This song was one of the last songs Means to an End (my old Akron/Kent band...) wrote & actually played out at shows. There were a couple more after it, but I have always loved this tune. I brought the main riff to practice one day & all the fellas helped shape it up into an actual song. Donny had lyrics & a song title for it, but I can't remember what he called it & I have no recordings of it that are clear enough to decipher his lyrics... so I wrote my own for it. IMO this song had great potential & is poppy enough to have made it's way onto the local radio stations. But we never "studio recorded" it to offer it up. I actually did a recording of this a couple years back, but that was before I knew how to track drums & that recording sucks ass. I have strung together 3-4 different Arnaud Krakowka drum tracks for this recording & it makes all the difference in the world. It makes it "legit" lol... Mark & Aaron, I hope you guys dig it!

Fading Away (MTAE Cover 2023) 2nd Mix

This song is largely drawn from an old Means to an End song... all riffs except for the chorus actually were part of a song that I can't remember the name of. Donny Taylor had lyrics for it & I actually really dig his take on the structure & the way he sang them... but I also can't remember all his words. So, I made up what I couldn't recall, wrote a new chorus entirely & voila! Here's the song! I have always loved that opening riff & the ending riff. I never really stopped playing them but I also couldn't figure out how to utilize them until a couple years back when I simply called it "3 Riffs". There's not really any overall meaning to the words & the title simply comes from a chorus line that was the only thing that seemed worthy of calling it. I wish Donny was still here to listen to this... & I hope my old band mates Mark & Aaron dig it and smile at the old days once more. I feel like I'm the Keeper of the Flame for our music we wrote together all those years ago (1998-2002?) & it's my pleasure to do so.

Curses And Oaths (2023 MTAE Tribute Song)

pray that I die b4 my baby

2nd mix. This is a song from my old Akron/Kent band Means to an End. On the cd it was ripped from it says in the metadata that it's from the year 2000.... or 25 years ago! Damn you time! Anyway, this song was mostly written by Donny & Matti I think? Matti lays down a bad-ass bass line to kick it off & the crunchy parts have Donny written all over them. My main contribution to this song was that I could play along with Matti's bass for that killer run he plays. We used to use this as a show opener because we could just hit the open drop D chord & harness feedback while Matti & Marcus did their thing. After a couple minutes of that D/A/D/A/D/A the song finally takes off. Donny's vocals were hard for me to replicate & I honestly don't understand the meaning he put behind his lyrics & what they mean with the song's title "The Bridge". I do know it was a blast to play it on a stage with my friends 25 years ago. I felt like a king! So this one is for you guys... Mark, Aaron & Donny. R.I.P. brother. I sure wish we could still jam together. You would LOVE what a simple laptop can do to record your own stuff with these days. For equipment I used my Schecter Hellraiser, the Jackson Monarkh & my H.P. Ibanez RG. Bass was the LTD & of course my Line 6 amp. The drum tracks were spliced together using 3 different tracks from Mr. Drums youtube channel. Enjoy!

The Bridge (MTAE Cover 2025)

An old Means to an End song that is pretty much one of my complete efforts I brought to the boys. In the beginning Donny wrote most of our songs, but a few years in I was also contributing to the original songs heavily as well. Matti brought some riffs to practice too & Mark ALWAYS laid down killer drum beats to everything we played! He was & still is a heavy hitting drummer & sometimes my shitty rig (a Fender M-80 half stack w/a Squier Strat fitted w/a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails pick-up) just could not keep up with all the other sounds in that practice studio we had! This particular song here... all 3 parts were written by me before I brought it to a band practice one day. It is a bitch for me to play these days as that opening riff requires me to stretch my hand quit significantly to hit those notes, but it sounds great! Donny had lyrics & sang but I can't recall for the life of me what we called this song??? He also had me (for the 1st time?) singing back-up vocals during the chorus part. As I remember it, I was just basically shouting "Gotta be! Gotta see!" a couple of times. I always had a difficult time playing guitar & "singing" at the same time on stage. Sometimes I just wouldn't do it much to Donny's annoyance lol. As for the technical aspects this song is played at 105 bpm's in 6/8 time signature with the end slowed down a tad to 98 bpms. Guitars used were my ESP/LTD EC1000 along w/my Squire Jazzmaster. It has some great P-90 pick-ups in it that sound super punchy when distorted. It really helped pronounce those chugs! Both were ran through my Line 6 amp with some tracks utilizing the Keeley Parallax Spatial Generator pedal. For Bass I used my ESP/LTD B-204 ran through the Spark. I may attempt to throw some lyrics down to the best of my ability, but I have no good recording of this song to decipher what Donny was singing & I will have to make up my own. I really just wanted to get the music down. I always really liked this song & was very proud that I wrote it & I figure Mark & Matti will get a kick outta hearing it again 25 years later!

MTAE One of Mine (2025)

I have played guitar since the age of 14 (around 1990 give or take) & I still play to this day... only now instead of playing live or seeking to be in a band, I record my own music at home! I use Audacity software (free!) & basically use a mic to record my guitars, bass & vocals through my various guitar amps. Drums I "program" by downloading tracks from youtube & chopping them up to suit my needs. I write my own music as well as record covers. I'm not a singer & all of my vocals are achieved by doing multiple vocal tracks to create a harmony that is otherwise lacking. Sometimes the results are ok, sometimes it sucks. Either way, making music & taking care of my cats are the 2 main reasons I am on this Earth. I hope you enjoy some of my stuff!

Making music is my passion. That and my cats! I've been playing guitar since I was 14 years old back in 1989 when my Dad gave me my 1st guitar & amp. It was a beautiful old Univox guitar that he had bought at Montgomery Ward in the 60's & he also had 2 Airline amps he gave to me. He played surf guitar in high school. One of my life's biggest regrets is that I sold that equipment around the time I was 18-19 years old. It was irreplaceable to me. I currently own around 25 guitars, 5 or so amps & numerous other equipment like pedals & mics that I use to record my music at home using Audacity software. I do both covers & original tunes w/a tendency towards grungy sounding guitars, but I also enjoy writing quiet pretty songs too. This is my 5th soundcloud page! The other 4 are full... around 30-35 songs on each page. Enjoy!

FOLLOW MY NEW INSTAGRAM 2025: cocojeezy (link below)

@cocainechrist

@ky-club

soundclouds greatest champion

private / exclusive tunes available on patreon

New tracks tagged #Means to an End