Hey! We made it! After six months, we’ve finally reached the end of the regular season. So, how’s about a fun little pop-rock tune to commemorate the occasion? That’s what I thought, too. Like the last tune, this is a bit of an homage to Coheed and Cambria – their most recent album closes with a simple and fun rock song, which is what I tried to do here.
The lyrics should be somewhat obvious here. It’s a long season for sure, and there’s a good chance it didn’t end the way you wanted. But, since this is the last game (game #82 for the NHL season, hence the title), why not just have some fun? For the record, there are a total of 1,230 games in an NHL season. I checked the online official scoresheet of the last game just to make sure.
Hello there. Today’s Hockey Project tune is a notable departure, mood-wise. As the title would suggest, this tune is about finally being mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. It’s in all caps because I always type it like that in this context. More fun that way, I think. Either way, I guess this is what you wind up writing about when your favorite hockey team is dead last in the whole league…
Musically, this – and the following song – is a bit of an homage to Coheed and Cambria. Their most recent album (which is excellent, by the way) has a really dark-sounding opening track much like this. For the music theory buffs, this is one of the rare times I’ve ever used an augmented chord. Also, that acoustic part was much more difficult to record than I expected. Holy crap did that hurt…
Hello again. Today’s Hockey Project tune tackles a huge day late in the hockey season – Trade Deadline Day. Lots of players and draft picks change hands as some teams gear up for a playoff run and others just kinda throw in the towel. Lyrically (with the exception of the second section), this song is mostly from the perspective of a guy who just got traded, from hearing the news to joining his new team. As for the second section, picture it as your standard talking heads show discussing the deal.
Musically… I like Tesseract. There, I said it. This is likely the djent-iest djent fest of a song I’ve ever done. Oddly enough, this almost feels like more of a showcase for the bass and drums to me. Also, I like how the rhythm guitars almost get lost in the last section because so much is going on… Enjoy!
Well, this one is super-late, but hey – better late than never, right? I decided, at the start of the olympic hockey tournament, that I should write a silly Team USA anthem. To further add to the ridiculousness, I decided to channel my inner pro wrestler for the lead vocal – Not surprisingly, my throat hurt for a while after I recorded this song…
The music is just a big ol’ slice of metal. Frankly, I wish more team anthems were like this – less light cheese, more heavy cheese. This is where the Dallas Stars have most teams beat – Pantera made their anthem (seriously). Meanwhile, the song for my local baseball team (Rochester Red Wings) sounds like it belongs in a musical… Anyway, here it is.
Hello again. After that nice little intermission, The Hockey Project returns to the rock for this song. Lyrically, this one is simply about the start of the olympic break and the fact that the hockey tournament’s late games started at noon in my time zone. Thanks, nine-hour time difference!
From a musical standpoint, this song was definitely an experiment. I flipped my usual 5/8 pattern in the verses (from “2-3” to “3-2”), flipped the standard “3 vs. 4” rhythm so that the note I cut short is at the start of the riff instead of the end, and kinda went off the deep end in the bridge. Why? Because I can. Oddly enough, I think this all turned out really well… probably because it’s just under three minutes long.
So far in The Hockey Project, we’ve had almost exclusively metal (with the exception of maybe “Allright, That’s It”, but even that’s a tenuous grasp at best). So it’s about time for a change, isn’t it? Yeah, I thought so too. Here’s a good ol’ uptempo pop-punk tune a la Vandals. I’m not gonna lie – this was a fantastic test of speed and endurance (especially the latter) on the drums.
Lyrically, this one is simple. Oddly enough, it’s also one of the most personal songs I’ve written in quite a while. Is that saying much? Well… no. This song is about how I went to the Frozen Frontier thing and froze my butt off watching a hockey game (which proved to be wildly entertaining) in a baseball stadium. Sing along with the chorus: “Merry Christmas / Crap it’s cold out / I can’t feel my toes anymore”
Hello again. After a bit of a recording hiatus, The Hockey Project is back on track. I’m all caught up to where I want to be, so expect a lot of music over the next month or two. NOW, on to track four!
The main riff to this song came about the way a lot of really good riffs do – completely by accident and with little to no thought. I’ve been obsessed with music in 7/4 and 7/8 time for years, so combine that obsession with the 8-string guitar and we get some new ideas on how to be heavy in compound time. I added some other riffs in different meters (including a clean section) and realized I had a bit of a winner.
Now, about the lyrics: As my friends and family know, my favorite hockey team is the Buffalo Sabres. Well, the Sabres are bad this year. Really bad. Really really really really really really bad. So bad that they were painful to watch in October. In mid-November, they fired their head coach and general manager – a move fans were clamoring for all season (or, in the case of the GM, since about 2007). This song is about those firings. Verse 1 is a fairly typical sports fan reaction while Verse 2 is the realization that wishing for somebody to lose their job is kinda weird. And then, the chorus: “Our coach was fired (now what) / GM was fired (now what) / Those guys are gone (now what) / We got what we wanted, so now what?”
Well, here we are again. Another calendar year has gone by, sooo… MORE CHRISTMAS SONGS! This year’s batch is a nice mix of secular and sacred with lots of twists and just as many guest spots. But, since we can’t just ignore traditions, all of mine are in place – the “way too fast” song, the harmonized guitar lead, “holy crap”, and even that awesome crashing sound. This batch also marked a first for me – I had never recorded a slamming door until now. Overall, this was a fun set to make and I’m happy with the results. Enjoy!
Recorded and mixed at The House, Rochester, NY, Nov-Dec 2013. Piano on “Blue Christmas” by Rob Klingenberger. Additional vocals/yelling on “Joy to the World” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” by Rob Klingenberger, Sarah Peangatelli, and Steve Begy.
Well, it’s about time for another Hockey Project tune! This one is a combination of the type of metal from the first tune and the subject matter of the second one, but this combination has resulted in something completely different.
Today’s new song is what I like to call a musical approximation of a hockey fight. There is no singing and speed metal is abound here. But what’s really different – and also solidifies the theme – is its length. Since the vast majority of hockey fights are over in 30 seconds, this song is also over in 30 seconds. In fact, this song is shorter than the introduction in either of the first two songs. It’s fast and ridiculous… and it was a lot of fun to make. Enjoy!
There is a far-reaching history of punk and metal with this sort of song length. In metal, it’s a whole sub-genre called Grindcore – my favorites are The Locust and Puig Destroyer. In punk, I tend to look at bands like Minor Threat and Black Flag, but there are plenty of other examples (one of my favorite really short songs is “I LIke Food” by Descendents). Have fun in that little rabbit hole and I’ll see you next time.
Allright, NOW it’s officially a project! Finish one song and that doesn’t really solidify things. But two songs? Yep – project time. This one is a few days late, but that’s because this song took more time than I expected. Oh well – it’s a good problem to have, really…
Musically, this was a pretty tough one. I have been a bit out of practice on the drums, (no) thanks to my time in Ohio, so this song was more difficult than I anticipated. BUT I got through it and they turned out allright. As for everything else: I like off-beats. A lot. Music would be boring if everything was on the beat, you know? But besides that, I wanted this heavy, groovy thing in 4 through two verses and two choruses, then drop all of it and have the rest of the song be completely different. Sure, that caused the song to clear the six-minute mark, but I’m still really happy with how it turned out. The ending section was definitely inspired by the band Tesseract (one of the absolute best “djent” bands out there now) and I guess is the minor key equivalent of the 50s progression. I like how it starts quiet and builds right up until the end…
That ending section also helped dictate where the lyrics went. The chorus was written first again. I’ve always been fascinated by “The Code” – it’s hockey’s version of baseball’s “Unwritten Rules.” As I went on, I started writing from the perspective of an enforcer… and that drastically different ending helped write the rest of the lyrics. He does something bad in verse two, gets thrown out of the game, and starts to deal with the repercussions in the ending. The weird thing, though? The John Scott Incident between the Sabres and Bruins happened within 48 hours after I wrote these lyrics. My brother thinks now I need to write a song about the Sabres winning the Cup…
So, here you go. Enjoy!
See you next time for a MUCH shorter song than this one… that’s, oddly enough, also about fighting. Hmm…
Ed Makes Things 