Wow, it's been a while between songs, and to be honest, this isn't the best one to return on. It's really crap quality production, and a VERY under-developed one at that. Awesome way to build it up Andy :) I'm posting this though, as I distinctly remember when and why I wrote it, so enjoy it for the story, if not for the song itself :) The song is a drum click track, 2 guitars (recorded on my old Ibanez, to get that whammy effect in the riff) and 2 vocal tracks most of the time (with some distortion).

I wrote this song after a pair of good friends of mine broke up their long-term relationship. It was a sunny day, I'd met one of them for lunch, they broken the news to me - I think it had only happened 1 or 2 days beforehand, I was a bit shocked actually. I was doing a contract at AAPT at the time, and the guy I was working for was away on leave - I had his office. I returned to work, and whipped out the lyrics pretty much as they appear below, working from three different perspectives/voices; how he felt, how she felt, how I think I'd feel (NOTE: I was not involved in the break-up whatsoever!). Some of the lines relate to him, some to her, some to how I thought I would cope with the situation. I went home and recorded the song that night.

Here's the lyrics;

And the demons rape my mind again
I'm paranoid of all my friends
And I hope your God can save me from this sin
I'm verging on insanity
A break from life is what I need
So I'll leave this place and everything I see
Love is great and love is grand
But the aftermath I cannot stand
So I'll drink all day and see another band

Do you ever wonder why you're lonely?
Do you ever wonder why I care?
It's because you are thinking of me
I'm the man inside your head

Insomnia drops in and out
I lay in bed filled up with doubt
While she's out fucking friends I'll live without
I'm breaking up, I'm falling down
Devoid of life, without a sound
My mind goes (? not sure what this word is?), my heart begins to pound

I wonder what you'll write about me
I remember all the things they've said
You know you cannot live without me
I'm the man inside your head

And it wouldn't be a proper Andy Neumann song if there wasn't at least one major fuck up in the guitar solo (pretty badly missed note - d'oh!). That was 11 years ago, and the couple in question was Steph and her ex-boyfriend (who was also a good friend of mine). Don't think I've ever told Steph that I wrote a song about that...

Labels: Songs

After the band broke up, I had this crazy idea of writing a whole bunch of songs (as I was really pumping out a stack of songs at that point) in all different styles and providing them to other artists to use (you know, what classic songwriters do). So, I wrote a bunch of rock, pop, punk and metal songs. Here's "Metal Song #1". The funny thing is that even though it set out to be a heavy metal song, I don't think it really fits the bill. It's a bit too happy... Recording wise, it's a repeating drum track, 2 guitars and a bass. I think it sounds a little bit thin... I can't remember if I wrote lyrics for this - probably not.

And while I'm at it, here's "Metal Song #2" as well. Again... too freakin' happy to be a metal song. I remember the day I wrote both these songs - I was in a great mood... and as dark as I tried to be, I couldn't write it. And for a metal song, this track doesn't have room for a guitar solo! You'll also note that it's the same click track as Metal Song #1, just a bit faster. I do like the guitar chorus with all the bits intermingling together (I think it's 3 guitars on this one). The verses have a nice drive to them as well. I did run out of ideas after the bridge bit though (as the song stops REALLY suddenly)

I might dig out Rock Song 1 as well, from memory I really liked that song...

Hope you enjoy these tracks :)

Labels: Songs

Here's a little instrumental number I wrote that never got around to writing lyrics for. It's using the same basic click beat that I've used for about 4 or 5 songs now. And it's an Andy Neumann special - 2 guitars, a repeating drum track, no bass. I like that the verses "spread out" - both distorted electric guitars - one playing a little arpeggio, the other a simple melody line. My favourite part though is the change at about the 2:40 minute mark (which to me reminds me of Pearl Jam, not sure why). And the song just kinda finishes (as you can hear - very much a demo track - the click track plays out until I stop it :D). Anyway, hopefully a track you'll enjoy!

Labels: Songs

It's been a little while since I put a song up here, so here's an interesting little entry about "the evolution of a song". Here, I have 4 versions of the same song - all pretty different - spanning over 10 years. And here's a bit of trivia straight off the bat... The song's called Walk Away II not because I have a song called Walk Away I - but there is one - written by a friend of mine, Cameron Clark. I lived with him for a little while, also a songwriter, he wrote a brilliant song called Walk Away (I wish I had a copy of it). When writing my song, I thought I'd tip my hat to him a little by acknowledging that he had the title first. (By the way, my Walk Away isn't anything like his)

Version 1 (raw demo): I wrote this song originally in the middle of 1998, as a piece on piano with a verse of lyrics. Recorded more as an idea than anything, the first verse and main riff were definitely the core of the song and remained through all versions. The vocals have no treatment at all - very flat. Also, there's no development yet of a chorus, but I did develop a little guitar riff that would be used later on. There's some strings in here as well that I later ditched (I didn't think they added anything). You can hear that the end of the song is more about exploring some melodies on the guitar - trying to flesh out some ideas. It's very much a raw version of what the song will become.


Version 2 (guitar demo): The next version (recorded probably a month or so later) was a variation to try and develop the song (particularly the lyrics and give the whole song a bit more structure). I find it easier to write on guitar, so I moved it off piano and back to some chords that I could sing over. This is how I managed to develop a chorus and an outro! This has a VERY different feel to it than it's predecessor and successor, and whilst I could've kept going down this path, I knew I eventually wanted the song back on the piano. Again, this is a very simple recording; an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar and one vocal. I do however like the solo in this version :)


Version 3 (Andy piano version): The third version is probably my favourite (and once recorded, a few months after the original idea, I sat on for 8 or so years). Certainly more developed than the first, and with the same core piano riff. I don't often play / write for piano, but this is one of my better efforts I think. This is a very simple song in the end - one piano, one guitar, one vocal (which has a bit too much high end hiss to it... but what's done is done). I really like the translation from the guitar chorus in the previous version to the piano version in this song. Overall, it's just the feel of this song that I adore - it's so incredibly melancholy.


Version 4 (Monstar Music): The final(?) version came about through a collaboration with my friend Greg van Bergen, and the singing school he runs, Monstar Music. In 2006 he set about producing and recording an album of his students, and together we wrote 11 or so songs for the album. I thought, after 8 years or so, it would be good to hear a different treatment of the song, so I dusted it off and Greg and I set to work on it. As you can hear, the main riffs still exist in the song, however there's a number of changes. First up, it's a much more layered song now - lots of different parts working together. When it hits the second verse (yes, the second verse), it picks up and changes the feel. Part of the challenge of reworking the song was writing some more lyrics for it; a second and third verse (8 years after having written the original lyrics), and still remaining true to the message/feel of the song. Oh, and if you didn't notice, it's a female singing this version, not me. Brooke Shearer did a great version on the vocals. And I think Greg did a great job in producing the beats and layers of the song. He very much took it to a different place. We introduced little segues (between Verse 1 and Verse 2), beefed up choruses, changed the bridge... all big changes, whilst adhering to the philosophy of the original song.

So, today you get 4 songs for the price of 1 :) I'll try not to be so slack putting them up here on a more regular basis. Maybe I'll get off my bum, record a fifth version of this song and put it up... but don't bet on it anytime soon :)

Labels: Songs

This was an instrumental track I wrote at the end of 1998, when I was living in Richmond. I'd been using midi for songwriting/backing tracks for a while, using various little electronic boxes, but decided to bite the bullet and buy a keyboard (a Roland XP10). After setting it up, I found a few cool sounds and built this song around those. One of those sounds was the bass - which I always thought was a great little Faith No More sounding bass (obviously the song isn't very Faith No More). I always liked this song, but one of my favourite things about it still niggles me. One of the melodies (played by the sitar sound at around the 1:35 mark) is a rip off of "El Rodeo" by Kyuss. I put it there as a temporary melody while I came up with something better, but never did. It always sounded like it should be there. So it stayed. But now I can't listen to the song without thinking about Kyuss... (which isn't *such* a bad thing). I do think this a funky little track though - I love the start of the song with the piano riff - it's just a bit unusual, which sets the tone for the song. And the ending / outro is pretty cool as well (some nice guitar playing)

I wrote and recorded this in an afternoon - when I was supposed to be doing some contract Visual Basic / Access programming... but just really couldn't be stuffed. I still think the afternoon was better spent doing this :)

Hope you enjoy it.

Labels: Songs

This is definitely one of my favourite songs. I wrote this back in 2002, and I guess it came from 2 separate songs really. The first was a song I had written called "Norwegian Blues", which I (jokingly) wanted to do a Death Metal 12 bar blues - that's the verse part of this song. It was originally much faster, but I couldn't quite perfect the guitar squeals at that speed. Then the chorus was this other, more Ozzy/Sabbath type riff and vocal I had (I still really like that vocal melody, and think it's some of my better singing... I don't cringe *too much*). I then introduced the middle section, based on inspiration from Opeth. I love almost everything about this song - The verses and choruses work well for me. The middle section turned out as I hoped - it builds well and has some really cool layering I think. I love the single, fragile guitar line that brings it back from the middle section to the big, epic chorus again. I like the way the song transitions to the acoustic, almost Alice In Chains, section at the end (and that final guitar melody). What I don't like? The drums are a bit shit (not too shit, just a bit shit). The production could've been crisper (particularly on the middle and end sections - the clean guitars aren't clean enough). The lyrics are OK - they started off fine for the song, but I think as the music for the song grew more in stature in my mind, the lyrics were left behind... if that makes sense? In any case, it still stands as one of my faves that I listen to time and time again. Hope you enjoy it too :)

Listen to it here

Labels: Songs

Single guitar, single vocal, pretty simple. I remember trying to record the vocals and guitar separately, but it just didn't have the right feel / timing, so what you hear on this recording is me singing and playing at the same time. Written way back in about 1997 or thereabouts, it's always been one of my favourite songs to play and sing. The vocals on this recording (from late 1998) are a little bit country-twang, but are mostly listenable. There's no hidden meaning in the lyrics - when I wrote it I had a lot going on in my life ... and so did my girlfriend.

Here it is.

Labels: Songs

As per my previous entry, I was in a band for a little while. This is the first song from the band that I've posted in this songs thread, but hopefully will give you some idea of what we sounded like. More songs to come in time.

First up, I just fucking love the start of this song. It's just a simple, monster guitar riff and sound. Of the four songs we recorded, this is probably the one that has the most Andy influence in it, and is truest to it's original form. I wrote the bulk of this one (i.e. all the underlying riffs) when I was listening to a lot of The Stereo and a little bit of AC/DC. I wanted to write a "balls to the wall" rock song for the band (knowing it would get a little bit of the punk treatment from the rest of the guys). As a result I think it worked out really well. It's also interesting because Dave (the other guitarist) wrote the parts and played the role that I probably normally would've in the band on this song (the guitar bits over the top of the rhythm riffs). Normally I did the "noodling" and guitar melodies and he played the riffs. I also think he'd be the first to tell you that he completely fucked the timing on the little lead riff after the chorus (at about 1:34) - it sounds a bit retarded unfortunately (I think the drummer was slightly out of time as well). I also didn't manage to pull off the right recorded sound for the middle section/bridge (from about 2:45). That was supposed to be a kinda Smashing Pumpkins-like feedback section, that always worked brilliantly in rehearsal, but didn't come off at all during recording. The rest of the guys are spot on unfortunately, it's just that lead guitar melody of mine that sounds a bit washed out.

Another point of interest, we only added the (quite) high backing vocal of "I feel left out" in the chorus during the recording process. I came up with it, the drummer sang it, and it was a fairly controversial addition. Half the band loved it, half the band freakin' hated it.

Anyway, here's the song. Let me know what you think. Oh, and listen to it loud :)

Labels: Songs

I recorded this song in June, 1997 while living in Chadstone in a tiny bedroom (barely big enough for my bed and a desk). I was sharing the house with 3 other guys and my girlfriend, who I'd just broken up with (and was still living with). I was not in a particularly good frame of mind, I was smoking a lot of cigarettes, was between jobs and just generally living the life of a vagabond. The song was recorded on a small 4 track recorder, with a single guitar in one take, improvising some of it, planning the rest. Some of the riffs ended up as parts of other songs... I always liked this song though, it's simplicity, and in particular it's opening riff. The guitar sound is a bit muddy, but it's very typical of my completely fuzzed out distortion I was using back then. The song has such great potential to become something more... but I like it just the way it is. Enjoy!

Labels: Songs

This was a song from my short-lived "Rogue Spirit" project. I actually put this song together, along with a few others, to try and win Triple J's Unearthed competition in 2001 (which I didn't...). I really like aspects of this song and detest others. Let's start with what I like; the lyrics (below), the chord patterns, the general feel of the song and the way it ends. The dislikes; the most obvious is the vocals. The vocals have some kind of weird americanisation to them, sounds like I have this horrible accent - very poor effort Mr. Neumann. The guitar solo is ill thought through as well (I think the journey / structure could've been a bit better). Finally, it could've been recorded better - it's a tad muddy, the multiple guitars and effects I used don't always work well together, etc... Anyway, here it is, another one for the masses - hope you enjoy it.

Here's the lyrics (inspired partly when I was reading a lot of Raymond E. Feist);

I walk the face of this earth alone
No one to love, no one to hold
The darkness of light shines right from my face
I have no name, I have no place
Can't go above and can't go beneath
Can't feel the cool chill or warmth of a breeze
I don't speak a word, I only make sounds
In time you will stumble on all that I've found

I don't know why you'd follow me
I don't know why you followed me

I've tried everything to make you believe
That I am not here, that you cannot see
Time slows down as you grasp for my hand
I take some more steps and sink in the sand
I don't know what it was like before
I've never felt love, I've never known war
I don't speak a word, I only make sounds
I never speed up and I never slow down
I don't know why you'd follow me
I don't know why you followed me

And now I know why, and now I know all
It's not the height of the drop, but the speed that you fall
It's not the length of the walk, but the fact that you do
It's not the words that I speak, but the meaning to you

Rogue spirit...

Labels: Songs

I know it's been a while since my last song, and I said (or at least thought, if not said) I'd do it more frequently... sorry :(

Here's a short and sweet song I recorded about 10 years ago found amongst the catalogue. One guitar, one bass. I like the simplicity of it, I find it a bit hypnotic actually. I'm not sure what I did as the effect on the guitar - maybe a clean deep flange with a touch wah or an over-the-top chorus or something similar? I was aiming for an underground / underwater effect from memory

And because you had to wait so long between songs, here's another riff I wrote once (maybe 5 years ago?), called "Song 3". Had a really nice feel to it, but I never finished it... story of my songwriting life :)

Labels: Songs

Again, one of my two guitar parts + one drum machine wonders. This is such a rockin' little track though, it always puts me in a great mood. The start of the song is really written to be played live - I always thought it would be a great to start a song (I always like lead guitar melodies that are then joined by the rest of the band though). I also really like the guitar melodies in the "chorus" and the "climb" half way through it. This song stayed as an instrumental as I could never quite find the right melody to sing over it. It's got the same drumbeat the whole way through - if I had've spent some time on that it could've been better. The solo was a one-take wonder as well - but I think captured the right idea (probably would've been more polished in a final version with a nicer tone to it). Anyway, enjoy :) Here's the song

Labels: Songs