Demo, demo, write…rinse, repeat.

Yoooo…

Mercy The Sexton ~ 'At Midnite' (JC/Luke Major)

Yes, still working away – steadily – behind locked doors – here at the Jambotunes institute for post-Leary, non-chemically induced (mostly) but nevertheless somewhat mind-trippy, soul traversing rock/pop songs and recordings.  Anyway, just finished producing another couple of demos…

1st up, a song I finished production on today – for a band called ‘Mercy The Sexton‘ (last year they won the inaugural Atlantis Music Prize).  The song is called ‘At Midnite‘ (JC/Luke Major) and it was co-written here @ Jambotunes with the lead vocalist and co-founder of the band, Luke Major.  What does it sound like?  Well, like Mercy the Sexton, I suppose…but you can decide for yourself by taking a listen at my MySpace, if you wish.

Jimmy Rankin ~ 'Perfect' (JC/Jimmy Rankin)

Also finished a demo this week for the song ‘Perfect‘ (JC/Jimmy Rankin) – it’s one that I co-wrote here with Jimmy Rankin a while back. Feedback on that song/demo has been quite positive, including the feedback from Jimmy himself.  It’s not uploaded to my MySpace yet as Jimmy is considering songs for his next album and we’ll keep this one under wraps for a bit.

Earlier in the week, Keshia Chante visted the studio and we finished writing and revamping ‘Dead To Me‘ (JC/Keshia Chante/Roz Bell) – and I also recorded Keshia singing some truly inspired lead vocals for the demo.  Keshia’s really searching to reach a special place with her new music…I really think she’s on to something.

Also received a request from the Ole L.A. office to send them an a cappella version of a song I co-wrote during the L.A. Songwriting Camp called ‘Live 2 B’ – as there is interest in that song from Warner Music USA for one of their new artists.  So, I zapped that over to them (with a great assist from Eugenius! — thanks Euge!)

A few other good tidbits of news that I either can’t talk about yet – or it just wouldn’t make sense to share yet.  (You know…I do get the word sometimes (rarely) …’don’t blog about this’ – and that’s cool, because I realize that some artists, labels, managers etc have very specific ideas about how they like to roll out their own noise.  Especially if they consider it to be sensitive material.  I respect that…besides…I know it all bounces down, eventually.)

Next up…demo for ‘Throw It To The Universe‘ (JC/Luke Willms).  Luke has been the most patient guy in the world, waiting for this one.  It’s next on the list brutha.  Also, I’ll be demoing a song called ‘Don’t Say Anything‘ (JC/Kattia Zucharelli/Luke McMaster) next week – also for a prospective Ole USA pitch.

All good. Talk soon.

One BIG Xmas Wish!

Winnipeg's HOT 103 - in the spirit!

I guess it’s that time of year again…already! Wow…it seems like just yesterday that I was putting up last year’s holiday posting here on the blog.

Well, I’m certainly not ready to close things down for the holidays just yet…but, I am receiving hints that the ’season’ has begun.

Nice.

A song I wrote with Rebecca Everett and Jaylene Johnson a while back called ‘Winter Wish‘ has been included on a special Xmas CD that is being manufactured and sold by the wonderful folks @ Winnipeg’s HOT 103 FM radio station as part of their ‘One BIG Day For Christmas‘ drive.  All proceeds from the sale of the CD will go to charity…and the song will be spun on radio all season long…enjoy!

Kudos also to my publisher Ole for getting in the Xmas spirit with this one too.

It always feels good to be able to share music this way.

p.s. I’m also uploading the song to my MySpace for the holidays. (If you’re also a fan of ‘Charlie-Brown-ish Xmas’ piano breaks, then there’s one more reason to give it a quick listen.  It’s a cute tune, for sure.)

Peace.

jc

Heather + Heart Attack.

Heather Longstaffe @ Jambotunes Nov. 23/09

Finished the demo of ‘The Mess You Made Of Me‘ (JC/Brian Melo) and zapped that over to Brian.  Great response from Brian – that was awesome.

Scheduled the return of Keshia Chante in the first week of December to finish writing and recording the vocals for ‘Dead To Me‘ (JC/Roz Bell/Keshia Chante).

Heather Longstaffe blew into town from Manitoba yesterday and I was able to present her with the finished demo for ‘Girls Like Shoes Bags And Boys‘ (JC/Heather Longstaffe).  Sounding big + fun.  Heather and I also wrote a new one yesterday called ‘Heart Attack‘ (JC/Heather Longstaffe).

Chris Labelle emailed yesterday to say they’re shooting the video for ‘Living On A Long Shot‘ (JC/Ben Dunk) on Dec. 4 or Dec. 7.  So, that was good news.  I almost couldn’t believe it, it’s been such a long process with that record.

In progress: demos for ‘Midnite‘ (JC/Luke Major), ‘Throw It All To The Universe‘ (JC/Luke Willms)…+ more…

Dead To Me…? (well, not me, really)

Keshia Chante + Roz Bell @ Jambotunes Nov. 15/09

Great day writing with Keshia Chante and Roz Bell on Sunday…

We started a new song – tentatively titled ‘Dead To Me‘ (JC/Roz Bell/Keshia Chante) – and it was a pretty exciting session.  Keshia spent some time before the session describing her vision for where she would like to go next as an artist.  Now, it’s not my place to give away any details here – so I won’t, but, I can say that Keshia’s scope of vision kinda blew my mind.  She’s very open to exploring some boundary pushing musical and personal territory and this left us open to really dig deep while writing.  We felt a bit like mad scientists – but always with the soul of the music at the heart of everything.  We made it half way through the song and decided we wanted to set up a second session to finish the song and track some demo vocals by Keshia.  So…we’re working out those dates now… Good times.

Also, still working away like crazy on demos…uploaded a couple of new ones to my MySpace …’What I’m Looking For‘ (JC/Suzie McNeil) w/ amazing demo vocals by Suzie + ‘That’s How I Like It‘ (JC/Rike Boomgaarden/Erick Nyholm/Vincent Stein) – one of the songs I wrote while in Berlin recently…awesome vocal by Rike Boomgaarden.

The Girls (and boys) Are Back In Town…

Keshia Chante - Jambotunes on Sunday

Hellooooo…

Working like a fiend…indeed…finishing up way past due demos this week for Brian Melo, Suzie McNeil, Jimmy Rankin, Marilou, Luke Willms, Mercy The Sexton.

Also got word that the song ‘Don’t Say Anything‘ (JC/Katia Zuccarelli/Luke McMaster) made a strong impression during this week’s creative meeting at Ole .  The plan is to pitch the song to a major label artist in the U.S.A. & the L.A. office also wants a full demo that they can pitch for synch.  So, that one’s been bumped upward in priority.  Really good news as I love that little tune.  Simple but so elegant.

Also did some work with a young up and comer - Hilary Weaver these past 2 weeks — can’t say much about that right now…but, Hilary’s definitely got some very cool things on the go.

Diana - from Montreal - has a vision.

Cadence Grace was also in to the studio to write a new song ‘Ready To Fall‘ (JC/Cadence Grace) and to record a couple of acoustic demos for her trip to Nashville next week.

Met with a new artist – Diana – from Montreal, last night.  Diana was referred to me by a mutual acquantance & she’s got a lot of interesting ideas about who she wants to be as an artist.  I think we’re going to try and write something pretty wicked together.

Coming up on Sunday…writing here with Keshia Chante and Roz Bell.  Excited about that.  Roz has been here before and we wrote a cool song together called ‘Cherry Coke‘ (which I still need to demo properly) — and this will be my first time writing with Keshia.

Heather Longstaffe is in town on the 23rd – and we’ll be writing another new country rocker together here – is what I’m thinking….

Ok…I guess that was my break….back to work…

ciao.

I’m Your Song

Bruce Wallace @ Jambotunes Studio Nov. 4/09

Great great visit from Bruce Wallace from Nashville on Wednesday.

Bruce is a brother in arms, as it were, he being another Ole staff writer.  Bruce is based in Nashville, (born in Oklahoma? I’m pretty sure?) – and he was in the midst of a quick trip to Toronto to record some guitar work for an artist who is releasing one of his songs soon.

Anyway…I’d heard lots of great things about Bruce prior to meeting him…and of course, it was all true.  Super nice and easy going guy.   We did the usual ‘kitchen talk’ thing…and out of that chatter came an idea for a new song called ‘I’m Your Song‘ (JC/Bruce Wallace).

It was kinda funny actually, we were sitting on the balcony discussing the concept of the song when Bruce started spitting out a bunch of lyrics…we just kinda looked at each other…then I said “I gotta write this stuff down” – and we both ran into the studio and the ideas just flowed.

I think it’s a beautiful little tune…I’m uploading it to my MySpace right now…if you wanna check it out…(note: absolutely awesome, heart wrenching vocals by Bruce).

ciao for now…

Triple Play Thursdays.

Marilou, Brian & Rupert today...

Early start to the day today…Brian Melo swung by the studio @ 10 a.m. to sing lead vocals and play some acoustic guitar for the demo of ‘The Mess You Made Of Me‘ (JC/Brian Melo).   Sounding killer.

After that Brian hung around for a cup of tea and a chat as we awaited the arrival of Rupert Gayle.  It had been a while since Brian and Rupert had seen each other, so we had a nice reunion when Rupert arrived at noon – and we were also able to play the album version of a couple of Brian Melo songs for Rupert – songs that he had a hand in co-writing with us.  So, that was all positive…

Then…Marilou arrived from Montreal (straight from the plane to the studio – this seems to be happening a lot lately).  Marilou is a young female artist who is signed to Sony Music and managed by Rene Angelil (yes, that Rene – aka Celine Dion’s manager/husband) and she flew in to town for some songwriting sessions.  The focus was to write something new and cool for Marilou’s upcoming English language album – so today we wrote a cool new song called ‘Shot Down By A Smile‘ (JC/Rupert Gayle/Marilou).  A lot of fun writing this one – adventurous lyrical theme and quirky, folky-pop kinda stylistic vibe.  We felt that we had come in right on target…especially when Marilou sat back and exclaimed ‘this IS me’ when we finished writing the song.  

After that I recorded a couple of acoustic guitar tracks and Marilou sang a great lead vocal for the demo.  The Sony Canada A&R rep (Adam Fujiki) stopped by the studio to say hello and we were able to play him the worktape of the song – and he thought it was really cool.  I’ll send him the full demo when I get it completed. 

And, that was Thursday.

Double Play Mondays…

Afternoon - writing with Melo

Full day today…

Spent an afternoon session writing with Brian Melo.  Brian and I finished a song we started a while back called ‘The Mess You Made Of Me‘ (JC/Brian Melo) — and, I think it’s a good thing we took a couple of sessions to finish this one as it probably contains our most intense lyric work up to this point.  A difficult subject…that maybe seemed a bit too close to home for both of us at times during the writing…but, hey…I guess that’s where the cool songs come from sometimes.  We recorded a quick worktape…and the plan is to get Brian back to record a proper demo vocal later thisweek. (Thurs night?)

 

Evening - recording with Luke Willms

After a short break it was time for an evening session with Luke Willms.  Luke  flew in from Vancouver this week to do some work on our song ‘Throw It To The Universe‘ (JC/Luke Willms).  It was great to catch up with Luke again.  We spent some time talking about the structure of the song – and possible arrangement ideas…then we recorded Luke playing some killer acoustic guitar work for the bed tracks.  Luke will return Wednesday morning – and at the very least we’ll get the rest of his guitar work and all of his vocals recorded before he heads back to Van.  Me thinks this just might be a beautiful song…seems like every other discussion I have with folks these days is about the pull of the universe.  Cool.

Luke Major – ‘Mercy The Sexton’

   

Luke Major @ Jambotunes Oct. 25/09

Luke Major visited the studio today to record vocals for a song he and I wrote on Friday called ‘Midnight‘ (JC/Luke Major). 

Luke’s been in town for a week – doing some songwriting and also filming a feature about his band ‘Mercy The Sexton‘ (hailing from Saint John’s, Newfoundland).

Anyway, Luke and I had quite a day on Friday – all the usual shenanigans…way too long talks about about stuff we probably shouldn’t have been talking about…lots of Lemoncello…lots of laughs…and..oh ya, we wrote a pretty frickin cool song too.

Sometimes it really doesn’t seem fair…I always seem to end up working with the absolute nicest people in the world.  And that has been a real blessing.  I really do love this job.

‘Perfect’ day with Jimmy Rankin

 

Jimmy Rankin @ Jambotunes Oct 24/09

Killer day writing with Jimmy Rankin here @ Jambotunes.  We wrote a new song called ‘Perfect‘ (JC/Jimmy Rankin) – and I think it’s verily accurate to say we rocked the house.

There’s probably nothing I can say about Jimmy’s stellar career here that you don’t already know…but, I will add that I can attest first hand that he’s an absolute first class individual.  We enjoyed a great day of songwriting, storytelling, even a quick lunch @ Fionn’s (with beverages) – and a whole lot of positive energy.

I’m mixing down a rough worktape of today’s session to send to Jimmy now…and we’re looking forward to a time when we can get together to do it all again.

Rock.