I love me some Hans Zimmer compositions, and whether or not you are a fan of the newest Superman films from Zack Snyder, it's hard to argue that the music for those films isn't spectacular. This here... the main theme from "Man of Steel" titled "An Ideal of Hope" struck me the moment I saw the 1st trailer for the film & this music started playing. It was quite difficult to interpret from piano & orchestra to the guitar... there are others on youtube who have done it as well (a couple better than mine imo), but it took many hours and lots of re-takes to get it to where it is now. I hope my friend Matt will appreciate this even though he isn't a fan of the Zack Snyder Superman...

An Ideal Of Hope (Man Of Steel Soundtrack - Hans Zimmer) Remix

This song has always been one of my favorite Fugazi songs. I tend more toward's Guy's songs... he has a great style of writing & this song in particular highlights his talent. It appears on the album "In On The Killtaker". I actually recorded it a few years ago, but it was poor quality & the drums were horrendous. Thanks once again to Arnaud Krakowka for saving the day in the drums department! This is the first time I left the sweeping echo I use on my guitars on my vocal tracks as well. I like the effect. Go listen to the original! Enjoy!

Last Chance For A Slow Dance (Fugazi Cover 2022)

A looooong time ago my buddy AJ & I ordered a set of 10 cassette tapes from Thrasher Magazine of their "Skate Rock" compilations. We each got 5 cassettes & on one of mine there were 2 songs by a band from Paris, France called Heimat Los. Both songs were incredible. I had never heard of them & it is still difficult to find much about them, let alone listen to quality recordings of their songs. I lost my cassettes years ago, but around 19-20 years back I "wrote" & recorded this song here. It loosely follows one of Heimat Los' songs from that skate rock tape riff-wise, but not too exactly. Their song (which is called "Negative Mental Obsession") had vocals & mine never has. I has always envisioned it as my own version of an amped up/get the blood flowing opener to a show like MTAE used to have... that song with Matti's bass line that rocks! Here it is re-done in 2022... as aggressive as it ever was & the slow pretty ending was always there too.

Heimat Los (Re-recording 2022)

This song was prolly my 1st "favorite" Danzig song. There's others I really dig too like "Sistinas" & "How the Gods Kill" that are also in the same vein as "Blood & Tears"... melodic & pretty/sad. I will say this... I had a bitch of a time trying to replicate the guitar solos here. I'm not a solo player, never have been. It is what it is I guess? It made this simple/easy to play song into a massive headache for me. Ugh. I'm actually glad it's done now. Anyway, here's my cover of Danzig's song "Blood & Tears" from the album Licifuge (Danzig II) from 1990.

Blood And Tears (Danzig Cover 2022)

I have tried to cover this song before... it was a lot more rudimentary than this new version. I figured out this meandering guitar line a while back as a way to cover this song that only has piano & cello & I really like the interpretation. However, the vocals... what a bitch to try & do justice to her original song! If you have never heard it before, leave here now & get on youtube & listen to it. Give it time to get to the chorus & you will understand what I am talking about... "hauntingly beautiful" is the only words I have for it. I guess Sol Seppy (this is her stage name, her real name is Sophie M.) is a classically trained pianist & cellist who decided to write original modern style music & she writes, performs & produces it all herself. Anyway, this song here, Enter One, is prolly her most well known & is featured in a few movies & TV shows. This new version of mine has vastly superior drums than the old cover & I took my time to get the guitars & bass as precise as I wanted. The vocals are also way better than on the old version... I really really tried to be melodic & I used some echo FX here & there to enhance them, whether that means they are any good??? Well, that is for the listener to decide. I can only try my best to hit the pitches & not sound flat. I've made my peace with it. Enjoy!

Enter One (Sol Seppy Cover 2022) Final Mix

Happy New Year! I just learned how to play this yesterday, then I worked all day & got home & cranked this out in like 3 hours... so it's not my best mix & the ending sucks... but I was running outta time. I would've had to wait an entire year to post it if I didn't get it done. So, for better or worse, here is the classic New Year;s Eve song "Auld Lang Syne".

Auld Lang Syne (You know... the New Year's Eve Song!) 2022

*2nd Mix. What can I say... here's a fast punk cover of "Hey There Delilah"! It's a song that begs to be punk rocked out... so I did it. I recently installed a Seymour Duncan JB pick-up into my Schecter Omen Elite guitar & that was the guitar I used for the entire recording so I could get a good listen to the new sound. I'm lovin it! The bass was also my Schecter bass & the drums were from Mr. Drums youtube channel. Everyone has heard the original acoustic song a million times, now try the punk version!

Hey There Delilah (Plain White T's Cover 2024)

Test mix for vocals... again. Trying to get this just right. I really dig this new song!

Omens 3

Here's yet another classic 80's anthem re-done ala grunge/hard rock! This was a fun one to learn & record... I used a couple Arnaud Krakowka drum tracks & another one for the heavy toms during the chorus. For the guitars I used my Dean Exile & the Schecter SGR primarily. I also ended up using my Schecter Omen for some lead work. I busted out the short-scale Gretsch Bass for this one. I play it a few bpm's faster than the original... I guess I'm pretty happy with the outcome. I'm definitely surprised at how well the humming part came out! I was thinking of not even doing it because I didn't think the mic would really pick it up right, but it sounds great! Enjoy "I Melt With You" by Modern English!

I Melt With You (Modern English Cover 2024)

3rd mix. A new "dark" song that I wrote over the course of this past week or so. I used my Schecter Hellraiser for most all the guitar parts. There are a few tracks using my Dean Exile as well. Both guitars have EMG's in them & I'm becoming a big fan of those pick-ups! Anyway, being in 6/8 time signature it was hard to find good drums for it, but these drums are ok I think, they just lack more fills & some diversity throughout the song, but I made do. This is my 3rd Mix Test before I add the vocals.

TRAUMA 3rd Mix (2024)

BRUTUS has become one of my favorite bands over the past few months & this song here is how I was introduced to them. It was a lightning strike moment when I 1st heard this song coming out of my bluetooth speaker at work. It's from their album from 2022 called "Unison Life" & almost from those first few seconds I knew I wanted to do a cover of this song. They are from Belgium & the female vocalist also plays the drums. Their guitar player has such a unique sound & style... I love figuring out his stuff. This is actually my 2nd time covering a BRUTUS song... the 1st one I did was SUGAR DRAGON which is posted on another soundcloud page of mine (there's 4... soon to be 5). Anyway, there's a great punk vibe to this tune as well as that elusive "post-hardcore" sound that BRUTUS gets designated as. I'm smitten with it! I used drums from Mr. Drums youtube channel, my Schecter Bass & exclusively my B.C. Rich ASM-1 Guitar because I keep it tuned way down to C which is where BRUTUS tunes to. So I have to use that guitar when doing their stuff. Enjoy & go listen to the band BRUTUS!!! They have tons of great live stuff on youtube too!

LIAR (Brutus Cover 2024)

I have been at this song for over 2 months now. After writing & recording the music I got stuck on lyrics & then I fucked my back up & basically didn't touch a guitar or try anything recording wise for a month because it was too uncomfortable sitting in the chair in my "studio".  But I finally circled back to it & finished it up. (The music-only version is still posted here, it is called "Omens".) I am still in the midst of a shitty writing block & the lyrics are a jumbled mess, but the melody & how the voice fits into the music has been in my head since the beginning. We shall see how it wears on me. Sometimes I love to listen to my own stuff & sometimes it pisses me off that I didn't take more time to do it right or maybe I don't like the overall vibe? Basically the song is about how we surround ourselves with people/places/things that aren't goods for us & how we search for a way out of the shadows they cast (hence the repetetive "find the light" lyrics). For what it's worth, I really dig the riffs & how the drums really kick in the final verse & chorus. It gets me moving every time! The bridge/breakdown is cool too. I hope ya dig it whoever you are. (I used a slew of guitars on this, namely my Schecter Omen & Hellraiser, my red Ibanez, my orange Ibanez. I also used my Schecter bass.)

What The Heart Doesn't Need (2024)

Cigarette Daydream (Cage The Elephant Cover) 2nd Mix

I added yet another guitar track & did some additional mixing... mainly to bring out guitar crunching & drums a bit more.

Dirge Of Guitars Remix

I re-recorded this song. Probably the best thing I've written in a long time & the other recording had too many mistakes throughout. It needs some VOLUME and some decent speakers to truly appreciate the guitars... when it goes full distortion & the music stops for a split second those 3 times near the end it's like a knife cutting through the silence... I really dig this song.

Anthem Of October REDO

Another cover from Queens of the Stone Age. I seem to like covering their instrumentals? "Lightning Song" is from their 2000 release Rated R.

Lightning Song (QOTSA Cover)

This song is from FAR's reunion album "At Night We Live" from 2009.  As time has gone by I find myself loving this album more & more. I admit, when it 1st came out after most fans thought FAR was broken up for good... then suddenly this album gets released & it's all new material... I wasn't as impressed as I am now. I guess I was looking for more of the W&S "sound" from 10 years earlier. I'm glad they evolved. I'm definitely not happy that there really is almost no chance for any further reunions from these guys. Apparently they just can't get along? But we have "At Night We Live" & this gem of a song from that album. It's a longer one. I strayed from the structure they have for this song, there was a lot of static-ee white noise for a while at the end that I dropped & just let the rhythm section play out a bit longer than their version. (As always... my drum machine sucks & I can't sing worth a shit, but it is fun to record this stuff.)

The Ghost That Kept On Haunting (FAR Cover)

The Deftones have been one of the bands I aspire to as far as guitar sound goes for a long time. The guitar player Stephen Carpenter plays a 7 string guitar tuned down to drop C for the most part & that is very hard to get a regular old guitar to tune down that low without sounding like a puddle of mud (unless you actually set it up for that tuning with thicker strings, action, intonation & everything). So... this song is definitely played in the wrong key here. Pink Maggit is the final track on the "White Pony" album & it's unlike anything else the Deftones have ever done. I've always loved that song. Chino's vocals are a huge part of the original so what I have here is just a little tribute to the actual song... mainly an ode to Stephen's killer guitar work.

Pink Maggit Instrumental Tribute To The Deftones 2nd Mix

Music only here. I may try something to get Dwid's lyrics into the mix, but I can't even begin to replicate his howling screams. This is all me except the opening drum/chain rattle noise... I sampled, looped, kicked it up a notch tempo-wise & added a dash of reverb. This is one of Integrity's best songs & probably my all-time favorite by them.

7 Reece Mews (Integrity Cover)

I'm not even kidding... there's like 9 guitar tracks in this recording. Not all at once, but... this took a while. The drums are from a youtuber named Charlie Fader. He drums solo covers & I used his drums for this recording. GREEN DAY!
(PS- I just learned this guitar solo so it is a bit jinky in a spot or 2...)

21 Guns (Green Day Cover)

Another classic 80's tune. Once again I utilized a drum track from Charlie Fader. I guess once ya start recording w/a real drummer you just can't go back to a drum machine. I think I may have... "processed" this song a bit too much trying to EQ it out, but I decided to quit while I was ahead. I meant for it to be a bit more punk. Of course I subbed in guitars for the famous keyboard/synthesizer melody that instantly identifies this song. (In the course of learning how to play this & watching vids of The Cars performing it, I came to learn that the singer/bassist Benjamin Orr is from Ohio. Buried here as well. So even though the Cars are a "Boston" band, they have Ohio roots.)

Just What I Needed (The Cars Cover) 2nd Mix

"Life On Mars" is a David Bowie song that Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross produced a piano/synth rendition of for the HBO show Watchmen. That version of the song is beautiful & ever since I heard it I've been wanting to do my own cover of their rendition of a David Bowie song that I personally don't care for. Well... here it is. A lot longer & all guitars instead of piano.

Life On Mars (ReznorBowieAtticus/From HBO's "Watchmen" Show))

Skinny Puppy is a bitch to cover! For the drums I micro-sampled the actual drums from the song then looped it out. For the samples I had to find Reagan's anti-pornography speech & also the sample from Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt" ("They're alive, They're human beings!")on youtube. Of course all guitars & bass & additional keyboards are all me as well as the vox. I gave it my best shot. Long live Skinny Puppy!

Far Too Frail (Skinny Puppy Cover)

This is my cover of the theme music for Cloud Atlas. The original is a piano/orchestra piece. I transposed it to guitar/bass here. It's a very pretty song... a bit sad... but I have always liked it since I 1st saw the movie. (Which is excellent btw. It stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving et al... It's based on a book of the same name... also excellent.)Movie soundtracks are something I'm interested in doing more covers of. Braveheart is another one I want to learn on guitars.

Cloud Atlas Sextet (Theme Music for the Movie "Cloud Atlas")

An original tune I 1st strummed out a year ago or so. I had actually posted the raw acoustic take to facebook at the time thinking I'd record it the next day... but it took over a year. Thematically this has nothing to do with my other original song "Dirge of Guitars", I simply couldn't think of a name for it that didn't sound stupid or grandiose. I think it's a pretty/sad tune... I can pump stuff like this out all day long. But I don't.

Dirge Of Guitars No. 2

Been playing guitar for 30 years now (as of 2019)! This station is simply me playing guitars, bass, my little drum machine and sometimes vocals too all recorded & mixed through Audacity free software. I used to be in a band called Means to an End from the Akron/Kent area in late 90's thru early 2000's and anything I've re-recorded from that time is marked MTAE. Mostly original music here although I do indulge in the occasional cover tune.

Jeff Swinderman 1

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