TomFlannery.com

Can you see ME in here?

I can’t either. But that’s where I’m going. Sunday night I head over to Sound Investment Studios in Old Forge to bash out some rock and roll tunes with the house band. Goal is to cut 2 songs, but if I’m sufficiently manic and caffeinated I may try for three. Wanna cut things live as much as possible, both to save time ($$$) and because there’s nothing like that feeling you get when you’re pumping out chords and the boys are following along. It’s like driving a train.

Of course it’s slightly demented for a middle-aged folkie to walk into a studio, strap on a borrowed Telecaster, and lead a band he just met 10 minutes before into flights of Townshend-inspired whimsy. But then again, maybe not. It’s possible to catch lightning in a bottle. I’ve seen it happen. I’ve heard it happen. The flip side, it must be said, is that by the end of the night a bottle may be what we all desperately need, to forget the hideous, tuneless drivel we just laid down. But one must stay positive…especially when one is paying for the session with money that one does not have.

This is just the beginning, hopefully, of my next record. A cycle of songs from the point of view of a mixed up kid. A teen who wants to fit in but knows fitting in would make him even more anonymous than he already is. The songs won’t tell a coherent story in the narrative sense, but then again I’m not sure “coherence” and “adolescence” are expected partners. Instead the tracks will be glimpses into a mind racked with fear and doubt and hormones….and fueled by the occasional pharmaceutical.

I believe they should be loud. But if they don’t work loud I’ll do them soft. I think loud should get first dibs though.

In a bit..

–tf