Philadelphia, PA (Vinyl), January 31, 2024 Options

[dangum]

https://instagram.com/p/C0o9DMsLxm0/

January 31, 2024
Philadelphia, PA (Philly)

Tickets: $25
https://www.tixr.com/groups/vinyl/events/ch...r-friends-88170

[dangum]

Happy Saturday!
I’m working on the setlist for Vinyl.
We can get pretty delicate with the smaller lineups and that’s been a lot of fun. I’d say this is because I’m feeling more and more comfortable singing with less around my voice.
It’s been challenging and fun to sing “They Stood Up for Love” in a stripped down manner. Ed’s lyrics are incredibly rhythmic and have intricate rhyme schemes. If anything is off for even a millisecond, things fall apart. Michael Jackson or Barry Gibb would have loved how precisely and accurately these melodic phrases were written. I’m still attracted to the words and the calling to a higher power - the Oneness. “I give my heart and soul to the One.” It’s a line worthy of sinking into and expresssing fully.

When I immerse myself in the song, there is no division. And really, “everything is just light.”
This song wasn’t an easy song to write but the chorus was magic right from the start. Ed challenged me to redraft, if not scrap the original music from the verse. I was admittedly struggling with the emotional side of discarding something I was already growing attached to. But Ed, to his credit, saw a more expansive song and wanted textures that would inspire his own creativity.

I took a break - a drive in the car was all it took. I heard a song playing on the radio and cranked it up to clear my mental cache. The Queen/David Bowie collaboration “Under Pressure” was just what I needed.

When I look under the hood of a song, I can often see and hear the foundation. The tricks of the recording slip into the background and the primary tools of how a melody sits within a chord structure jumps out. And in “Under Pressure” there is this magic turn when the song, built over unrelenting tension, gives way to major chord bliss. The pressure valve releases. I thought - oh, that’s exactly what “They Stood Up for Love” needs. The verses needed a repetitive chord progression with haunting minor elements that would eventually give way to the already anthemic chords/melody of the chorus.

That’s exactly what I did. Then Ed wrote an entirely new verse with inspired words and melody - and suddenly, we had a brand new type of Live song. A real collaborative piece where we pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone and into music, lyrics, and melody - that when blended together equaled something bigger than our individual selves. I’m glad I trusted Ed’s intuition. The demo we created is a near exact version of what became the final recording when the rest of the guys added their parts. By this stage of our career we could fully imagine with great accuracy exactly what the rhythm section would play and how other musicians would interpret the song.

In some strange way, had we been born ten years later, the need for an ensemble group to perform our songs would not have been necessary. The music would have been made in our bedroom with Garage Band. Although, I’m grateful I needed a band. I’m grateful that I know bands are an art form all unto themselves. My gut says ensemble music will make a return. Oh, I’m grateful our parents put up with loud rehearsals!

“They Stood Up for Love” became one of our final collaborations and this was a good creative place to end things. I felt the Universe splitting us apart. It was like we graduated from band 1-0-1 and it was time for our individual voices to shine. Without new things on the horizon, I’m certain it would be easy to get sentimental but I’m fortunately not in that headspace.
And today, it’s an honor to have such a passionate pathway of words and melodies already lit, warm, and inviting to follow. I hope you’ll come to the show and sing along! I love this journey - even with all the twists and turns.
Join me and a few of my musical friends at Vinly and we’ll try to muster up some of this same spiritual magic.

https://www.facebook.com/events/343095185200445/