watervillains

Keith- I came up with this soul-throwback when I was stuck on another song. It reminds me of Huey Lewis for some reason. I guess It took me a year to come up with an answer to Greg's jam-"Magic Pants".

Keith- I was sitting in my living room just playing chords and singing pure gibberish when this song emerged from noise. Cool Chicken-picking solo by Greg and wonderful instrumentation by Jon Comes and James Kesler.

Keith- (A song about the relationship between my two cats- Puss and Muff (Infinite inspiration that they are)) I started worrying about coming up with enough songs mid-way through the month of Feb.. I came up with the skeleton of "Performer" at 7am before on a work day. I'm not sold on the vocals on the chorus, but I've decided to live with it. Greg's solo smokes like mesquite BBQ.

Keith- (A song about human nature) Greg supplied me with a cool drum/organ loop and I had a very persistent vocal melody stuck in my head for it for weeks. The problem was that I didn't care for it. I came up with the guitar line and I was able to take the vocal melody in a better direction. One of my surprise favorites.

Keith- Good lord I love how this one turned out! I had the guitar and vocal melody very early in Feb., but the lyrics I kept coming up with were WAY too dark. I decided to make it about my penchant for writing agnostic-themed songs . The thought being that one day "God" would be jamming along to one of the songs, but then really listen to the words and shoot up in his cloud chair and say "What the hell??" Greg's electric guitar melody is so strong I had to put it in front of the acoustic fingerpicking. The song also contains the freakiest guitar solo I've ever done. My absolute favorite track.

Keith- Last Year Greg really stumped me with what became "Let Down". This song challenged me the same way. The vibe is ridiculous. I know this one would be a killer live.

Keith- I found this cool drum loop and the rest of the song came fairly easy. I was delighted to to have written something remotely happy. Pop deliciousness.

Keith- When we got the band together to record, I hit record, Greg started playing and everybody joined in. Great night driving music. Impromptu perfection.

Keith- I have to admit that doing an acoustic version of something we recorded was our emergency plan if I started mixing down the album and we were short on time. I dig this version if just for the added banjo.

Keith- Another great year. Again, I was amazed with what we could come up with in such a short period of time (maybe I should sell my Xbox360). I've always thought that we were good at writing songs in a wide variety of sounds and styles. This year really cements that with me: Rock-jams to 60's soul, Brazilian Pop to Country. Thanks to Jon and James for their great musical contributions! Special Super Thank you to Andrew "A$" Wagener for the KILLER Water Villains logo!!!!

1) White Bird (May 2007) MP3

Keith-I think I came up with this pretty immediately after we decided to do the RPM Challenge. It was approximately 10 minutes after I told Greg my goal was to not write any sad songs for the CD. So my first tune out of the gate is about the end of the world. Nice try. This version has Greg and I both playing bass and electric guitar. Epic and one of my favorites.

Greg- Pure RPM inspiration for Keith....Classic "May" melody...It was a fairly complete song when I got it so I just added a little bass and guitar sprinkle....It did take a little pressure off since it was seven minutes long!

2) All the Gods (May, Hall 2007) MP3

Keith-Greg gave me a CD with this great early-80's Prince keyboard and drum loop. I had no idea what to do with it at the time, but was completely drawn to it. I goofed around with my acoustic for about a half hour and then I "got it" and competed the song that night.......then erased everything I had done with a couple of stupid button presses. I was out-of-my-mind angry and had to start from scratch the next day. The real treat on this one is the Sax input by Sam Krall, who I had contacted through the RPM Challenge website. I sent Sam the MP3 and it came back 10x's better that the original I had erased.

Greg- I recorded what I thought was just an idea demo with keys, bass and drum and sent it to Keith....Keith doubled up the demo and wrote cool lyrics and guitar....Sam Krall a fellow RPM participant(from Toledo added sax and the result was my favorite song of the project.

3) Let Down (May, Hall 2007) MP3

Greg- I let out my inner hillbilly, recorded it and sent it to Keith.....Keith added some hard fought but totally worth it lyrics...a fun song that should sound good with the band.

Keith-One of the first songs Greg and I have ever written together where I just sing. This song was the toughest of the challenge and I really had no idea what to make it about and where to go melody-wise with it. Once I got the melody, I remembered a girl that we saw on two occasions at a venue we play. Both times we saw her she was tagging behind her overaggressive, drunk boyfriend begging him to leave the bar after he got in a fight. I imagined this was how she spent every Saturday night.

4) One Other Time (May, Hall 2007) MP3

Keith-Another track featuring Greg on keyboard that I was instantly excited about. I added some sparse guitar and ass-jazz doubled guitar solo, but the vibe was right there. I once had a job interview over dinner with a gentleman who worked for Kodak. It was the most unusual interview I have ever been on and at one point the guy started telling me how he cheated on his wife once and she took him back. My response was how weird that must be for her, and how I thought she must find herself walking through the grocery store and remember what he did. You know, at the strangest moments. I didn't get the job.

Greg- Some additional fake keyboard playing on my part....basically I recorded the groove....Very smooth lyrics/melody and a cool assjazz solo by Keith....overall a very hip song.

5) Overnight (May 2007) MP3

Keith-I wrote this waiting for inspiration to come to finish another song. The lyrics took a week to come to me, but I'm really delighted with the whole track. Greg and I both took a stab at adding extra guitar and even organ but nothing stuck. Just right the way it is I guess.

Greg- country angst by Mr. May....heartwrenching melody...reminds of Jeff Tweedy(Wilco)

6) Memory (May 2007) MP3

Greg- Keith sent me this with a request for bass....it took me some time but I came up with a bass line which I was happy with and which I thought complimented the song.... a pretty cool "big" rock song.

Keith-Another song that came to me rather quick while goofing off. It has an unusual vibe that I really dig. Greg added some great bass to this one. As if "Last Supper" and "All the Gods" were crossbred.

7) All of July (May, Hall 2007) MP3

Greg- the only song we constructed together in the same room....this song is all about the mood

Keith-The ONLY song Greg and I were in the same room for! It is truly insane to me that we pulled all of this off over the internet. Really cool actually. We got this going on the first night Greg came down and it was about the only constructive this we did in two days. I like the dark middle eastern vibe juxtaposed with the "Summer Loving" lyrics.

8) Magic Pants (Water Villains Theme) (Hall 2007) MP3

Greg- suburban soul and the return of Sam Krall on sax....Keith on keys...currently instrumental.....possible May vocal to come?

Keith-Greg sent this to me and my jaw hit the floor. JUST LISTEN TO THE BASS! This is "ass-jazz". I tried like hell to come up with some lyrics, but I had no idea where to go melody wise-and it sounds damn good on its own. I sprinkled some keyboard in the background and once again we called in a favor from Sam Krall and he came through big time. I think this is Greg's fines moment right here. Sexy picnic music? Hell yeah!

Keith-I LOVE the demo version of this song. I couldn't help but add it. This recording is from the night I wrote it and it is the first time I sang it all the way through. Includes the sound of my dog walking on the floor above and our heater kicking on as the song fades. Enjoy.

The RPM project was a blast! It felt to good to obsess about music for awhile (even more than usual). When you write music as a hobby you can lack urgency and spontaneity. For me this challenge provided pressure and that led ultimately to inspiration. I think this worked well with Keith and I because we have played music together for so long and ego is never an issue(Keith knows his place). This was a fun project that resulted in music that I am really happy about.

-Greg

I have no idea why "music homework" inspired us so much. Some songs came very quickly, some took perseverance, but it was always exciting. Greg and I have been making music together for a long time and I think we always provide a challenge to each other (in the best possible way). This project really injected some excitement into writing and reacting to each other's material. Besides generating eight of my new favorite songs, this past month has reaffirmed how much I enjoy making music with Greg and what can be accomplished in a short time frame. I know that if Greg hadn't called me at the beginning of the month neither of us would have written any of these songs. Do I want to live in a world without "Magic Pants"......no, no I don't.