Hello,
We have finished recording the demo for a song called “Chocolate Factory”.
Featuring Mandolin,Marimba,Acoustic Guitar,Bass and Drums.
Influenced by a story about the Cadbury’s Factory.Story goes that it was built right beside a famine mound.
Oh the bitter sweet irony.
This version is the second we have recorded and it has changed only slightly from the original.
This song you could easily recognise as a Pale tune.
Not that it is Pale by numbers, but it has a good few trademarks and landmarks of a Pale song.
Mandolin player Shane Wearen has a big hand in this song as he wrote the music for it.
(Yes, i do realise this is the second confectionary influenced song title)
Oscar,Bravo,Delta,
Matthew Devereux
Hello,
Just finished the demo for “The Beauty In The Riot”.
This is the third version of this song (the first containing a different lyric draft and a totally different set of chords) and i suspect we will take the best parts of all three recordings and apply them when we do it for real.
All that survived from the first version was the very same title.
Based on a number of events this song was slowly writing itself in the background for some time.
It has a very direct hook, and you could call this a love song of sorts.
It was recorded with Acoustic Guitar, Voice, Harpsichord, Samples, Mandolin, Bass and Drums.
It opens with the line “I found my one true love in the middle of a riot” (Matthew Devereux Copyright 2008).
I cannot say right now if the “one true love” is a person or simply an ideal.
It never really reveals itself fully in the song and this type of ambiguity is what i was searching for to begin with.
Oscar, Bravo, Delta
Matthew Devereux
The Great Fire of London 1666
Hello,
Started the recording of “What Would The Smiths Do?” last night. The opening line of the song uses an image of London burning. We stopped for a break and turned on the news and indeed London was on fire.
It seems that one of the best parts of London which was the markets in Camden has been damaged and many a trader has had to pick up the charred pieces of what was once a business. I feel very sorry for those effected by the fire last night, firemen, traders and locals. Nobody got hurt as far as i know, which judging by the footage is a lucky thing.
The song itself was recorded with great ease and we got a good shape on it. The working title was “London To Weatherfield” but has changed due to the fact the chorus uses “What Would The Smiths Do?” as part of it and the song is constantly getting called that, this title may stick.
Roger,Delta,Bravo
Matthew Devereux
Hello,
We have finished the demo process for this one just recently.
Two versions exist of this song at the moment.
Version two will more likely the version we will record.
The first version was a lounge-like organ and piano version in a somewhat
Leonard Cohen “I’m Your Man” fashion.
The second version is a very different affair with the entire music getting re-written in the process with a few new and unlikely instruments are getting used.
The words have remained untouched.
The testimony by previous students of the
Christian Brothers are clearly one of the subject matters on this one, no disguising it.
One of those songs that is what it is, without apologies.
I will post a further update about this one soon.
Delta, Aplha, Omega
…Over …And …Out
Matthew Devereux
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Cohen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregation_of_Christian_Brothers
Black Raven - Corvus Corax
Hello,
This song i am glad to say features the least words written so far for any of the songs. If it was a painting it would be like a few broad strokes of colour and form. Neat and colourful would be a decent description.
The title was influenced by an event i watched high up on the Citadel in Budapest a few months ago. Two of the songs we have recorded so far reference the very same event as far as i know. Having said that, both songs are very different to one another. I will write a little about the second song soon.
This song was the last thing recorded last night and we only stopped because fatigue and short attention span caught up with us. I have grown to like this one because it does not sound like us at all.
Despite the ominous sounding title, this song is still a little catchy, which i have pointed out in the past can only be a positive thing at this stage. We used the electronic drumkit on this track and Aidan O’Grady really added a human feel to them, which was a bio-electronic wonder to behold. You can tell he owns a copy of Man Machine by Kraftwerk.
Zebra, Oscar, Magenta
Matthew Devereux
Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005)
Hello,
We have finished the demo for “Indie Music”.Acoustic guitar is straightforward. A little bit punk and little bit folk. If you would allow me to invent a word…Polk.
The drum loops sound like crisp bags. Aidan O’Grady should bring some human feel to it soon. Everything played on the demo was guided by the notion that this song had to be simple and direct.
On the lyrical side the song manages to name-check William S.Burroughs, Hunter S.Thompson and quotes from a piece of philosophy believed to be dreamt up first by The Ramones. Just for the shoe fans i made sure 14 hole Ox blood Doc Martens get a mention also.
Alpha,Omega,Roger
Matthew Devereux
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_S._Thompsonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Burroughs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Martenshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ramones
Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828 – March 24, 1905)
Hello,
Just finished laying down the basic tracks for this song. The initial idea for the melody to this song, like “Lady Gregory”,came from a bell. Two bells to be precise.
It was around 2 minutes long when the first version was recorded with just a voice an acoustic guitar and bells, it is now closer to 4 minutes long. Darren re-wrote the music for the outro with a little panache and a little digital trickery. He also got out the morse code machine and bleeped in a message over the end of the song (Top Secret at the moment).
The title“Paris in the 21st Century” is taken from book of similar name written by the great Jules Verne. The book itself is only a mild influence on the song. The book was unpublished until after his death. His publisher had turned the book down when it was first written.
Zebra, Magenta, Delta….
Matthew Devereux
Jules Verne on Wikipedia
Another interesting Jules Verne link. “Le Telephon-Photographique”
Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (15 March 1852 – 22 May 1932)
Hello,
This is my first post on the blog so far. We are near the end of the overdubs on the 4-track tape machine and now it’s time for the real thing. I wish i could just continue recording on the 4-track but i am afraid it has to get a little more upmarket from this point on. I really do love 4-track machines.
Recording music in this fashion is without doubt the business. It is like the songs are pretending to be grown up. The songs are walking around in an oversize hat and oversize shoes with a drawn on moustache. Compressed and gasping for space and air and recognition. Groaning under the weight of the improvised music it has to carry, it sometimes snaps, degrades and generally suffers from too much information. I often feel sorry for the poor loyal trusting little cassette tape.
The recording for this new collection of songs started with me trying to match the key of a school bell which was given to me by somebody who reckoned i would knock some craic out of that sort of thing. The school bell is in fact a fraction off the key of G. A fraction like this can be your friend.
Recording One “Lady Gregory”
“Lady Gregory” was the song that was conjured up by that bell and it’s almost in the key of G. The main character in the song is bemoaning the fact that “Lady Gregory” has pulled her patronage out from underneath him. This was only the template for the song as ”Lord Longford” and his campaign of innocence around the convicted murderer “Myra Hindley” becomes the subject matter by the second verse. Pleading for a return to a time when somebody defended your cause and had unwavering belief in your potential. It is also a really catchy tune. Which often really helps. We have recorded two versions of this song with two different arrangements.
Oscar…Bravo…Delta
Over and Out…
Matthew Devereux
Below are links to some of the people I was writing about.
Lady_Gregory
Frank_Pakenham,_7th_Earl_of_Longford
Recording, The Pale | Matthew Devereux | 
March 3, 2008 3:05 pm | 
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