When it comes to writing new music, there are a number of conditions I need to account for. One is that I’m generally incredibly busy. Not only am I writing music as Soft Riot, I’m also rehearsing for somewhat regular live shows; corresponding with people about shows, tracks and releases; doing all the “admin”; having to manage various social media platforms as well as this site and online posts; create graphics for releases, news and promotion; plan, shoot, edit and do graphic treatments for the many music videos and promotional videos I’ve done; and a multitude of other things that add to a very long list.
I’ve also been running a freelance graphic design “business” (which I’ve been doing for almost as long as I’ve been doing music) and that includes corresponding and planning with clients, designing hundreds of projects, developing and planning websites, editing and animating video, any given number of creative tasks and then having to do all the backend management and admin for that business. As this is I guess my actual “career” in the traditional sense, it takes up a lot of time. I’m generally in demand and the work just comes to me, whether it’s more than I’d like to be doing or not. The work just finds me and I have to work around it…
And there’s always “life” stuff to do — errands, cleaning, cooking, keeping things in order and generally a lot of shit that’s not fun to deal with. And then on top of that, I need time to do freetime things — go to shows and clubs, keep up with my friends and do things with them (very important!), get outside and do exercise, travel, see things and get new outlooks on things. There’s likely a whole lot more to add to this but you’re already getting the idea that things are busy. If anything, my priorities have shifted over the years. I still love doing music but I also place stronger importance on other things as well — especially people in my life and my relationships with them.
As time goes by I have a really good sensitivity as to when these overlapping things are “out of whack”. Too much time working? Get savvy with my schedule do something else that frees up that stress. Not enough time for music? Again, plan things out so there’s time for it. I know what sort of time I need these days to be productive with writing so I’ll move stuff around to make that happen when I can.
Overall it seems like in recent times things are busier than they’ve ever been — life just gets more complicated in general. For example, back in my twenties music just seemed to roll by easily booking out a show, calling a few people to arrange a tour, handing out flyers for shows and managing just ONE website (this was really before social media) and things just seemed to happen. Even the “business” seemed simpler and there was organically more time to do music. Things in general are just more involved and complicated. Things have just changed but one can’t say I’ve been sitting on my ass and falling into some old age — even though I’ve been doing this pattern for about thirty years now! I may think over things more thoroughly than my far more impulsive mind from when I was 25, and things sometimes take longer, but it all still drives me as much as it ever has.
But all is fine — if anything I’m more comfortable juggling these things and experience over time has given me the guidance to deal with it all in stride.
So, coming back to writing music — another thing I’ve discovered is that the creative energy comes in waves. Some months it’s just not there as there’s other things to deal with, or my mind just isn’t in the right place. And that’s fine — I know how my mind works and I just have to wait for that to happen. Then of course it just comes and I have to be ready to harness it.
Often a lot of ideas will come at random times. This might be going for a walk, doing dishes, watching a film, talking with friends, having new experiences or even just lying in bed. And when that spark happens during these times, I’m often not primed and ready to just sit down in the studio and start fleshing out these ideas. I might not even be in the mood or have energy to do that. But there’s a number of ways to capture those sparks which seem to work with me quite well.
One of my main tools is my old Epiphone Ripper bass guitar. At this point in time it’s the instrument that I’ve owned for the longest time. The Ripper was a line of bass guitars that Gibson brought out for a short period of time in the 1970s I believe. The bass player in my old band The Measure (1997-1998) — from right when I first moved to Vancouver — had one. It looked big and badass and the tone was deadly.
Then at some point Chris Frey, the bass player in Radio Berlin, managed to pick one up for a reasonable price while on tour in Portland, Oregon at some point around the turn of the millenium. These were both original Gibson models. I managed to pick one up as well back in 1999 — mainly as good instrument in which to play in A Luna Red — although mine was a later model from the 80s when it was manufactured by Epiphone in Korea. Probably not as authentic as the Gibson model but I guess at this point it still might be called “vintage”.
For some reason I’ve grown really attached to thing, even though from a technical point of view it’s probably not anywhere close to the “best” bass you can buy — most folks I know tend to gravitate towards Fender or MusicMan models. Yes, it’s heavy as fuck, massive and might not be made of the best materials known to mankind but it has its charms nonetheless.
It’s still got a great tone when it’s tuned up properly. In the summer of 2022 I gave it a full overhaul with a luthier named Andy MacPherson here in the Glasgow area and it plays better than ever now, especially with the string saddle of the “G” string filed down to the same height as the others. I lost the original while on tour with Radio Berlin back in 2003 playing in Knoxville TN. It was a rather drunken show in a dark club with lots of strobe lighting. The string broke, the string saddle fell out and with beer-enhanced (read: beer-handicapped) vision I wasn’t able to find it on the stage. An unsuitable replacement was found and eighteen years later it was finally set correctly.
Despite the recent pampering, the Ripper hasn’t really seen any live action since the short-lived, London-based band I was in called Savage Furs sort of crumbled in 2011, after only a couple of years of activity. But having said that I’m aiming some use for it in the future, so that won’t be the last time it was ever played on a stage. I’m still up for playing in a band, but that’s another story…
I have a guitar as well, but it’s some beater I bought only four years ago and I don’t have the same attachment to it. Plus, with writing music I’m far more “bassline” driven, so the Ripper seems more of a natural thing to gravitate to. I still love playing guitar, but it doesn’t factor into Soft Riot songwriting anywhere nearly as much.
And with that here’s the second attempt to get back to the topic of songwriting after a few detours…
As I’ve said, I often get the spark of an idea for a new track at unexpected times. I’m laying in bed and then suddenly parts of a possible new song will drift into my head. Sometimes a lot of it is quite realised. But I’m in bed — I’m probably likely gonna forget this idea in the morning and I’m likely going to totally regret the fact that that idea has now disappeared. Often to “document” the idea I’ll just head over into the studio and just flesh out the bass line on the Ripper — either playing it over and over again until I remember it, or even crudely recording it into the phone. I can then come back to it the next day and just do a more developed, but still “basic” sketch in a recording session to further cement the foundations of that idea.
But that’s not just one way I get these ideas from the vagueness of my mind into a workable sketch that I can mould from there. There’s a few other techniques that I use:
Demo Patches
I’ve got a few what I call “utility” patches on the various synths that I use. These are general “all-purpose” patches that I can just fire up and record the idea using those. These patches are far from the sound that I’m looking for but get the sounds into a very general “ballpark” of what I’m looking for — at least for providing a mental cue of where to take that sound.
Drums Ready-To-Go
I’ve got a demo drum “kit” I dial up that’s ready to go to record a basic drum beat to serve the genesis of any track idea.
Written Notes
Sometimes I’ll just write notes — either in a notebook or within the “Notes” function of the phone (depending where I am). These notes could be vague descriptions of sounds, arrangements or rhythms. Sometimes what nails down a clearer picture of the general sound and feel is listing a number of songs and albums that have even just some vague similarities of what I’m going for. Often these references have nothing to do with the “genre” that I play. It could be something as obtuse as “the first verse from Tina Turner’s track from Mad Max & The Thunderdome” (“We don’t need another hero!”) so something. It may not even be close to the song I’m trying to write but just looking at that note will say a lot more that trying to describe it in words.
Ideas For Old Sketches
There’ll be a number of times where track ideas might be similar to a sketch I’d written a while back that was for a long time “dead in the water”. So sometimes dead ideas spring back to life, sometimes even years later.
Song On The Brain
There’s many times that the song idea will cycle in my head over and over to a point where it’s almost obsessively repetitive. It’s those types of tracks that generally need less outside documentation as they don’t seem to escape my head anyway, but I document them just the same as that moment might go at any time.
I’ve realised over the years that writing music is almost like a magic spell. There’s a number of conditions that need to be present to conjure that magic, as music for me isn’t often rooted in the timeline that is “real life”. It’s a weird parting in the clouds of reality where you can see things differently. Often these conditions are created by creating a “buffer zone” around the time I allot to create. I need to clear my head of a lot of “life” responsibilities and dive down the magic wormhole and anchor myself in there for as long as possible to make progess on making those ideas into a track that I can eventually flush out, be able to play and to get to a state where it’s suitable for others to listen to it.
For some periods this is difficult to achieve with all of the other things I have going on. But I genuinely make an effort to make nice windows of time for it.
These thoughts I’m writing down here come as I’m accelerating into another such “magic” period. The ideas are coming and I’m aiming to make the conditions in my life at the moment open enough to document these ideas. I just thought I’d pen out these thoughts for you as the feelings are strong in my mind!
The Ripper Scrapbook
A Luna Red, live in Vancouver CA (2001). Photos by Jeremy Jansen.
A Luna Red, live in Vancouver CA (2002). Photo by John Pritchard (although not 100% sure).
Savage Furs, live in London UK (2011). Photo by Greg Allan.
Savage Furs, live in London UK (2010). Photo by Jonas Ranson.