Return to Recording & Writing

A few years back, I earmarked January, February, and March as the time I spent writing.

I sit at this desk every day, making art, editing videos, doing voice-overs, tracking the new material, & mixing the old from the archives. On the painting to the left, that’s Kerouac in the corner, from The Subterraneans.

We never shut off writing. It’s an open spigot that flows 24/7. It’s a choice, the very way we looking at the world around us. The choice to translate/document what we see. Certain times throughout the calendar year, my focus instinctually returns to the conception poin of the creative process. Beforehand, I need to complete whatever outstanding work I can, and remove all unwanted distractions from my immediate surroundings. Those distractions, to me, represent the death of spontanaity, the pinwheel of death, endless procrastination. Armed with only a notebook, mechanical pencil, nothing else. OK, (too much) an iPhone for the video camera to capture BPM and chord changes on the neck of the guitar. But be warned, the iPhone can also be a path to endless distractions.

The humor of it all is right here in front of me. It’s truly ironic, even now, when I’m writing an entry in Substack instead of a song.

“Perhaps, I can make this part of the songwriting process as well.” said the master of procrastination

I’ve said it before, I use Substack to help stay organized. I have a pile of notebooks, as disorganized and non chronological as one could imagine. The only way for me to tell how old each one is, is by looking at the wear and tear of the cover. The oldest, clearly beat to all hell, the youngest, save for a few stickers, fresh off the shelves of a drug store office supply isle. I’ve separated them into full and empty stacks. Going all the way back to the roots, the first lyric notebook, all part of the continuum.

Rarely do I start anything from scratch, and looking at my disorganized notebooks, it’s clear that the task at hand has been locked away in my memories. I need to remember where I last left off. Most notes lead back to the songs that never made it on my “To Love a Wild Fire Album“ (released 2020). That album represents a solid 2-4 years of home recording. Many got thrown into an album pile that were supposed to be called “Black Sheep“. What a shite name, and masterclass in procrastination. I even went so far as to make the album cover first, a huge rookie mistake. You don’t make the art before the final mixes are done. You just don’t.

What a horrible name for an album. This was using the same Adobe Photoshop template as my first album. The only songs released on this collection are Join Along and Perpetual Change.

As I was looking for the art for the above album, I just remembered, it wasn’t just one album. There was another group of songs called “Roots Back East“. These are great songs and I need to complete this album. Funky beats, Marco Savoia on bass, old 50s Gibson ES125, keys played on my guitar (using midi), a nod to my love of jazz, and my East Coast roots. Ancient recordings.

“Roots Back East“. I love this pic, the day I bought my black hat strolling around Philly when we went to our 20th year reunion at the University of Pennsylvania. Oh look, Perpetual Change made it’s way onto this album cover as well.

Let’s take a look at the notebooks. You can see below how many times I’ve written and rewritten song lists across various notebooks in my collection. A few of those songs just refuse to get finished. Time to put an end to it and wrangle these songs back in line.

Looking at the names of the recordings, I can see that I have about 15-20 songs to complete before the end of the winter in 2025. That’s a lot of work.

Most of these recordings happened before the covid lockdown. Both albums keep nagging me. What hurts most about these incomplete works boils down to the failure to finish, all artists know what I’m talking about. I should have fished these songs years ago while the fire was hot, but I didn’t. Every time I look at these incomplete songs, I think to myself how much of a failure I am. That being said, there’s always a path to redemption. Write the lyrics, cut the vocals, then move on. The only thing missing from many of these recordings are finished vocal tracks and finalized lyrics. Half of them have skat tracks and scratch vocal takes. Just a bit more work to add them to the release calendar.

Releasing is an altogether different matter. It may be even more convoluted than my notebooks, but this year I came up with a fix. In the past, I made a demo and released it. This year, I made a demo, played it for the band, and re-recorded the single as part of a studio live session here at the house. Going forward, I’ll release the demo version with each single, but the album songs will be taken from a consolidated recording with members of my current band. I used the old jazz session recording method, 1 session (with the same personnel) produces 1-2 albums of material. The Miles method. If I need to change the people or the instruments, that’s another session, and a different album.

Releasing as an album means also you need to fit the songs on an album side. Even for the most recent album (“I Am Nowhere, I Am Everywhere” - releasing in 2025), I could only fit 8 songs based on the vinyl 22min per side allotment. Quite a few songs didn’t make it on the album, which is fine, choosing a cohesive group of songs is part of the process. Another consideration is to they collectively tell a story, one of the reasons I’ve decided that my single Space Cowboy deserves its own concept album and short film. Why not explore a surfing spaceman who loves psilocybin and mushrooms? That one will be a passion project, for sure.

The only way to get to making the Space Cowboy epic is through the back catalog. I need to force myself to finish the Black Sheep and Roots Back East songs. It’s the only way. Innovation is renovation. Now I think I see that path forward.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Now that I’ve beaten myself up, it’s time to get to work. True, it’s difficult to focus on just one thing as a DIY musician, but it’s not impossible. You can never predict when the lightning’s going to strike, but you can get yourself into a mental space that sets the stage for it to happen. Think of it as a self fulfilling prophecy. At times we can just WILL something to happen, I’m not sure how else to describe it. It’s the same thing you have to do when dropping into a good wave, if you’re not fully committed you’re going to get rolled, maybe even hurt yourself. It’s a mindset where failure isn’t an option, so it shouldn't even be on the table. I’m talking about picking up a guitar, and not putting it down until the rudimentary parts of a song is complete.

By the way, there’s no such thing as writer’s block.
I know my old friend procrastination all too well. Just ask him to leave.

Whenever the songs come, they come. Setting time aside for writing is more about getting rid of the daily distractions that get in the way of completing songs than anything else. My goal for the 2024-2025 season, is to write lyrics, and at the very least complete a single demo for every single one of my incomplete back catalog (which grew enormously during the pandemic). It’s easily three to four albums worth of material. A worthy adversary. Come April I’ll know if I’m just Bullshitting myself. Now that I made it through the 2024 holidays, and into 2025, it was a good run, but it’s time to get back to work.

To appreciate work, you need to remember to stop and breathe. I have always liked taking a break every now and then. Times where I don’t even pick up a guitar if I don’t have to. I have plenty of other things to keep me busy. This past Saturday I was reminded how much I love local music when I saw a few friends sitting in with a local trio at the Camp Store. The next day my son’s friends asked if I could set up the drum set and amps for them to jam. Once I had the studio set up for the kids, I invited my own band over.

I forgot how to play many of my own songs. :)

As expected, my fingers didn’t remember where to go whenever I gave them the reigns. It happens every time I take a break. making matters worse, some of the songs I forgot how to sing properly to boot. Apologizing to my friends on bass and drums, one just said, “hey man, don’t beat yourself up, that’s just how memory works.” Within a month, I know I’ll have them back in order, after endless wood shedding. Every year after writing and recording new songs, I have to re-learn how to play them with a band. It’s not that big of a deal.

To any of you that’s writing, I wish you a productive year. Now, I’d like to excuse myself to the task at hand. Time to get to work.

About the Ram
Mark "The Ram" O'Donnell is an independent American composer and visual artist based out of Carlsbad, California. He performs original, surf-inspired, West Coast rock-and-roll.

For more information about the Ram and his music, go to www.TheRamMusic.com

More Information
I currently use DistroKid to get everything out to the streaming platforms, Disco for all sync requests, Bands In Town to list live shows, and Substack for just about everything else.

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