High5 - Tangled Web

It was the sometime in 80's (which on the whole, seems like sort of a blur). I was just learning how to record sounds that I might subsequently dare ask others to hear. 

Oneizi, is a truly great writer and friend. I could not have asked for a better songwriting sensi. He asked me to play piano under one of his riffs. He fleshed it out into a "real" song, for his bangin' band, The Verdict. It included Mikey Hype, bassist in a rival band. 

Later, cranking up the-nerve's live presentation, me and Mikey, jumped on this song because we knew and loved it. Along with Mark D and Jeff Lindsey, with Bongo John joining in occasionally, the-nerve grew into the opening act that kept the big boys on their toes. Neil's "Nailed it" is a compliment of the highest order.

Later, recording/engineering wizards, Mark and Bongo John, with me on bass as Occam's Slingblade got the best recording, standing as a testament to my contention from way back when: On my best musician day, I am merely O'Neil Light.

Occam's Slingblade - Apathy

A difficult birth, taking several years through several bands. Blue Marble Beat was the original incubator for this piece. It ate at least 3 BMB drummers over countless iterations - that Trekkiesque loopy thing is a DW joint. the-nerve also took a swing at it, too.

At long last, the 'Blade cut this aloose, during one of BMB's brief sabbaticals. Bongo John's heroic (yet unsung) studio chops made the final steps of this arduous journey miraculously effortless.

PS - I'm tired of you muthaviduals (and you know who you are) doggin' on my Bass chops. Here ya go.

Occam's Slingblade - Jihaudio

A love song. A hook. I'll post a more ornate (brilliantly) produced version soon.  There are several other recordings, each one quite different from the other. But this one, in spite of it's flaws, has a certain durable charm in it's dynamic impromptu vibe created by a imitable cast of characters:

The legendary DJ Krazerock and I built the foundation... longer backstory; ask me later.

Then ah, the backing vocals... an all-star cast, all at once, around one mic including:

O'Neil Wilson - Oneizi is my songwriting sensi, and my boi. I'm thankful for that.

The dearly departed Hiramglyphixxx. Mr. Shaw's vocal solo is all that and then some.

Wille Lewis, with the rarest of vocal (and web) appearances.

Mikey Hype, who bassed up the-nerve's live presentation.

the-nerve - Just A Day/Time With You (First Pass)

One of the few times, maybe the only time, Neil and I cranked something out together, organically with proverbial tape was rolling. It's another one-take. 

I profoundly treasure this time, with a bunch of brothers more or less sporadically kicking it in the spare room of my crib, in various combinations. Soon, we labelled ourselves as the-nerve, the Popping, Fonk 'n' Rawking pSoul collaborative *cleverly disguised as a band*. 

Shortly after this one came about. I realized we were really were onto something; we had to drop the "disguise" part of our identity with a live presentation. It started with me and Mikey and Willie trolling open mic nights, with a laptop displaying video eye candy. 

That's how Marky D and Jeff found us, shaping us into the way funky, properly bookable outfit... the local openers who scared the big boys.

BTW, DJ Krazerock is a way bayad man. I could probably stand to say that more often than I do.

the-nerve - Can You Feel Me

With Archbishops of Blount Street, kicking around ideas for songs to remake in our own reggae/ska image - "You may have heard it before, but you never heard it like this..." It's what we do... We stumbled upon a KISS song; as I recall, feeling kind of punchy, we thought to shoehorn the lyrics from "Beth" into "I Shot the Sheriff" (a song we were already regularly performing) to make "I Shot Beth". That lead to suggestions of a few more KISS titles that seemed to lend themselves to our thang. Then: "What if we did a whole set like that?... Or a whole *show*, even?" After *lot* of work, and even more make-up - enough for 10 guys, in fact -

Dreads To Kill [ http://dreadstokill.com ] - the music of KISS inna Ska stylee... a performance art/meta-tribute band was born.

It's notoriety has grew almost as quickly. So, for the first time in a decade or so, I found myself composing and arranging for a full, live horn section. Alas, Dreads To Kill already booked and performed a bunch of Halloween-related shows before we were able to work up my arrangement of this certain KISS song into the set. I was disappointed, but it also provided an opportunity to expound and improve upon a neat idea. Over the past year, I've since discovered Reaper, helping me to further hone my composition chops. I started with this Dance Hall-style mash-up that I look to drop (live!) into the middle of that certain song, for the latest iteration of the Dreads To Kill project.

So, what's the title of that song? You tell me. What about those other elements forming the mash-up section? Take you best guesses... Post them on Soundcloud (above), which provides a near-perfect platform for this kind of thing. Look at it like an updated, interactive version of "Name That Tune".

Deconstruct This: Spin Down My Mash-Up

This one is so very special to me. 
Additional Post-Production/Updates and Details Coming Soon

High5 - Tangled Web

Mark Duncan