artwork by Rob McCowan of Odd Hourz Creative

I don't often write happy songs.  I don't ever write songs about my wife.  The reason for both of these things is that my attempts generally turn out to be awful.  Low quality.  Banal.  My wife has come to accept that neither she nor our relationship are about to be subject matter for my art.  Surprise!  Here's a change of pace.

3rd November 2022 was our 15th wedding anniversary.  That's worth celebrating in a special way, so we're over in Mauritius not working and enjoying a vacation.  (Clearly, I'm writing this blog entry well in advance of our departure.)  I'm not great at anniversary presents.  I think the last decent one from me was a set of diamond earrings, but alas, I am no longer in the jewelry buying business.  However, I can manage to write a song as a present. That's the decision.  Misty gets a song.

I started by borrowing the chord progression from one of my favorite Radiohead songs.  Next I worked out a melodic structure, being careful to make sure the melody didn't sound anything like the song from which I took the chords.  (I challenge you to figure out which song the chords are from.)  I knew that I wanted the overall feel to be like an Elbow song.  Remember, we both love Elbow.  

Verse 1:

A gentle tremor wakes me, I look out the window of the train 
The golden hills of Burgundy, brighter in life than in paint 
Where white and red are pseudonyms for Meursault or Beaujolais 
This is better now that you are here

Those lyrics are about our visit to France's wine-producing region Bourgogne.  I had been there before when I was much much younger and single. Some time ago, we went as a couple.

Verse 2:

Market in the morning, shouting from the street in the night 
Cobblestones and Catalan, saffron threads and candlelight 
Sudden crushing sickness that I don’t have the energy to fight 
This is better because you are here

We went to Barcelona for our 5th anniversary.  I managed to get the worst food poisoning of my life on this trip.  That experience is now immortalized in song.

Verse 3:

A gentle tremor wakes me, I look out the window of the plane 
The takeoffs and the landings, cruising altitude, champagne 
Walking through the streets of Paris, Nouméa, Marseille 
This is better because you are here

My first version of this song did not have a third verse.  I remember discussing this with the kind gentleman who engineered the song, Rich Reuter.  He thought a third verse would be a good thing.  Also, I thought I'd get closer to feeling like an Elbow song with a third verse.  When it came time to do the vocals, Rich told me that my lyrics weren't good enough.  He was right.  I took a few minutes and re-wrote the third verse.  This is much better.  It even has a reference to an Elbow song or two, though I doubt it's enough to get me sued.  Like the rest of the song, it's one hundred percent based on reality.

Chorus:

Side by side never mind the where 
Up and down good and bad to share 
Having holding even when I break 
Losing you is more than I can bear                         
So don’t you disappear

There you have it.

I came to Rich with the song all structured out, and as we talked through it, there were some changes.  I knew I needed a bridge, but I wasn't sure how to go about it.  Rich wrote the instrumental bridge, and came up with the idea for the bass solo by noodling around on a guitar. I liked the notes he played, and figured that it would make more sense to have a bass solo in this song than a guitar solo.  Rich also ran with my idea of double tracking bass in the turnaround after the second chorus... we've got a nice bass harmony in there.  Due to the changes he made to the song, it's only fair that he gets an official songwriting credit.  His ability to understand the mood and feel I was going for led to excellent instrumental choices.

"For Misty" is very likely my best vocal performance thus far.  Previously, I think it was this song, or perhaps this one, but not anymore.  I'm the only vocalist here, and I'm proud of the harmonies.

Normally I would link to it here, but remember how I'm writing this blog entry in the past?  Well, this song is a surprise.  At the time of writing, Misty doesn't know that it's a thing.  Assuming I executed my plan correctly, she found out back on November 3rd, which was this past Thursday.  I encourage you, dear reader, to go listen to "For Misty" on the streaming service of your choice repeatedly and often.  If you'd like to give us an anniversary present, you can download a high quality version of the song over on my Bandcamp page for $15, or if you can wait a couple of weeks to give us that present, I'll have it up on my official website here when we get back from our trip.

Credits where credits are due:

Lyrics by Mike Bankhead 
Music by Mike Bankhead & Rich Reuter 

Mike Bankhead - bass, triangle, vocals 
Rich Reuter - guitar, keys 
Kyle Sweney - drums 

Engineered & Mixed by Rich Reuter at Homeway Studios in Dayton, Ohio 

Additional Engineering by Seth Canan & Chris Stewart at Trojan City Studios in Troy, Ohio 

Produced by Rich Reuter & Mike Bankhead 

Mastered by Tim Pritchard at Great Horned Audio in Dayton, Ohio 

Artwork by Rob McCowan at Odd Hourz Creative in Austin, Texas 

©℗ 2022 You Could Be My Aramis Music (BMI)

I would imagine that many towns with enough musicians has open mic events.  Our does.  Some of them are truly open... arrive, jump on a sign up list, play.  Some of them are curated... anyone can play, but you must sign up in advance of the show date. You'll see all sorts of musicians at these events. You'll see seasoned musicians working out new material.  You'll see people performing their own music in public for the first time.  You'll sometimes see a musician build an ad-hoc band right there in the venue, and perform a few songs with no rehearsal. I tend to enjoy these events, as seeing live music always tends to give me the good endorphins.

I am sure there are more open mic events in the Greater Dayton area than I know of.  I am very familiar with the one at Peach's Grill in Yellow Springs.  It is hosted by the effervescent Kyleen Downes, who you might recognize from a previous blog post here.  (Sign up for that one is right here.) In addition to delicious pizza, South Park Tavern has an open mic even on Wednesdays. (Sign up for that one is right here.)  My favorite of these events in the area is Showcase Thursday over at Yellow Cab Tavern. I can't share a sign up for that one, you need to do it in person.

Although I always enjoy these sorts of events, I prefer the ones where everyone is playing original music. Foremost among these types of events are Songwriter-in-the-Round type occasions.  For these, each songwriter plays one original song in turn, and round and round we go.  I've attended countless of these events, but had never had the opportunity to play in one until last week, Sunday March 27th.  Rich Reuter hosted the Songwriter-in-the-Round at Devil Wind Brewing in my hometown of Xenia, Ohio, and invited me to be part of the lineup.

This is going to become a photo blog now.

That right up there is my hometown.  Specifically, it is the view toward the courthouse from Detroit Street, just south of Main Street.

This next picture right here is Khrys Blank arriving.  She played during the same Round as me, and she is exactly as cool as she looks in this photograph.  Dennis Geehan also played in that Round, but since I was next to him during the time we played, I didn't get any pictures of him.

The second Round of the evening consisted of Nicolas Johnson, Jenna Gomes, and the host, Rich Reuter.

The last Round was Kevin Milner, Rachel Litteral, and Anna Marie.

It's always somewhat emotional playing songs in front of people, but that was cranked up for me, as this was my first time playing in my hometown.  Also, it was a bit nerve-wracking to be surrounded by so much talent. We all survived it though, and then I got the post-show endorphins.  

I'll keep on trying to play as many events like this as I can.  I'll also keep trying to attend even when I'm NOT playing, as a way to show support for people who are brave enough to share a piece of their art with the public when they don't know how it will be received. These open mic events are customarily free to attend.  I encourage you, no matter where you are, to try to find similar events in your area and try one of them out.  You never know, you might discover some music that you love.

If you are on Twitter, you know that, like all social media tools, it can sometimes be useful and sometimes be awful.  If you are not on Twitter, you'll have to take my word on that. My new podcast is a result of one of the useful things. I follow an artist consultant over there on Twitter.  Not only is he tastefully named, he also routinely gives useful advice for independent musicians on his feed. One day his advice centered around remixes.  He said that if an artist has commissioned remixes for one of their songs, they should have a podcast conversation with the person who did the remix.  This provides a useful behind-the-scenes look at the artistic process, and is also valuable content.  You know, "#content".

It turns out, dear reader, that I have a single coming out on March 15th called "Hold the Wick".  If you are currently subscribed to my mailing list, well, you received an email this morning that gives you an early listen to the new single.  (If you are not currently subscribed to my mailing list, I warmly invite you to click the link earlier in this sentence and sign up. That way, you'll be the first to know what I'm working on.)  I commissioned seven remixes of "Hold the Wick".  They come in a variety of flavors. I decided to follow that free advice I picked up on Twitter, and interview the remixers for a podcast. Shortly after I decided to do that, I decided to not stop there.

You really don't want to listen to a podcast if the only thing that will happen is self-promotion, right? I figure that this is the case because I wouldn't listen to a podcast if that was the only thing happening, either.  Ok, my new podcast will definitely NOT be all about self-promotion. I have plenty of interests... sports, travel, languages, history, food, art (outside of music), science fiction, board games... these are just some of them.  There are plenty of people who share some or all of those interests, and I would enjoy talking to them.  I think you would enjoy listening to those conversations.  That's what my podcast is going to be about.  It's called the You Could Be My Aramis Podcast, which you might recognize as the name of my publishing company and LLC.

Those of you in Dayton might remember the Gem City Podcast. Those folks brought us entertaining and enlightening conversations for several years. They covered all sorts of topics, but my favorite episodes were the Wednesday episodes with Terry "IzzyRock" Martin.  If you were a Dayton artist and were releasing a new album or had an important show coming up, you went on Gem City Podcast to talk about the hard work you put into your art, the songwriting process, your gear (the rig rundown), what your childhood smelled like, and any other topic that came up in the conversation. Alas, that podcast is no longer with us. Obviously I do not have their experience or track record, but I would like to make a humble attempt to fill that void in Dayton podcasting. If you are a Dayton artist with a new album coming, and you'd like to talk about it with someone who is ready to listen, well, I'm ready to listen. I am certainly not saying that I can replace Terry and Libby and their fine work, but perhaps I can follow in their footsteps just a little.

What are some of the things you can expect to hear on my new podcast?  Well, it is true that I'll spend the occasional episode talking to the talented people who remixed "Hold the Wick"... we will learn about their approach to remixing, but we'll also learn about their creative process for their own music.  I talk to a musician from the Dallas area and a musician from Chicago during episodes that have absolutely zero to do with self-promotion.  I'll be promoting them. Episode 2 is a wide-ranging conversation with a local doer who has his hands in a few different businesses, and whose face should certainly be familiar to Dayton musicians. The above episodes are all scheduled for release in January.  The first episode to be released in February is a chat with a gentleman who was a fixture in our music community for over 25 years, who remains one of my favorite living songwriters, and who speaks as passionately and eloquently about music as anyone I have ever met.

You should be able to find the You Could Be My Aramis Podcast on whatever platform you normally use to listen to podcasts. Just so that you don't have to search, you can find it right here.  The show notes will live on my official site, just click the navigation menu at the top of the page where it says "Podcast".  That failing, the link is https://mikebankheadmusic.com/podcast. Feel free to subscribe on the platform of your choice.  Please listen.  If you enjoy what you hear, perhaps consider leaving a review?

Episode 1 is coming your way two days from now, on Wednesday January 5th, 2022.

I had this bass line in D major around for awhile.  It was fun enough to play through that it deserved to have a song written around it, even though I don't generally write in major keys.  The bass line best lent itself to Latin-influenced music... cumbia, salsa, rumba, merengue, bachata... something like that... the problem is that I don't know how to write any of that music.  Where would I begin?

I began with research.  I listened to a handful of songs from each of the above mentioned genres.  This part of the process probably deserved a lot more time than I dedicated to it... but it was a decent start.  Next, I asked a few friends who I know listened to Latin music if they could tell me more about it.  That didn't work.  The general answer there was that they have it around to dance to, but they couldn't really tell me anything about it.  (Note to self:  do NOT ask non-musicians about music.)  On to the Internet!

For some reason, salsa became the genre of choice here.  Any article or commentary I could find online about salsa music history and structure, well, I devoured it.  I learned that the traditional structure for this genre doesn't even remotely resemble the way that I understand songwriting... then decided that if I attempted to be "authentic" and write a salsa song by traditional structure without truly understanding it, well, that's not very authentic at all, is it?  The solution?  I ended up writing a pop/rock song in the normal pop/rock tradition, but with Latin influences.  Of course, the lyrics had to be in Spanish, there was never any doubt about that.

The result is "Baile Conmigo".  Here are the lyrics.

Baile conmigo 
Baile conmigo 

Oye hermosa 
Pareces muy sola 
Charlar contigo 
No hay quien osa 

¿Por qué? 
¿Por qué? 

Oye hermosa 
Tanta guapeza 
Hace una persona 
Muy muy nerviosa 

No soy metido 
Te hablo, te pido 
Te hablo, te pido 
Baile conmigo

This is what the artwork for it looks like.

As usual with my songs, I had a several very talented folks help out with this recording.  Here are the song credits:

Mike Bankhead - bass, piano, vocals 
Khrys Blank - claves, shakers, all sorts of percussion 
Brian Hoeflich - drums 
Phillip Bradley-Hutchinson - trumpet 
Erich Reith - congas, all sorts of percussion 
Rich Reuter - guitar 

Produced by Patrick Himes & Mike Bankhead 

Engineered & Mixed by Patrick Himes at Reel Love Recording Company, Dayton, Ohio

***

Percussive power couple Khrys and Erich were kind enough to do their usual moving and shaking all over the recording, supporting Brian Hoeflich's steady drumming.  (I asked him if he could give me a salsa beat, and he gave me a salsa beat.)  Phillip Bradley-Hutchinson's trumpet is a perfect addition.  Rich Reuter deftly brings lead guitar licks that sing ever so smoothly over all of it.  Finally, as usual, Patrick Himes and engineering and mixing skills present the best version of my work... and he didn't even blink when the indie rock guy showed up with a decidedly non-indie rock song.

This song was recorded amongst the songs that ended up on Anxious Inventions & Fictions, but doesn't really fit in with those songs, so it stands on its own as a single.

You'll be able to listen to "Baile Conmigo" this Friday April 2nd.  It will be available right here on my website, and also over on my Bandcamp page. You'll be able to download on Bandcamp for "pay what you wish" pricing, even if what you wish happens to be zero.  If you do decide to offer some small measure of compensation for the download on Bandcamp, well, since April 2nd is Bandcamp Friday, 100% of all funds will come straight to me, as the kind folks at Bandcamp are waiving their customary fees that day.