Our Day Will Come (Freedom for Ireland)

UPDATE: Finally uploaded to the file share.

Well I've got my tune finished and it's uploading (very slowly) right now. The title is "Our Day Will Come (Freedom for Ireland)". As I've said before, it's all about Irish Independence. It seems like a strange time to be penning anything to do with Irish Independence, since Ireland is entirely dependant on aid from benefactor countries such as ours at the moment. Well, when I started this project the Irish economy was not headline news. At any rate, I'm quite pleased with it. Here are the lyrics (outro refrain borrows from "Danny Boy" by Frederick Weatherly:

UPDATE AGAIN: The lyrics have been retracted and this song will not appear on the new IML album. I attempt to explain this in a follow up blog post.

Purple Heart

Just had the pleasure of completing the vocals on Matt Flaherty's ace backing track. The track is called Purple Heart, after the American medal awarded to all those killed or injured in service, and is from the point of view of a US soldier questioning his patriotism as he faces the inevitability of death on the battlefield. With a comedy rap middle 8... (just joking Matt)

Its been a tough assignment - with a voice best suited to elevators and weddings, nailing a rock vocal has always eluded me. Rock generally requires a register higher than mine and something of a gritty nature in the vocal tone (which sadly a few teenage years party-smoking Silk Cut has not given me). My previous attempts at a rock voice have sounded like Kermit fronting Aerosmith. And those were the good takes.

Anyway its nearly done and hopefully sounds worthy of the effort Matt had put into his opus. Just a 'cold light of day' listen tomorrow, a few tweaks and mission complete.

Roger and out

Greg

Just finished my vocals! I sang over Thom Lyne's track...hopefully I was right in assuming it was a "free choice" topic, as I have no idea what "Daddy Get Your Gun" meant as a title...but I think I picked something appropriate.

I sang about Simo Hayha, the world's most "successful" sniper. He had 505 confirmed kills...and that was just with his sniper rifle. He likely had 200 or so more in traditional combat. He killed almost 700 people, ONE BY ONE. His only response when asked if he regretted it was "I did what I was told to, as well as I could." I think the only way to psychologically deal with this kind of bloodshed is to see war as a game, and that's sort of where I went with the lyrics.

I have a feeling I'm not the only one who did a sniper track...I just hope nobody did the exact same guy!

Something just occurred to me that I want to address. Inevitably, viewpoints on the subject of 'war' are going to have political direction, and may touch on aspects of religion and policies based on the moral doctrines of religions. Its likely then, that we will have some controversy on 'IML Goes To War.' For the first time, our lyric-writers are poised to create material that might not be universally appreciated by all IML members. Chances are, toes won't be stepped on - but if you are offended or upset by any of the ideas on the finished album, remember that the aim of the IML process is to collaborate to create something new (whether it turns out wonderfully beautiful or tastelessly ugly), rather than converge on something mediocre! The IML we are - the U.N. we ain't.

From the trenches, Tim

Irish Free State

So I've received my marching orders and my assignment is to write a song on top of the backing track provided by The Incredible Flight of Birdman. As I listen to this track more and more, I'm struck by its minimalist beauty. Simple, yet elegant. It conveys a melancholy and to me a sense of futility. No subject was provided, but the music is calling to mind a twilight false calm among green hills and rolling fields of barley. I'm definitely thinking of the Irish War for Independence, which is a rich history that is dear to my namesake. It is a war that ended on a real down note with the Anglo-Irish treaty that divided Republicans right down the middle and led quickly to the Irish Civil War. So that's where I am at the moment. I will make a full report when I'm nearer my immediate destination, which is Easter 1916.

On a related note, I cannot be happier that LCpl Greg Dean has been assigned to work on my backing track, The Glorious Dead. I'm sure he will make his country proud. Everyone, please wear a poppy in support of the troops. Over and out.

Anna Chapman sure is a classy broad

So I'm now facebook 'friends' with sexy 'spy' Anna Chapman - her page is just an ad for this - an iphone poker app that promises 'lots of sexy new pictures not found anywhere else on the internet'. So my main task here is trying to find a war-ish theme to connect her with; I'm not overly convinced she was ever actually a spy so maybe I'm looking at some kind of internet popularity battle? Hmm, now to see if there's a chart of popular apps somewhere, or maybe I'll just look at her boobs again...

Rolling out

We've now had our marching orders from Corporal Peters and this is how the next phase of the album is going to pan out:

• TIM DONDEREVO's backing track about Stalingrad goes to KIP LOADES
• GREG DEAN's track about the US Marine Corps goes to JIMMY SMITH
• MATT FLAHERTY's track on "The glorious dead" goes to GREG DEAN
• JULES's track about (possibly) The lonely US civil war infantryman goes to KELLY HOGLUND
• BARNEY BROWN's track on the Peloponnesian War goes to JOSEPH ASHLEY SMITH
• THOM LYNE's track called provisionally "Daddy get your gun" goes to DAN WALDKIRCH
• DAN WILDKIRCH's track about Anna Chapman goes to LAYLA VANDENBERGH
• JIM and BARN's track about illegal war goes to SAM and JULES
• NEIL PARFITTS track (theme: robots in war/the future of warfare) goes to BARNEY BROWN
• FLIGHT OF BIRDMANS track (theme unknown) goes to MATT FLAHERTY
• ROB FISHER'S track on the Ottoman-Habsburg Wars goes to MADELEINE OSBOURNE
• SEB ROBERT'S track on War of Aggression goes to TIM DONDEREVO
• JOE DEAN'S track on Torii Mototada goes to THOM LYNE
• JOSEPH ASHLEY-SMITH'S track on the conscientious objector goes to ROB FISHER

So now's the time to go to your local library and check out some books on your assigned subject. Or just nip over to Wikipedia.

I've got to explore the world of robots in warfare, and with them, the future of technology used in war. We've been told to keep within the boundaries of the real world so I'm not going to be going all Battlestar Galactica or T2. Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to get primed on my topic by watching TED talk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1pr683SYFk