ALL I HAVE – The song that kicks off this album starts, atypically, with a fairly big electric guitar sound. Most people know me as an acoustic artist, so I wanted to start, from the very first chord, by blowing up any expectations and letting everyone know I’d be exploring these songs in new ways. Hopefully it sets the tone for what I strove to be a surprising, emotional ride as you travel through the album. 

I will always remember the moment  I wrote this song.  It was 6am on a Sunday morning. I’m not usually very productive (or even awake) at this hour, but the events of the previous evening were haunting me, and I couldn’t sleep. At the time, I was promoting and booking shows at The San Diego Sports Club. Along with Tim Pyles (who helped immensely on the booking front), we would put on a show once a month. When we first started booking, things were pretty sparse. But we had been building the night up for quite some time, and it was finally paying off. Sadly, the owner of the bar didn’t seem too interested in investing in this growth. So I was still dragging my own P.A. in for every show. I worked the sound when I wasn’t performing, and Tim would DJ between sets. It was a fairly ghetto setup, but it is what we had, and we made it work. Usually. 

But this night was by far, our biggest draw. Transfer played, and the place was packed to the rafters, and quite frankly, my P.A. wasn’t up for the task of Transfer’s wall of sound.  About the third song in, the first speaker blew. The crowd kept calling for everything to be louder. The second speaker didn’t last much longer. I turned the monitors around and used them as mains, and we managed to get through the set, but it was a pretty poor sounding gig, and my PA was thrashed. I was deflated, and felt like I’d let everyone down. The band, Tim Pyles, the crowd, and myself…in my mind, I had failed us all. The icing on the cake was when the bar owner came to me after the show, positively glowing about the brisk business we provided him with (well over 200 people attended), and fanned out four twenty dollar bills like he was Rockefeller Trump handing us all our share of his immense wealth. $80 dollars to divide between three bands and a DJ (who provided free radio advertising for the venue).  Less than .50 cents per customer, to be divided between the 9 musicians and the DJ responsible for his success that night. For me, this was no success at all. It was further embarassment as I handed out an insulting amount of pay to the people who had supported me by helping to build something new and cool. This is the glamour of being an entertainer.

Transfer, being good friends, were polite about the situation, but I knew first-hand what it’s like to play through such inferior and shitty sounding gigs where technical details intrude on your ability to give people the best of yourself. It sucked to be the one actually responsible for this. I tried to make up for it by having an after-party, but my credibility was blown for the night. Matty (Transfer’s singer) had met a girl at the show, and the two of them came back with Alison and I, but that was the extent of our party. On the way home, I wasn’t too chipper, but everyone tried to cheer me up, and we talked about getting drunk and hopping in the hot tub. This girl with Matty seemed pretty cool, so I sucked it up, and tried to be a good host. We got home and unloaded my broken and worthless cargo. When we were done, I ran upstairs and put on some swim trunks. But for the second time that night, I was completely out of tune with the room.

I came bounding down the stairs in a towel, with my shirt off, yelling “All right, let’s pour some drinks and get in that hot-tub!” 

Alison glared at me and shook her head. 

“What?” I replied, slightly confused.

“WE aren’t getting in the hot-tub, dumb-ass. THEY are getting in the hot-tub!”

This took a while for me to process. What does she mean WE aren’t getting into the….OHHHH!  It finally hit me. Not only did I just ruin Matty’s show, I was about to cock-block him in the hot-tub. We all sort of laughed uncomfortably.

“You and I are going to bed.” Alison said, sensibly. So I did the first thing I’d gotten right that evening. I followed her to bed.

But at 6am, I woke up, and couldn’t get back to sleep. I couldn’t shake the guilt and shame of working so hard to achieve something, finally getting a top notch band and the crowd capacity I knew I was capable of drawing…..and ultimately, fucking blowing it. Literally.

I snuck downstairs in search of my guitar. The door to our guest bedroom was closed, which meant the hot-tub had done its job. My guitar was in the living room, so I picked it up, and plucking it as quietly as I could, I whispered out a melody as lyrics dropped from my raw, sleep-deprived and emotionally crushed mind. I pulled out my phone, recorded the results, and slunk back to bed before I woke anyone up. I slept through most of the next day, too embarrassed to face the light. 

EPILOGUE: 

The girl from the hot-tub never went away. I mean, she left our house, but from that point forward, she was never far from Matty’s side. I liked her so much, I even managed to remember her name (I never remember anyone’s name. Another personal failing). 

When Matty and Sarah got engaged, they asked me to perform their wedding ceremony. I was honored. From the ashes of my personal defeat, rose the phoenix of a beautiful relationship. And this song. 

And so it is, that on their marriage certificate, below the names of Matthew and Sarah Molarius, my signature rests.

 I’m fairly sure it’s even legal.


SDMT 2013 Playlist 1

Lauren Leigh  - Lyrics, Vocals, Production
Matt Arbeiter - Drum Programming, Synth, Production
Ben Zinn - Drum Programming, Bass, Guitar, Synth, Production
Mixing:  Ian Aeillo at A Sun Room
Mastering:  Doug Van Sloun at Focus Mastering



There’s a special place 
In hell 
For a man like you 
Using up women 
You’ve got your women 
To play your muse 
Inspiring all those pretty lines 
And turns of phrase 
Turns of phrases 

If you didn’t scare me before 
You sure do now 
Holdin the hands of your friends downtown 
Suffering inside your beer 
And yet 
You still sing about me 

A kiss can be deadly when you mean it 
I really wish I didn’t mean it
You said you’d never let me drown
Well baby I’ve found 
Puddles deeper than you 
Darlin you used me too 
Keep your pretty head above water 
My heart for the slaughter 
You could’ve loved just a little longer 
I would’ve gone quietly 

If you didn’t scare me before 
You sure do now 
Holdin the hands of your friends downtown 
Cryin in your beer 
And yet
You’re still here

Puddles

I don’t claim to know the answer. But I am convinced that it begins by loving each and every human being on this earth no matter what. Before you label someone an enemy, first remember that this is a real person, with a name, and a mother, and a childhood. A person who feels hungry and must eat, who feels tired and must sleep, who suffers and hopes for reprieve, who feels worried, scared and confused and searches for meaning. How would the world be different if this is what we thought of first before deciding to retaliate?

Love,
Greg

Float Away

“C. Gibbs sings Motherwell Johnston” was recorded over a span of two years in NYC. This album chronicles Motherwell Johnston- an alias Gibbs began using to try new songs live without having any expectations from those who might be familiar with his past work (Lucinda Black Bear, C. Gibbs, Morning Glories).  The alias was probably not necessary but what began as a quirky experiment soon gave birth to some infectious powerful songs brought to life with the rock swagger of a new band including Tim Kuhl (Goaast)- Drums, Matt Brandau (Old Ceremony)- Bass, and Phil Sterk (Alana Amram ) –Pedal Steel. . A script was later written by playwright and director Andi Stover who was inspired by the album , concept and live performance . Gibbs happened to be working as an actor/musician/ performer at Oregon Shakespeare Festival when they submitted it to the Black Lab project and  did a reading of the play with Gibbs performing all the music and text as Motherwell. A musical in Zurich and NYC is planned for 2017.

Unchaperoned

The Listen Local Show hosted by Cathryn Beeks is available 24/7 on demand at ListenLocalRadio.com, a new show posted every Thursday. Tune in and catch up with our amazing music scene. Hear San Diego here.


The Listen Local Show 4 21 16

I've Got My Gods

Take you down

The Listen Local Show is a weekly audio calendar featuring bands playing in San Diego. Hosted by Cathryn Beeks, it's available 24/7 on demand at ListenLocalRadio.com, a new show posted every Thursday. Tune in and catch up with our amazing music scene. Hear San Diego here.

The Listen Local Show 5 25 17

"The Horseman" from the Beautiful View's 2012 release "life is beautiful"

The Beautiful View - The Horseman

Album: Cut From The Cloth
Track 1

The following 13 tracks are high quality 320 kbps MP3 files. But even the best MP3s are still compressed. If you enjoy this album, consider purchasing the physical CD, which features full spectrum audio and 18 panels of lyric sheets and photography by grampadrew. You can also buy the MP3s, which will help me fund my next record. It is available at CD Baby, Amazon, iTunes and your finer records stores. In San Diego, you will find it in stock at Off The Record and M-Theory Records.

If you look to the right of this page, over there ---------->
you will see there is a little story about this song. I've written one for every song on the record, so if you go through this set of MP3s, you'll find that little bonus on every page.

grampadrew - 01 All I Have

From "Torey's Distraction".

I was lucky enough to do the soundtrack to a documentary film entitled "Torey's Distraction". www.toreysdistraction.com

released digitally on Aug 28, 2012.

Tracklisting

01 - Torey's Distraction 
02 - An Explanation 
03 - Leaving Florida 
04 - Play With Me 
05 - Complications 
06 - A Day in the Life 
07 -Going Under 
08 - Distraction Days 
09 - Pinky's Storage 
10 - Baby Saige 
11 - Cowgirl 
12 - A Look Back 
13 - Celebration

A Look Back

Daniel Norman - Vocals, Guitar
Mike Nissen - Lead Guitar
Eric McCann - Bass, Keyboards
Joseph August Luisi - Drums, Percussion

All songs by Daniel Norman and A House for Lions
Produced, Recorded and Mixed by Tom Biller
Recorded at The Hangar Studios and Baby Possum Studio
Mastered by Dave Cooley
Design by Mike Nissen

www.ahouseforlions.com
www.facebook.com/ahouseforlions

lyrics:

i'm gonna test my will 
i'm gonna put things right 
you don't wanna wait for me 

i'm not gonna stop until 
the artist can pay his bills 
you don't wanna wait for me 

but somehow in the night 
oh the feeling's always right on time 
but you don't wanna wait for me 

i've got a new idea 
i'm gonna set it down 
i just wanna say my piece 

a gathering in the field 
a search through the lost and found 
i just wanna be released 

but somehow in the night 
oh the feeling's always right on time 
but you don't wanna wait for me

(You Don't Wanna) Wait For Me

From the debut Maxi Single. Out on 2.12.13 via PCM + Boombox recordings | Mom + Pop

grampadrew - 01 All I Have

grampadrew

Recent comments

grampadrew

Related tracks