., it always seemed to me that as long as you have a good ear and really pay close attention to various styles of music, that's pretty much all the lessons you need. I always sought out different styles and appreciated people from Sinatra, Minnelli, Beethoven, Holland-Dozier-Holland to people singing on streetcorners for their next meal.., there's something to be learned in all of it..

We've got several things coming up by the end of the year too. There's at least another 6 songs I'd like to get recorded locally and I have the opportunity to have a great producer do 5 of our songs but my singer isn't to fond of traveling.., that's still in limbo but I am keeping my fingers crossed on that one..

I think it's a good song Chris.. It calls for some Clapton type leads and I have a major league player that can pull it off, just the lovely (I hope) and a very sad duet that differs from most.., it's about 2 people meeting by chance and neither realising till after that both had very strong feelings for each other..., I think it will be good..

bbchris · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2003 6:06 am Post subject: Re: 2 new songs..

Where are you based Gregg? *innocently boinking thread*

Sterling30sg · Joined: 03 Sep 2002 Posts: 186

I'm in the Detroit, Michigan area.., land of the Great Lakes and the home of Smokey Robinsin, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Iggy Pop, Mitch Ryder, Bob Seger, MC5, The Romantics, Kid Rock, Enimen, & Madonna + many more..

bbchris · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2003 2:43 pm Post subject: Re: 2 new songs..

I remember asking you this before. I have a bloody good excuse to visit Detroit now!! :wgrin

Sterling30sg · Joined: 03 Sep 2002 Posts: 186

Alot of nice things to see here, interesting place allright.. You can go inside the actual studio where most of the great Motown songs were recorded, it's just a 2 family home on W. Grand Blvd., there's the auto history too, Greenfield Village, the Henry & Edsel Ford Estates you can see, some great old elegant restaurants like the Whitney House, across the river is Windsor, (a part of our country currently occupied..., for now..

If you're ever in this neck of the woods I'd be happy to show you around Chris.. I wouldn't reccommend winter months though.., they can be brutal weatherwise.., spring, summer & fall is best..

bbchris · Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2003 5:54 am Post subject: Re: 2 new songs..

I can promise you Gregg, I would NEVER visit in the winter months :laugh

I'm a summertime girl. I'll do my best to include it in my itinerary next year for USA. :banana

Sterling30sg · Joined: 03 Sep 2002 Posts: 186

Can you play Chuck Berry licks Chris???

Reason I ask is I wrote this real hard rocker called "We Can't Stop Rockin.." that is basically a reworked Chuck Berry song about this chick who joins he band and rocks it up alot.., just a real fun song that I always wanted to do..

If you do come maybe we'll do it..., there's one studio I sometimes use that has a stage and video production capabilities, pretty extensive too.., it can actually create the illusion of playing live in a large hall, crowd scenec, all that..

If you can't make it we can still do the collab long-distance if you want but what a greater honor it would be to meet you.

bbchris · Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2003 3:42 pm Post subject: Re: 2 new songs..

Chuck berry licks? No I can't do that!! hahahaha But I can learn some :banana

That studio you mentioned sounds AWESOME!! I do hope to come to USA next year and it would be a great honour to meet YOU!

Sterling30sg · Joined: 03 Sep 2002 Posts: 186

On 2nd thought you don't even have to learn cause I remember now when going over some of the details of a video we we thinking of doing awhile back it turned out we'd be miming to a studio version of the song rather than play it live, though it still wouldn't hurt to become familiar with the Berry style cause the song starts with that standard intro he and later others used so often.., like on "Oh Carol.." And if it happens the beginning would be a closeup of your guitar work, so as long as you're close I'm sure it would be fine..

It would be fun to do allright.. this is my e-mail <sterling30@excite.com> keep me updated Chris..