30 Day Tardy Slip and Album Update

Some of you probably noticed that I've been failing miserably at the 30 day challenge.  I made it up to Day 12 on October 12, and here it is October 23 and I haven't posted ANYTHING over the last ten days.  Well, first let me assure you that I am healthy and well.  The fact is that I knew this month was going to be a difficult one to do this challenge.  In my teaching job, the month of October is arguably the most busy month of the entire school year.  I've spent seven of the last ten days on the road, gotten insufficient sleep, and in general am exhausted.  I knew when I started that I would probably not be able to write during this two week stretch, and I'm okay with that.  The important thing, particularly when pushing yourself to break habits or build new ones or to approach things differently... is just to start.  And I did that faithfully for twelve days.

Well, now life is finally starting to slow down a bit, so I'm going to pick up where I left off - Day 13 should be coming today (fingers crossed).  When I can, I'll do two songs a day in order to try to catch up.  This means my 30 day challenge will probably take me into November, and again, that's OK.  I will write these thirty songs.

On the album front, I'm now remembering why I put an early January deadline on finishing recording.  October is ridiculously busy!  The band hasn't even met for over a week, and that's simply driving me crazy.  So, for the time being, there is no album update, but I hope to have some good news for you soon.

For what it's worth, I'm very excited about a lot of the 30 Day Challenge songs making their way onto Lovelight, and would love to hear feedback from you as to which ones you'd like to see fully produced with a band.  Comment below and we'll return you to your reguarly scheduled songwriting challenge!

30 Day Writing Challenge - Day 12

Yet another late night creation. Trying to do something really out of the box and... found something pretty cool inside the box as a result.

30 Day Writing Challenge - Day 11

I like parts of this one, but not the whole. Something just feels... off about it. Finished it anyway.

Lyrics:

30 Day Writing Challenge - Day 10

Woo hoo! Double digits! I decided to celebrate by writing today's song on my daughter's guitar. With a broken E string. And accidentally tuned up a half step.

Yeah, I celebrate hard.

Lyrics:

30 Day Writing Challenge - Day 9

The 12-bar blues tune is the musical equivalent of the limerick.  It has a standard form, pretty easy application, and unless you're ridiculously good at writing it, it just comes across as cheesy.  And yet here I am- ridiculously tired after a long day and ready to crash.  So we get a blues tune.

In case you're not familiar with the convention, you start a blues tune with a specific line that can get repeated a lot (ie, "I woke up this mornin' and my baby was gone").  Then you repeat that line, either verbatim or with minor changes.  Next you add a rhyming section that's different (ie, "She threw all my clothes out on the lawn,") and that's the end.  No problem.  I decided to use a variant on this formula, though, so here we go.  Hope you enjoy Day 9.

Lyrics:

Heaven is coming down to the earth
Heaven is coming, coming down to the earth
People get ready for the world's rebirth
I said it's coming down

There's gonna be angels singing his name
There's gonna be demons, they be doing the same
People get ready cause this ain't no game
I said it's coming down

I'll be falling to my knees at my Saviour's feet
I'll be falling down to my knees at my Lord and Savior's feet
You know I'll be ready, the praises will repeat
I said it's coming down
I said it's coming down
It's coming down.

30 Day Writing Challenge - Day 8

It's starting to get tough, boys and girls.  I had to actually tune my guitar to open D to find inspiration tonight.  Tomorrow I may take a different angle to fire some creative sparks.  In any event, tonight's song is slightly different than the other tunes.  Hope you enjoy it.

Lyrics:

He's sitting on the ground at the hometown football game
Waiting for the sound, a sound that never came
And now what's he waiting for?
And now what's he asking for?

Met her by the pier, she said her name was Jane
Said they'd meet up here, but Jane she never came
And now what's he waiting for?
And now what's he asking for?

All things come and all things go
What's to come here no one knows before
We go headlong to the unknown and hope the best
So keep on seeking your heart
Keep on seeking your heart, you'll find your rest

He finally stands to go as the hometown bleachers cheer
His heart's a heavy load and his eyes are wet with tears
But now heart begins to heal
And now he begins to feel

30 Day Writing Challenge - Day 7

Day 7 is here! One full week of writing, and I'm pleased with how things are going. I feel like all the songs are at least serviceable, so that's very good.

Today's song is actually one of my favorites so far, but I'm not terribly pleased with the performance on the video. My first take had the guitar turned up too loud so you couldn't hear the words.  I'm afraid that I turned it down too far, particularly for the 2 note chords. In any event, this very well might be one that makes its way onto an album, perhaps even onto Lovelight.

Lyrics:

Bending, breaking, stuck in this mess I'm making
Wondering how to escape the things I've done
Then I found you and the love that's all around you
Called me to something more than I'd become

I'm moving on, I'm moving on
Everything that tied me here is gone
I once was weak but now I'm strong
As I march through I sing my song
Feeling I belonged here all along
I'm moving on, I'm moving on
I'm moving on, I'm moving on

Twisted, broken, following the voice that's spoken
I know that you'll love me any way I am
One step then another you say, "come weary runner."
You take me, embrace me, then hold my shaking hand

30 Day Writing Challenge - Day 6

Good news!  I got my HD camera back, so future posts will be in high(er) definition.  Here's Day 6 for you.  This is another one that I had an idea about before the challenge even began.  Don't know that I'm satisfied with the first go at the lyrics, though.

Lyrics:

Hello, my name is unimportant
I know the pain of a world distorted
Beyond the game off kill or be killed
Can't be the same, I'm from another world

Like a traveler lost in a strange land
Speaking a language I don't even understaand
Traveling the planet that's still slave to sin
I'm a stranger here, I'm an alien

Hello my face is not quite like yours
Follow my gaze, it's well beyond your shores
I've got a gift, so you will disconnect
A savior lifted high, it's time that we met

Status report - 30 day writing challenge

5 days and 5 songs down.  Figured I'd stop and take a look back for a moment.

Back in July, the goal I set was to simply write three new songs, record a six song EP, and have a band to spend two weeks on the road with in summer 2015.  It was a pretty worthy goal, considering I'd only written 1 song in the previous two years and hadn't been in a band since 2011.

Since then, though, God has been blessing me abundantly.  He blessed me with a band that has the potential of being the best group of musicians I've ever had the pleasure of performing with.  He's blessed me with creativity- my goal of three new songs and an EP has blossomed into six new songs for the Lovelight album, four brand new songs for a Christmas musical (including the one DKG just recorded for the community CD), and I'm five songs in to a 30 day challenge.  These fifteen songs represent the most production I've had in my entire life, and I will be looking at FORTY SONGS by Halloween.

This has me seriously considering pulling some worship tunes off of Lovelight to make room for some of these 30 day challenge tunes and recording a separate worship album... but that's not the point.

The point is that God is faithful.  If we can pray and live boldly and go after our dreams, God will be faithful in going before us to prepare the way.

So what's your bold goal?  What dream has God laid on your heart but you've been too unsure to really go for it?  Psalm 34 says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good."  So are you ready to dive in and take your taste?

30 Day Writing Challenge - Day 5

Here's day 5. This is a guitar riff I've jammed on for a while, so I'm glad to finally have put it in a song.

Lyrics:

Finding a way, finding a way back home
Finding a way, finding a way back home
Who-o-oh, who-o-oah
Who-o-oh, who-o-oah

When I was leaving, how could I have known
That what had left behind is what most feels like home?

When I moved in closer I didn't expect to find
A way to better know you, leaving the rest behind

I'm running down that road, heading back to you, I don't know what to say
What I didn't know is just what you would do but you're running back to me

30 Day Songwriting Challenge - Day 4

Today's song was kind of a battle.  I had no clues, no inspiration all day.  I got to spend the entire day hanging out with my wife and daughters- going to a birthday party, visiting an apple orchard, and eating good food together as a family.  It was a perfect Saturday.

So when I sat down tonight strumming on the guitar, totally clueless, I decided to write the story of three sets of people also having their perfect Saturday.  Enjoy.

Lyrics:

The day is warm, the sky is blue
The trees adorned with golden hues and he breathes it in
The clouds are white above his head
It seems alright to smile instead as she looks back at him
And all they want to do is be together for the day... it's a perfect Saturday

The sun is high, the sky is grey
It seems tonight may bring the rain but he just sees the girl
She's two years old and running now
Young and bold, she shows him how to be, she's his world
And all they want to do is be together for the day... it's a perfect Saturday

The evening yawns, the day is done
The light is but a trace of sun, and she holds his hand
These forty years become a blur
Through joy and tears, heart drums for her as he thinks this life was grand
And all they want to do is be together for the day... it's a perfect Saturday



Please remember to also check out my wife's 30 Day challenge at http://arkladybug.wpnomad.com.

30 Day Writing Challenge - Day 3

This was an interesting one today. It started off as a gospel concept, and morphed into a blues rock tune.  Kind of cool.  The tune is called "Change."

And yes, I know it's technically the 4th, but Alicia and I agreed that it would still count if we submitted before going to bed. The blog will show two entries today, and that's ok.

If you haven't done so, go visit Alicia's 30 Day Writing Challenge at arkladybug.wpnomad.com.


Lyrics:

Hey, you're talking about a revolution

Hey, as if we could stay the same

Hey, you say you want a revolution

Hey, the only thing that stays the same is change

We're singing, "I surrender," but we don't

We cry, "send me," but we don't go

Stuck in our own reflection, we don't understand

We need an intervention, change at hand

Cause when things grow, they're always changing

The Spirit moves, can't stay the same

This world we know is rearranging

Its nature proves it's time to change

30 Day Writing Challenge, Day 2 - Window

Here's Day 2 - a song called "Window" (for lack of a better title).

This one was inspired driving to work in the rain this morning.  I kind of went musical theatre with this one, which is OK.  I do tend to do that from time to time.  Since it was already in a "artsy" genre, I opted to wax more poetic with the lyrics.  Hope you enjoy it!

It's OK to make art that you don't like

I'd like to share a secret.  It's a little before 3:00 and my Day 2 song is already written and recorded.  I can't upload to Youtube from work, so the video link will be up later.

A curious thing happened to me today, however.  I started conceptualizing the song this morning while driving to work and I really liked the idea I was developing.  The longer I worked on it throughout the day, however, the less I liked it.  I could appreciate it from an artistic standpoint, of course, but it wasn't really a song I would sit down and listen to.

Now, this has happened to me before.  Usually when that happens, I will abandon the song in progress and start working on something completely different.  Today, however, I knew I wouldn't have any time later to start from scratch... so I just finished the song I didn't like.

I still think it's a decent song, and I'm certainly not embarrassed by it, but I simply don't like it.  And that's OK.  This challenge has been about pushing me out of my comfort zone, and finishing projects that I don't like or particularly care about is part of that.  Ideally, of course, I would love every single song that I write, but sometimes it's not about me.

It always amazes me which of my songs are someone else's favorite.  Maybe this one will be yours, and that's the reason why I finished it.

30 Day Writing Challenge - Day 1

To jump straight to the chase, here is my first entry into the thirty day writing challenge, a tune called "Hold You Close."  Enjoy!

Now, just a few thoughts about this project.  First, in the spirit of full disclosure, I should admit that I've been "seeding" the challenge for the last week or so.  In other words, I have some ideas ready to go, and today's song was actually two of those ideas combined into one.  Alicia is doing the same, and we don't consider it cheating because neither of us committed anything to paper.

Secondly, I've realized already that these songs are something of a work in progress.  This song, for example, feels like it needs something else there at the end... some sort of instrumental bridge, or perhaps a vocal bridge, a guitar solo... something.  I don't know what that is yet, or if that something will ever be added to this song to make it feel complete in my eyes.  But presenting polished songs here isn't really the point.  The point is simply to write more often and more volume than I have ever before.  If any of these tunes make it onto a recording, they'll be there in a drastically different format, and that's OK.

Finally, I'm painfully aware that the iPad camera is simply not up to Youtube calibre.  My HD camera should be back in a week or so, and at that point I'll experiment with other microphones to get the best sound possible.  If I find a really good way to capture the video and audio together, I may go back and rerecord these first videos for consistent quality across the thirty day challenge.  If I don't, we'll just have to live with the crummy basement quality videos.  If I do, please don't call foul on me. I put this video up just to make sure everyone knows I really did complete the song today.

If you have any thoughts, feel free to comment either here or on Youtube.

Studio Update

We just spent two hours in the studio tonight recording our spin on "O Little Town of Bethlehem" for the community Christmas CD.  It was a blast, and the first time we were able to work together as the Dave Kerwood Group.  We don't have a lot of pictures from tonight, but here are a few:

Robert is looking like he's having a good evening!

Could he look any nerdier?

Giant microphone!

No comment, seriously.