Welcome to 'Offcuts': A collection of demos, side projects and orphaned
recordings.
Some of this stuff has been laying around in the archives(!)
for yonks and I thought it was time to let you curious listeners
have a boo.
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Offcuts
That`s How I Walk
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That's How I Walk and Town Called Jesus - are demos
from my last solo recording. Before heading into the studio to record,
I'll often make demo recordings (think rough sketches) of the tunes
that I'm considering for the next album. These demos are a way for
me to let my record company hear what I'm up to, and for me to listen
objectively (HAH!) to the new stuff so's I can start thinking about
possible arrangements etc.
One thing they were never intended for is public consumption...
so why are they here you might ask. Well, Andrew McPherson my neighbour
and the kind gent who's studio (The Monastereo) these demos were
recorded in, suggested that some of them might be of interest to
you all, I'll let you be the judge of that. Of course there are
other demo's from the same session, but these are the only ones
that my ego will allow me to play for you.. |
A
Town Called Jesus |
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| On the Great Divide |
This version (a different version exists
on That's How I Walk) was recorded for a compilation recording
called Farm Tracks organised by my pal Tammi Greer. The
compilation included cuts by Sue Foley, Ralph Boyd Johnson, Tim
Williams, Linda McRae and others, as far as I know, the disc has
not beeen released yet. The players on this recording are:
Kit Johnson - bass
Glen Stace (my co-writer on this tune) - electric guitar, organ
and harmony vocals
Ross Watson - drums |
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| Whoville |
This was written and recorded for a compilation CD called Sixty
Second Songs. This recording is still available through DROG
(Dave's Record's of Guelph) and includes many brief little
dittyd written and performed by Guelph artists, all proceeds go
to charity. For
further info, click here...
Special thanks to Chris Chanter who suggested that the proposed
title for this piece (Teddy Bear's Christmas...) sucked
badly, thus forcing me back to the drawing board. I think Whoville
is a much better title... with apologies to Dr. Seuss. |
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| Gwaii
Haanas |
I've been sitting on this oddity since the turn
of the century! Late in 1999 Kevin O'Leary commissioned me to write
a piece of music for CBC's millenium broadcast. Other artists involved
in the project were Jane Bunnet (Algonquin Park in Ontario), and
Mary Jane Lamond (Highlands National Park in Cape Breton). The idea
was to create a piece of music using sounds recorded by Kevin in
some of Canada's most beautiful National Parks. I've spent a little
time in The Queen Charlotte Islands and loved the idea of creating
a piece of music that might capture some of the drama and beauty
of Haida Gwaii. I also went into the CBC archives to find some news
story segments for my piece as I couldn't imagine creating a collage
about the area without touching on the politics of logging and the
sovereignty of The Haida Nation.
The MP3 format doesn't really do justice to this piece, but Kevin
has said that he hopes to release a recording with this piece plus
several others in the future.
Once again, I turned to my friend and neighbour Andrew McPherson for help with this project. We ended up doing
all the tracking at the Monastereo and Andrew contributed samples,
keyboards and flute parts... he's a horribly talented dude for sure.
So there you have it, enjoy, I'll post more stuff when I can. |
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