the conflict between patience and yearning.

DAY SEVEN OF TEN: Track 4 (as yet no title) by MILLION

This song is linked in many ways to significant events in my life from the last couple of years, so it holds quite a special spot in my mind.

Around mid 2007 a friend of a friend introduced me to this guy named Dane, and his friend Hayden. He was playing an acoustic set at Ric’s. Within 2 songs i was hooked. Ok maybe it wasn’t the sort of thing i’d normally listen to, but you could see the beauty in their music, and it was truly beautiful. The subtleties in their songwriting, structuring, progression and playing really seemed to lock right in with my sensibilities, in much the same way Ryans playing did, only it was a very different style of music altogether.

Many months went by and i may have seen and spoken to Dane and Hayden maybe once or twice by chance. Then sometime around late september, I made moves to approach Dane and Hayden about some sort of musical adventures. The three of us met up for a practice one night after work. I could never forget that day, as just that morning a girl and i had ended a relationship. Without them knowing, Dane and Hayden had very much facilitated an exorcism. I let a lot of pain out on my drums that night and i can’t tell you how good it felt. In the weeks that followed, things may have been a lot harder for me had i not had that weekly therapy.

Once again, quite luckily i had managed to get in with some guys who really knew their way around a guitar. I felt like i was in way over my head, and really had to tighten my act up to keep it together. Interestingly these guys had been influenced by a lot of the same prog rock bands that i’d listened to only they were way better at it than i was, you know the super technical stuff with so many overlapping polyrhythms you could make a quilt out of it.

We practiced consistently for a couple of months and wrote a couple of songs, but with 2 guitars and drums we didn’t have a bass player. We tried out a couple of guys out and had nibbles here and there but struggled to find anyone who really wanted in.

Eventually, Dane’s older brother Chris was brought into the fold in late april 2008. Dane had been weary at first due to fears that chris’ distinctly busy playing style and punk influences might clash with what we were doing despite being a really good player technically. In the end it was a good decision. Listen to the song and make your own judgement i guess.

Unbeknown to me at the time, Chris and i would meld on a lot of our common interests which would ultimately lead me to meeting people which, today i hold in regard with my closest friends. Funnily enough i would never have had this blog on which i am writing to you right now.

This song is one of our favourite adventures in prog-rock. It was recoreded over a few weekends by my long time friend, james, of 3rd Time lucky past, in our jam room (shown in pics). It probably sounds a bit raw and has not been mastered or anything like that, so you’ll probably have to tunr it up heaps because the output levels are still low. One day i hope to re-mix or re-record this and give it a bit more shine. Also there are no vocals in this version (as that file is on my work computer and i can’t find it on this one) but i think it helps to emphasise the musical stuff going on in this song.

You can hear the version with vox here: http://loss4words.com/music/million/Million%20-%20Number%20Four.mp3

We played 2 shows last year and any further progress was significantly hindered by some health issues i had which you may have read about if you go through the archives of this blog. Today the four of us are still jamming when we can, mainly just for the fun of it and we still play this song. It always puts a smile on my face.

Once again, please take with a healthy dose of volume to achieve maximum results. With several very interesting movements this song is a real journey, and the ending really lights up. Enjoy…

~CUE ROCK~