Transit the Rock Band's Blog

The challenge of Cheese

"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring two pence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it."

-C.S. Lewis

Recently I had a discussion with one of my band-mates about the importance of hooks while doing band taxes at Café Brazil.  To give you a hint about who it was, his name starts with a D, ends with an E and has an AV in the middle.  Now this is a conversation we have all had before (Scott and I have talked endlessly about this subject).

However, being in the middle of writing right now, it really hit home again. 

Having just bought a water filter, my mind is also on filters; so, I will say that all rock songwriters use a coolness filter that all would-be hooks have to run through before coming out as pure, drinkable lyric.  This filter is built from what culture dictates, what you think your role models or heroes would think, what girls might like, what your close friends will think, and if it seems to have guts.  I think this is important.  However, filters are useful especially when dealing with city water, but what about pure spring water?  It might kill bacteria, but it might also mess with the taste of that natural goodness.  Sometimes I wonder if the cool filter needs to be turned off just to see what comes out.  

I have caught myself catching lyrics that really are cheesy using my sense of what is cool or not, but sometimes I wonder if I over-think things a bit.  Am I getting in the way of pure lyric coming from the heart, or from my youth or from somewhere even cool people don't like to go?  Could I be messing with the natural stuff that might make what I am trying to more simple and meaningful (again, back to the idea of soul, or something real)?

            The challenge of cheese was:  "Ok, we always make fun of simple pop lyrics, but if we HAD to write something like that, I don't know if we could EVEN DO it."  That is interesting.  I feel like we have achieved at least a unique sound, meaning that if we wrote some straight up pop song, would it even still sound like a pop song?  Should we try it?  Another point we discussed: where would we fit on the radio?  KISS plays top 40 stuff with straight-ahead lyrics and what we consider "cheesy" hooks, HARD ROCK stations play stuff that is mostly harder than us.  They will play Coldplay, U2 or Chili Peppers, but those groups carved a name for themselves when radio was different and almost qualify as their own genres (let's call it actually good music).  Even groups like Keane get played on KISS, but not for very long, and they still had very straight-ahead hooks.  We are indie, but don't have the typical rough-around-the-edges indie sound.  Hooks are the universal.  Whether it is hard stuff, soft stuff, old or new, songs that make it, bands that make it ALWAYS sell out to a good hook.  As much as we make fun of SK8ER BOI by Avril Lavigne (or actually her co-writers) it is EXCELLENTLY written, despite how much I hate it.  The truth is if THE KILLERS had sung Kelly Clarkson's (or again, her co-writers') "Since you've been gone" in their own way, it might be considered cool too.  The fact that these songs make it on KISS, or cheesy songs from the 80's are still played everyday on numerous other stations teach a lesson about the hook.  It is a constant when it comes to relating with people.  Sometimes we need to wake up and realize the rest of the world is not musicians and do not give a crap about  how many chord changes you have, or how much this lines means to us, or how many people in Dallas, TX show up for a gig.  They want to relate, and maybe good songwriters and bands aren't afraid to do that.  Sometimes you can write a really edgy or poetic lyric that relates to certain people sometimes, but I think we all would like to write something that would relate to all of the people all of the time.  Lincoln Park has done this.  Their music sounds pretty much the same all of the time, but certain hooks they have are instantly easy to identify with.  "What I've done" could easily be a Christina Aguilera song, but Lincoln park keeps it more real than she could.     

I am not saying that I think all of the STUPID STUFF on the radio right now is good, or genuine, but I think taking off the filter sometimes could open new doors for doing what EVERY musician, regardless of what they act like, wants to do: have people get and like their music.  To do this, I think you have to take the risk and (I'll say it) write from the heart (and keep it simple).

Let me say that the cool filter is DEFINITELY good at times, as sometimes it is just an ART filter meaning you are looking for something PAST the mundane, which has GREAT merits.  Just as I think BONO would have a hard time writing HIT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME, some dumb neo-punk song like they play all day on every station (Blink 182 ripoffs) or Nickelback tune, I don't think those writers, even though they are admittedly talented, could EVER, in a million years, write "… a slight of hand and a twist of fate, on a bed of nails she makes me wait…"  Being able to write meaningful lyric is priceless.  However, both types of writers would have to agree "…in the name of love" would be sung by ANYONE, and it would sell.

You need both to be timeless.  I think we have some hook-potential, but still have some ways to go as we write.  If we focus on coming up with something people can identify with, while STILL maintaining our personalized sound, we might have something.  That is our goal, anyway.  We will still strive to be meaningful and artistic, but I won't be afraid, and am going to experiment with rolling screenless when it comes to making some hooks, just to see what happens.  Maybe having more behind the story, but some simple phrase or rhythm to capture the emotion is part of hooking people, but then giving them a real reason to stay hooked.  I have always said I want to do 2 things with our music:  Make music that makes people want to move, and music that will move people.    

I just want it all to be drinkable in the end.

Give us some feedback: 

-What do you think about hooks/lyrics/cheesiness/the whole deal?

Current mood:giddy

Hi

5 years is long enough, and the FARSTAR is having an E.P. Release show on Saturday February 9th at Deep Ellum's Curtain Club.  Please come out and show us your support for the band. 

We play @10:30ish.  also on the bill are the bands: eleven dollars, tonight tonight and the couture.

There is a new song in the myspace player. "Waking Up 2:15" is from our new E.P. "Back to Life".  This song has already been awarded 'Track of the Day' (twice) and 'Track of the Week' on garageband.com. So if you like what you hear, see us at the E.P. release show and pick up a copy of our new stuff.