Shape Shifter

1990. An Artifact. Or, maybe a corpse. Rescued from a well-worn cassette, this and two more songs are the last remaining remnants of the last original band, at the end of the long, dark tunnel that was the 1980's. I gave up writing & performing my own material for about 8 years right after this, and am just now beginning to appreciate the few things of beauty that I manage to wrench out of a squalid, painful part of my life. I wrote the music, though it was really molded in collaboration with the band at rehearsals, and the singer, my then-girlfriend, wrote the lyrics, with a little help from me on the melody & harmonies. The song is essentially an abstract take on our failing relationship & was the last thing of note we did before breaking up, then (separately) finding sobriety. We recorded the music live, (3-piece) and overdubbed the vocals. The 2-inch tape is out there somewhere, but the cost of baking the tape (Stupid Ampex 456) and transferring to digital is prohibitive right now. But someday...

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posted by Devils Rancher (7 comments total)

oohhh flanger...
Nice.
I swear I was just talking about old tapes with drum machines and flangers on them not 5 days ago. I have so many old tapes like this.
I can only imagine the hair.

But it's a really great song.
posted by chococat at 8:32 PM on February 23, 2007

The guitar player really played with all that goop coming right out of his Roland stereo amp. The hair stuck out of my head, for inches in any direction, at all odd angles.

But it's a really great song.

Thanks, it's haunting to me that I wrote that.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:39 PM on February 23, 2007

The guitar player really played with all that goop coming right out of his Roland stereo amp. The hair stuck out of my head, for inches in any direction, at all odd angles.

You and me both, brother.
And black eyeliner and an ankh earring. Waiting for the bus in stovepipe pants and tiny little pointy shoes in February, in Toronto. So sad.
Fun at the time, though.
posted by chococat at 8:44 PM on February 23, 2007

Great.
posted by kindall at 11:59 AM on February 24, 2007

This is great man, great.

This would have been perfect on Miami Vice, when Crockett was driving around at night, playing back his thoughts of the good girl he met that was mixed in with the wrong people. The conflict man, and the pain.

Crockett: the original Emo. You read it here first.
posted by Ynoxas at 9:16 AM on February 25, 2007

To be clear, the above is a resounding compliment, as I am a huge Miami Vice fan, and still love 80's music.
posted by Ynoxas at 9:17 AM on February 25, 2007

Never fails to amaze me how a failing relationship is such a fantastic resource for creativity.
posted by ZachsMind at 7:35 PM on April 13, 2007