Another Original song from Snax and Paul Hill.

[Snax]

Here's a brand new song from my group Bitter Truth. It's about the 9/11 attacks and is called Calm Before The Storm. Hope you dig it! https://files.me.com/muskysnax/wv46rh.mp3

[ronws]

Jesus H. Christ! That gave me chills. Powerful and moving. So technically perfect that I wasn't even listening critically. Not that it would matter because it was spot on.

Maybe it is because I am american. 9-11-01, I was in a 4 foot deep trench, installing 4 inch pipes for data and phone for Castle Hills Elementary, which was then part of the Lewisville, Texas Independent School District. The sky filled with planes all heading for D-FW International, Love Field, and Addison (for smaller planes.) I thought, well, at least I'm in a ditch, a good place to be if bombs go off.

I was 37 years old, at the time, too old to enlist. Way too old to be drafted (selective service ends at age 26.) But given the chance, if they would take me, simply give me a .308 with a scope and show me which cave bin Laden was hiding in, get me within 600 yards, and I will make the shot. Nominal range of a .308 is 100 to 300 yards but it can be dialed into 600 yards. With some adjustment, you can shoot even farther. Nice thing about the slug of a .308 (7.62 mm) is that even at 600 yards, it will knock down a 200 pound target. Interestingly enough, I still feel that way, today. And I'm way too old to enlist. If I had not been medically disqualified as a young man, I would have served and probably would have been in Honduras, Falkland Islands, and might have retired after a few tours in Afghanistan, possibly first tour in Iraq. It's what people in my family and friends did. They served, at some time or another.

My wife had a daughter that she had to give up for adoption in 1973. That daughter was adopted by a family in New Jersey. The daughter's adoptive brother was working in a building next to Tower I and he was there, that day. When he first heard the commotion, he went outside and the headless body of a woman landed about five feet from him. In shock, he picked her up and started walking toward the harbor (on Manhattan, any quick aid is coming in through the harbor.) He applied for a company transfer to Colorado. Then he quit his job. Then he became an ordained methodist minister, even though he was born and raised jewish. Then, he moved to Jakarta, Indonesia. He didn't just lose a day of work. He lost all that he had been and could no longer live in New York City or Manhattan. He's okay and doing well.

I am reminded of the words of Jon bon Giovanni (Jon Bon Jovi.) He was living near the Hudson River in New Jersey and he could literally see the smoke from his backyard. And how it affected him.

I am useless trying to offer any help on the technical aspects of this song. But it is effective, to say the least. Well done.

[Snax]

A very sincere thank you Ron.

[arisewithin]

Thanks

[jonpall]

Cool song, dudes!

[arisewithin]

www.myspace.com/theofficialbittertruth

[DJDeth]

I don't know how I missed this thread... It's a great song dudes, very emotional. And the vocals are simply stunning, probably the best I've heard of you Snax. The only thing I think doesn't work too well are your high vocals in the chorus - they are distorted (I don't mean the vocal distorion, rasp, or whatever). Could it be that you had too much gain on your mic for such intense screams? Anyway, I'm stunned!

[ronws]

This song is even more poignant than the first time I heard it. Especially since we have a president who prefers to call actions against terrorist nations "overseas contingencies" rather than a war on terrorism. Even now, we are dragging our feet in Libya while, France, of all places, is leading the way to help freedom lovers. We have a president who bows to other heads of state and would carry on talks with Achmidenijad despite his statements that the Holocaust was a hoax and that Israel should be wiped off the map (I'm not making that up, I swear on anyone's Bible.)

Seriously, Mike, I know you and your friend just few yourselves as a couple of woodshed guys trading files in emails. Can you see any way to a commercial public release of this? It's already polished enough. And would be a big hit, here in the States.

Anyway, this song is holding up, on a second hearing.

[Olem]

Hello, Snax!

First, i must say, great musicianship, technically flawless. Your voice, Snax, is so great, you sound very much like Rob Halford which is a great achievement considering him being one of the world´s best heavy metal singers of all times. Like Ron have said, you could replace him any day. Why not start a cover band singing only Judas Priest songs, you would make alot of money doing that i am pretty sure.

The song starts very promising with heavy, shredding guitars. But there is something lacking in this song, the song never lifts. I think you could work more on the song, work on the chorus and maybe add a prechorus, add more diversity to it. But that´s just my opinion. I don´t want to be rude, just help, and if everybody else thinks the song is great then (*auto edit*) it

Snax, you are a fantastic singer!

[Snax]

Hey everyone. Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. The other musician Paul Hill and I no longer communicate. He knew that I have a full time business and that the music was just for fun on the side but he kept pressuring me to finish the songs quickly. I told him again and again that I wasn't interested in "keeping the momentum going" or internet radio airplay etc. I was up front with Paul from the beginning when he contacted me through the forums here. By the way, he only joined up to find a singer for his project, not to contribute anything.

I was always respectful in how I communicated with him but here is the last email message he sent me...

"Reverb Nation is down Myspace is down.

Your shit is down.

Take the Youtube video down that you done and that will be everything.

We have ended it all right here.

If anyone ask me I will tell them you could not complete the projects.

(*auto edit*) off"

How's that for thanks for writing the lyrics, vocal melodies and singing my ass off? :rolleyes:

[ronws]

Man, what a rude guy. But then, there are many users out there. When I was trying out for bands in the 90's as a singer, most of them didn't really care if you could sing. They were looking for equipment. I worked with one band called XLR8 (ex-el-er-ate) and their previous singer was full of attitude and they gave me a tape and I knew even then that I was a better toned singer than he was. They wanted me to learn 5 songs in 3 days, start to finish, and I did. And a few days after the audition, I called them back to find an update. They hired their old singer back because he had some recording equipment.

I tried for another band called Parachute. They had a pile of lyrics that mostly likely came from one of their pot smoking sessions and wanted me to match their lyrics to whatever they were playing (no concept or clue of song structure, meaning, storytelling. In addition, the lead guitar player was not all that tight on timing or melodic sense, so he made up for it by playing louder than the drums and that takes some doing. So after a few songs or attempts, they decided to smoke a joint.

Losers, dreaming in their storage space.

Another "band" without a name was headed by a guy who was studying "music production" at the Dallas Art Institute, which was aimed more or less at producing music videos as a business. Anyway, his first question was not what kind of music did I like or even what we should work on. His first question was "What do you think about your stage presence?" Huh? What am I, Adam Ant? With a theatrical flair and we'll fit some music to it, later?

The most professional band I auditioned for was Razin Cain. John Hyatt was the leader of the band, taught guitar at the Melody Shop. And rented his p.a. equip to other bands. Gary, the drummer, sold drums at the same store and his voice was on the scratch demo tapes. I had warmed up, a capella, with "She's some kind of Wonderful" because my voice had kind of a Paul Rogers sound at the time and they liked that. But not so much on their stuff. The drummer sang quite well and had kind of a Michael Sweet sound, which I didn't have. Other bands wanted me to sound like Robert Plant or David Coverdale. Granted, I could sing their range, I just didn't, and don't sound like them.

Now, I don't really audition for bands. I just sing and do my thing. If someone wants to work with me, fine. If not, oh well.

True, I'm a little saddened that this song can't be released now. But I totally respect where you are coming from. Still, if you ever come down through Texas, I'm going to drag you to a karaoke or an open mic night. If I can borrow a friend's guitar and do "Long Way to the Top" in an outside bar and grill while my friend's band sets up, no mic, just sitting at a table, I know you can do a tune, or two.

[gno]

Mike - I think the song and your voice sounds great. I'm sorry that it didn't work out and that it was left on a bad note like that. From his email it sounds like he's got some growing up to do. I'm sure he will regret that at some point (if not already). The problem with email is that it is really easy to vent negative emotions, and then they are captured forever. I can sure appreciate your priorities - and it's too bad he didn't.

[Robert Lunte]

I like this song, its raunchy and a pedal to the metal chunck chunk'r! Cool dude!

LOVE the guitar solo!

:cool: