Day142 - Bass, Solo

In picking the last 2 songs for our initial 6-song live set I surreptitiously helped choose 2 which I play bass on... very cunning. One of which wherein I achieved the unbelievable: a bass solo in lieu of guitar!

It's pretty self-indulgent and only those who truly love the feel of warm bass slapping against their skin might appreciate it, but I don't care too much - it's great fun watching my fingers wander around the fretboard making runs, plus there's a chorus over the top so those easily bored can have a little sing along instead of eyes glazing over. The tracks are The Cure and Aotearoa.

It also splits the set nicely for me, as the rest of the songs I play guitar on. This band is about instrument swapping, so there are no set roles as such, though we each have our core strengths. A longer term goal is to throw a piano into the mix.

For the live set we've ditched one of the songs from the EP, Way of Change and replaced it with one written for and played one of our members' wedding. I'm sure there's a video of it somewhere... here's a pic:

Always Always, damn I love that song. I love how it was written: I challenged one of my co-writers to sit down with me with the intention of creating the song specifically for the occasion, no less than a week out. He was dubious, thinking he couldn't work that way - just force it out - to which I told him to hell with that attitude, of course we can do it. And we did.

It's this resolve that has served me well over the years, and is improving with age - the knowledge that I can do anything I set my mind to, and do at least a competent job at it, if not excel. This is why I see no boundaries in some areas of life - not just music - I know that if I want something then I am capable of making it work. I know it. This makes life so exciting, never boring, never ending. The only challenge is time; putting it to proper use. Everyone has the same 24 hours in the day, and pretty much all of the lovely people that I know get to choose or have already chosen how they spend theirs, whether by intention or debt.

So we ended up writing a very strong, pretty, song, in fact one of our best. I can't wait until we have our EP back from production. Though taste is subjective, I know there's bound to be a few people out there who'll enjoy it, and maybe - just maybe - I'll meet more of those very special ones who have the Spark of Recognition.

It's exciting to savour this part of the journey - on track to start gigging within the next month, just in time for the sun to come out and play.

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I've loved this song for as long as I can remember.

Bruce Springsteen - I'm on Fire

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