February Album Writing Month 2022

Sometimes I think, this situation requires an adult 
And I look around and realise it’s me.
Who the hell allowed that to happen?
Surely there’s someone more qualified, more prepared, more adult?
But there’s not and I realise there never was.
And that’s an existential crisis before breakfast…

We’re all just making it up, just tilting at windmills.

And I think, theres a lot of things I thought five ten years ago,
That were just complete bullshit, just flailing anger at all the wrong targets
But self awareness and kindness and realising that systems are cruel is like realising that
Maybe the adults and teachers you had didn’;t know better and it’s OK to be angry and it’s hard to forgive but you’ve gotta try and make it better, you know?
And that’s a lot of work, before end of business. 

We’re all just making it up, just tilting at windmills.
Hopefully trying to do what’s right.

FAWM 2022

Don Quixote

I started off trying to do an upbeat song but it went a bit goth, so I leaned into that. Lyrics are inspired by a tweet from a pal.

A Shimmering Bouquet of Crows 

Gather in the dark
A murder in the shade
To find a special place
To spread our wings out wide
to show a painted face
Let the endless outside

I perceive in liminal flow
A shimmering bouquet of crows

Shed our mortal masks
Let down the masquerade
To open up the space
Our arms are open wide
Wash away the taste
Of the day we left behind

I perceive in liminal flow
A shimmering bouquet of crows

To open up with space
To spread our wings out wide
to show a painted face
Let the endless outside

I perceive in liminal flow
A shimmering bouquet of crows

A Shimmering Bouquet of Crows

Tried to write an upbeat song in a scale I'd usually use for metal. It kinda worked.

Doom Boxes

What did I come in here for?

I’ve got something in mind I might forget
I’ve got a great idea I might regret, again
It makes me move

I’ve got eighty high definition thoughts
I’ve got something in the fridge starting to rot, oh yeah
I should do something about that

I’ve got something to do,
It’s written down, somewhere
I’m hacking through my programming to find it

Hey,
Did you ever think that, maybe.. Never mind

I’ve got a dozen black marks against my name
And a multiplying pile of plastic shame, I plan
To deal with soon

I’ve got seventeen things to do at once,
Pushing all this stuff in a doom box for now,
I guess that’ll do

I’ve got something to do,
It’s written down, somewhere
I’m hacking through my programming to find it
To find it
To find it
To find myself

Hey,
So, I spoke to the doctor the other day..

A lifetime of underperformance with
A self worth tied to what I’ve done, oh yeah
It’s like a noose
I’m ticking off boxes, making lists
Got an alarm set remind me to drink oh yeah
Im an adult

Doom Boxes (v2)

Tried to write something off a funk drumbeat, aiming at a sort of Rage Against the Machine feel and given I'm into Warhammer 40-k, the beat suggested the refrain and I went a bit political with it.

The Emperor Protects

Burn the heretic
Oppression
Kill the mutant
Projection
Purge the unclean
Infection
The emperor protects
He’s naked

Suffer not the witch
Oppression
Refuse the xeno filth
Projection
Attain our destiny
All nations
Die for God and creed
abomination

Build it back better
Purgation
Make it great again
Inflation
Refuse to be replaced
Conflation
His invisible hand
Descension

The Emperor protects
No clothes
The emperor protetcs
No soul
The emperor protects
His own
The emperor protects
He’s naked

You are so blessed in his Light
Exterminatus gaze
Spending lives like coin to find
Anathema remains

The Emperor Protects

A few days behind in my FAWM projects so I rolled up some random chords and asked pals for some prompts. This is also for the one-note-melody challenge. Aiming at a sort of QOTSA vibe with an angst, sweaty Scottish frontman.

Tuckered

I didn’t ask to be put into a neat little pocket
I didn’t ask for this milquetoast version of society
I don’t want your crocodile tears
Or your performative rage
I didn’t ask to be born with teeth bared
I didn’t ask for this perpetual sense of existential dread

And the world say
Come the fuck in or fuck the fuck off

And yeah, I didn’t ask to be put into a nice little pocket
I didn’t ask for this milquetoast, constructed version of a society
I definitely don’t want your performative tears
I definitely don;t want yo0ur crocodile rage
I didn’t ask to be born with teeth bared
I definitely didn’t want this persistent sense of existential dread

But you know what?

Come the fuck in, or fuck the fuck off x 2

Tuckered

Originally from the prompt 'Hiraeth' but became more about moving on from hurtful things, with some added Lord of The Rings references.

Lyrics

Watching the world fall away,
As go into the west,
Take your rest of the burdens,
Cause you can never go back,
That home has gone away for always.

Find a new hole that fits,
Find a new belonging,
It’s no betrayal to survive.
If you can never go home, again

You miss it so much it hurts,
As your finding out your feet
And stripping off the curses,
The old has left upon you


You carry it with you
You carry them with you
Wherever you may go.

Departing Lindon

FAWM 2022 track 11.

This started from listening to the track released to promote the Food Fighters new movie and some weird gatekeeper backlash online about how extreme metal doesn't need help from Dave Grohl, which reminded me of the Probot record he did various metal singers. So I thought I'd do something that was aiming at death metal of sorts and the notional working title was 'Probiotic' as a smashing of Probot and Biotech vs Godzilla.

Anyways, this morning I hear that Russia invaded Ukraine and the notion of wargames came into my head, reminding me of the 80s film and that kinda became the inspiration for the lyrics, which are kin of a rant about being a millenial and sold a shiny future which has been snatched back from us rather than my original draft which was about trying to make a probiotic shot sound all metal and stuff (which was fun though, might come back to that.)

Of course, I'm totally not comfortable with screaming as a singer so I went with spoken word over the chunky guitars and I kinda dig the effect.

Lyrics

Growing up in the 80s was a trip,
Most of our food was so processed it glowed,
We’d dance to 99 Luftballoons and read 2000 AD,
We’d watch Mad Max and terminator 2, hear news stories about Chernobyl or see our mum;’s gay pals die of AIDS. 
The idea that we’d all go up in a nuclear fireball just seemed, inevitable like background radiation

Then the wall fell and they said it was the end of history and it would be nothing but peace and growth and prosperity forever.
Well, for who, exactly?

Then the towers fell and the recession hit and the pushback against the slow advance of minority rights came on full force, and we realised that despite going to college as we’d been told, we weren’t as well off as our parents had been at our age and that the brightness in the future was the fires of fascist book burnings, a climate apocalypse and or, the nuclear war wer thought we’d escaped.

Fuck this future, fuck these asset stripping, power crazed clowns, playing wargames in the middle of several global emergencies,,
Fuck this millenarian culture war, witch craze, death cult, baying for blood cause other people have the cheek to be a bit different.
Fuck these pyramid scheme cashing out techbros, busting unions and trying to sell us digital monkeys as the world literally burns.
Fuck this future, we deserved better, our kids deserve better, 
It’s better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness.

The End of History

Looking forward to doing the NIN afterparty this week, a good excuse for a survey of their many releases. Tried to focus on stuff that's not so likely to get played in the club, plus a few curveball remixes and covers. The afters itself will be all about danceable deep cuts you won't hear at the gig as well as further alternative versions of the classics!

The Frail (live), 
La Mer
Into The Void
Jehnny Beth - Closer
How To Destroy Angels - The Believers
Opium Jukebox - Head Like A Hole
The Warning (Stefan Goodchild Feat. Doudou N'Diaye Rose)
My Violent Heart
Satellite
That's What I Get (Purest Feeling Version) 
How To Destroy Angels - A Drowning (Resonata) Remix
All The Love In The World
Copy Of A (Simian Mobile Disco Remix X SHIK1 Edit)
Trent Reznor - Driver Down
Eraser
Every Day Is Exactly The Same
Zero-Sum

Nine Inch Nails Warm-Up Hype Mix - Afters 15/6 at Ivory Blacks

Haptic EP is the first release from Modifier on High Sheen Records. The downbeat, glacial pop record sits comfortably between the likes of Apparat and Boards of Canada and is the first in a series of releases for High Sheen.

12” & digital versions will be released August 2014.

Mastered by Matt Colton at Alchemy Studios.
Distributed by Rub A Dub .

Become a fan of Modifier www.facebook.com/ModifierTV
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Buy on iTunes 

Under The Window

A wee thing we did back in the day when we had time to record music all day, every day. Written by Howie, recorded by me.
As I remember, Colin Davidson and Ralph Teviotdale played and/or sang on this. Good fun anyway :)

McLeod - Lady C

Examples of my most recent work. including advert, audiobook, and character voice styles.

Email - eddymackenzieacting@gmail.com
Spotlight - www.spotlight.com/9253-3499-6183
Backstage - www.backstage.com/u/eddymackenzie
Facebook - www.facebook.com/eddymackenzieactor
Twitter - twitter.com/eddym101
More from Bruar -www.facebook.com/BruarFluffedIt

Eddy MacKenzie Voice Reel 2017

Synthwave track with some nice samples from Hostile Waters, a very interesting game with a great plot and superbly voice acted cutscenes.

Worth Killing For

Demo of opening track for EP, messing about with midi instruments and such

Storyteller (Demo)

Graphic (demo)

Metal Rooster - The End (Demo)

All music produced & arranged by Spelk
Vocals courtesy of lirazelf (Sara Thomas) 
Mixed & Mastered by Soundtopia Studios © 2021

All rights reserved by the original artist, produced and recorded by Garbage © Almo Sounds 1996

The End of History

chriscrowing

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