Against Me Against You (2016); the making of

[AgainstMeAgainstYou]

So, I've decided I would do a thing.

The day after news broke of Bowie's death, I made a decision about my career. Being a session drummer in Toronto, getting paid for my passion, is great. But I've been the frontman of a dysfunctional band for five years now; I've had a full lineup for three months of that time and I've played one show. ONE.

I'm sick of letting this project fester. I have a two hour long concept album basically written. My life's work, really. I HAVE to release that album. But it'd be foolish to debut with it. So I've decided, in part to honour Bowie and in part because I've come to realize how fucking stupid it is to just let life pass me by (I know I'm only 20; understand that it feels like yesterday I wrote Fade to Black and I was 14 YEARS OLD WHEN THAT HAPPENED).

So, there will be an Against Me Against You record this year. It will be self-titled. I have no idea how good it will be. I don't even know if it will end up being full-band. All I know is that, by no later than December 31st of THIS YEAR, this record will be available, probably for free or PWYW, to the public.

So, the point of this thread? I will be making a diary of sorts. A live, as-I-write log of the creation of this record. You guys get to be a fly on the wall in the creation of, well... something that's probably going to be painfully average, to be honest. I used up a lot of my "genius" on the Teenage Wasteland stuff. But regardless, I'm so fucking motivated right now. I'm excited for this. I'm excited to get to share this. And there's no other place on the web that I would rather do it, since you guys are my favourite. And I apologize for constantly disappearing time and time again. Without further ado...

The Making of... AGAINST ME AGAINST YOU (2016)

01/23/16 - One

Fuck.

Eleven days? Already? Nearly two weeks since I started this thing and it feels like I just finished saving that first line on my harddrive. "You gotta kick 'em in the head!" I guess I've got to.

What is this I've got on. Ah yes. Things Fall Apart. Cool. Totally not the stuff that I'm writing, but I don't like to listen to things that sound like what I'm writing when I'm writing them. So whatever. I feel like I'm finally making my ideas a reality right now. Pen to paper. Pick to string. These songs sound badass. But sorta plain too. Well most of them. The aforementioned "You've Got to Kick Them In the Head" is the most punk rock thing I've ever attempted. Badass. The opening track, untitled at the moment, has a main riff that reminds me of AC/DC type shit. I didn't think I could write something like that, yet alas I did.

I've got six songs so far. None are totally finished. They're all really half-finished. So I guess I have three songs. Hah.

It's weird. None of these songs are long. I think the opener maybe stretches to four and a half minutes. Nothing is grandiose about this. I just want to put out a fucking record. I want people to hear it. I want to make some sort of wave. And then go back to making Teenage Wasteland after I get to a point where people would actually care about it.

What I have is:

The Song With The Kickass Riff Which Will Have A Better Fucking Title Than This Eventually Somehow
Blue-Haired Freak
The Streets
A cover of Somebody Up There Likes Me. Probably won't make the record
4
5
6

This is... a start. Two weeks and I have half a foundation. Rome wasn't built in a day I guess.

That's all she wrote for now. Til next entry.

/day

[SuedeSwede]

At first I thought you meant you were covering


Link




Either way, looking forward to see how it all progresses! Best of luck
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[leechris]

we're you recording?
If studio, would recommend Nobel Street - good sound for drums.
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"Spring's a girl in the street at night"

[AgainstMeAgainstYou]

02/09/16 - Two

Nearly a month since I kicked things off. I'm not done writing, and I wanted to be by now. It's looking like there will be nine, maybe ten songs, and the running time will be between 35-40 mins. Cool, I guess.

I've got To Pimp a Butterfly on right now; I've been on something of a hip-hop binge lately; I recently came to the conclusion that Kanye is the greatest artist of the past 15 years; Kendrick is probably right behind him. The things these two have done to and for music are insane, and I genuinely thought we might've been past innovation like this. Maybe one day I'll put out something that challenges convention as well.

This isn't the record for that, though; I've got killer ideas for the future, but right now I just want to make a kickass rock and roll record that people enjoy. Nothing more or less than that. I've got this going on with the tracklist now:

1. Floating Away (this is the one with the killer riff)
2. Gonna
3. Hot Handed (not sure if this one is staying)
4. Track Four
5. Streets
6. Harassholes
7. Kick 'Em in the Head
8. Track Eight
9. Blue-Haired Freak
10. Lost

I'm really liking this stuff; I'm frustrated that I'm not proficient enough to play the guitar parts and I now need the songs to be recorded with a full band or else it just won't work. I think my next step is to make a demo tape of the tunes so that the blueprint is there. I'm sorry it took so long to get to this update, and that it's so short. I'll try to have more (and maybe some audio) next time. Things have been crazy. They're about to get a lot crazier.

/day

[AgainstMeAgainstYou]

02/26/16 - Three

I finished Floating Away today. I now, finally have a complete song. I'm working on Gonna now. I might just hammer them out in order. Every song has a skeleton, I just have to give each one some flesh and blood too. I'm excited.

I'm broke. This is an issue for this record. I need more work behind the kit. Last night I played for Jeff Greenway in Toronto. Great dude, great musician, and the man actually cares about paying his backing musicians which is sadly a rare sight in this city. I need more. If anyone catches wind of something, drop me a line.

I'm planning to debut Floating Away on Sunday night. Working on getting it stage ready. I'm gonna try to have some audio for y'all too.

/day

[jhuik]

Recommended strategy from someone who knows nothing: Reduce your concept album to just the good bits and try releasing/recording that. Kind of like Who's Next. If you were 14 when you came up with the idea, it may need some mature rethinking. As I said, though, I have no clue what I'm talking about. But I believe great editing brings out true greatness, to be sure.
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