Set Fire to the Snow Liner Notes: Side Two

My Serious Side 
Completed - 23rd March, 2010
Guitars, Bass, Synth - Shane
Tuning - Standard

This piece is very much centred on creating a mood - it's not really a song, as much as it is a soundscape, and a curious way to set-up the second side of the album. It does have fairly typical verse and chorus sections, but it was primarily an experiment using a simple guitar line (and varying degrees of echo) that gradually becomes enveloped in something more complex, something slightly sinister, before the happy release. There is a musical motif here that I may revisit some day, but for now it serves as the perfect segway to the main songs on side two.


The Farmer & The Fisherman's Daughter 
Completed - 23rd December, 2010
Guitars, Bass, Synth - Shane
Tuning - Standard (with capo at 2nd fret)
Drums* - Michael Shreve, Matt Cameron

I would say I have never put as much into one song as on this piece. Starting life as a 25 second clip - 3 half ideas for chord progressions on an acoustic guitar - it became the most challenging piece to write, record, and mix (3 rewrites and at least 4 remixes). This is a pretty all emcompassing piece, and says quite a lot about me and the way I think about the craft of music making.

I had been inspired by working with Bat Kinane, and started noodling on the acoustic guitar during July, 2010. Initially, it might have been something for us to collaborate on - see if we could pull a song from this innocuous little demo. Anyway, that wasn't meant to be, so it was lying idle as an idea, but nagging me at the same time. Is it destined to be a lost gem? Can I convert it into a production track? Would I like an acoustic number for my Cellardoor catalogue? There was no album at this point, remember.

Only when the snow hit us for the second time in the year did I get the impetus and drive to see it through. I believed in the quality of the ideas, and I knew I needed something like this to give me a more rounded album. It became the missing link.

There are all manner of textures, rhythms and sounds on offer here: African beats, tempo changes, shifting time signatures, 12-string acoustic, 6-string acoustic, sitar, orchestral string sections, mandolin, accordian, electric guitars (of course!), 3 guitar solos (minimum, depending on your interpretation). Somehow, it all works in the sense that you really are on a journey with the 2 protagonists.

The title came to me when walking in the fields near my childhood home (an AONB that I think is unmatched anywhere in the world), and there really is a Farmer and a Fisherman's Daughter.


The Condition of My Condition
Completed - 1st August, 2010
Guitars, Bass, Synth - Shane
Tuning - Standard
Drums* - Stephen Perkins


This tune first started coming together at the end of 2009, when I was looking at fresh ideas for the second phase of writing for One More Outnumbered. With a decidedly twisted funk groove, and challenging arrangement it was definitely going to take the band into new territory. Even though it made it to the room for inspection, and some demo work was completed, it got lost amid the mixing sessions for the OMO album -  and, in truth, was never really going to work in the band context.

It was another piece that I believed in very strongly - I didn't want to lose it altogether, but didn't hear it as a viable production number for library pitches and so forth. Therefore, a band song but not fot that band. Naturally, I took it into the Cellardoor fold.

The resultant song demonstrates my love of mixing styles and sounds, with exploration of both the percussive rhythms and the synth tones. I played around with some classic Moog and Mellotron noises to add some retro flavour to the distinctly modern drum and guitar sounds. There is a nifty breakdown section after the first chorus that I am particularly pleased with, especially as it lifts to a very expansive and open middle section, and subsequent key change. I extracted as much as possible from just a few core parts - this song mostly being propelled by subtle key changes and myriad rhythm / arrangement shifts. The 3 part chorus is a favourite of mine - equally challenging and musically pleasing.

I think I got lucky (with an appropriate amount of perseverance, too) and created a piece that is easy on the ear and musically muscular. It's something that I have admired greatly in the songs of Rush, U2, Tears for Fears and The Police. Though, as my good friend Chris Stynes said about the early demos: 'Primus called, and they want their tone back'


The Sound of Muse (sic)
Completed - 28th April, 2010
Guitars, Bass - Shane
Tuning - Drop D
Drums* - John Tempesta


The partner in crime to Don't Eat the Yellow Snow, and the song that really set the ball rolling. The initial ideas came together in mid February, but I had a difficult time finalising the arrangement, and could not decide on the tones for the best part of a couple of months. In the end, it was simpler to complete once I accepted that the guide guitar tracks already had the tone I wanted - a trashy, lively, over distorted, almost uncontrollable wash of a sound - so they are still on there, mixed with various overdubs.

Inspired by the guitar playing of Matt Bellamy, there is a loosely Devonshire twang to some of the parts. Notably in the chorus, where I tried for a big, open wash of chords and used a simple lead line to thread them together. Ok, and then in the immediate sections that follow the first chorus - deranged sense of melody, quirky effects, gradually ascending runs overlaid with roving octaves. Overall, it's a little more metal than Muse, but it's similar to the vibe you get from the live experience with the band - where Bellamy really lets the dogs out.


Invitation to the Meltdown Fiasco 
Completed - 1st December, 2010
Guitars, Bass, Synth - Shane
Tuning - Custom
Drums* - Stephen Perkins

The letters I, M and F were pretty prominent in the news headlines around this time, so I enjoyed playing with words to get the title for this one. I'm not overtly political by any stretch, but it seemed pertinent, and I also created a couple of electonica pieces that week using the same point of reference - Invest My Future and Instigate More Fear...you get the drift.

Written and recorded over the course of a weekend, I went back to my custom tuning (B, G#, D#, F#, A#, D#), but decided to use mostly clean guitars to create the light and shade appropriate for the title. This one is a little schizophrenic - using pianos and synths to create a sneaky kind of drama over the ominous dirge of the verses. Then the chorus parts are much more genteel - pretty naive, really.

Naturally, there has to be some low end chug when using this tuning, so there is a noticeable shift in gears at 2:49 - stylistically somewhere between Faith No More, Porcupine Tree, Dream Theater and Opeth.


*courtesy of submersible music

Set Fire to the Snow Liner Notes: Side One

Battle Royale with Cheese 
Completed - 3rd November, 2010
Guitars, Bass - Shane
Tuning - Standard
Drums* - Alan White, John Tempesta, Stephen Perkins and Jeff Anthony

The album opener was put together very quickly, and as with many artists before me, I felt energised by that spontaneity - so it just had to go up front. With the completion of this tune, I really felt like I was working towards the next Cellardoor album, and not just a collection of Cellardoor type songs. My initial goal was to create a short, stomping classic rock track referencing Aerosmith, AC/DC and Zeppelin. Some of that remains, but by the time I'd finished the production it had taken on more of the typical Cellardoor vibes, reaching out to Vernon Reid (the main riff that nods to Jimmy Page), Alex Lifeson (the sonically uplifting and musical chorus) and Tom Morello (the special FX department) for a more progressive edge.

The song was written in about an hour and a half on the Monday evening; structured, demoed, recorded and mixed throughout Tuesday, with the original (non-album) master completed on Wednesday morning. Very much a production line approach, in stark contrast to some of the other pieces.

The beauty of instrumentals is that you can go a bit further with the titles, and so with this one I compounded a movie title with a movie quote. Multi instrumentalist extraordinaire, Cu Walsh (Argento, Bukkake Picnic, Zombie School, Mike Got Spiked) says he can imagine some mega robots clashing to these sounds, and that's all right by me. 



Don't Eat the Yellow Snow 
Completed - 15th April, 2010
Guitars, Bass, Synth - Shane
Tuning - Standard
Drums* - Stephen Perkins

One of the very first pieces to be written, with a title inspired by the preceding heavy weather (in January 2010). Along with The Sound of Muse (sic), this was a song with no home at the time - but it was clear to me that I was moving in a certain creative direction. Shorter songs with a definite Cellardoor flavour: the natural blending of the instinctive Progger and the Library Man I had started to become.

Guitar wise, I was very inspired by the twin approach used by Andrew Goddard and Mark Hosking (Karnivool) for the heavy punctuated sections, and the work of Matt Bellamy (trem picking riffs) and Dave Grohl is also very prevalent.

[This song bears no relation to the Zappa track of the same name]



Hang 'em B-Low 
Completed - 12th September, 2010
Guitars, Bass, Synth - Shane
Tuning - Custom
Drums* - John Tempesta, Matt Sorum, Stephen Perkins, Matt Cameron

I didn't put too many brakes on this one - all the guitar parts are played on my PRS using a custom tuning: B, G#, D#, F#, A#, D#. It's essentially a half step detune, but with variations on the 4th and 6th strings. That characteristic flabbiness can be felt on the opening guitar lines as it progessively thickens all the way up to the first 'verse'. Also featured a lot of keyboards on this one, leaning more towards heavy Porcupine Tree and Opeth territory in places. All in all, I think I checked a number of my favourite artists on this mini epic, without getting too familiar.

Drum wise, this one is a bit of a tour de force, evidenced by the guys I roped in: all from the heavy alt rock / metal school. Hold on tight, it's a bit of a ride!



Isolation Freakazoid 
Completed - 19th July, 2010
Guitars, Bass, Synth - Shane
Tuning - Standard (with capo at 2nd Fret)
Drums* - Stephen Perkins, John Tempesta, Matt Sorum

I guess I got pretty busy during the late Spring months, because I didn't pick up on new Cellardoor material again until July - and even then, by accident. 'Isolation' is one of those pieces that started out as an attempt at something in the Muse versus Bloc Party vein (Modern Alt Indie Pop Prog if there is such a thing). Ultimately it didn't end up there at all, so became part of the Cellardoor canon.

I was trying not to get too adventurous with the rhythms, so there are a number of very subtle groove shifts that really play on the simplest Pop / Rock patterns for all the main parts - you can rely on Stephen Perkins to give you that balance of groove and honest simplicity. I wanted the guitar and synth lines to be very vocal sounding, so called on a combination of theremins, moogs, and deliberately sleazy riffs...in that Zeppelin way, you know: 'tight but loose'.

This song contains two of my favourite moments on the album - at 1:40 where the 3rd verse tenses up to emphasise the call and response riffing, and then at 2:06 where the swaggering chorus riff is let rip, providing a sense of release.



Knights of East Devonshire 
Completed - 25th October, 2010
Guitars, Bass, Synth - Shane
Tuning - Standard (detuned half step)
Drums* - Alan White, Matt Sorum, John Tempesta, Stephen Perkins

Bringing side one to a close is one of the real heavyweights of the album. Incepted just over a year earlier, with some riffs intended for future One More Outnumbered projects, this one was pulled 'from the vaults'.

It's only fitting that Alan White was responsible for the majority of the drums on this epic - it's got nifty odd time sections, bass pedals, oodles of classic synth sounds and wanders almost aimlessly at times. Of course, when I needed double bass drumming I went to one of the very best, and so John Tempesta's signature is all over this, too.

Guitar wise, I was inspired by Jerry Cantrell initially, so I took up my Strat and detuned it. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it handled the riffage on offer here. When matched with the right amps it has that lovely soaring, almost hollow, tone. Sure enough, it's great for soloing, so there is a bit of an extended workout thrown in - equal parts Bellamy, Lifeson, Wilson, Murray & Smith. 






*courtesy of submersible music

Knights of East Devonshire Promo

Here is the last promo clip, folks. Some relevant homely images, and a little nod to one of the influential musicians for the piece. 'Knights' is one of the featured tracks on the Cellardoor album, Set Fire to the Snow, and will close side one.

Set Fire to the Snow will be released through Blue Halo Productions, tomorrow, Friday 18th February.

Until Later

Shane

Hang 'em B-Low Promo

Hi Folks,

Getting ever closer to release day, and so here is the penultimate video clip. Hang 'em B-Low is one of the cornerstones of the album, and ever so slightly epic in nature. Here's a taste:



Until Later

Shane

Extreme Catwalk Strut

As a little respite from all the serious Cellardoor business...

I guess it's what you'd call an occupational hazard: if there is music on the TV / on a DVD / in the supermarket I hear it and wonder 'what if?'. Sometimes, I wonder WTF, of course. So there I am watching some vaguely entertaining reality TV (it's got Heidi Klum presenting, so you know what I mean), and I can't help hearing the background noise - there is a lot of guitar based industry on these shows, and the production elements have my curiosity aroused.

Anyway, I've taken that point of reference and created my own mini anthem for the next generation of strutting super skinny models. Use the perfectly bouncy 120bpm, add excessive dance tinged synth motifs, and I give you Extreme Catwalk Strut. Naturally, there are also slabs of detuned guitar for those of you into chunkier sounds.

Explosive new developments in episode 6

Here are the latest images and sounds from the upcoming Cellardoor series:

Until Later

Shane