Eagle Trees

Eagle Trees
Written and Recorded 2003

I shall always love the rock band Clutch, this much I know. Did I used to really, really, really love Clutch? I believe this song serves as proof of that. One of the first dozen songs I ever wrote, this demonstrates more imitation, not only in terms of the style but lyrics as well. For those unfamiliar with the work of Clutch, much of their music is riff-based and you can rest assured it rocks pretty hard. The vocals are gruff and powerful, but usually still melodic. It'd be hard to say that the melodies of Clutch are memorable, it's more about the delivery of the lines and the guitar work. They also usually have some pretty groovin' beats. This song was never performed...in any context.

• The lyrics of this song are part Clutch/part Magic cards. Starting to play Magic at a young age, the illustrations helped form my imagination. When writing lyrics for this song, I remember visualizing a Green card with a monstrous looking tree that also had wings, talons, and a beak. Then, being the cause-hungry teen I was, decided to make it about deforestation as well. Deforestation of fictional trees. 
• How do these lyrics fit in to the Clutch influence? Aggressive is another word to describe their music, and the Eagle Trees story brought that out a bit in me. They also can have some tongue-in-cheek lyrics, too. You may hear a line in this song that starts "Those lions and tigers and bears, oh my." So there's that.
• I'm not sure where the idea for two different tempo/feels came from, but the chorus riff and the vocal line is the same, and pretty weak. I clearly worked a lot hard on the intro/interlude and the verses.
• For the longest time I thought creating melodies over riffs was the hardest thing ever. I couldn't understand how a guy like Chris Cornell could come up with such memorable melodies over single note guitar lines. It wasn't until college music theory and Youtube where I started making the connection. Youtube helped me find "stripped down" versions of songs where Cornell would strum an acoustic guitar and sing the song. It was definitely a revelation seeing that there are chord progressions outlined with those riffs and they sometimes even spell out the chord. 
• Guitar solo...A for effort, D for playing notes in the scale. In 2003 Nathan's defense, he didn't understand what scales were or why they are important. Oh well.