Edge of the World

Edge of the World

Written and Recorded 2013

This song has seen a lot of stage time over the years and has undergone some instrumentation changes as well. Written in the second half of Of the North's time, "Edge of the World" was one of my more catchy songs at the time. I remember sending this demo off and getting a reply from Kent that was something along the lines of "Thanks for getting this stuck in my head all day." I felt it had great energy  and broke up our setlist nicely. We still play this song in Whiskey Doubles and recorded it on our first EP, Honey Creek. Nowadays, I use it as a positive song to insert into a setlist. I see a lot of smiles from first-time listeners on this one.

• The song is pretty simple, using just four chords. I wanted it to be a straight forward folk tune that anyone could play. It captures the feel pretty well at this tempo.
• The extended, solo intro that you hear has since been axed. It made the already long song, much longer. Truth be told, I didn't practice it that much so I tended to biff the opening in some way. Cutting that section helps the song move along significantly better.
• There are two instrumental sections. The first was intended to be a drastic change of dynamic after the first big chorus. I don't know if we've every fully captured that effect, but I do enjoy the extra section there. The second instrumental section was intended to be (if you'll forgive the expression) balls to the walls. It's hard to go from fortissimo to fortissississimo and have it be any sorts of effective. Perhaps some revisions are in order after analyzing this!
• I thought the multiple instrumentals would also give it more of an old timey folk feel to it. Kent does a nice cello line in there that is complimented by flute (formerly trumpet.) I think it does the job, mimicking a fiddle interlude you'd find on an old Irish tune.
• Lyrically, I would describe this as "pleasant." It's a very positive message about moving through life and that hard times make us stronger. I have similar messages in many of my songs, but this song's narrator is a bit happier than others.
• I've always like the line in the second half of the second verse. It is a complete play on "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and while nobody has ever mentioned to me that they recognize the connection, I think internally people hear those words rearranged and know it's something familiar. It's a bit cheesy, but I though it was clever!
• If you'd like to hear the current version, see us live and buy one of the last copies of the Honey Creek EP or buy it on iTunes.

BONUS ROUND: Someday

Someday (Strokes Cover)
Arranged and Recorded 2013

Covers are usually an extremely important part of an original band's repertoire. They showcase a band's influences and give an audience something familiar. Let me be clear by saying I do not believe this is vital to a band's live show. It can be cool if a band takes a song and makes it their own, but it also runs the risk of being "schtick." I also feel that depending on the popularity of the cover, it can overshadow the original work that an artist is trying to put out into the world.

Covering songs in the Folk/Americana genres is especially dangerous ground. For instance, if you want to cover a classic song like "Take Me Home, Country Roads" by John Denver, you pretty much have to do an exact replica of that song in terms of tempo, feel, and harmonies or go completely the opposite...almost making it unrecognizable. But why make it unrecognizable if it's a cover? And who can really do justice to that kind of legendary song? Not many bands. Then if you do a song that isn't necessarily popular, but is important to your songwriting or band's approach to music, it's just another song that people won't recognize. It's a tough game to play.

During the reign of Of the North, I tried a different approach. Instead of focusing on the live show, I took songs that I loved (or were requested in some cases) that weren't really in our style, and made them our style. BUT I only recorded them and released them for free on Bandcamp. There is only one song that made it to the regular live show, but thats another story. I found it to be a very useful exercise in arranging and creativity, and it gave fans a different sense of connection. It was a lot of fun!

"Someday" is one of my favorite songs by The Strokes. Their first three albums have been extremely influential to me. I had always felt that songs off their first record, Is This It, would lend themselves nicely to the folk genre. They are built around simple chord progressions and can be catchy as hell. There's an inherent energy in that album that transfers nicely to other arrangements. Here's my attempt at "Someday," complete with terrible trumpet playing by yours truly. All in all, I enjoy this one a lot.

Shine Clown

Shine Clown
Written and recorded 2010

Oh the joys of naming songs. While I wrote the riff for this song, I couldn't stop visualizing one of those bouncy balls with the big red star, then stripes of blue and yellow...which reminds me of a clown. But the way the synth sounded, it reminded me of an old school NES or Gameboy game...not sure why that equals the shine part of the title. But there you have that little gem.

• I count the riff as one progression despite having three different sounding sections to it. There's the minor riff, major riff, then the turnaround. They flow into each other and one isn't meant to be there without the other.
• This is an incomplete sketch, but it's one of my favorite nuggets that came from this time. I always wanted it to grow to something more.
• Even in this minute and half I wanted it to build. Truth be told, I looped the badass synth and drums. I think I could only play the whole riff once without messing up, so I cheated. Whoops.
• I took one or two passes at a guitar part/solo, so this is how far I got. There's definitely potential there, but I peak too early I think. 
• This is just so busy, I could never figure out anything else to go over it or follow it. Perhaps it would have been a good NES soundtrack that endlessly repeats until you beat the level. The game Wizards and Warriors had that. It was both fantastic and terrible at the same time.

Recollection

Recollection
Written and Recorded 2004

Now presenting Nathan Honoré as BUSH!!! Yeah, I went through grunge phase (about 10 years too late.) This song was one of the two that I had written for my high school rock band. I mostly just played bass and did backing vocals with them. We were together for about 3 years and probably played a handful of gigs, but it was incredibly helpful in my development. My bass playing moved up by leaps and bounds, and I also learned how to play in a band, how my part fit, etc.

It's fun to look back now and see how badly I wanted to be Gavin Rossdale. And this song is pretty fun too, teen angst running rampant, calling people "fake." It should be noted that this recording is actually of that band, then known as Plow. We recorded in some guy's pseudo-studio in Port Washington in my senior year of high school. We felt pretty damn cool "heading to the studio."

• The opening riff is probably a blatant ripoff of something on "Sixteen Stone," and my performance of it is pretty messy. Even Zach's lead guitar part sounds like Bush.
• "Life ain't no gravy train." This line came about because of a book a idioms I found while working my summer job as a janitor at St. Matthias. Just another thing I was doing other than actually working.
• As a whole, this song flows pretty well. The structure is solid and keeps moving. Even the bridge builds into the final chorus in a powerful way.
• Many of the backing vocal parts were done at the suggestion of the "Engineer." He was really into the echo thing. But the double tracking on the lead vocals does add some weight to those lines. Though I was trying to emulate a metalcore band called Poison the Well. Here's a link to the specific song that has some nice vocal around 38 seconds...beware, the rest of this song is not for the weak of heart.
• Needless to say that I was trying really hard to be a lot different things. A great time for experimentation!

After One Night

After One Night
Written and Recorded 2012

Written in the same batch of songs as "Say," this song is one of the few that feature the mandolin. At this time in Of the North I was still trying to play as many instruments as possible. With that in mind, I created the interlude riff and then kept the part very simple while the verses were being sung. I thought that riff was super catchy at the time, but being only one measure long, it gets a bit old.

We really tried getting this song to work a few times. When Kent came in, he added more depth to it by doubling the riff on cello. Here's a video of the "core" members of Of the North performing the song at a great place in Riverwest called Art Bar. This was probably the best it ever went, but it never quite clicked for me, especially live.

• The video has a slightly altered structure, taking out an extra interlude section before the final verse and adding a few measures at the end of the verse. These things definitely helped and made the song tighter, but it didn't fix the problem I was having.
• I don't mind the verses. In fact I think the concept is really strong and evokes vivid images. But as they say in the Food Network world, the execution is just not there. The last line in particular, "can take the place of one," falls flat and doesn't punctuate those previous lines as it should.
• The "ahhs" over the main riff/interlude are also lackluster. But the part that I really dislike is the bridge. I was definitely trying to go a little too Mumford on it and it just doesn't work. It's really long, and really boring.
• All in all, I think there could still be hope for this song down the line. I think if I extended the main mandolin riff into more of a real fiddle tune/line, and made a few other cuts/changes, it could make another appearance in the future.

Striking Back

Striking Back
Written and Recorded 2010

This is another hidden gem that I thoroughly enjoy listening to. It's done in the same style as "Ticking Away," but it doesn't fit into the time theme. I remember recording some of these parts, especially the rhythm guitar that is nearly always doing a very high energy strumming pattern, and just losing myself in the music. It's super high energy and though the recording isn't perfect, it's a pretty joyful piece.

• The start of each verse/A section is a big question mark, the listener has no idea when the progression will actually change and the melody develop.  It goes on longer than our ears want it to, which I find really engaging. 
• I recorded these songs all in one complete take on each instrument. So whatever instrument goes first is the structural template for the entire song. When I did lay it down, whether it be the keyboard or the guitar usually, I usually had the different parts kind figured out in terms of progressions, but I would almost improvise the form. The number of verses/choruses, time between progressions, breaks in the song, etc were all done on the spot and never really planned out. I would go by instinct.
• There's a lot of power in the first chorus/B section. There are a few instruments that change their role in terms of rhythm, but the 8th notes continue throughout in one way or another. This gives the brief silence before the second chorus/B section even more weight, then doubling it before proceeding the very conclusive Post-chorus/C section progression. 
• The title of "Striking Back"is definitely me trying to take a little control in my life. At that time in Baraboo, I felt like I had no command over what my job would be. There's a lot of pent up energy in this piece that I find refreshing.

Voice Memo Delux w/ Bacon

Voice Memo
Written and Recorded 2007
Voice Memo Delux
Arranged and Recorded 2008
Voice Memo Delux w/ Bacon (King's Gentlemen)
Arranged and Recorded 2008

During the winter and spring breaks of my sophomore year of college, I went back home to 'Stallis and recorded a bunch of music with a former bandmate of mine named Zach Rieboldt. He is my brother's age and had his own apartment at the time. Zach was pretty excited because he just bought a nice studio interface and wanted to test it out. So we started with a cover and then just wrote a bunch of music. I would bring in a song and record most of the parts while he essentially produced and engineered, then we would switch and I would do the same for him. It was an extremely challenging, fun, and productive time. It spawned many songs that would later be reworked again in college.

The original Voice Memo was recorded at Zach's apartment and would go on to be reworked and reworked again for King's Gentlemen. It's pretty cool to listen to all three versions. This is a pretty clear illustration of what my process was like at the time. I'd write a song and record a full demo of it, then go back and do it again until I was happy. Part of me feels doing full demos was a waste of time, but the changes in instruments and settings definitely influenced the structure and feel of the song. I would rarely go back and change things like lyrics, chord progressions, or key signature.

• The title comes from the fact that the chord progression that you hear on the verses was originally recorded on the Voice Memo function of my old, orange, and doughnut shaped phone so I wouldn't forget it.
• The lyrics of this song were originally targeted towards my previously mentioned ex-girlfriend (then girlfriend.) I just didn't get it, we did not really click. Though it was written 4 or 5 months before we broke up, the chorus is basically saying, "Let's break up, I'm clearly not what you want, no hard feelings." 
• Yes, there is a reference to Duke Nukem in the second verse.
• By the time that King's Gentlemen was going to record this song for our EP, I had established new meaning for myself in the song. I was entering my final year at Whitewater and knew it was time to move on. Instead of being a pseudo-sappy break up song, it turned into a positive journey song.
• In the second/third versions, the final chord of the bridge/pre-chorus is extended and builds towards the final chorus. That makes a massive difference in getting to that final moment, otherwise it's very plain jane, but this gives it more weight.
• Again, drummer Trevor Saint really helped this track come alive. That drum fill in the beginning (complete with the "ah fuck") became a highlight for me. He was incredibly easy to play music with.
• It's funny how in the original recording the main guitar is clean on the intro/verses and it almost sounds a bit western in nature. But by the time you get to the KG version, it has lost all of that connection and just becomes a rock chord progression. Part of that is adding the connecting riff in there.
• I always enjoyed playing this song more than listening, but lining up these three versions is really fun.