BIG SCARY SHOW

My song, "Living Dead Blues" has just been featured on Jerry Vayne's BIG SCARY SHOW - episode XVI - along side Dee Walace (E.T., Cujo, The Howling), Denise Crosby (Star Trek, Pet Sematary, Dexter), and special effects artist Beki Ingram (Face Off).

I'm pretty excited about this - I'm a big fan of Scream Queen Dee Walace, who I was lucky enough to meet last year at Horrorfind (she seems nice!). 

Here's the press release from Big Scary Show:

Thanksgiving is upon us and it’s time to take a break from your busy schedule enjoy family, friends and some down time with the Big Scary Show.

We have served up quite a feast for you in this episode kicking things off with Beki Ingram, special effects artist for many recent horror films and a very noteworthy contestant on SyFy’s Face/Off season 2.

We also check in with Denise Crosby star of Pet Sematary and the closest thing Star Trek has to an undead character.

For that extra helping you probably can’t fit but are not going to pass on, we talk with Dee Wallace who has appeared in just about every movie in the 80’s that gave you a new fright.

The Round Table of Terror brings together the (g)Hosts after a tiring season to discuss some of the goings on and how the 2012 season affected the industry. Turn down the TV and tune in as this roundtable delivers the classic conversation that only the Big Scary Show has, with some ideas to contemplate for next season, maybe even a laugh or two.

Badger brings the cranberry dressing to compliment his interviews with a sweet slice of Deadline News.

The Unknown Scare-Actor brings out another surprise as you choose what pie to complete your meal with, and talks about what could be more frightening then Tryptophan this Thanksgiving on Face Your Fears.

Like the crazy uncle in the corner Storm talks turkey in a Haunt Minute.

We have left the big honor of carving up some wild tunes for your holiday to the master of metal himself Jerry Vayne.

There is also a big Facebook Milestone to celebrate, so we are actually going to talk with a Big Scary Show winner and the big prize we have from our friends at Midnight Syndicate.

What is left of the turkey is in the fridge waiting to become sandwiches, the family is asleep on the couch, and the last minutes of the football games have ticked off the clock, it’s time to download your Thanksgiving treat and slip back into the darkness.

We hid the body, but you will become an accomplice just by listening to the Big Scary Show!!!

FEATURED MUSIC:

Terror Television

Raizing Hell

Saturday Night Double Feature

Radio Cult

Living Dead Blues

James Roy Daley

Listen to the show HERE (Episode 16).

Interview with Eerie Von

This is an interview that I did with Eerie Von (Misfits, Samhain, Danzig) a couple years ago, around the time he did the cover art for the hardcover limited edition of my first novel, The Dead Parade. The interview was originally posted on my publishing blog, Books of the Dead Press. I figured it made sense to repost it here. Enjoy...

With the upcoming limited edition release of my book The Dead Parade getting nearer - thank you Bad Moon Books - I thought I'd spend a moment getting to know the cover artist a little better. Eerie Von - famous for his work with Misfits, Samhain, and Danzig - was kind enough to do a little Q & A with me. Enjoy.

James Roy Daley ~ Many people figure playing live is the best part about being a musician, but some players enjoy the creative process more than the stage time. What do you enjoy most about being a musician?

Eerie Von ~ I love it all. The songwriting and recording becomes more rewarding as time goes by. As you get better at it, it becomes easier to achieve the sounds you hear in your head. That can be very satisfying. The live performance is the validation of that hard work and lets you see that you are reaching people thru the songs, giving people a little pleasure. That's what it's really all about for me.

JRD ~ What do you consider the best/most enjoyable gig you’ve ever played?

EV ~ Too many to name just one. I've never had a bad time on stage. I've had terrific gigs, in a room of 100 people, and I've had wonderful experiences in front of 100,000. Playing to a small crowd is much harder than a big one.

JRD ~ How about the worst gig?

EV ~ Besides technical problems, I don't remember any bad ones. There must have been a few but when you're a pro you do what you have to; you make every show a good one. I mostly worked with guys that knew how to do that. I'm sure I have a bad show in my future, but I'd rather not think about it.

JRD ~ What song are you most proud of?

EV ~ From the past, (Danzig, Samhain) I was more proud of whole records, rather than any one song. I didn't contribute to the compositions much, so I tended to take pride in the performances of the songs on record, and Live. I'm not sure if I've written my best songs yet. I hope not. I am proud of the songs on the "Kinda Country" record. This is my best work to date.

JRD ~ Studio time can be exciting, amazing, jaw dropping, boring, frustrating, tiring, repetitive, nerve-wracking and on occasion it can lead to a full-on fistfights. Good or bad, what studio experience is most memorable for you?

EV ~ With Danzig we worked hard before going into the studio––lots of rehearsal and pre-production. When we got into the studio we knocked the stuff out. Basics never took more than a week or so. We never had any fights or big blow-ups. In Samhain we just went in and did the whole record in one or two days. As long as we got it right, that was it. No Drama. I've been lucky.

JRD ~ What’s the best song you’ve ever recorded?

EV ~ I don't know that I've gotten there yet. Like I said, I'm very proud of all the records I've made.

JRD ~ Most players have recorded a pocket full of songs they never want to hear again. Assuming you have a few songs in this category, what are they?

EV ~ I don't like "Girl" from the Danzig II Lucifuge, album. Never liked it, only played it once Live I think, can't remember. Don't care if I ever play "Mother" again.

JRD ~ Who is your favorite band?

EV ~ The Stones, Beatles, The Doors… Allman Brothers. Soundgarden was a great band.

JRD ~ Which three horror movies are your favorites?

EV ~ I like old stuff, mostly the 30's-50's stuff. Hard to say, I like Monsters, so all the Universal Stuff. I like The Shining, and Angel Heart a lot, not too into slasher-flicks much. Some of the stuff coming out of Japan is really awesome. I like when it's more of a suspense thing. What's inside your head is more frightening to me than some guy running around hacking people up.

JRD ~ What’s next for Eerie Von?

EV ~ Gotta get this record out, and go on the road for it. It's all up in the air right now. I have many irons in the fire, so who knows? I'm just gonna keep doing what I do, and things will reveal themselves to me. I don't make plans, I just live, and change with the changes.

JRD ~ Thanks Eerie. You’re the best.

The Music of Horror-Punks Volume 3

A couple months ago I joined a web-based community called Horror-Punks. Right away, I liked what I saw. It's a community for horror-music artists and fans. I consider myself to be both.

I uploaded my song "Living Dead Blues" and was curious to see what the response would be. I know damn well that the actual "sounds" I've been creating is a far cry from punk-rock, even if my heart isn't.

The song became a featured track on their website. A few days later it was picked up by the Horror-Punks radio station. And today the song was released on the Horror-Punks compilation album, THE MUSIC OF HORROR-PUNKS VOLUME THREE.

I'm very excited to have a song included in this release. This is the first time one of my solo tracks have been in a project of this nature, and it's great first step for me and my horror music project to join the larger horror-music community.

The album is HUGE - three discs. Better yet, it's currently available as a free download, so be sure to grab a copy while the grabbin' is good!

I should thank the guys that run Horror-Punks: Marquis DeBlood, Shane Hahn, Josh Haney, and Shane Diablo. They've welcomed me into their community with open arms.  

Here's the music of Horror-Punks Volume 3 track list:
(Get your copy HERE.) 

Song #5 - Freddy Concedes

This song was a bitch to record (And it's a free download... go on... take it!). Wait a minute... didn't I already say that?

Yep. Of course I did. Because when you're recording songs with no bandmates the songs are always a bitch to record. At least, that's my experience so far.

Still... you hear the drums? Hear the guitar?

No. That's because... wait for it... after we spent hours upon hours recording them, we tossed them in the garbage! I wanted to cry into my pillow that night, but I think it was the right thing to do. After much thought we decided that the drums and guitar were acting as the rhythm section, moving the song into a musical no-man's land and destroying whatever emotional value the piano line was adding.

Does it sound like I have my head up my ass? Sorry about that.

I'm well-aware that songs about Freddy Krueger don't have much 'emotional value'. But that's the funny thing about this song. I tried to make a ridiculous topic serious. The idea came to me one night when I was driving home. A song came on the radio: Don Henley's The Heart of the Matter.

Song #4 - Vampire Slayer

This song was a bitch to record.


(And right now it’s a free download – so take it!)


The drums sound pretty simple, right? That’s because they are pretty simple. But it wasn’t easy to get there, that’s for sure.

I’ve honestly lost track of the amount of false starts we had with this song. Not because I would play the drums poorly, but because we would discover – after the fact – that the drums weren’t really working.


When we record a track we do it like this:

Song #3 - The Walking Dead

My Song The Walking Dead - as I'm sure you can figure out - was inspired by the television show. I actually wrote it while watching Season Two.

(It's currently a free download, so please - dig in!)

Musically, the song is really far away from the first two tracks that were completed. It doesn't sound dark, or moody. It actually sounds nice, which might be the wrong way to go for horror music. But then again, I follow my instincts, not a preconceived notion of what I should be doing.

The bass line has a whole lot of Ben E. King's Stand By Me in it. We noticed this while we were recording the song. Ron, my producer, wasn't too sure about the line but I liked it.

The end of the song is very Pink Floyd. If you like Floyd this might be a good thing, but some people don't. Personally I love them. The Wall blows me away.
 
I guess I should point out that Ron actually wrote and played that bass line, making 'The Walking Dead' the first song I've shared that didn't have me playing every instrument.   

Song #2 - Living Dead Blues

The second song I mixed is called Living Dead Blues.

(The song is currently a free download - help yourself!)

I think this track turned out better than “Killer on the Loose,” but I think “Killer on the Loose” is a better song, if you strip away the production and play the song acoustically.

While we may or may not remix the track, I don’t think I’ll be rerecording anything. I’m happy with the way everything turned out - performance wise. Even the vocals are sitting with me in a way I can live with.

The lyrics on this one are ridiculous: I saw a pretty girl that I know, I always liked her the best. I grabbed her by the face with both hands and I bit into her breast. Are you kidding me? While we were recording it we laughed our asses off. Deadpan comedy, for sure. I figure it’s the type of song you’ll listen to, thinking, Wait a minute. What did he say?

Here are the lyrics:

Song #1 - Killer on the Loose

The first song I put online is called, Killer on the Loose. No reason for this, other than it was the first song that sounded okay. I think it was the seventh or eighth scratch track we recorded, so that fact that we finished it first was just a fluke.

(It's currently a free download. Snag it!)

The vocals on the current version are okay, I guess. This isn't to say that I don't like what I've done. It's just that... I'm getting more confident behind the mic. And with the confidence comes a stronger voice. 

The version that's available today won't be the final version. My studio partner (engineer/producer) Ron and I both agree that the mix is a little rough around the edges, and I can probably do a better job on the vocals. 

If you're the type of person that likes to have your hands on "rare" things, I would suggest downloading the current version - within the next few weeks it will likely be gone for good.  

If you would like to hear the song there's a music player right here on the blog. Or if you'd like, you can listen on my RevebNation artist page.

Here are the lyrics:

The Studio (Part 1)

The studio has been an interesting experience so far. In the past I’ve gone in with a full band. We would set up the drums in the main studio and spend anywhere from three hours to a full day getting our sounds. After that, the other musicians would do a quick set-up in the control room and I would listen to them (raw) in the headphone mix, along with a click track and drum mix.

This time there was no band. Only me, and I needed to do it all myself. 

For the record, drums are almost always recorded first. If you’re wondering about the reason for this, it’s because they act as a foundation for the other instruments.

Here’s a little side note: It took months before I realized that a drummer should never have the others guys loud in the headphone mix. Know why? Because - generally speaking - the other players have terrible timing, and if they’re too loud they’ll pull the drummer off the click. Don’t believe me? Think about it: a great drummer has great timing, but a talented guitar player probably has an amazing sense of melody, or a nice tone, or some tasty licks, or knows how to shred, or whatever. Timing is usually average, at best. Especially if the player is hanging out in the control room, acting like a goof-ball while you’re trying to lay down a keeper.    

Anyways, this time it was different. The drums couldn’t go first because I needed to hear the song in my headphone mix while I was laying down the drums tracks. If I didn’t have it, I wouldn’t know where I was in the song. 

I guess I should point out that I know how to read and write music, so I could have written the drum tracks down on a sheet of paper - I do that sometimes. But in this case it wouldn’t have been the same. I’d be playing drums mechanically instead of instinctively, which is always better. Drummers don’t like to read and think while they play - insert drummer joke here - they like to react. 

So, how did I get around this? 

I needed to lay down a guitar/vocal scratch track (A scratch track is a track you throw away once the recording is completed). After the scratch track was recorded I listened to it inside my headphone mix.

But laying down a scratch track wasn’t as easy as you may think. It came with its own set of problems.  

More to come in Part 2...

The First Performance

July 18th, 2012 I traveled to Bristol, Rhode Island to attend a horror writers convention called Necon. About a week before the conference began I received an email from one of the organizers; they were looking for people to put together a "Necon Anthem" song. This is all jokes, mind you. Nothing serious. The anthem would be performed in front of the other attendants.   

I decided to slam together a song for the event. It took 15 minutes to write; I practiced it a couple times per day until the convention began. I called it, The Necon Anti-anthem.

When I got in front of my fellow writers to play the song - about 125 people - I was nervous. For the first time in over 20 years, I was nervous about playing live. And it wasn't even a real gig! It's funny... I know it's funny. But being nervous... it gave me a rush that I hadn't felt in a long time. Seconds before I strummed my first chord my nerves were electric. But as soon as I started to sing a strange calm feeling came over my body. It was weird how quickly I became comfortable. 

The song went pretty well, all things considered. People liked it. A whole whack of guys I had never talked with before came up to me saying how much they loved it. Words like "Brilliant" were tossed around - and trust me, there was nothing "brilliant" happening. Someone said, "As soon as you started playing I thought, Man... I need to know that guy." That felt nice.

It's interesting how music can bring people together. It's almost magic.

I didn't tell people that I had never sang in front of people before, or that I was nervous about it. Admitting such a thing seemed pointless. Especially since James Roy Daley - the drummer - had played live so many times before.

The song was a highlight of my weekend, and when I arrived home I decided to set up my first gig...

Starting From Scratch

25 years in the music industry and I find myself in the somewhat unbelievable position of starting over. And I don't mean starting a new project. I mean starting over.

After years of playing the drums - quite well, I might add - I've decided to pick up the guitar and learn how to play. The goal, however, isn't to become a great guitar player. The goal is to become a solid singer/songwriter. I'm also going to see how far I can take things, now that I no longer need to worry about my band falling apart around me.

That's the great thing about being a solo artist, in case you're wondering: You'll never break-up.

The songwriting half of this singer/songwriter equation is the easy part. Ever since my very first band I've had a hand in the songwriting. Arrangements always came easy to me, even when the egocentric musicians I played with were too stupid to know it. It's the *singer* part that's going to make things interesting. Singing a song while playing a guitar is completely foreign to me.

But you know what else is foreign to me? Being in charge. As a musician, I've never had much say in the way things were done.

No wait... that's not true.

In my very first band - a heavy metal band called "Leftovers" - I had a great deal of say. I was the business head in the band, and before we fell apart I managed to get the band to #1 on college radio stations across the country (Canada), our product distributed throughout Canada and the UK, our video played a number of times on our nation's music station MuchMusic, and a pile of sold-out shows with us being the headliner.

My next band - a band called Lilith - had a management contract with a guy named Tom Stephen, who played the drums, and managed, an artist named Jeff Healey. Once I started working with him my days of having control was over. Everything was big business. I guess I should point out that my days of getting national radio play were over, too.

I've lost track of how many times I've played live. When I pull out a calculator and do some quick math it seems that I've been on stage well over 1000 times. But all of those times I've been safely tucked away at the back of the stage, playing drums. I won't be doing that again... I'm not retiring from the drums, but I have no interest in being the engine inside some other guy's car again.

I know the day that I started playing guitar; I wrote it down: October 20th, 2011.

That's 292 days ago.

This might piss off a few people, but in January of 2012 - roughly 80 days after I started playing guitar - I worked out recording contract with a cool little studio where I don't pay for anything on the front end. In this new digital landscape, that's about as close to a record deal as you can get without actually signing one.

I've been recording my first solo record ever since. 

I'm curious to see where it takes me.

Hopefully you're curious, too.