3. Heather Thomas, Big Dreams and Funky Drums
Heather's funky fingers are on my drum pad in this episode. In between making beats, we discussed her plan to fall in love with Elon Musk, part of her larger plan to get to the moon and play drums in space. ;) We researched the Golden Record out there in space and brainstormed what kind of music we would sing on the moon (since the entire world will be watching that show). Heather gives us a lesson on the different parts of a drum set and how they’re used to create different genres of music. We get all excited about how awesome Ableton is (better than other DAWS, yes!?), and of course (because it’s Heather Thomas) we discuss the importance of facing your fears, journaling and challenging yourself to grow. Plus we get to hear about Heather's big adventure; she's dropping everything and heading around the country on a DIY music tour in 2020. Every month she’s in a different city, for the entire month - performing, teaching, building a band, recording. Dope. Heather Thomas: https://www.heatherthomasmusic.com/
4. Emily McVicker, Underwater Mermaid Rave
Once you write a song about a baby mermaid and condoms in the ocean, you’re probably going to be haunted by this for life. At least, I’m probably never going to not think of mermaids when I hear the name “Emily McVicker”. This delightful human is a beatbox machine and she spit some beats (and probably some spit) into my new Aston microphone inside the purple Halo vocal booth in my studio! I found a bunch of water and ocean sounds (it’s bizarre what sounds you find when you search for ‘mermaid’) and Emily and I talked about raves (why she doesn’t go), making Christmas songs (or not) based on our past religious experiences and current spirituality, how promoting other people really helps promote yourself and how building a community is the best thing you can do for your music career, and of course, Harry Potter…if we were teachers at Hogwarts…what would we teach? Emily McVicker: http://www.emilymcvicker.com/
Here’s the song that popped out of Emily’s episode. This is just a draft (#25) of what we worked on. Emily is the beatbox beat in the back and I messed around with vocals until my mind got all mussy and I had to step away. I enjoy the beginning of this song right now but then it just gets repetitive and boring. To develop it into a full blown song we’re going to need to invest a lot more time to give it some structure and meaningful content. I’m really excited by the introduction of beatboxing, real beatboxing, not just my fake beatboxing. Emily can actually beatbox out of her mouth. When you hear my songs, it only sounds like I’m beatboxing because I arrange clips of my vocals into cool patterns. haha Emily’s main tip for being a good professional beatboxer is that you need to make it feel good. Everyone is capable of making the sounds with their mouth, she says, but to be a good beatboxer you need to intuitively feel out the good rhythm that you’re creating with those sounds. Sounds like a concept that is valid across all music.
I threw Emily and Heather on my Ableton Live Push 2 pad and both of them had fun playing with it but admitted they didn’t know what they were doing. I was curious to see how these two artists, who are both practicing acoustic instruments but dabble in electronic looping and drumpads, would adapt in my studio. I feel most enlightened, not by what they played on the pad, but HOW they played. Seeing them experiment, be silly, and not have any fear of pushing buttons they aren’t familiar with, was a beautiful reminder of how liberating it is to be in the company of a person creating with joy, without self-consciousness, just trying it out. After recording both of these sessions, I noticed my own confidence boost up, I’m suddenly making weird sounds out my mouth and breaking into random little songs, feeling less inhibited as I improvise lyrics in front of other people. I didn’t try to change myself, I just witness a shift take place. My brain put it together, by watching two women sing silly and free before my eyes, something inside me understood how that was done and started exhibiting that behavior too. Everybody is rubbing off on you so surround yourself with people who act more the way you want to act than you do.
“The ultimate distinction you make is between yourself and the world. There is the inside (your subjective experience) and there is the outside. But every time you learn something, your brain is altered as new connections are formed. Your experience of something that occurs in the world physically alters your brain. The boundaries between you and the world are much more fluid than you might imagine.”
― Robert Greene, Mastery
Thank you Emily & Heather for joining me in the studio and being silly.
LOVE,
CHA🍍WILDE