Something New, Something Different
I remember some of the first few times I got together with one of my friends who’s a producer and composer. We would discuss musical ideas and he would fret about a lot of the artists I was talking about and maybe he’d acknowledge some of my preferences but he’d always say, “It’s been done before”. And at the time I’d find that a deeply unsatisfying response. Because it seemed that if you’re constantly trying to define yourself by whether something has been done before or not, you’ll end up in a near infinite set of dead ends. After all, nearly everything that happens in popular music has technically been done before. We’re not inventing new chords after all. These relationships between the I and the IV and the V. These are old and timeless relationships and they have a history with each other and were I to ceaselessly look under new rocks or new directions I’d wear myself out.
But ignorance is bliss, isn’t it?
You see, that was before I started interacting with more musicians and artists and going to a few more shows and listening to the songs that people were writing and how they were thinking about them. And let me tell you, folks, there are a lot of musicians in the world. And there are a lot of musicians here in New York City. And let me tell you further. They are incredibly incredibly talented. They are masters of their craft. This is what they do. They know how to write a song. They know how to write a bridge. They know how to subtly toy with traditional song structure. They know how to nail a riff or a beautiful ethereal tone to their voice. These people know.
I don’t make music in a vacuum. We don’t make art in a vacuum. We have influences. We are impressionable. There is a dialogue going on between everyone that’s making music and the songs we write and the way we sing and the instruments we play – these things are not in isolation. They are part of a broader fabric. They weave a greater tapestry.
So, even though my stubborn nature rejected the idea that I had to do something different, at least at first, it’s dawning on me that that is the only way out for me. The only way through. Almost like a window.
Because there are so many different singers and songwriters and artists, both in this city and in the broader world, and each of us is forging a path through these brambles and there are paths that have been well trod and there are others not yet clear.
There must be tension and I must be pushing at myself and at the people I play with to try and work towards something new or different. And it’s not always going to be possible and it’s going to feel nice to feel comfortable. But I am realizing that there is a surfeit of musicians and songwriters and they are all writing some very beautiful songs and most of them have better voices and are better at their instruments and may even have better ideas about song construction. And if I fall into traditional traps. Traps set by folk music. Traps set by Americana and and traps set by the way traditional arrangements work. Well, then what was the point of all of this?
Maybe to create something beautiful. But with other people’s ideas and other people’s words? Or with my own. And with new sounds. And as a response to this dialogue that’s happening between rock and roll and dance music and maybe creating some new kind of music that fuses Americana and folk music but with more beats and I don’t mean beats as atmosphere. I mean momentum but maybe there’s a way. Who knows? We can always say, “That’s not what the song needs” But the song’s been sated by years of feeding it the same old gruel. And the song is not a person but a thing that we can do anything we want with.
And while I can’t upend the whole apple cart at once, believe me, that I am going to be pursuing something that is not the same thing. Let us clench our fists. That’s what I enjoy doing. Not just childish smiles. Not just playfulness. But some cock. And some vigor. Maybe mixed with the other things. Maybe that’s something new. Maybe that’s a path towards something. Can we mix the beat and the acoustic guitar? And again, not as wallpaper. Not something that skitters off into the night but something that stays with us and pounds insistently? I’m just wondering.
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chuckyslavidriva
