A collection of riffs I have been playing around with for years composed into a song. I do intend to write lyrics too... this is just a mix test.

Something Beautiful (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)

There's this guy on Youtube named Andre Antunes who does a cover of this song "in the style of Muse" & I gotta say... it is most excellent! His cover is far superior to mine, but he's the reason I wanted to cover this song in the 1st place. I've been pondering the Beatles for a while now. I have never covered them & they have stuff that I think would translate to grunge really well. I may do some more? I am really stoked with how this one came out though. I feel like I'm finding my voice after all these years! Also, this is my 1st song using my new Fender Starcaster semi-hollow body guitar I recently bought. It's the only guitar used in the whole song. Drums are from Arnaud Krakowka as per my usual. I hope you enjoy!

While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Beatles Cover 2023)

My 2nd Beatles cover. This one was a bitch to get to come together... but I guess I'm pretty happy with how it finally came out. I nixed the opening vocals & opted for a heavier guitar intro. I also added a little "solo" after the 2nd chorus that isn't in the Beatles song. Anyway... here's another Beatles cover that translates into grunge/punk rather well. Drums are by Arnaud Krakowka & all other instruments & vocals are by me... enjoy!

Help! (Beatles Cover 2023)

I covered this song once before utilizing a "backing track" because I couldn't find drums for it. That backing track also had the bass & horns in it, so it wasn't really "me" covering it... it was just me on vox & guitars. I decided to give it another go using Arnaud Krakowka drums while grunging it out a bit more. I also decided to try & keep that 60's flavor as much as I could, mainly by keeping the background vocals prominent. It's such a great song... everyone on the planet likes "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes!

Be My Baby (The Ronettes Cover 2023)

The whole time I was recording this song, my cat Sabbath was going crazy every time I was playing the guitar parts. My cats do not like it when I play guitar. It's loud & I'm ignoring them. As a result, they mostly disappear when I'm playing... but for some reason every time I'd start that slow, quiet, pretty riff Sabbath would come running and scratch my leg or jump on top of the amp meowing, acting agitated & generally being a bad girl wanting me to stop to the point where I started saying "I'm gonna play your song!". So hence the title. It's just some riffs & ideas I threw together in 6/8 timing. Good drums are extremely hard to find in this time signature so I had to settle for whatever I could get. Still... I really like the song.

A Song For Sabbath (2024)

*3rd Mix. This song here is the song that got me into Delta Spirit ages ago. It's the title track from their 1st album... yet they refuse to play it live? I think it's a great song. I used my Enya Carbon Fiber Acoustic as well as an Ibanez Ax SG style guitar & my Gretsch shortscale bass to record this. They have a piano track in their version as well as a trumpet I think? Definitely go check out the original! Drums are 120 BPM in 3/4 time signature & tuning is standard 1/2 step down from concert pitch.

Ode To Sunshine 3rd Mix (Delta Spirit Cover 2024)

My 4th Beatles cover tune done ala Grunge! For this recording I used my 2 guitars with active pick-ups... my Ibanez RG in Drop C w/Fishman Fluence pups & my brand spankin new Schecter Hellraiser w/EMGs. I also used the Omen for a track as well. The drums are from Doom Tones youtube page. That guy along with Arnaud Krakowka have the best drums on youtube! Go check 'em out... & enjoy this classic Beatles tune with a harder edge!

Let It Be (Beatles Cover 2024)

*2nd Mix. This song came about from inspiration when playing my new guitar, an Ibanez RG470 that has a killer burled red burst top. That is the guitar primarily used in this song (I added a couple lead runs with my Schecter Omen too...). All guitars were ran through my Line-6 Spider 3 amp. The bass I used was my Schecter Elite 4 Diamond Series thru my Positive Grid Spark amp. The lyrics are actually one of the best parts of this song though! I had named it "A Good Old Fashioned Punk Rock Song" before I even had a word written down. As I tried to map out the vocals I kept hearing "Santeria" by Sublime in my head & it was throwing me off from writing anything. So instead, I just embraced it and before long I found myself writing lyrics based on other punk/hard rock bands that fit my needs whether it was a song name, album name, band name or their lyrics I was using... it was a lot of fun to figure it out while trying to reference certain bands that I have loved through the years. You will find references to Sublime, Metallica, Sex Pistols, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Misfits, Nirvana, Ministry, Social Distortion & NOFX. I'll add the lyrics sometime soon. Enjoy!!!

A Good Old Fashioned Punk Rock Song (2024)

I friggin LOVE this song! I recently discovered Brutus... a post-hardcore band from Belgium I think? Maybe Netherlands? They are on the same record label as a couple other bands I dig (Chelsea Wolfe & Emma Ruth Rundle) & that's how I found them... suggested vids in my Youtube playlist. The 1st song that hooked me was "Liar"... but then I heard the ending to "Sugar Dragon" & was just blown away at that riff! It is a towering epic riff that evokes feelings of triumph & victory... it gets into your body. So I set out to learn it & damn has it been a sonuvabitch to learn! But I insisted. They tune down a whole step standard to start with, so I could only use a couple different guitars that I have set-up to tune that way. I settled on the BC Rich ASM-1 for the entire song. It acquitted itself well I think. I dig that ending so much I decided to begin my cover with it to hook listeners in. I love the rest of the song too (there's a great bridge part!), but right off the rip you hear that fucking triumphant swell of guitars & boom!... The vocals are sparce & I left them out of the end because I'm playing it too fast & they just wouldn't fit in no matter how  i tried. So here's my 10 minute epic cover of "Sugar Dragon" by Brutus. By all means go and listen to the original. There's a great live version on Youtube too. They get so much sound outta just 3 people (bass, 1 guitar & the drummer does the vocals & her voice is just mesmerizing.).

Sugar Dragon (Brutus Cover 2024)

Jeff Swinderman 2

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