Cast of Characters:
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken–drums, vocals, lyrics, and seed idea 
TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen– electric guitar, mastering, and seed idea
Mistermark – @user-432503709 – Mark – all instruments in the break, including clavinet, organ, bass, and drums, as well as production, editing, and mix
Llanpsych-- @llanpsych -- Tez – electric guitar
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – 4-string fretless bass 
The Eclectic Collective -- composition

This song began its life when Ken came to with a series of drum skeletons about half a year ago with the intent of starting several McDonald's themed songs that The Mysterious Decibel was writing for the group. Well MD had some life getting in the way and then decided to pursue another project full time, leaving us with four solid songs, but without vocals. Ken ended up supplying the solid lead vocals and harmonies you hear the whole way through, with original lyrics that he also wrote.
  But before any of that happened, we got this song together. Stephen was first up, coming up with the main guitar riffs that carry the whole way through. Josh responded quickly to the his guitar parts with some matching bass to go along with it. 
  About this time, Mark heard the funky break in there, and so installed every part of it all on his own, including the clavinet, organ, bass, and drums. Although, Ken is also still playing in the break, as well. When we had it pretty well set, Tez came along and added some fiery guitar to go along with Stephen's. 
  Once we had it in the can, we turned it over to Mark for his expert mix. Stephen mastered it for us, too, for the final, winning touch.
  This ended up being a satisfying product of The Eclectic Collective's teamwork. We hope you enjoyed listening to it as much as we enjoyed creating it.
Original Lyrics by K2 and The Three:

I built my library, by burning it to  the ground
I live my life, through all this singing sound
Can’t remember, what then we should’ve done
It’s up to you, now, you’re the chosen one

Scaling the riverbank
Scaling the riverbank
Scaling the riverbanks
Scaling the riverbanks

Till we reach solid ground
Pit for play dirt(pay dirt)
Muddy water all around
Sift the sandbox
There’s gold in them thar hills
Treasures lying
Skills to pay the bills

Hanging on and on
…. and I, can’t find my way up!

New to you
It’s goo to you
New to you
It’s goo to you
New to you!

Scaling the River Banks
Scale the riverbanks
Scaling the riverbanks till we reach solid ground
Scaling the riverbanks till we reach solid ground

Hanging  on and on
And I can’t find my way up!

Scale the River Banks
Scaling the riverbanks!

Scale the riverbanks!

Scaling the Riverbank (Eclectic Collective)

"Magic is what we do. Music is how we do it." -- Jerry Garcia

Welcome to my page, my peers, associates, friends, and musical family. I'm a lifelong, multi-instrumentalist musician who records prolifically and joyfully. You'll hear me play guitar, bass (regular four string, and four and five string fretless), mandolin, banjo, keys (piano, organ, synth), lap slide, sitar, and sing on my recordings here. I've been in a few dozen bands in my life, playing everything from bluegrass, jazz, rock, jam band, reggae, funk, afrobeat, Middle Eastern, traditional Irish, singer/songwriter, pop/covers, to experimental/avant garde. 
  Since I found SoundCloud a couple years ago, I've found many talented, creative people with whom to create music. However, in the summer of '23 I formed a band called The Eclectic Collective with some of my favorite musicians I've met through here. It started as a loose collective of musicians and coalesced into a core group of musicians who find other musicians with whom we'd like to make music, then run their songs through our process, and in effect add a full band. That core of The Eclectic Collective includes Tez (Llanpsych), J.J. Terrel, Ken (K2 and the Three), Stephen (Texmex Shaman), Chris (cgmaness), and Mark (mistermark). A couple of other musicians are frequent collaborators, as well, including Artur of Surfers Like Us, and Steve Vervaet of Steve's World. More recently, we've been joined by Carl of The Beautiful Dark fame. 
  The magic of music is amplified exponentially by each person adding to it. So, we really try to add our sorcery all kinds of music from all kinds of artists. Sometimes, we keep it within the group, but a lot of what we do is collaboration with other artists. Therefore these days, 100% of what I do is collaboration, within the group or with other artists on the side.
  I, and we, are also available for hire if you have a song or lyrics and you really want to add bigger instrumentation or a band and good production to it. 
  A small sampling of the artists whom I consider primary influences, and whom you will hear coming through my fingers include Phish, The Flaming Lips, The Grateful Dead, Radiohead, Rye Cooder, Steve Earle, Miles Davis, Fela Kuti, Arcade Fire, Mikey Dread, Yellowman, Purpleman, The Meditations, Michigan and Smiley, Lee Perry, Dillinger, Django Reinhardt, Impossible Recording Machine, The Allman Bros Band, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Bela Fleck, Les Claypool, Sam Bush, David Grissman, John Prine, Talking Heads, Beastie Boys, MMW, Moe., Morphine, Ween, Steve Lukather, Michael McDonald, John Abercrombie, Dave Holland, John Scofield, Victor Wooten,  Cannonball Adderly, Thelonious Monk, Flea, Parliament Funkadelic,  Frank Zappa, Prince Paul, Pete Rock, Thievery Corporation, Amon Tobin, Chet Baker, Joao Gilberto, Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto, Carol Kaye, Tame Impala, Mumford and Sons, Japanese Breakfast, LCD Soundsystem, Beach House, Sean Lennon, and Billy Strings, but of course there are many more. I also really like and am influenced by traditional Iranian, Palestinian, Indian, Sri Lankan, Sudanese, Mauritian, Somalian, Egyptian, West African, and Syrian music. I welcome anyone who plays non-western music to contact me for a collaboration, too.
 I'm overjoyed to have found my community on SoundCloud. This is a truly unique forum where everyone is sincerely trying to build each other up. The profoundly supportive and positive SoundCloud community has really opened up an exciting new world of collaboration for me. That is the main reason I'm in the Cloud, actually, to connect with other musicians and make music that I enjoy listening to, and hopefully others do, as well. I am ALWAYS looking to collaborate with interesting musicians, mostly though BandLab, which is where I record almost exclusively. It's a solid, free digital audio workstation hub where you can share recording projects, even if it's not where you make your recordings.
  Everything I do is live instrumental, not programmed, and using no computer beyond my phone. That's not to say that I would be opposed to using that kind of tool, it's just not my preferred medium with which to paint. If you like my music, please share it. If you want to collaborate, my BandLab handle is @bingo_pajama. Feel free to contact me at cornbreadband@hotmail.com, as well, even if you aren't on BandLab.
  If your music is primarily AI, please don't come around my page, as I'm not at all interested in complimenting a machine.
  Here's a link to music I've recorded live with a group of musicians here in Pittsburgh called The Northumberland Street Ramblers.
Check out The Northumberland Street Ramblers on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/fU4Me

Scaling the Riverbank (Eclectic Collective)

Entheogenic Psychonaut (Josh Clary)