I love it. The classic Borroughsian "Cut-Up" method! I wonder how man great bands have done the same for at least some of their lyrics. There are some folk who believe that the right "chunk dada dunk da donk de dunk, bwaan ahhhn bahn bum ba!" on the guitars and drums can literally save souls, and a few others beside, who believe that, properly utilized, the cut-up technique can anticipate the future. The Greeks had their "Oracle at Delphi," garage-punks and other rock n rollers have their Oracle at Gibson.

Another tip: Don't just mumble over the music. Hush it, wail it, scream it, bark at it, do whatever you have to to put a full range of vocalizations over the top of the song before you start adding too many words to the mix. I was working on one this morning and the "mumble-with-authoritah" wasn't working for me, so I started vocalizing blasts of brass, Within 10 minutes I managed to dig out a really cool verse for a new song.

I hate writing lyrics.  What I tend to do is get the song pretty well done already and then pull out one of a few notebooks that I have that I keep tossing fragments, bits of poetry, words that pop into my head, and see what fits.  Sometimes I'll grab a whole page from the book, slice it into pieces, and then toss them in a hat to pull out random pieces and see what I can string together.  Usually, I find that figuring out the song, then the melody line, then the lyrics, works best for me, but even better if I already have stuff floating around that I can turn into lyrics, if that makes sense.

Hey man. Writing lyrics is a funny nut to crack. Everybody's suggestions here are great and you should try them all. You never can tell what's going to work and - for me at least - it's a little different for each song. I've definitely done the "mumbling with authority" thing!

I'll say straight out that I'm not an expert, I only know what has worked for me. I've written songs that I thought were pretty good lyrically and definitely a whole bunch that were pretty bad, even embarrassing. So you know, take this all worth a grain of salt.

Mostly I just try to get in a frame of mind where things flow a bit. I have a couple different tricks I use to get something I like. I try to build a big old woodshed of stuff. Brainstorming basically. It's good to have a backlog of material to choose from or to spur more ideas.

One of my favorite methods of brainstorming is to get relaxed (using ones method of choice), put on headphones and just listen to other peoples music - people/bands whose lyrics I really like. While I'm listening I'll get little ideas that maybe rhyme with what I'm listening to, or maybe follow the same rhythm and I write them down. Sometimes one song will really get the juices flowing and I get a couple pages of stuff out of that one song. Do this a lot with a lot of different songs and build up that backlog. Then I try to forget about all of it for long enough that I don't quite remember what songs I was listening to, and I'm not still 'in the moment'. I almost want to feel like I'm reading it for the first time when I go back so that I can be distant enough to recognize the shitty parts. The most important part is when I go back and start mining that stuff I literally throw out %90 of it and just work with the %10 that makes me think "holy shit did I even write that? That's pretty damn good" and work from there.

On totally different tip, I'll take whatever song I'm working on and just make noises wherever I can. The idea being to just figure out what spots I'm actually capable of vocalizing with. This is like what Jonathan was saying above. I play guitar and sing in my band, so figuring out where I can sing is a big part of deciding what to say. A lot of times in that process certain words or phrases pop out that just sound good. Then it's a matter of building around those spontaneous phrases.

Here's another one. Carry a little notebook with you everywhere you go. It's crazy how all of a sudden shit starts popping into your head in line at the 7-11. Plus people say crazy shit all the time, and I write that down for later. In fact, I would say the best thing you can do is just write shit down constantly hahaha. You're friends will think you're a freak, but fuckem. Generate so much material that you have no choice but to jettison most of it - the gems will shine through.

- on one last thing. It can help if you have a buddy who's taste you respect and who you can take criticism from without getting pissed to bounce ideas off of - or even collaborate with.

Good luck man! Figuring this stuff out is fun and after a while you learn what works for you and things start to click a little bit.

I do a lot of the above as well.  Sometimes I'll write a couple cool lines and then think of the music that would fit the tone of the lines.  Other times I just use vocals as another instrument and don't even bother with lyrics.  I can't tell you how many shows I've played where I forgot, or haven't even written lyrics for a song.  Nobody cared, I just mumbled like I knew what I was doing and the energy of the song did the rest. In conclusion, don't stress about lyrics.

Ahh, just joshin'.  I saw a great Dennis Wilson doc the other night. Came out around the time Smile was being put out.

enz

Renato Carvalho said:

Lol no, Beach Boys of course

enzo said:

Like Marky Mark?

Renato Carvalho said:

D# minor for me. anything sharp minor really but that's the first chord to my favourite verses ever, Good Vibrations.

I'm 25, I have a blog, though I haven't done much with it for a while

 

I don't post in-print stuff, in fact I try not to post stuff other blogs have posted (which is why things are very slow). There have been a few posts where I might have one or two demo songs for a band and those have been very popular, with some people writing back trying to find out where they can buy. Never a whole album.

 

The worst are the ones with ads. No two ways about it, profiting off a band's work

 

 

Ok, I had heard of your mob, they are from Austria the one song I heard of theirs was as good as the New Bomb Turks, if not better. I had a look on their myspace, they list 2 record labels, both of which have websites. German label Flight 13 has their first album still available.

http://www.flight13.com/details/45783/rodriguez-s-t

 

Also their French label Relaxomatic Vibrator Records has a few songs for download on this page, if you scroll down to the bottom:

http://relaxomatic.free.fr/sounds.htm

Hi Fuzzmeister. Nope, this is a much more current release, 2008 I think. It is self-titled, which makes Googling a lot harder. Apparently there are about a billion artists that have the word "Rodriguez" in the their name or album title... :-/ This is band I was talking about: http://www.myspace.com/rodriguezrock

But whoa, that other Rodriguez just blew my mind a little. The Monkeywrench cover "Sugar Man" on their album "Electric Children" (2000), always wondered where that came from. I absolutely love The Monkeywrench, a super-group worthy of the prefix "super". Thanks for the info!

Is this Rodriguez record you speak of "Cold Fact"? If so, it's from the early 70s and quite easily obtained through Amazon, on CD and vinyl.

http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Fact-Rodriguez/dp/B001BKVWYG/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1303246983&sr=1-1

 

The album was a big hit here in Australia at the time and still turns up second hand on vinyl quite often. 

 

This is all good stuff, keep it comin'!

In the "It's A Small World" department, it turns out it was actually Andy's blog that got me thinking about this stuff again, although I didn't know that at the time. Andy, I'm the same Sam that left a comment about the Rodriguez record. I thought it might be a lost '60s Spanish garage stomp or something, so I downloaded it and gave it a (virtual) spin. I could tell immediately that it was modern, and that sent me off on the hunt for more information. I do like the music, but am having trouble finding a copy to purchase in the USA.

Thanks to all who have replied so far, looking forward to more!

http://garagepunk.ning.com/profile/LonesomeGhost?xg_source=profiles_memberList

 

Check out Lonesome Ghost on here on the Hideout....they will be on Volume 2 of It Came From The Hideout.

Wow, that post was over two years old, Alex!

Check out Mottey's Garage on realpunkradio.com .  He does his usual punk and garage shows, but each month, he also does a punk blues show.

Aha, the punk-blues thread revived!

I'll second The Black Diamond Heavies and add The Jim Jones Revue.

punk blues's not dead!

new release of Chicken Diamond on Beast Records next month...

www.myspace.com/chickendiamond

 

Ben, you didn't read the instructions very closely, did you? I deleted your attachment.

Hi Kopper,

Thanks for creating these opportunities for garage music lovers and creators of...

Formed in January 2011, Silver Sound Explosion are a three piece rock and roll band. 
Ben plays guitar and the sings lead vocals, Kirsty plays two drums (floor tom & snare) with cymbals and sings backing vocals, Chris plays the bass guitar.
A single (two songs) were recorded in March 2011 with producer Fran Ashcroft (Happy Beat) at Whitby Studio's Ellesmere Port for release on iTunes on June 1st...(this date is yet to be confirmed)

We'd like to put forward the flipside track "Telephone Wired" as it best gives off the underlying garage flavour of our music, which is ultimately about stripping things back to the bone, embracing simplicity, and working with Fran was essential to capture that with his understanding of that simplicity.

Hope we may be considered for release for the Comp Series.

Have a great day,

Ben

 

Just heard this for the first time today (been away on vacation).  This is such a great way to get taste of what is here at GPH.  Thanks for all your hard work putting this thang together, Kopper.  And thanks to all the bands and everyone else that helped making this series happen.  Looking forward to Vol. 2.  

Agreed, there are a ton,
but a couple that quickly comes to mind:
Greasy Rock n' Roll (multiple volumes),
also the Lux and Ivy Favorites (multiple volumes),
Cacophony Records put out a pretty good one about 12 years ago called Ultra Swank,
those Sympathetic Sounds discs that Sympathy for the Record Industry did are kinda cool (esp the Detroit issue)...

Definitely Back from the Grave, Lost Legends of Surf Guitar, Born Bad, and Loud Fast and Out of Control.

Hard to compare comps with >= 3 volumes to those single volume versions.  On the single vol. version; Hang it out to Dry (how could it not be great with Lily on it) and I Was a Teenage Caveman excel.  But there are so many good ones that is almost worth starting a list for the comps that just don't deliver......although the Chosen Few from the aforementioned list drew my attention because never heard before -  thanks, now I must find or cannot sleep.

 

Finally, I am a fan of all regional comps because you get a good local history lesson while listening.  Just about anything Texas is worth a listen. 

 

 

 

Never heard of this, but if Ning is up-to-date on this kinda stuff, then it should be. But the question is really if NING is compatible. If no one here can help you out, you might want to direct your query to http://help.ning.com

Good luck!

I was thinking about blowing 3 bux on tapaTalk for my ipod (it's an ap that logs into forums & allows the user to read & post from their iPod or iPad)- I'm not sure, but I don't think GPH is compatible - any tech gurus got the straight dope on that?

I don't recall the other bands. I spent part of the time ine the space next door. I'm an old person and my memory isn't so good without my glasses.

 

Just curious if you remember what other bands you saw in that lineup...Probably one of the biggest musicfests that is "variety" nowadays is "Hootenanny" out in So. Cal...It appears to be geared more towards the greaser/hot rod crowd with its share of psychobilly/cowpunk/underground country acts although they will throw in some punk bands as well...

Mr. Knuckles McGrumpy said:

I went in '97, I think it was 97 anyway. Woggles were there amongst others. 506 had somer great shows. I saw SCOTS there and they were flinging banana pudding at the crowd from huge bowls. I also saw Murder City Devils, which was a great show. There are so many 'fests focused on tight genres these days, that you don't see many of the variety-type shows.