[kingforaday]

Hi all,

If you have a minute, please check out the 1st track, Convicts & Catholics, from my new EP:

https://soundcloud.com/snakeoil-salesmen/convictsandcatholics

I wrote and performed all the instruments/vocals (because it's easier than trying to put a band together - and I'm a bit of a control freak!)

I'd previously done an EP in this style (about 5 years ago) and really enjoyed it and always hoped to return to it when time and inspiration allowed (very lazy songwriter, can often take me years to truly "finish" songs).

Please check it out if you have time and let me know what you think.

I'm also interested in what other songwriters do to get their music heard? The studio engineer I (always) record with, said of this recording: "You'll post one link on Facebook and then you'll never mention it again... You really should do more with this stuff" - but like what? I've always struggled with the 'self promotion' thing as it is... but if anyone has any tips/advice, I'm all ears.


Lyrics:

I need to get back on the fast track to wealth,
cuz all this poverty's gotta be bad for my health,
So once again I’m sat here asking myself;

Am I toeing the line or just biding my time?
Waiting to commit the perfect crime

Remember when crime didn't pay?
When all we built were jails and churches,
things aren't so clear cut these days
The system crumbled and decayed,
No clear divide, convicts and Catholics,
No longer black and white, now endless shades of grey

I’ve always let my own conscience be my guide,
But his grasp of right and wrong is starting to slide,
lets pray it doesn't take a jury to decide

Am I toeing the line, or just biding my time?
Waiting to pull off the perfect crime

Remember when crime didn't pay?
When all we built were jails and churches,
things aren't so clear cut these days
The system crumbled and decayed,
No clear divide, convicts and Catholics,
No longer black and white, now endless shades of grey

It’s not as simple as the line between wrong and right,
If I did it for the right reason, is that alright?
guilty of something but so is everyone
The laws I break are just stupid ones anyway,
the lies are tell are little and white so is that ok?
what does it matter? I’m not hurting anyone

All we built were jails and churches

[Neil C]

Well I'm enjoying this.

Good energy, clever lyrics. Its got an energetic slightly off kilter pop feel to it which I like.

Intriguing intro and chords. Got that interesting minor/major power pop thing going on.

Thoughts: powerful drums and bass with interesting and busy guitars, however taken together they tend to hide the vocals and melody, these should be lifted up in the mix a tad as the vocals are fine and committed.

Re marketing - have a good look through the Marketing thread on the forum. I don't do any real promotion myself but others do and there's lots advice if you're serious.

Thanks for sharing and look forward more, sort that completer finisher thing out!
 
neil

 

[Jamie]

hi, interesting chord prog, liked the recording of the instruments, all sounding good and well played. I felt that the vocals were getting a bit lost especially where the multi layers/harmonies come in!
nice one!
cheers
jamie

[Skub]

Yo kingforaday. Welcome to the forum. 

I loved the groove and the energy in this track,very much reminds me of XTC.

With regard to getting more listeners to your music,this place works on the principal of reviewing other posted songs and the favour is returned. If you post a couple of songs and don't bother listening and commenting on the songs of other members,then after a while folk get the message.

Hosting sites such as Soundcloud work on the same principal,if you participate,you generate more listens,thus getting your music out there.

[kingforaday]

Yo kingforaday. Welcome to the forum. 

I loved the groove and the energy in this track,very much reminds me of XTC.

With regard to getting more listeners to your music,this place works on the principal of reviewing other posted songs and the favour is returned. If you post a couple of songs and don't bother listening and commenting on the songs of other members,then after a while folk get the message.

Hosting sites such as Soundcloud work on the same principal,if you participate,you generate more listens,thus getting your music out there.

Wow haven't heard that in a while - weirdly, someone said the XTC thing before... when I was 18 (i'm now 35)

I've never really thought of soundcloud like that - I'm a bit useless with most tech stuff to be fair - but yeah of course, if you can build up some kind of standing among your peers and get involved, that helps with you're own stuff.

and to Neil C & Jamie, cheers for listening, glad you enjoyed it, Yeah I totally know where you're both coming from with the vocals. I always get that, you'd think I'd learn!
I think it's coming from playing in Punk/Metal bands etc over the years... In those styles the vocals tend to just be like another instrument in the mix, rather than pushed to the front. It sounds 'right'/'normal' to me but it's just what I'm used to I guess.

Cheers for the feedback all, much appreciated

[Katie Wilson]

really loved this loved the lyrics and the vibe , reminded me a bit of a madness song with the energy , voice was great , everything about it was brilliant I thought

[PaulyX]

Punchy!
Interesting chord progressions!
A drummer really enjoying themselves!
Liked it. I totally agree with Skub about the XTC comparison (but it's not a rip off by any means, would just appeal to a similar fanbase I think).
Welcome to the forum and keep 'em coming.

[kingforaday]

really loved this loved the lyrics and the vibe , reminded me a bit of a madness song with the energy , voice was great , everything about it was brilliant I thought

Thanks Katie, appreciate you giving it a listen and glad you enjoyed it.

Punchy!
Interesting chord progressions!
A drummer really enjoying themselves!
Liked it. I totally agree with Skub about the XTC comparison (but it's not a rip off by any means, would just appeal to a similar fanbase I think).
Welcome to the forum and keep 'em coming.

Thanks, cheers for taking the time to check it out. Yep, definitely a fun track to drum, I really enjoyed it, the bass line was fun to play too actually. I must check XTC out me thinks, I think only know one song by them 

[Darren1664]

Welcome!

And thank for sharing. It's a great sounding bouncy track! Fun to listen to. Well put together and clever lyrics. I liked it a lot

All the best

Darren

[rightly]

Good song. Jails and churches, the whole song is full of ideas.
It's a strange mix of different styles for me.
At some it reminded me of the band madness.

Looking forward to hear more tracks from you.

Rock on!

[kevysc]

Lots of really intreresting stuff going on here  .... your voice, the complex melodies and chord changes definitely remind me of XTC ( who I LOVE and admire). Fantastic job on the production and playing everything yourself, you have definite talent there. Great lyrics too ...

Regarding promotion, a couple of suggestions:

1. Agree with the comment about getting active .. my suggestion would be Reverbnation rather tha Soundscloud, simply because it offers more opportunties for active participation. ( In my opinion, since they dropped Groups, Soundcloud have more or less died a death.)

2. Release your music ( I use CD Baby) to get it on Spotify / iTunes etc. We have a Forum Spotify playlist that I can add you to when you are ready. You can find it here ( and listen to some of the released music from the is forum)

https://open.spotify.com/user/kegraham61/playlist/1WQq8V33cx9hxCxzrYUV6D

Best wishes,

Kevin

[junkman]

Great tune, this is just the kind of thing I enjoy, creative chord changes, clever lyrics about real things. I don't think I'd have guessed you played it all yourself, sometimes you can tell - you get a sort of sameness across all the instruments, but you've avoided that pitfall. It's ironic you call yourself lazy as this is full of detail and ideas.

I also come from the punk tradition of treating the vocals as just another instrument, but it's a shame to do it when you're saying something interesting and people might not be able to hear what it is!

[kingforaday]

Welcome!

And thank for sharing. It's a great sounding bouncy track! Fun to listen to. Well put together and clever lyrics. I liked it a lot

All the best

Darren

Thanks very much! Yeah it was a fun one to play in the studio for sure, especially the drums and bass parts

Good song. Jails and churches, the whole song is full of ideas.
It's a strange mix of different styles for me.
At some it reminded me of the band madness.

Looking forward to hear more tracks from you.

Rock on!

Yeah, I'm getting that alot from people, it's a bit of a weird mix... my brother listened to it and said "what do you even call that?! It sounds like the theme tune to a TV show!" - I'm not sure how to take that

Cheers for checking it out

Lots of really intreresting stuff going on here  .... your voice, the complex melodies and chord changes definitely remind me of XTC ( who I LOVE and admire). Fantastic job on the production and playing everything yourself, you have definite talent there. Great lyrics too ...

Regarding promotion, a couple of suggestions:

1. Agree with the comment about getting active .. my suggestion would be Reverbnation rather tha Soundscloud, simply because it offers more opportunties for active participation. ( In my opinion, since they dropped Groups, Soundcloud have more or less died a death.)

2. Release your music ( I use CD Baby) to get it on Spotify / iTunes etc. We have a Forum Spotify playlist that I can add you to when you are ready. You can find it here ( and listen to some of the released music from the is forum)

https://open.spotify.com/user/kegraham61/playlist/1WQq8V33cx9hxCxzrYUV6D

Best wishes,

Kevin

MUST. LISTEN. TO. XTC! It keeps coming up! Cool, cheers for the heads up on reverbnation - I signed up to it years ago but never really understood what it was all about.

and yeah the CDBaby thing as well, I'll definitely look into it, cheers for the advice

Great tune, this is just the kind of thing I enjoy, creative chord changes, clever lyrics about real things. I don't think I'd have guessed you played it all yourself, sometimes you can tell - you get a sort of sameness across all the instruments, but you've avoided that pitfall. It's ironic you call yourself lazy as this is full of detail and ideas.

I also come from the punk tradition of treating the vocals as just another instrument, but it's a shame to do it when you're saying something interesting and people might not be able to hear what it is!

Thanks! Yeah I mean lazy as in the actual writing, honestly, one of the tracks I did for this EP, was unfinished until the morning of recording it, when I quickly realised I didn't have a middle 8! Once I'm in there, it all comes together and I do work pretty hard at it, to get everything just the way I have it in my head.

I was asked about that the other day (playing all the instruments, how to keep it interesting across the board) I think mainly it' because I'm primarily a bassist or drummer in the bands I've played in - these songs get written on guitar (definitely not my preferred instrument!) then when it comes to the bass and drums it feels a bit like "ok that's the hard bit done, now the bit I know!" I guess it's an experience thing.

Yep read you loud and clear (that the vocals should be loud and clear!), it has been said, I really didn't notice it this time around but it's definitely something to keep an eye on.

Cheers for all the feedback guys

[mickyplankton]

Great song. Reminded me of Gang of Four for some reason. Very clever you've done all this yourself. Love the energy and drum programming. Sounds like a real band. Don't k ow too much about marketing but the comments from the others makes sense.

[pompeyjazz]

Great piece of Ska Punk. I loved this,  so much energy and attitude.  Works really well. An absolute belter