No Matter What
The other day, we DIRTYWORX band guys, decided to take a page out of McCartney's playbook. Anyone who's followed my progress as a songwriter should know by now how much I love The Beatles. And McCartney was very involved with Badfinger, a band that promised to be the next Beatles. Man, they were great!
The song we chose was called, "No Matter What". At first blush, it's a simple song. But underneath of it there's a breath of freshness, that by contrast, makes today's music sound boring. Today's favorite chords are 1-4-5-6 chords. Typically played, 1-4-6-5, or 1-6-4-5.
Whether you know it or not, most of today's songs use these same chord progressions. When I turn on the radio, I just sing, "Just a small town boy born and raised in South Detroit" over the chords. It drives my wife crazy. And it makes me sound like a know it all. I'm not.
My 59 year old brain can't distinguish one song from another. I can't remember the songs names, or who did them if they pretty much sound the same.
Same as my day job. At work, they give you "training". But after 20 times through the same boring material, you just fast forward to get to the test, where you get 80% of the answers right. And so, when I learn material that sounds like everything else, I get 80% of the song right...right out of the box.
I'm not saying today's music is bad, or boring. I'm not saying the songs all sound alike. I'm not even saying they play the songs in the same key.
What I'm saying is when popular music is boiled down to 4 chords, the choices become too confining to keep my head in the game. I need diversity to have fun.
Enter Badfinger.
Badfinger's tune has a number of interesting things going on, making it fun to hear and play. They don't sound like everyone else and so you stop dead in your tracks and take another listen. They are breath of fresh air in a congested musical space clamoring for your attention. They stand out simply because they're not competing to be loud, or sexy, or angry.
"No Matter What" is a love song that asks us to break down barriers and commit to something more important than what's going on around us at this moment. Wow! What a message!
The harmonies are incredible. And they use two bridges in the song to keep it interesting, as well. A classic Beatles approach.
The chords are 1. 2, 4, 4m7th, 5, flat 7, 6. Very interesting.
What does this all mean to you? It means no matter what, Dirtyworx is going to bring you quality music we love to play out, but music you won't be bored with, either. I mean, you should've seen how people responded to that Led Zeppelin song we played out! Very nice!
As we being working together to make interesting sets, you'll not only have fun seeing us evolve, but also have fun hearing what makes our group special. These little details make the experience intimate, electric and meaningful for you (and for us).
So no matter what, we'll have the meat and potatoes of my no frills punk-rock roots, but also the sensibilities of music that's woven into the fabric of our culture, not just some noise in the background.
If you want to hear what I'm talking about, come see our shows, and hear our side of the story.
And if you want, listen to my originals, too. Go here. Enjoy your Halloween....
Love & Rockets,
Russ