Dallas, TX –
“Christmas is coming.”
It’s like a bad Ned Stark impersonation.
“Yes, I know” I replied. “Christmas is always coming. The moment Christmas is over, the clocks already ticking to the next.”
This is the reality of every parent with young children. The moment all the gifts have been unwrapped and that initial surge of adrenaline-fueled anticipation has passed, the countdown starts all over again.
See, Shawn knows this is his impending reality, as his oldest is just reaching the age of toddlerhood.
He’s also aware that it’s my reality too, even though I have no young kids underfoot.
So, he chooses random times throughout the year to break out his Ghost of Ned Stark routine.
“Christmas is coming.”
This is the burden of anyone who has established a tradition, something they are known for doing every year – once the big event has arrived, they have to start thinking and planning the next year’s event.
Little did I know, back when Dore asked me to record some music for her class of First, Second, and Third-graders to sing along with for their annual Christmas show, what it would evolve into.
I could have nipped it in the bud back then, when I recorded a bland, boring rendition of Silver Bells. Stop there, and never look back.
But, that’s not what I did.
No, because I had recorded something that I bored myself with, I immediately came up with a different, more entertaining (at least to myself) version.
And that’s where it all started.
It became fun.
And expensive.
Soon, I wasn’t satisfied working with an eight-track PortaStudio, and began building my digital recording studio. It started with relatively inexpensive amateur-grade equipment, but soon graduated to professional-grade stuff.
I also became well acquainted with the recording studio down the street, becoming a regular customer for those tasks that were beyond my capability. I also found it helpful to involve a second opinion on what to do when a part needed something, and I wasn’t quite sure how to tweak it.
I would say that the vocal part needed something in this section, and J.P. would think for a moment, then quickly come up with the right effect to use.
But it all still comes down to…
“Christmas is coming.”
Ah yes, the inspiration. What Christmas song is going to get the Twisted Christmas treatment each year?
This is where the haunting lives. The ghostly visage of Ned looking over my shoulder as I spend random moments throughout the year dwelling on this very question.
Some years, lightning strikes, and an idea grabs my mind and won’t let go until I’ve exorcised it through the whole re-writing, arranging, and recording process.
Other years, it’s a drawing of straws, flipping a book of potential tunes and seeing what page it falls open on.
Either way, at some point, I have to pick something and start working on it.
And working on it.
And re-working on it.
Until I’ve created something I’m satisfied with.
I once heard Pete Trewavas (Marillion, Transatlantic, Edison’s Children, etc.) remark that a song is never done. It just gets to the point where you are comfortable abandoning it.
Boy, ain’t that the truth!
One year I asked a friend to sing on one of my recordings. As he was in the studio, waiting for his turn at the microphone, listening to what I was working on, he remarked that I was changing it from what I had sent him to practice.
“Until it’s mastered, its still a work in progress,” I replied.
So, the challenge is to get everything to a point where you can live with releasing it into the wild.
Or rather into the ears of other people who are not involved in the creation side of it.
What I have to do is draw a line in the sand, or rather on the calendar, and say to myself that it has to be ready by this date.
And it always seems to take right up to that date, no matter how much time I allow myself to get it there.
It’s like the old adage that a task will expand to fill the time allowed.
And then some.
After all, Christmas is coming…
For the full archive of Twisted Xmas songs, click here.
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