About a year ago I was drinking anywhere between two and four cups of coffee a day. Suddenly, I stopped completely.
Last May I followed a routine... I'd wake up and listen to Nirvana's album "Incesticide" while outside throwing a tennis ball against a wall. At around 3:00 PM I'd tune into "The Michael Kay Show" and continue on with my day.
I've been a Nirvana fan for a long time and even taught myself how to write songs using open chords after watching their "Unplugged" over and over again.
At this point I was starting to lay the groundwork for recording an E.P. of Nirvana-styled music and the biggest focus was to figure out how to recreate the vocals of Kurt Cobain.
If you listen to Incesticide, there are some wild vocal parts that venture into areas of cartoonish. Almost like a cat attacking their enemy with melodic wails.
After about a month of this tennis ball routine, I tried to see if I could replicate this vocal style, and within 10 seconds of trying, I blew out my voice badly. So badly, that it took 3 weeks for my vocal cords to heal. Over this period of time, I avoided coffee completely, because caffeine tends to do more harm than good in these situations.
At the same time, I had several dental problems (that have since been solved, for the most part) that added to the pain. One of the issues was an exposed nerve.
And this is why I initially stopped drinking coffee. I posted a video on my "Mind of Mike" YouTube page that has been mildly successful where I talk about how qutting coffee has changed my life.
It's been a full year since and I haven't had any. Although I have tried "Iced Matcha" from Dunkin twice since then.
Once my voice was back to normal, I started tracking demos. I started by writing songs only with fuzz bass and drums. One of the most useful exercises for me was to record a complete Nirvana song by myself.
I recorded a cover of "In Bloom" and the process helped me understand more fully how to approach the task of emulating Nirvana's songwriting and style without hurting my voice.
By using my naturalistic vocal timbre and trying to uncover the melodies that Kurt Cobain's deep-fried vocalizations so often obfuscate, I was able to reach a happy medium.
One some songs, like "Heart Shaped Box" and of course throughout the Unplugged, you can hear him sing in less abrasive tone. Whereas, on Nevermind his voice is really "boiling nails" as Dave Grohl once put it.
One of the biggest revelations for me, as a "singer-songwriter" was to realize that much of the music I listen to (and enjoy) myself features vocal parts with a conversational tone. Sort of like how your voice sounds when talking to a friend, just with some added melodic intonation.
I'd even go further, and say when changing your voice into different registers, you create music that might even be less accessible for the average listener. Just some food for thought.
You can check out the results of my E.P. of Nirvana emulation on both Spotify, and Bandcamp. - Mike
I just spent the past 10 months writing and recording this set of 8 songs. "Why only 8 songs?" Well, I actually wrote and recorded around 60 songs total, but I'm only putting out the best 8. Of course, out of the 60, the majority aren't good enough at all, although I will mention I could probably put out a 12 song album, and no one would blink. I have the extra four songs, they're just not quite up to snuff.
First off, I believe songwriting is the ultimate test of a musician, at least the type of musician I am, which is basically a hobbyist (multi-instrumentalist) who is involved in the pop/rock world of music for the "common man." The world of classical music is a whole 'nother reality, which is quite honestly a lot of riding up on a high horse. But that's for another blog post. I guess I might as well mention I do have a college degree in music, but who cares, right?
The way I tried to write this music was basically trying to emulate Kurt Cobain's songwriting style, although I applied and developed my own style over the course of doing this. I think if I had to summarize how Cobain writes songs I would basically say he balances dissonance with an appropriate measure of consonance, and melody is the key ingredient in all of his stuff.
Back to Kurt Cobain's songwriting... This is somewhat common knowledge as he's already been quoted as saying he wanted to combine the sound of The Beatles (melodic consonance) with Black Sabbath (think, tritone-based dissonance). Some of Cobain's writing is simplistic (i.e. "Negative Creep") while other stuff is more layered melodically (i.e. "Lounge Act"). Regardless, there are always creative melodic additives, in the form of quirky vocal stylings that when boiled down are note-perfect and surprisingly upbeat, and even cartoonish. Despite the media's image of Nirvana as death rockers, the music speaks for itself and is full of life, hence why it's still popular today. The level of dynamics in Cobain's songwriting is fairly high if you ask me. The music is full of juxtapositions, both lyrically and in the arrangements.
Why did I write a Nirvana-influenced album of music? I guess it's because I tried to write/record stuff I actually want to listen to. Most of the time I listen to pop rock. While recording this music I listened to a lot of Nirvana, Sarah Jane from Australia, a bit of the Meat Puppets album "Mirage," some Armor for Sleep, some Velvet Revolver, I also listened to a hip hop album "Now or Never" by Giggs, some other stuff thrown in there, some of the second (or third) Foo Fighters album, Motley Crue's Greatest Hits, Mountain's Greatest Hits. A good amount of Ramones, including some cuts from a Live in Germany DVD, and "Subterranean Jungle." Some other stuff I'm probably forgetting too.
My taste in music is not as eclectic as you might think. Over the past four years I've found I'm much less interested in certain types of music. I almost exclusively listen to pop/rock music at this point, and there's a ton of crappy rock music out there. It's tough to find stuff I want which is why I tried to write it myself. I mostly listen to the same albums over and over, and it's a lot of Pop/Rock or Alternative rock.
What else about my own album can I mention, what's relevant? From a technical standpoint, it's nothing new. I tried out some different microphones, and used mostly cheap gear. Then again, if I were to write a break-down of how much money I've spent recording this "album" it would be laughable. Just for a ballpark figure, it's easily over $1000.
I made one major change halfway through recording: I bought an adult-sized drum set. For half of these songs I'm playing on a drum set intended for use by children more or less. I finally invested in a proper kick pedal which made a huge difference. I bought an Iron Cobra Tama pedal. I actually broke the other kick pedal in half while recording a song. Then I glued it back together and kept going.
Another interesting note... I recorded and wrote everything while working a 40-hour a week job. The type of work I do has lent itself better than any other occupation I've had to being a musician. Needless to say, I don't sit at a desk all day and stare at a computer. I'm active at the workplace, but not so active that I return home exhausted.
I've tried to write/record music while working at a desk job, and I couldn't do it. I've also tried to be a musician while working closer to 60 hours a week at a manual labor job, and that was impossible. At 40 hours and a moderate pace and friendly environment I can come home with energy to write music and I'm comfortable and focused. I guess I'll also mention I'm completely sober, and I don't even drink caffeine. No cigarettes, no coffee, no alcohol. Once in a while I eat Gummi Bears.
From a lyrical standpoint, I basically tried to come up with lyrics that fit the song and that I wouldn't be embarrassed to sing in front of an audience of my closest friends, or strangers. I don't labor over lyrics, if it doesn't work, I move on. Although some of the lyrics I sketch out, and then I fine-tune them and trim the fat so they fit into the song properly. Let it be known at one point I was writing a lot of lyrics, maybe about a page a day, and none of that was ever used. It's more of a writing exercise that helps you practice a bit. If someone found my notebook full of unused lyrics and started reading it out loud I'd turn red in the face. I might even crap my pants. Just kidding..
Strangely enough, I wrote and recorded most of the album cuts out of thin air. I don't even remember recording a lot of it. Other cuts I spent a while on. I spent 3-4 weeks figuring out how to structure the guitar parts for "Mouthwash." I also spent about a week preparing to play the drums on "Dose." I basically write songs based on the form, so once I have the form solidified, I can start writing the drum parts. All you need is two parts for a song. The form would be something like ABABAAA, for example. I try to keep my drum parts somewhat simple, because at the end of the day I only have so much time to work on stuff. If I spend 3 weeks writing a set of drum fills, I'd have way less material.
Writing the music for this album was, at times, a major struggle. I went weeks and weeks trying to come up with chord progressions and churning out crap. Then, out of nowhere, I'd come up with something I liked. That's what happened with "Sketches by the Campfire." I had put in a solid day of attempted writing before anything worked... I occasionally spend 8-10 hours straight of a day off writing music, and come up with nothing. Then all of the sudden, I figure out chords and write lyrics within minutes, seemingly out of nowhere.
Some of the songs I wrote on the spot completely. I laid down the drum track for "Don't Want a Boring Life" by itself, without any music or lyrics in mind at all. From there, I just picked up the guitar and played the first chord progression that I came up with (that worked) and finished the song like that.
Songwriting isn't always so easy, though. It's more difficult than it seems. Going back to Cobain, if you listen to the Nirvana song "Stain," (check it out above, or click here) it's pretty simple. Verse, chorus, solo. Those are all the parts. But the actual vocal melodies over the guitar chords and how it's so simple yet signature is why it's so good. If you prompted any musician to "come up with something like Nirvana's Stain that's a different piece of music entirely but is similar," it might be more difficult than you'd think, particularly to make it 100% original.
While we're on the subject, this music was written with a three-piece arrangement in mind, so if anyone's out there reading this and thinks they're good enough and wants to play the bass parts or drum parts from this album with me live at some place... i.e. wants to join in, be my guest. Because this material is this simplistic, you can rehearse in short amount of time, I've actually done it before.
To finish up on the difficulty of songwriting topic.... You can't just churn out a song like "Come As You Are," but at the same time, you might. I've mentioned this analogy before, but it's like a litmus test. With songwriting you never know what you might come up with, what's written within seconds that could last many years afterwards. That's why laboring over music can be useful in certain contexts, but it can also be a waste of time. I think listening to yourself and knowing your limitations and exactly what you want to achieve is key. If you know exactly what you're doing with clarity and certainty, who can stop you? No one.
Where do I go from here?
As I wrapped up this project, I grappled with the idea of putting out 12, or 14 songs instead of just the eight. I was working on a set of songs that were faster-paced and even shorter in length, but the material wasn't quite there yet.
Going forward I have a vision of the music I want to create that will accompany this stuff. Putting a concept of a potential musical sound into words is near impossible (although I do use thought-bubble exercises at times), so I'll spare you any details. But still...
There were certain elements of songwriting missing from this "grunge rock masterpiece, well... kind of" album. Notably, I think I can write better lyrics, if not generally, at least over the course of 1or 2 songs. I also believe I can improve with dynamics, and maybe experiment a bit. If you look into the final days of Nirvana, the sound was going towards a more experimental type of sound, as Cobain put it, "Sort of like the Grunge version of The Beatles Sgt. Peppers." For examples you might check out the X-rated B-side from "In Utero" that's "Moist" or... the radio hit, "You Know You're Right." Maybe an entire album doesn't need to sound like that, but using those examples as conceptual guidelines can lead towards success for one song, and you certainly need to write songs one at a time.
Basically, I'm going to keep going, and try to write another grunge rock album, that should be at least the same quality if not better overall, though certainly different-sounding. If I were to follow the trajectory of Nirvana this album would be my version of "Bleach," I guess.
Overall, I like to draw in influences and express myself. One of my non-musical influences is the cartoon Ren and Stimpy. I like how the cartoonist's work is overly "out there" and exaggerated. It's just way out there. At the end of the day, I'd like to achieve my full potential as a musician, without holding back anything. I'd like to be the best I can be. Who knows how good that is?
I'm going to keep going and work on that next project now. If you're a fan of the music that's great. Until next time. - Mike
Recently I was in conversation with someone about music royalties. I mentioned I wrote some music I'm excited about, because I believe it will earn me money, and strangely, this was a motivating factor in recording the music, though this has never typically been the case for me. Even better, because I am the sole author of the music, I'll retain full rights and earn 100% of the royalties, but what about when you're in a band?
In an effort to discuss legalities and close any gaps between the truth and reality, I'll use Nirvana as an example to explore the finer points of music royalty distribution. As anyone who knows me understands this is one of my favorite topics. Bear in mind, I'm not an expert, just a fan.
Years ago, I bid on a tape machine on eBay, specifically an Otari MX-5050 Mark III 8 track recorder. Of course, that specific machine was the exact unit that was used to record Nirvana's debut album, "Bleach." That album was recorded by Jack Endino, who billed the band roughly $600 for the recordings. After Bleach came "Nevermind" and Nirvana hit the big-time. With their meteoric rise into super-stardom, Nirvana's music royalty situation became more complex.
So, I was pretty sure that there was some sort of major royalty-redistribution that went on during Nirvana's major label career, but I wasn't positive. I did some research and found out the facts. First off, I searched the public records using the online copyright database and searched for copyrights filed for "Cobain, Kurt." I found them all and inspected "Smells Like Teen Spirit" first. It looks like this:
So we're seeing "Appears on Nevermind," "Published by Sub Pop," "Date of Creation: 1991," "Date of Publication: August 15 1991" "Copyright Claimant: Virgin Songs, Inc. & The End of Music" "Authorship on Application: words and music: Virgin Songs, Inc, employer for hire of Kurt, Krist and Dave."
So it seems like through an agreement with Virgin Songs, Inc. and "End of Music", the label that released "Bleach," known as Sub Pop, retained publishing rights over "Smells like teen spirit," and likely all of the tracks on Nevermind, which is something I'm familiar with, and an out-of-the-gate complexity. But I was more interested in the Kurt Cobain royalty redistribution that happened retroactively. As I looked through the online database, a record titled "Transfer of Copyright," caught my eye. It looks like this:
And here we're seeing that on September 7th of 1993, Fourteen (14) Nirvana song copyrights were transferred from 1. Krist, Dave and Kurt TO 2. Kurt Cobain doing business as "End of Music." And we're also seeing: "Date of execution" as May 6th 1991. So this was retroactively executed four months prior to the commercial release of Nevermind. When we click into the "List of Titles" link we see this:
So, for example, we're seeing this: "Smells like teen spirit / By Virgin Songs, Inc., as employer for hire of Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic & David Grohl. PA 541-273."
But mostly we're seeing this: "In bloom / By Virgin Songs, Inc., as employer for hire of Kurt Cobain. PA 541-279."
This is all well and good, but what about the actual Nevermind album's liner notes? I have a copy of an original 1991 version on CD. I popped it open and took a photo of the credits:
Notice it says, "All songs lyrics by Kurt Cobain / Music by Nirvana." and "All rights controlled and administered by Virgin Songs, Inc."
Now what does this all mean? Let's break it down...
We'd have to get a copy of Nirvana's recording contract with Virgin Songs, Inc. and their agreement with "End of Music" to really know what their deal looked like in terms of the rights, but from what we can see here, it seems like Kurt Cobain and Nirvana retained their intellectual property rights despite the fact they may have transferred the control/distribution rights for Nevermind (at least for a duration of time) over to Virgin Songs, Inc. most likely via the agreement/partnership with "End of Music."
Where does the DGC (David Geffen Company) record label imprint come into play? From what I can tell, DGC was responsible for the physical distribution of Nevermind (And would I guess financed the manufacturing of the discs via an agreement with a disc-making plant, perhaps a Sony plant), whereas the publishing rights were split between Virgin Songs, Inc., "End of Music" and Sub Pop. Of course, this blog post mainly focuses on the rights-to-royalties, which all happens after sales. An interesting note is that upon release, Nevermind was certified Gold (500,000 copies) and Platinum (1,000,000 copies) in November of 1991, only two months after it was released. The average cost of a CD in 1991 was $12.91 according to the "US Industrial Outlook 1993" book.
When it comes to royalties, it appears as though, through the original deal with Virgin Songs, Inc. Nirvana as Kurt, Dave and Krist were splitting royalties off Nevermind three ways, so each member was earning 33.3% of royalties, and this was being paid out (via control) by Virgin Songs, Inc. who, we see listed in the "Authorship" section of the "Teen spirit" copyright, as an "employer for hire" of Kurt, Krist and Dave.
So, why did Kurt Cobain file for Copyright transfer if he already had an agreement with Virgin Songs, Inc. through his "End of Music" company? It's been written that all of the sudden, Cobain decided he should earn a higher royalty, and this filing represents concrete action taken to change the royalty distributions for Nevermind. But why not just negotiate with Virgin Songs, Inc. to pay out Dave and Krist less money through the agreement with Cobain's company, "End of Music?" It's possible that Kurt went to David Geffen and asked for a higher percentage of royalties. The "Transfer of Copyright" filing allowed Cobain to bypass any subsequent negotiations entirely. The filing provided Cobain with rights to 100% of the royalties for each of the tracks with only his name listed.
So, to summarize, Nevermind was released in the fall of 1991. Then, all of the sudden in 1993, Kurt Cobain decides to exercise his intellectual property rights over several Nirvana songs retroactively (i.e. music recordings), and reclaims ownership of 14 of the titles. How does he do this? Is it ethical?
If we again inspect the liner notes for Nevermind we're seeing, "All songs lyrics by Kurt Cobain," and, "All music by Nirvana," in addition to the "All rights controlled and administered by Virgin Songs, Inc." I guess the wording here is key, because Virgin Songs Inc. may "control and administer" the rights, but that doesn't mean they exclusively own the rights.
As we see on the copyright for "Teen spirit," the claimant is both "Virgin Songs, Inc." and "End of Music." This "End of Music" company likely garnered Kurt Cobain the leverage to exercise his rights over his own intellectual property, which is exactly what he did in 1993.
The fact the liner notes spell out, "Music by Nirvana," and "Lyrics by Kurt Cobain" is evidence of Kurt's intellectual property rights over the lyrics, and for the music, we must venture beyond closed doors (and inspect the music ethics of Kurt Cobain) to inspect whether or not he was the sole creator/writer of the music
"All music written and recorded by Nirvana," would have been a distinct difference from "All music by Nirvana," in that the word "written" is left out of the latter. In Cobain's "Transfer of Copyright" filing, we're seeing he legally reclaims his intellectual property rights as the sole writer of several Nirvana tracks (i.e. music, composition, sound recordings). So, with the "Transfer of Copyright," Kurt is saying, "Yeah, the music is by Nirvana, but I wrote it."
Bear in mind, Nirvana was the biggest band in the world shortly after the release of Nevermind, and this was a time before digital music. In order to listen to the CD you had to buy it, it was that simple, and people loved to buy CDs to play on their home stereo and in their cars.
My point being, Kurt Cobain had a ton of power if he went to Virgin Songs, Inc. or DGC and said, "Hey I want to do this," they wouldn't want to poke the bear. He was earning them millions of dollars with his intellectual property that they controlled the rights to. If they weren't careful, Cobain could potentially relinquish them of their control over the rights legally (perhaps before or after his recording contract expired). What he seemed to do in 1993 was to explicitly restructure the rights-to-royalties for these 14 songs, through Virgin Songs, Inc., who retained control over the rights, and he did this via a transfer of copyright back to himself. How?
So, what seems to have happened is Kurt Cobain went to either his label, DGC or "Virgin Songs, Inc." and said something like, "I want a higher share of the royalties because I am the primary songwriter, and in fact, I've written all of this material myself. It even says so in the liner notes for Nevermind."
What Virgin Songs, Inc. or DGC said in reply was likely, "Ok, what we need to do is remove Krist and Dave from the copyrights, and then we'll transfer that portion of the royalties back to you." And this is how the royalties were re-structured, in a way that likely mirrored the reality of the creation process, you'd hope, from an ethical standpoint and not as a result of Cobain's own power trip.
In an interview with Melody Maker magazine in July of 1993, Cobain addresses the royalty-percentage changes, by saying, "I write 99 percent of the songs," ... "I just felt entitled to it," ... "[I]t's only in one area of payment, just the songwriting credits." And, more interestingly, "Many were the times I've taken Krist's bass away from him and shown him what to play, and sat behind Dave's drum kit and shown him what to play."
This whole scenario with Kurt Cobain and Nirvana's Nevermind raises both philosophical and ethical questions.
First off, let's consider how this music was written. Particularly, how much of the music was written by Kurt Cobain before it was brought to Krist and Dave for the full blown "Nirvana" treatment?
The line of delineation must be drawn across authorship in the following way:
1. If Kurt records a demo of guitar, bass, drums and vocals all by himself and brings it to Krist and Dave, then Krist and Dave are essentially "for hire" at this point. This is sometimes referred to as, "hired guns." Kurt would be entitled to 100% ownership over the rights.
But, if...
2. Kurt only brings a guitar part, and Krist and Dave add in bass and drums, this would represent a creative collaboration, and each member would be entitled to 33.3% of the rights/ownership.
Of course, the question is of origination. Some would say that because Kurt brought the guitar part to the writing session and started playing first, he might be entitled to full ownership over the resulting product, but certainly that's not true if Krist and Dave are contributing original music in an additive way. The decision point of what drum parts (Dave) and what bass parts (Krist) choose to play along with Kurt's guitar is a rights-to-ownership instance. This all becomes mucky when it's a "behind-closed-doors" rehearsal of new material. And this is where ethics come into play. Because without any record of the rehearsal/writing session, it's easy for one of the contributors to claim ownership over more than their share of contribution. And it's hard to prove otherwise without any explicit proof.
"Smells like Teen Spirit" seems to be a unique case. Again, the "Transfer of copyright" looks like this: "Smells like teen spirit / By Virgin Songs, Inc., as employer for hire of Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic & David Grohl. PA 541-273."
Why are Krist and Dave listed on this specific entry in the "Transfer of Copyright" filing? It seems as though they are listed because they are writers on the song, "Smells like teen spirit."
So, even if Kurt brought the lyrics and the guitar part to the writing session for "Teen spirit," it seems as though Krist and Dave contributed to the final iteration in such a way that they each retained a share of the rights over the track (perhaps not a full 33.3% share, but some sort of non-trivial percentage).
Or, perhaps Kurt's "End of Music" company was forced to pay a certain royalty for "Teen spirit" over to Krist and Dave due to some other reason, as it pertains to Nirvana's initial contract with "Virgin Songs, Inc."
The fact "Smells like teen spirit" was a lead single off Nevermind could have granted Krist and Dave contractual ownership over the music as part of Nirvana's record deal. It's tough to say.
At the end of the day, these questions of music ethics are important. What happens behind the closed doors of a band in terms of writing and rehearsals is known only to those who were present. Of course, where there are demos, there is proof (more or less). At the end of the day, this sort of mental exercise is worthwhile. And, ultimately, the truth will set you free.
Perhaps Dave Grohl's creation of the "Foo Fighters" was a result of fatigue from the legal plyometrics of Nirvana. With Foo Fighters, Grohl was in the driver's seat. It was his time to maintain ownership over his own music, and create his own music ethics legacy. After all, he was the fifth drummer of Nirvana and despite the fact he brought them to a new level of success, he could be described as a "hired gun." And I'm sure that's extra tough considering the "Transfer of Copyright" filing where his creative contributions in terms of performance were legally invalidated for several of the tracks off Nevermind. Would the songs sound the same with a different drummer? Maybe close, but not exactly the same, no.
With Krist Novoselic it's more of an ethical question. He was a full-blown member of Nirvana from the early days. He was at every rehearsal, every show, until the end. So, does Kurt Cobain owe Krist a share of the royalties? Legally, it seems the answer is no, certainly not for music Krist didn't write. But ethically, this is where you could criticize Kurt's Cobain's decision to restructure the royalty agreement, maybe not from the perspective of a purist, but rather, a humanitarian.
Regardless, with full ownership over the copyrights to those 13 or 14 tracks, Cobain and his "End of Music" company could have still eventually decided to pay out Krist and Dave their original 33.3% royalties-owed, but we never made it that far. Until next time - Mike.
