Ryan Calder Band » new album

New album, songwriting and finding inspiration

Ryan — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 12:30:33 +0000

It’s never a perfect science as to what makes a hit song. Some say the key to good songwriting is the melody. Some say good songwriting is the combination of a catchy melody with the right lyrics. Some say songwriting has little to do with it – it all depends on the artist… some artists will sell plenty of copies of a new album no matter how poor the songwriting is.

For me, lyrics are as paramount as the music. A catchy melody is only an inspiration to me if the lyrics convey something meaningful to the listener. In other words, songwriting should make a point. The author should stand for something.

The other important aspect of songwriting is honesty. I will say that I like my private world, because it’s exactly that: it’s a secret place where my frustrations, insecurities and vulnerability are safe from the scrutiny of the world outside.

The conundrum is that inspiration for good songwriting – the deeper truths – are found in that private world. It’s the stuff that we all relate to. And a good song is an honest song. A good album is an honest album.

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If you haven’t already deduced it by now, it’s a time of reflecting on my own inspiration, and thinking about the new album. My life has taken on new meaning in the past 18 months. The band has matured, travelled a bit and we’ve discovered some things about ourselves. I find inspiration and confidence in this.

The other obvious inspiration for a new album is that I’m a father of two now, and I look at everything differently. I find I’m constantly asking questions. Do I practice what I preach? Am I honest enough to say no? What kind of world do I want my kids to grow up in? What makes me angry? Where do I find peace? Is there hope?

Songwriting and inspiration for this new album is wide and varied… I’m intrigued more and more by bible characters. I wonder about God constantly. I’m inspired by living legends. I’m angry and optimistic about the city I live in. I’m more in love with my wife than I was when I fell in love with her. And my kids bring me inexpressable joy and hope for the future.

You know… normal, simple truths.

If anything, the new album will be cranked up. Somehow, I will be able to afford that electric guitar. We’ll get Tammy’s vocals up to full throttle. Rudi will smack his pig skins. Jon will reinvent how a keyboard is played. And we’ll throw Berto out on the audience to crowd surf.

In other words, it might get loud.

Behind the Song: Leave It Behind

Ryan — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 08:00:01 +0000

This was a song which was birthed out of the music. The songwriting process is a strange one, because there’s never any true way of knowing when and where inspiration will come from. I’ve resolved to follow Bob Dylan’s advice and make a conscientious effort to hang around the ink well.

When I penned this song, it came out of a picture of what the music made me feel and visualize. So literally, I played the guitar eyes closed, and let my imagination go wherever.

It wasn’t a short process. The song took months of thinking and re-thinking, driving in the car and milling over the ideas.

I would take perhaps a week considering each line, and up to a month considering each verse. Then scrapping it and starting again. It was a frustrating and confusing time… normally I would just shelve a song idea and come back to it at a later stage with fresh ears and clear thoughts.

But I just couldn’t leave this song alone (behind?)… it was haunting me on my way to work, coming home from work… whenever I had a spare moment in my day, I would be preoccupied with trying to get this song into some kind of form that made sense.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

In the end it became a kind of graphical story in my mind rather than any related life experience, and I think the song speaks for itself.

CD Launch

Ryan — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 11:00:19 +0000

The alarm clock went off way too early this morning at 6.15am. I love the way Michael Griffiths (our graphic designer) puts it: getting to bed early is actually much harder than getting up early. S’truth.

I had good reason though. Last night we launched our new album, On The Edge, at Grace Church International. The joy of being able to share this music first and foremost in its entirety with friends and family is something we had planned from the start. The great thing for us is having kids, teenagers, adults, parents and grandparents in the mix of the audience.

Last night was particularly special in that all five of us were able to perform together for the first time in 8 months. It’s something we have to work really hard at (with babysitters for rehearsals and shows, etc), but the benefits when you’re on stage are immense.

Having an audience in front of you changes the band’s performance dramatically. Prior to last night, it’s hour after endless hour of fiddling through chord progressions and all of us trying to remember the darn cues. But last night Jon’s sense of theatrically had us (the band) in stitches, Roberto goes bananas when he’s in front of people, Rudi actually survived standing up front and Tam went at the harmonica and engaged the audience with the camera (by the way, you can view the pics in our photos section).

It’s hugely rewarding to hear that these songs that were first conceptualized and recorded on a cellphone in traffic jams are now on a CD, and that some people actually like it. It’s even more rewarding to perform them live to an audience. Happy listening, and remember – it is a crazy world, but you can choose to look at life from a different angle and make a difference to the world around you.

Ryan Calder Band Album Production #1

admin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:05:55 +0000

The Ryan Calder Band at work on recording the second album, On The Edge.