garethfriend Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 Bit of a dilemma here regarding some original songs my band plays. Background is that about 18 months ago our drummer quit in a memorable (childish) fashion and the remaining members of the band all agreed to start again fresh because they had been doing the same set for years. Fine. Got a new drummer, better than the first, and got to work writing new material. Everything was going well and then the singer and guitarists both had kids, at this point practice began to get patchy and it has been pretty hard for the last year as we have been unable to string more than two or three weekly practices together regularly. Fair enough, kids are difficult. To make the best use of the time we started recording the tracks we had written, that way if one or two members couldn't make it the rest could work on the recordings so things would at least progress. Thing is that backfired because knowing that the others could just record various people started slacking off practice for increasingly pathetic reasons. Finally this came to a head and we have now decided that we should be putting practice first and aiming to start gigging again soon. So now we seem to be getting a bit of momentum back and things are heading in the right direction. Brilliant. Only problem now is that by taking 18 months to work on 6 songs I am already feeling like they have been done to death and we haven't even gigged them yet. The one song that is furthest along in the recording process and is just about ready to go out I have heard that many times that I think I actually hate it. It has got to the point where I am wondering if the songs are actually any good anyway. My question then: how do you know if your songs are rubbish or you have just heard them on a loop too many times? Gig them and see would be the obvious answer. Not sure if I like the idea of getting on stage with songs you don't believe in though. What you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 I don't think we're always best placed to appraise our own songs. I seem to remember that Jagger didn't want to do Satisfaction when he heard the riff that Richards had come up with. If 18 months seems like too long I can't imagine what doing a song for 45 years is like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rOB Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 [quote name='garethfriend' timestamp='1337522437' post='1661285'] It has got to the point where I am wondering if the songs are actually any good anyway. My question then: how do you know if your songs are rubbish or you have just heard them on a loop too many times? Gig them and see would be the obvious answer. Not sure if I like the idea of getting on stage with songs you don't believe in though. What you think? [/quote] I find it impossible to judge the quality of my (solo or collaborative) writing. What I do is send demos to 2 other musicians whose work I admire and trust to give honest and constructive feedback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrenochrome Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 There's a huge difference between gigging a song for years and rehearsing it for 1.5 years - playing a song live will make or break it. I've never been in a band that took long, even with people having new babies and suchlike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomE Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 (edited) [quote name='garethfriend' timestamp='1337522437' post='1661285'] My question then: how do you know if your songs are rubbish or you have just heard them on a loop too many times? Gig them and see would be the obvious answer. Not sure if I like the idea of getting on stage with songs you don't believe in though. What you think? [/quote] Its a tough one. Listening back to demos i have been a part of over the years i can now honestly say that most of it was tosh and didn't deserve any recognition or critical acclaim. At the time i was playing the songs i did believe in them though. If you are finding it hard to believe in the songs before you go and gig them it sounds like you need a new band. Edited May 20, 2012 by BottomE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garethfriend Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 well I guess I'll just go with it for now and see what the reaction is when we release them, I have a feeling the recording process is just taking it's toll and I'll snap out of it when we gig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pietruszka Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 I'd keep going with it. You'll know what they're like when you gig them. The suggestion of passing them on to other musicians is a great one, put them on here even! Remember, you are your own worst critic. The band I'm in relies on everyone else for judgment, with extremely positive results. Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gust0o Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 I'll second the above. We ended up chopping and changing singers, and that necessitated some down time whilst we got the new guy up to speed - I thought, after that, I couldn't hear them again; all changed the second we got on stage with them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockfordStone Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 (edited) playing a song live and playing it in practice are two totally different things ive written and practiced songs that to me have sounded a load of tosh, only to have been met praise after sounding great live. we can never judge our own music as we are too close to it, the only way to truly judge a song is a crowds reaction in my opinion Edited May 21, 2012 by RockfordStone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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