FIVE EASY PIECES DEMO (5/5)

Here we have the first cohesive edition of a complete Five Easy Pieces demo. This recording was put into my phone simply as “5 easy pieces” on April 12th 2021, only one week after it’s conception on April 5th and as I mentioned before, this is rather quick for me. Usually songs (especially the ones on TIAP) become long projects that I tinker with endlessly as if they were a zen garden - always moving things around, never wanting them to end.

But here, in the eleventh hour of writing the album, a few days before going into the studio - Five Easy Pieces reared its head quickly and effortlessly. In recent memory this is one of the easiest, best and most unexpected times I’ve had writing a song and now it’s one of my favorites in my catalog as well as a forever staple in my live set.

Now, before I go, a few very notable moments on this recording that ended up meaning a whole lot when I took it into the studio.

1. At 1:34 I go to a single note on the piano to map out some sort of percussive build up. I do this because in my mind I could hear something happening with the drums there, though I wasn’t sure what - which became the impetus for the time signature change brought on by producer Sam Cohen and drummer Josh Jaeger.

2. At 2:30 I sing the line “how do you make a bad time last” in a falsetto, which is how I heard that part being sung - something that felt quiet and soulful. We initially recorded it this way but towards the end of editing the album we felt, after having not heard it in a few weeks, that something was off about the falsetto which is when Sam challenged me to instead scream it. I felt a bit uncomfortable at first, but soon we were both having so much fun, and I kept requesting to keep doing takes even after we knew we had it. This has also become a notable part of my live set, which i’m so thankful for.

3. At 2:37 I sing what I could hear as the guitar part, which became a blue print for what Sam played in the studio.

4. At 3:07, right after singing the line “i’ll see you in hell” I hit a sour chord given my amateur piano skills. I had not meant to play this lone C chord that is nowhere else in the song and when I later played the demo for Sam and Jared Samuel, who played piano on the song, I warned them of this chord. Jared said he liked the mistake and it actually worked well and so we placed it in the second verse on the studio recording, right after I sing the line “you fuck like a monster, but still drive me wild”.This is one of those magical happy accidents that music so often provides. Thanks for showing me the beauty in that sour chord Jared :)

Shout out to Jack Nicholson and Karen Black for really bring Bobby and Rayette to life and inspiring this song. One of my favorite ill-fated couples and one of my favorite films.

xoxox