Internet Musician | Singer/Songwriter | Steve Chatterton

Laying Low for a Bit

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If anyone needs me, I’ll be in the studio

Everyone who knows me knows that I get excited by musical challenges. So it’ll come as no surprise to anyone that I’m all hot and bothered by the Canadian Radio Star National Songwriting Competition.

Open to aspiring self-published or unpublished Canadian songwriters, this contest is open until December 12, there are no entry fees, and I can submit up to three songs. You know what that means; I’ve got two months to record three songs.

There’s a fabulous clutch of cash and prizes up for grabs that I likely haven’t got a chance of winning, but the important thing for me is giving it a shot and getting more experience in the studio.

I’ve given a lot of thought to direction lately, so this foray into the studio is going to focus on a more guitar driven sound. I’m looking to blend my earliest musical influence (The Beatles) with the influence that finally got me off my butt to buy a guitar (good old American punk rock) into a somewhat cohesive entity. Hopefully it’ll come together sounding a little like Weezer meets New Pornographers with a little bit of Sugar on top.

One of the contest rules stipulates that the material submitted must not be “published or distributed prior to [the] competition” without really elaborating on what qualifies as distribution. Just to play it safe, I’m going for three songs that haven’t ever been made available for download in any form.

I’m also going way back into my catalogue for all three of the tunes I’m going to record. If I’m not greatly mistaken, all of these ongs were performed by my band Béla Razda, who haven’t shared a stage since 1996. We did a basement recording of at least one of tracks tunes when we put together a FACTOR demo grant application, but we had parted ways before finding out that our bid was successful (rather than re-open relatively fresh wounds, I simply passed on the opportunity).

So that’s it for a while. No Song of the Month Club activity for a while (I’m sure you’ll live). Regional finalists will be announced between Monday, January 5, 2009 and Wednesday, January 14, 2009, at which point I’ll be able to share at least two of the tracks. If I’m not a finalist, I’ll be able to post all three tracks guilt free and we can consider them back-dated SOTMC releases for November, December and January. Cool?

Wish me luck.