New Honey Hunters - Fabulous Wonderful

[Armistice]

That's the title, not a review... Sung with maximum sarcasm...

Well, time to get back on the horse, so to speak.

This one started out as a riff in one of the Tone threads - when I was trying to work out "heavier" sounds on the Kemper. And because I always want to hear things in context, I ripped an interesting sounding "groove" out of the drum software and noodled away until I had a riff, and then recorded bass etc. posted it with various overdriven amp profiles, and then forgot about it for years. Found it as I was trawling through the computer looking for undeveloped ideas - decided there was a song in there somewhere. To record it I didn't use a heavy sound at all, just stacked a bunch of relatively clean different guitars on top of each other - Les Paul, Duesenberg, Tele.

My lyrical process these days seems to be based around something popping into my head while I'm constructing the song and then having to work out a story around that... and that's what I was doing until I had an "Oh wait..." moment, because of course I already had a true story that fitted in just fine. So this is a song about a man, a car, a wedding and a fan belt - and it actually happened. Of course it's a really short song so I couldn't fit the entire story in, so I had to work out what to do about that, exactly... didn't want to make the music longer.

When I listen to it I tend to think I'm channelling the Afghan Whigs a little...

But enough - here's the first post-last-album new tune:



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Version 2 with some minor volume adjustments and EQ adjustments on the vocals



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Version 3 - working a bit on the midrange as per @TripleM 's comments. I'd also had another run at the vocal yesterday and poked a few syllables in and out - should be a bit less harsh generally. Rolled the bass HPF up a tad as well.



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Version 4 with a more "me" guitar lick at the beginning and a little phrase added into the chorus.
Actually took 4 down and putting 5 up instead. I think 4 had a little too much delay on the leady guitar bits. Better with a bit less. Not sure anyone had listened to it anyway...


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Woids...

There was a country wedding, I’d be an honoured guest
A four hour drive to the celebration, so I headed west
My car had seen much better days it was somewhat on the edge
I’ll fix you up sometime old friend was what I’d always pledge
Hot as Hades just outside, the engine it was too
I watched the needle, I saw the steam, I tried to push on through
When I pulled over I popped the hood and saw the ugly truth
Didn’t take a mechanic, I didn’t need to be a sleuth

Well isn’t this just fabulous? Isn’t this wonderful?
Well isn’t this just fabulous? Isn’t this wonderful?

I left the car with the hood up and tried to thumb a ride
But not a person picked me up so westwards I did stride
Walked 5k to a little town and bought the thing I’d need
With a lift straight back the other way it seemed my luck had changed indeed
The driver even gave me tips on how I should repair
But no amount of leverage would get the thing on there
There was only one conclusion out here in Western High and Dry
I was sold the wrong damn fan belt, and I screamed this to the sky

Well isn’t this just fabulous? Isn’t this wonderful?
Well isn’t this just fabulous? Isn’t this wonderful?
Well isn’t this just fabulous? Isn’t this wonderful?
Well isn’t this just fabulous? Isn’t this wonderful?

Did I reach my destination, did I see them wed?
I’ll have to tell you in another song, somewhere up ahead
Goodbye now.

[rayc]

Quite debonair!
Sounds good and the stacked guitars do given a certain heaviosity without grunging.
interesting story too.
I like it all.

[CrowsofFritz]

Do you remember the amp profile this was? It sounds pretty close to something I want. I really like the tone.

[Armistice]

Quite debonair!
Sounds good and the stacked guitars do given a certain heaviosity without grunging.
interesting story too.
I like it all.

Ha ha... yes. Thanks.

It was before I moved to Sydney and the car was my (not so) trusty Datsun 1600. And the wedding was the guy who I'm still friends with who now lives out near Dalby...

The rest of the story deserves telling because I'm not really going to write another song about it.

So I was out near Oakey and went up a big hill and knew the game was up - just watched the temp needle go up and saw the steam coming out... Pulled over, put the hood up, steam and shredded rubber everywhere. Rats... Now I'd bought the car from a mate not that long ago, and he was useless in terms of spares, maintenance etc. so I didn't bother looking to see if there was a spare fan belt in the boot - it was the sort of thing that people would carry, back in the day - and he wasn't mechanically inclined, so no point.

I did actually get a lift into Oakey - waving my fan belt in the air as I was walking, but it took a while - and I left the hood up so people going past could put 2 and 2 together - bit of poetic licence there. Anyway, found a/the garage, and the guy looked up the car model in his magic book of fan belts, selected one from the stock, and sold it to me. I got a lift back easily enough, again, just walking with the fan belt in my hand and waving it at whoever was going past.

And that guy who picked me up told me how to change it - I had a vague idea, but the idea of slackening off the alternator (I think) bolts to get the slack to put the new belt on, and then using a tyre lever, which I had in the boot, to get a bit more tension into the belt whist retightening the bolts was courtesy of him. So he dropped me off and I got the tools out (be mad not to carry tools in those days, especially if you were driving in the country, which I often was) and followed the procedure and damn, nothing I could do would make it fit. It was just too small - so the guy had either misread the model or picked the wrong belt off the rack. I was cursing him as it was a country service station back in the 80s on a Saturday afternoon and it shut at 3 o'clock and I wouldn't make it back in time.

In desperation I looked in the tyre well, hoping to find a piece of rope or something that I could at least use to get to town so I could call and say "Unavoidably detained..." No mobile phones back then. What do I find? A brand new fan belt... which fitted. As it turned out, not my mate who previously owned the car, but his father, had bought it and hidden it away there. And 10 minutes later I was on my way - having filled the radiator up with the water than everyone also took with them when driving in the country.

Got there about half an hour before the ceremony started - being a low rent country wedding it was at the wife's parent's house - grease all over me - managed to have a quick scrub with the Solvol and change into my wedding clobber and on we went...

Thing is, if I hadn't gone into Oakey, I wouldn't have known how to fit the damn thing properly anyway...

[Armistice]

Do you remember the amp profile this was? It sounds pretty close to something I want. I really like the tone.

The Duesenberg was via a Fender Super Reverb, from memory. The Tele was a CarolAnn which is some obscure US boutique thing that old Miro used to rave about and the Les Paul, which comes in halfway through each verse was the FSR again, or the CarolAnn - can't remember, but the CA is very Fenderish anyway. So pretty much anything Fender, with the slightest touch of break up and no actual reverb (from the profile - added a little later).

It's the stacking that gets the overall tone. 2 L and 2 R then 3 L and 3 R when the Les Paul cuts in.

[Armistice]

Minor changes in V2 up above.

[Mr Clean]

I really like this. So short at 2.45 but seems to deliver so much more than the runtime suggests, always a good thing, IMO.

The only thing that jumps out to me is the deep voice harmony. I really expected it to go higher. Intriguing choice and out of the usual ball park for this kind of song.

Good tune and a cool story.

[stratmonkee]

Love your guitar sounds, slightly crunchy, full tone, very good. Like how you have them panned listening on headphones. Mix sounds great , nice vocals as well!

[vomitHatSteve]

I do like that guitar tone. The held note in the intro slowly turning to feedback especially.

Vocally, the lead starts just a touch loud in the first verse, I'd say.

Sounds like an edit artifact or somesuch on the vox at 2:20

So, is there a sequel to this one later on the album?

[Armistice]

I do like that guitar tone. The held note in the intro slowly turning to feedback especially.

Vocally, the lead starts just a touch loud in the first verse, I'd say.

Sounds like an edit artifact or somesuch on the vox at 2:20

So, is there a sequel to this one later on the album?

No, the rest of the story isn't that interesting... see the post one or two down, where I've outlined what happened.

I'll have a look at the levels. There have been one or two places where I've heard a glitch on vocals and assumed it was some tuning thing I'd done, to go and have a look to find there isn't any... It's just something that happened on the take. Very strange. I think one of the advantages of having someone listening to the takes live as they're done is that they could kill off any glitch take as it happens - start again, dude - whereas I tend not to notice it at the time, and when I'm editing later it's like WTF happened there. And it's the otherwise best take.

Anyway, I'll go back and have a look at 2:20. Cheers

Love your guitar sounds, slightly crunchy, full tone, very good. Like how you have them panned listening on headphones. Mix sounds great , nice vocals as well!

Cheers Mr Monkee...

I really like this. So short at 2.45 but seems to deliver so much more than the runtime suggests, always a good thing, IMO.

The only thing that jumps out to me is the deep voice harmony. I really expected it to go higher. Intriguing choice and out of the usual ball park for this kind of song.

Good tune and a cool story.

Yeah I heard the octave below thing on some thing I head on a TV show - which often have really interesting soundtracks, and thought "I can do that..." I didn't actually consider making it a harmony per se - just tracked it an octave below - perhaps I should have? Will keep it in mind for next time.

Cheers

[vomitHatSteve]

No, the rest of the story isn't that interesting... see the post one or two down, where I've outlined what happened.

I figured, lol. But had to ask.

[Alison]

Just listened to the 2nd mix and I have to say, I love everything about this! The song, the guitar sounds, your voice. . .it is really well done!

[TripleM]

I thought the guitars sounded great. I like how the parts fit together.

Bass might be just a bit low-end heavy.

The vocal sound is nice and clear. It gets a little high-mid-rangey. Didn't we have a discussion way back about multi-band compressors on vocal? You might want to focus a multiband on the 2500-4000hz range. Just to pull some of the bite out. I use a de-esser for that kind of thing - but de-essers and multi-bands are pretty similar in function.

[Armistice]

Just listened to the 2nd mix and I have to say, I love everything about this! The song, the guitar sounds, your voice. . .it is really well done!

Thanks Alison.

I thought the guitars sounded great. I like how the parts fit together.

Bass might be just a bit low-end heavy.

The vocal sound is nice and clear. It gets a little high-mid-rangey. Didn't we have a discussion way back about multi-band compressors on vocal? You might want to focus a multiband on the 2500-4000hz range. Just to pull some of the bite out. I use a de-esser for that kind of thing - but de-essers and multi-bands are pretty similar in function.

I've actually already got a multiband compressor on there in that range (see, I do listen!) but it's more focused than 2500 - 4000 - it's to tamp down a particular harsh frequency. I'll widen the band a bit and see what happens. Or perhaps put another instance on with a wider band and more modest compression. Will have a look at the bass as well. I'll put another mix up a little later once I've had a play around with it.

Thanks, as always, for the ears...

[Armistice]

No, the rest of the story isn't that interesting... see the post one or two down, where I've outlined what happened.

I figured, lol. But had to ask.

I mean, I could turn it into a Fabulous Wonderful wedding... and change the tone of voice... but that's a bit sickly sweet for me.

This was back in the day when I was a poor little rat - I'd long forgotten what I got them as a gift - it was in the early 80s, but when I was there a few years ago the wife dug into the spare room and brought out the treasure... it was a pair of thongs (flip flops or whatever you call them) specifically for swatting flies, and a pair of matching his and her hand towels - they being a normal piece of towelling material - a tea towel I think - cut into the shape of a hand. Twice. There was an explanatory letter as well. I must have got them a real gift too, but that's lost in the mists of time, but they kept those stupid things...

[rayc]

Mix three - coooool.

[JD01]

I'm coming straight in on Mix 3. Sounds good.
Now, Armi, you're gonna hate this. Strangely predictably lead guitar at the start for an Armi song - generic blues lick. Surely it won't be too tricky for you to replace this with something more quirky.

[vomitHatSteve]

Yeah, sounds a little less sibilant overall.

[Armistice]

I'm coming straight in on Mix 3. Sounds good.
Now, Armi, you're gonna hate this. Strangely predictably lead guitar at the start for an Armi song - generic blues lick. Surely it won't be too tricky for you to replace this with something more quirky.

I sort of thought that at the time but I just got lost in the feedback . I've done another version with something more like I'd normally play and I'm just sitting with it for a day to see if I like it better. I've also, on someone else's suggestion, put a little lead guitar motif in between the phrases in the chorus, so I'm a bit unsure on that at this stage, so I'll leave it all for 24 hours and stick it up tomorrow if I keep them.

[JD01]

I'm coming straight in on Mix 3. Sounds good.
Now, Armi, you're gonna hate this. Strangely predictably lead guitar at the start for an Armi song - generic blues lick. Surely it won't be too tricky for you to replace this with something more quirky.

I sort of thought that at the time but I just got lost in the feedback . I've done another version with something more like I'd normally play and I'm just sitting with it for a day to see if I like it better. I've also, on someone else's suggestion, put a little lead guitar motif in between the phrases in the chorus, so I'm a bit unsure on that at this stage, so I'll leave it all for 24 hours and stick it up tomorrow if I keep them.

You don't need to go mental with it... just something that sounds like your playing.
Between the phrases in the chorus you could just go for just a couple of notes, just something that adds a bit of tension and resolves... you don't need to do a Van Halen.