In the past I have waited until much later in the writing process to make sure that all of my 't's' were crossed and my 'i's' dotted. I tend to add things constantly as new ideas come to me, so my drums continue to evolve as we play our music. Once Confessor became Fly Machine we stopped writing songs in quite the same way and mapping my parts out was less crucial. There were considerably less opportunities for me to write polyrhythms and we began to approach things from more of a rock angle. When our music became less complicated I had no reason to map out parts so I tried to add bells and whistles anywhere I could as a way to stay creatively engaged. When Confessor decided to write 'Unraveled' we were still in that mode. We made a concerted effort with one or two songs to keep our music confusing, but it never flowed naturally with the lineup we had at the time. Now that we are writing with our original style more in mind I am back to mapping out my parts and figuring out polyrhythms. It has been a blast for me. You know what it's like to have a meal you used to enjoy all the time but for whatever reason you haven't had in quite some time? When you take your first bite you think to yourself "Damn! This is soooo good! Why has it been so long since I've had this?" Monica and I refer to that wonderfully delicious, and almost nostalgic experience as being akin to "eating an old friend". That's what having a chance to write drums like this again is for me. I just poured myself a giant bowl of Captain Crunch Berries for the first time in years and I can't wait to dive in!
Ever since Marcus and I came out of the studio I have been riding a creative wave. I have a small stack of papers beside me right now, a sheet for each song, that already have notes and ideas scribbled on them for me to try at practice. I have drum ideas, bass ideas, harmony ideas and choreography notes for our dancers. This mindset is where the magic happens for me! I have truly missed being in this space. Even though Loincloth required note taking it wasn't the same. Loincloth rarely offered me the kind of space to create patterns because we specifically avoided repeating things. We extended a few endings in the studio with the intention of fading them out but we kept every single one of them in full because they created such a different listening experience. They provided a counterpoint to everything else on our records. When an album is so full of stops and starts, those minute and a half outros where one riff goes on its own journey really stand out. They were the only spots on our albums where the listener could relax, and though that was the opposite of what we set out to do, the contrast was nice.
The kinds of patterns I love writing require repetition to begin to get lost in them. They have a hypnotizing effect that needs time to settle in and Loincloth were devoted to the short attention span people out there. We were for the Tinder app users, whereas this new Confessor album will be more of a tantric exploration of musical ideas. Where you go with that is up to you. Confessor will not be held responsible for the ways in which you use our music. We will however take full credit for any enjoyment derived from listening to our albums. And since we are trying to tap into the adult film soundtrack market any videos of "freestyle expressions of love" with Confessor playing in the background submitted by enthusiastic fans will be appreciated. Please avoid harming small children and animals. We may view the videos with the sound turned down though unless of course our individual names or the name of the band are repeated often by the actors. And now that I have had time to think about it, please avoid hurting people and animals throughout life. It's generally a good idea to limit suffering wherever you can. Whew! I feel like that was a good talk, don't you?
If you accept the notion that drums are the most important part of a normal day ( duh!!! ) then rest assured that I take great pride in attempting to expand drumming's horizons for us all. The recording that Marcus and I made two weeks ago is allowing me an opportunity to make sure that I am hitting all of the right things to pack the biggest wallop in our music.
I am currently running through all of our accents to determine whether they need to be played on my Thunder Toms or on Beelzebass drum with a cymbal choke. I am listening for those spots where I hit a "naked" hi hat or a "naked" cymbal to boost a chord to see if it lessens the impact of the otherwise empty space or if it really does enhance the chord in a way that warrants filling that empty space. That may be a little deep in the weeds for you guys but it's these details that help make everything we do purposeful and ferocious. The sooner I have all these things ironed out the sooner they will be committed to muscle memory and then when we record the album I will have considerably less to worry about. Naturally, the less time I need in the studio to play my parts the more time there will be for hookers and blow. One can never get enough of those things. You know, candy canes and blowing kisses of congratulations to the other guys in the band, 'cuz blowing kisses to the dudes in your underground metal band is soooooo metal. Wait, did you think I meant prostitutes and drugs? Is that what do you guys think being a rock star is all about?
While the rest of you chew on this post I think I'm going to look into the role sex and drugs have played in the history of music. If I find out that any of Rock's heroes have ever indulged in carnal delights I will be shocked. Shocked, I say! How could anyone even suggest there is a link between tortured, depressed rock stars with self defeating behavioral tendencies and substance abuse?
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