91 Days in Isolation

Everything I Own

Wind of Change (feat. Brandon Boyd of Incubus & Portugal. The Man)

Blue October - Ugly Side

Last year I read a Walt Disney biography, and when he was first making motion pictures in the 1930s he would make these shorts in between full length movies called "silly symphonies". They'd be short cartoons that would play before features in the theaters and he would use them to try out new animation techniques and see what worked, and how much work it would be to do.  That's what I wanted to do that with Sanctuary Season. I wasn't ready to do a full length album and I wanted to prove to myself I could do something like this, so I decided to do an "in between”. 

We literally recorded it for about $500 bucks and I didn't tell anyone at my label or management about it until it was time to master. We cut like 9 songs for it, including a Kanye west cover that will never see the light of day. Basically, it came from a time in my life when a lot of things around me fell apart, and the only thing I could do, and the only control I had was to write, get in the studio, and work. At the same time recording stopped becoming fun and became more of a hassle and burden, so I had to work my way back from that and fall in love again. And that's where Sanctuary Season comes from. “Medusa" was the first song I wrote.  It started as that intro drum loop.

After I signed a publishing deal, I bought some new gear - a Dave Smith Tempest and Prophet - and it changed the way I began to write songs. I started writing these bass lines that I would never usually write on electric, and writing to drum loops. I created drum loops that I would write over. It was very subconscious and meditative. That's how “A Stranger Saved My Life" and “Medusa" came about. I don't remember writing them. They came very very quickly. They are songs and melody I would never write consciously. "A Stranger Saved My Life" is my favorite song and I think the best I've ever written.

Prior to the recording of Sanctuary Season, there were a lot of things that took the fun out of actually recording music. It became less about crafting a song and more about appeasing people and politics and just a f*cking drag, and became more of a burden for me. I dreaded having to do it because in my mind I couldn't rationalize all the work to be worth it. I realized I had to change that, and then everything took care of itself. That all changed during the session for “Beloved". Everything got stripped away and it was just me and the music. That song was the first time in a while I felt something while recording. It was the first time in so long that the emotions I felt when writing it got transcribed to sound and came out exactly how I wanted it to. It was inspiring. It touched my heart and I remembered why I love this so much. I like that song a lot.

Amidst chaos we have to figure out what kind of control we have and what we as individuals can actually change. When things fall apart we have to decide whether we will let it make us stronger or collapse. Sanctuary Season was my way of dealing with an uncertain future and chaos.

-Kyle Nicolaides, Beware of Darkness 

Medusa

the world was on fire and no one could save me but you
it's strange what desire will make foolish people do
I never dreamed that I'd love somebody like you
I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you

no, I don't want to fall in love
no, I don't want to fall in love
with you

what a wicked game you play to make me feel this way
what a wicked thing to do to make me dream of you
what a wicked thing to say, you never felt this way
what a wicked thing to do to make me dream of you

no, I wanna fall in love
no, I wanna fall in love
with you

this world is only gonna break your heart
this world is only gonna break your heart

nobody loves no one

Wicked Game (Chris Isaak cover)

new DESSA 
album CHIME
in stores 2.23.18
pre-order: http://smarturl.it/DessaChime

Lyrics and vocals by Dessa
Music by Andy Thompson
Additional production by Lazerbeak

LYRICS

I’ve been Wendy
living with the Lost Boys
youth spent as a deckhand on the convoy
moved every night to prove we were something
got confused if it was from or to that we were running. 
I've seen Gibraltar
I’ve seen the Taj Mahal
Soweto, Hagia Sophia 
Chefchaouen paints their walls blue
I’ve played to full rooms
I’ve played the fool too 
burning through the bottoms of a pair of new boots
Cut my hair
tape my tits down 
A woman on her own must be from out of town
funny, you don’t know the concessions that you’re making until you catalog em
and by then they’re many and you’re battle-hardened. 
Heat makes liquid of the asphalt 
keepsakes and parking tickets on the dashboard 
I'm here to file my report as the vixen of the wolf pack; 
tell Patient Zero, he can have his rib back. 

Chorus
You can count my ribs
Wanna know what class I’m in—
Count my,
You can count my ribs. 

You can’t be too broke to break
as a woman
Always something left to take 
so you shouldn't  
try to stay too late or talk to strangers
look too long, go too far out of range cause
angels can’t watch everybody all the time
stay close, hems low, safe inside;
that formula works if you can live it 
but it works by putting half the world off limits. 

Chorus

We don’t say, Go out and be brave
nah, we say Be careful, stay safe 
in any given instance, that don't hurt
but it sinks in like stilettos in soft earth,
like the big win is a day without an incident 
I beg to differ with it
I think a woman’s worth
I think that she deserves 
a better line of work 
than motherfucking vigilance.
Don’t give me vigilance
by definition 
you can’t make a difference 
if the big ambition 
is simply standing sentry to your innocence  
that’s not a way to live 
that can’t be what a woman is
that gives her nothing to aspire to.
What that is—
what that is
is just a life of running fire drills. 

We’re runnin fire drills.

Chime

Fire Drills

Dessa "Fire Drills"

Come Clean

Everything is Fine

The Liars Club

AWOLNATION - Like People, Like Plastic

Voxhaul Broadcast & Eastern Confernce Champions- Add it up (Violent Femmes Cover)

Bad Things (Theme from True Blood)

Hi. My name is Clint Wells. You probably know me from playing guitar for other artists like Bob Schneider, Mindy Smith, Matthew Mayfield, Jessie Baylin and lots of other beautiful people. I also write lots of songs. You can download them here for free. 

UPDATE: I have been asked repeatedly how people can buy this music. I want you to have it for free. Some people insist on paying for it because they want to support the arts. Frankly, I think that is pretty fucking cool. If you'd like to pay for any of these songs you can send me a paypal payment at clintmwells@gmail.com. Pay whatever you want. $1. $10. $100. $0. Whatever. Thanks for listening, buds!

Every sound you hear on this page was somehow played by my hands and fingers and brain. This includes guitars and drums ad pianos and synthesizers and pizza and black hole event horizons. Etc.


Wicked Game (Chris Isaak cover)

Clint Wells

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