Band Members' Individual Blog Pages and other great links:

Friday, November 26, 2010

SPECIAL MUSICAL GUEST added to Pirate Party!


Great news! New entertainment has been added to the bill!
Local pirate legend Cap'n Jack McCool has graciously agreed to join us onstage for a very special rendition of pirate music!

You OTTER not miss this!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

The Attic: story of a ghost story... (by Mikey)

So there I was, listening to music; it must have been Richard Thompson... a haunting ghost song, really eerie and atmospheric. He played some chord change and I thought "wow, that's cool - that gives me an idea..." That's the thing about great music: it gets my creative mind going, and I can see, hear, and feel music just coming from everywhere... it grows and grows... (creativity begets creativity, perhaps?)
So I pulled the guitar out and started noodling around. I came up with some musical ideas that popped into my head. I liked some of them, and started stringing them together. By the time I was done, I had the main theme, chord progressions, and song structure. It bore little or no resemblance to the RT song - that was just a launching pad for an idea, which grew into something else. However, there was an haunting quality that lingered.
I recorded the guitar part for the band to listen to. But I had no lyrics.
I tried writing something, but all I could write about was ghosts. Of course, the RT song was called Ghosts in the Wind. Hard to get away from that, especially with the minor key and the eerie theme. So I set the song aside for awhile.
A couple weeks later, I started noodling around with some lyrics about a girl who wore a necklace from an abusive boyfriend, and the chain around her neck became a metaphor for her situation. I expanded on that, with a young man who wears his alliances on his sleeve, and then eventually my own dogma (that which at first is liberating can eventually become restrictive); all being variations of a "chain around the neck." Interesting idea, but it wasn't flowing right, and the lyrics just weren't feeling right for that song.
Still, I had the temptation to write some ghost story lyrics. but I didn't want to do the obvious, especially since that was the theme of the song that had started all this.
Scotte offered to take a shot at it, and so I gave him the lyrics I had and the recording - without ever referring him to the RT song. Scotte wrote a beautifully haunting set of lyrics, which became the words for The Attic.
JJ came up with an even eerier guitar line, that has a life all its own. And Gary's percussion and sound effects just put it over the top, really brought it to life.
What is it?
A ghost story.
LOL
I guess the music just says "ghost story..." and it wasn't just me...
And here's the kicker... when we were in the studio recording this song, my guitar and JJ's guitar started this 'sympathetic harmonic vibration' thing going back and forth between the two guitars, it was like two ghosts singing to each other... it was so cool, and we looked at each other like "WHOA. Don't stop, just let it happen!"
We have a saying in the band: "Let the song decide." And this one did.

(thanks to Megan Ratchford for getting me thinking about the story...)

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

New test logo

In the spirit of "Burn the Ships," I have been experimenting with what I am now calling the "IR Fi-R Logo."
Here is a sample...

Thursday, November 11, 2010

SPECIAL MUSICAL EVENT: "Burn the Ships" Pirate Party!!!


Avast, me hearties!!! Hoist the colors and come about for fun!
Slap on yer eye-patch, grab yer parrot and join us for an entertaining evening!
Come help us celebrate the successful launch of our new CD, "Burn the Ships"!!!
Ironwood Rain presents a "Burn the Ships" Pirate Party, performing a special Pirate/Nautical/Sailing/Ocean themed set - featuring music from the brand new CD and including as many piratey songs as we can get our hands on...
We will also feature a live premier our newest song, "Pursuit," about a pirate ship (from hell!) - told from the viewpoint of the ship herself!!!
We'd like to get some great video shots of the song with the pirate crowd, so get gussied up in yer finest swash-buckling garb!
(And there may even be a brand-brand new song from the journals/Caribbean adventures of a notorious local pirate and scallywag...)
Listen to tracks from the new CD Burn the Ships, along with tracks from the debut CD TRIO - CLICK HERE.
There will be many entertaining happenings throughout the evening, and special prizes too!
SPECIAL MUSICAL GUESTS will be announced soon!

Weigh anchor and set sail for adventure and fun!
Saturday, December 11 - 6:00 - 9:00 pm
D-Note

7519 Grandview Ave •Arvada, CO, 80002-2511, USA
More information will be posted and updated here and on our Facebook Page Event-
If you have any questions, please contact us at
ToniB@IronwoodRain.com
or
mkloep@hotmail.com

11/26/10:

Great news! New entertainment has been added to the bill!

Local pirate legend Cap'n Jack McCool has graciously agreed to join us onstage for a very special rendition of pirate music!

You OTTER not miss this!

VIDEO - Ironwood Rain: an Introduction