New state, old song, new cover

So we made it to Florida wirth Andy Shaw Band. We are staying in this great condo that band friend/booker/helper extraordinaire Genean hooked us up with. So we found out today that we need a new transmission for our (brand freakin new..well, just bought) van. it's a 2008 or so so it should be fine but the transmission went bad I guess, I know nothing about cars. What's this have to do with my recording project? Not a lot, just giving a bit of context to the situation. So I do not have my own room as there are basically four "bedrooms" (Matt is actually in an office with a pull out bed). I am on the couch so as you can see my temporary set up (pictured) is kinda, well let's just say it works enough. If someone can invent an absolutely portable sound proof climate controlled (I might add cheap) musician practice studio they would make millions..even if they ARE cheap. But I digress. So today I am trying to keep busy and keep momentum going while being on the road, being with a lot of people, and not having my normal space to work in. I was working on a tune today by Amy Winehouse called "Wake Up Alone". I really am looking to her as an inspiration and I love the guitar tracks on this song. The one is arpeggios the whole tune and the other is just doing hits on the 4 (tune's in 6/8). It's a great one and listening to the actual track from the cd gives me some tricks I didn't get from the book. Its definitely getting there..im also working on an old tune I'm trying to fit a groove to it as originally I wrote it for acoustic. I really like the lyrics so I think this ones going to be good. It's called "Airplanes" as of now and I wrote it when flying somewhere alone..can't remember where. Lots of time to think and observe in the airport waiting and on the plane especially when flying alone. Gonna see what I come up with groove wise maybe improvising w/percussion with out my drum set in the house were staying in. Hopefully I will get something up in the next few days. For now here are the lyrics so far:

Airplanes
Lots of people making great changes
Some just need a break
And others want to see home

Strange ways
Everybody's looking out for themselves they
Don't want to help you
But guilt gets in the way

Baby's crying
Planes are flying off in the distance
Everybody's going there own way
Bags are packed there eyes look straight ahead

Once in a while you'll get a smile
We all have to board the same damn plane

There are a few more lyrics but I like these ones so far, gonna keep 'em. Any suggestions? Anyone read this thing?

Money Make You_sample by efilsitra
Here is the song with the working title "Money Make You". This is about not letting go of your dreams and though you have to work and what not, you can still go after what it is you really want. God it sounds so cheesy when I type it but I really believe it. I had a friend who talked a lot about "the man" and what not in high school and I see him now in the corporate world and it can be hard. I want people to be able to live the life they want, maybe it's hard but it's worth it. Any thoughts? I am trying to create a deep pocket groove so this is the newest rendition of what I think the drums should feel like.

So I am compiling a list, seems like it keeps getting longer. Sometimes I have a hard time keeping on track and following through so this is a good way to keep my self accountable..the blog, the list..all of the documentation. Maybe if I write down the stupid stuff I do I can fix it, and the good stuff I can keep. This is a working list and yes the "Biscuit Brigade" is a working title of the band..I may go with "Chris Shaw and the Biscuit Brigade" or just the name itself, or scrap it later..not sure. I have been toying with it and it is the name of this blog, fittingly. I am a really big fan of the songs on the top of the list. Jimmy Castoe, Charlie Scott and I have been rehearsing for a bit and Crazy and Just Maybe sound really good, especially when Tim Magree adds his keys to the mix. I love The Ones We Hate/Why Do We Stay? as well but it needs some structure work. New Home just needs to figure out the feel and I will be posting some versions here soon. Ok, off to record some more!

John Legend & The Roots - Little Ghetto Boy (Live In Studio)

This groove is tasty, was listening to this in my car today, original tune by Donny Hathaway, love The Roots/John Legend interpretation.

New music venture (kinda), and new direction of the blog..kinda

So I have not posted in a while. I have decided to move the direction of the blog into a more personal matter, I may still post about my experiences in the Columbus scene and really it is still my experience in music. Point is, I am going to document my new musical venture. For a long time I have been working on a "solo" band. That being it is not Andy Shaw Band, it is not Shaw Brothers, it's really not even "Chris Shaw" solo. It is a new band with me playing electric guitar and I am attempting kind of write in a direction. I never have done this before, normally I just write whatever comes to my head and sometimes it sounds like my brother (I think) or sometimes it sounds like whatever I listened to on the radio, or just me. I like this a lot and I like my style but recently I have been getting really into some music and I have kind of figured out it is mostly soul....with some other stuff mixed in. Some of the artists I have really been getting into include throwback musicians like Adele, Amy Winehouse, Mayer Hawthorne, that pay tribute to soul, motown, ska, classic r&b, and the like. I recently have been realizing that this is the music I have always been into, groove music, something that speaks deep to well...the soul. I grew up with bands like Sublime which has elements of soul/reggae/hip hop, No Doubt (reggae/deep grooves), and always come back to these records as my favorite types of music. I have always appreciated the grooves that G. Love and Special Sauce come up with especially on the album "Electric Mile", if you hate on G. take a listen to this album it may change your mind. So right now I am attempting to write in this style taking the electric guitar and using it almost as a percussion instrument and not the lead instrument like an acoustic and create different grooves.

I could go further and I will, but I am going to jump into today. Today I am working on a song with the working title "Different Inspirations". This is a song originally inspired by the classic songwriter inspiration: a break up. This is about when I was newly broken up and just thinking about her and not being able to just do the things I wanted because she would not get out of my head. Then I would go out and I would see her at all the places I hung out at. So it's not finished and songs change meanings as time goes by, and if I have not finished writing a song and now feel a different way sometimes I change the meaning of the lyrics. I am not sure if this is going to happen yet but we will see.

What I have been doing recently is demo'ing out all the parts, or at least core parts like guitar, vocals, drums, maybe bass (usually played on guitar), and sometimes piano. There are a few key groups I am not trying to necessarily emulate but get inspiration from. I mentioned Adele, Amy Winehouse, Mayer Hawthorne, and then there's The Black Keys (see album "Brothers"),  Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, and similar artists. I like to take certain simple guitar rhythms and build a groove off of that and the drums. So here it goes. I will be posting some audio/video/lyrics and such as I go. Please feel free to comment and such.

Where the HELL have you been?

Yeah so it's been a hot minute hasn't it...damn these blogs! So I have been mega mega busy. Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, Denton, Austin, Chillicothe, Athens, Fairborn, Dayton, Springboro, and ...wait for it....CELINA?? Where the hell is that? I don't even know. I subbed in with a friend Will Freed and his band in Celina near this man made lake...great band, Will is a veteran of 11 years in the bar scene and is only 28..crazy. He's a superb guitar player, singer, and songwriter. His band is also great and it was a pleasure playing with them. A little known musician called John Popper played on his record..yeah. So check him out fo' sho. Andy Shaw Band actually did not play this weekend but Shaw Brothers played at a wine tasting near Dayton. Our friend Laura whom we met at Franklin Park Conservatory during a gig hooked us up with this gig. This place was called "Boro Bistro" and it was great. A wine bar/restaurant with a nice family friendly atmosphere and great food. I can't wait to go back to play again, people were so nice and one guy gave us a $20 tip, always awesome! Been way busy I will try to update this more. Working on Columbus Music Menu which is going to be aweeesssome, a comprehensive website of C-Bus music. Blogs, venue reviews, band bios, live music calendar, and much more. Also check out the ASB Blog for news about us. Rumba this Thurday May 5th with Lewis Brothers and Joshua P. James and the Paper Planes..gonna be a barn burner! More soon..

The Big Release Show

ASB CD Release last night was so fun! Thanks so much for coming out. I really felt the love last night and I know it sounds hippie and what not but man, there is nothing wrong with feeling the love! Ha, man so many emotions last night. First, I feel like sometimes people try to put our music in a box, and that's normal for any band but specifically with what we try to do it can be misconstrued if one has never been to a show or really has not heard us. Of course being IN the band I only know what I am trying to do with the music and that can be very different with each member. I know that even Andy and I have different views on the band but I think for the most part we are trying to take an underlying feel of roots reggae and infuse it with something new, maybe add a beat that pays homage to reggae but maybe not exactly a strict one drop feel, or maybe we add a tribal tom beat to it. We want to advance reggae to a different level. If you listen to bands like RX Bandits and State Radio they really try to take reggae to a different level without being all "white boy stoner" about it. So that is the intention at least from my point of view. I respect what roots reggae artists do and I would never want to bastardize it, so I put my own spin on it and it is real and it can be very raw and emotional, if we can put all those things into a song than I think we are doing something right. Anyway, I'm kinda rambling but last night was really awesome. We ended up making shirts for the cd release that said "Andy Effing Shaw" paying homage to one of our good friends Heather Fullmer who affectionately came up with this "party call" at our shows, it has caught on and I had to make a shirt (thanks Matt Paetsch for the idea). Download the album here at andyshawband.bandcamp.com

The Columbus Duets Project went off really well too! I was a bit nervous at first when Caleb told me he had no voice but we pulled it off and it sounded good. By the second song with Joey Hebdo I really started feeling comfortable, the songs were able to breathe a bit too adding a little length to the mostly short songs on the album. Bree Frick did a great job and I felt really good about our song as well as the one Kerry and I did called "Smoke Song". I hope people enjoy the album and if you want a copy please go to TheColumbusDuetsProject.bandcamp.com and download it now! In closing, thanks everyone so much for the support! It is soo awesome!!!!