Give it away, pass it on

Give it away, pass it on

Last year I had the fortunate ability to take some time off work, about a year in the end. Having always loved music I decided to spend some time in my studio finishing an album that was Smile. http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/smile/id438459539

Then I met the Barefoot Doctor and it turned out we would work together, we started off with just a jam that turned into a song and then two and then it was clear an album was appearing before us.

When I work on any creative endeavor I find time slips away. There’s a sense of not knowing what’s going on in the outside world. That’s why producers and promoters and girlfriends are important, because they say “When is it gonna be finshed? When can I sell it? When are you going to eat?”

Then you finish the thing and its ready to present to the world. I’ve invested so much of myself into it that I think that something really important will happen to it. The thing that you have been working on has been all consuming and therefore it must consume the rest of the world, it will sell millions, I’ll retire and in the future do holographic extras on the anniversary edition.

Then nothing happens. The work sits there, you carry on, and something else takes over. Contracts are discussed, distribution ideas are considered, promotion tactics laid out. Then nothing happens. Months pass by and you find yourself on the next project occasionally glancing back and wondering if that great thing you did will ever see the light of day.

I’m now glad to say that the album I recorded with Barefoot Doctor is going to be heard, but only if you have the time. We are giving it away, free, yes totally free, well nothing is totally free is it?  – there is your time. In the deluge of content that gets sent to us how do we choose the thing to listen to , watch or read? Well I’m asking you to listen. We need you to give us your time to hear it but also I’d like you to pass it on. Remember that film Pay It Forward – I worked out that if three people pass on the album to three people and so on by June 2013 the whole planet will be a happier place- fact! So please pass it on. Send it to someone who is struggling. Send it to someone who likes music. Send it to your mum, your friends and your enemies.

Time also allows you to look back at the work with more clarity; you’re outside it rather than in it. Listening now I have to say I’m really proud of it. It’s a well produced, played and mixed album with catchy tunes and positive messages. It’s testament to two great musicians and a Barefoot Doctor with great words and a mission to inspire and heal the world.

You can listen and download the album here:

http://soundcloud.com/barefootandleakster/sets

I recommend you download it - carry it on your MP3 player, in the car, listen on headphones, play it loud, play it in public, pass it on. A lot of care and love went in to making this so I do hope you enjoy it.

I wanted to write something to remember the period of creativity and make some notes on each of the songs and my memories of the songs, remember these are mine, there’s a Barefoot Doctor to consider he has his own take on things of course.

  

What Will Be Will Be

I spent a while on the Dooby doobys , I kept getting them wrong and Barefoot had to set me straight. I’m not musically trained so I go on feel and it really lets me down sometimes, I recommend learning chords and structures and things it just saves time. I like that there’s an acoustic guitar solo in this. And the final refrain is a lovely, uplifting melody. From your heart and from your soul you can sing.

Get Spanky

I think Barefoot came up with the guitar rhythm which we were told later is a well known rhythm? He put down some vocal ideas and “What you focus on grows” was repeated and then I got on the mic and sang “What are you focusing on today” The guitar solo uses my digitech pedal, I knew I’d find a use for it other than Rage Against the Machine covers. This is also my first time rapping in public.

There’s a mad video for this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylc4DekeOOI

Vagabond

This is the first song we did. I put on the beat and then Barefoot played the bass line and we ended up with a 30 minute jam which we then laid down vocal ideas  – we listened back and picked out the best bits and edited it into what you hear.

Connected

I had these chords down on the MAC for ages and Barefoot liked the feel so we looped it up and then he came up with the idea of Connected. I just love the final Edge like guitar solo.

Adventureland

This was originally called Bouncy and the riff was there and then Barefoot got on the mic and did this stream of consciousness rap about this amazing adventure called life.

He’s an amazing talent to be able to come up with these improvised inspired words. We then added the choruses and all the fun bits.

Does Not Matter

I love the atmosphere of this, the guitar playing and great bass line.

Blow Away

Barefoot came in with this mantra that he had been given by a friend and sang it on the mic, which we then built the song around. Lovely feel and floydy guitar.

Purify

I have a picture of Alan Moore in my studio looking very shaman like. I was very aware whilst making this album of what he says about music and art being a form of magic – that it has the capability to transform you and your state of mind. This song is about that. This is a serious song, a purifying song, a journey to another place. Download it, put on the headphones, and turn it up!

Highest Good Blues

This was so much fun. A happy blues song. I’m proud of the blues licks. We started to work on this thing of two characters Barefoot Doctor and Rudeboy. It was a lot of fun to do. I have a wonderful memory of absolutely collapsing on the floor with laughter when he did that giberise part. I wasn’t sure about that long note but Barefoot persuaded me to keep it in.

www.russellleak.com

Music, life, spirit, love

A note, a chord or a song can change us. Since ancient times music has been used to alter states and rouse nations. Music has been a powerful and transformative thing in my life. Isn't it for everyone? Maybe not. As I was vexing passionately to a friend about a new album from my favourite band he suddenly said "I'm not really into music...occasionally I buy a tape for the car" ! What?! How can it not fail to move you, lift you, make you cry, make you laugh? I remembered that he was also a football fan and that he used to sing his heart out every Saturday on the terraces. So it gets to us all in the end in. Maybe because it's wired in us in some way, woven into our DNA. Getting briefly technical; the Pentatonic scale consisting of 5 notes that can be heard in pretty much every culture of music, Chinese, Arabic, African, blues, everywhere. In those ancient caves, the ones with the animal paintings made by men from 20,000 years ago they find flutes made from a vultures wing bone and low and behold; the scale is Pentatonic. So there's something in music that goes way back in us, back to the shamans and the drums, back to the first person to string a hollowed out log. Who was that guy or gal?! A genius. It goes back even further than that, back to natures' natural rhythms. The beat of the wing, the rhythm of the waves and the delicate chimes in the wind.

And life itself has a natural rhythm too. It goes up and down. Sometimes we are happy sometimes sad and sometimes it throws us around so much we start to feel a kind of motion sickness. "I want to get off" or "I just want some stability" we find ourselves saying. So we choose something boring or gentle, we settle for less until the rhythm becomes a steady hum, a rut, a horizontal drone with just a few bumps. In which case we might want to get back on the ride, find a little excitement. As one of my favorite song writers said "if their lives were exotic and strange, they would likely have gladly exchanged them for something a little more plain, maybe something a little more sane" 

So through this chaos we start to look for a sign, a reason and a strategy for coping. We follow the wise words written by the ancients. We meditate knowing that we are searching to find ourselves. We remember those wise cracking gods that thought they'd have a laugh and store the secrets deep within ourselves. How can we go looking inside for that when the whole world is distracting us? It throws us daily emails, glowing lights and 3 minute videos that must of cost more than Star Wars. People start to say “With all this science and technology I don't believe in God, I believe in matter, I want what’s solid, but I'm sure I have a soul, I have something more here within. Don’t I?”

And if you stopped anyone at about 9.30pm on their commute back home or maybe got to them even later just as they were turning off the bedside light and asked "What was your absolute best moment of the day?" I'm sure most of them would enthuse; "Well I had a real laugh working with my colleagues" or "I hugged my man as he realised he’d made a mistake" or "I kissed my sleepy child as she gave in and let the dreams take her" or, some other wild and crazy act of love. I heard Smokey Robinson say that love is the most powerful emotion we have, and even people that hate love because in order to hate something, they love the opposite something else! Love is a mysterious and wonderful expression of our existence that makes us question, write, sing, express and confuse ourselves on a daily basis. 

With all these thoughts it's sometimes hard to find calm in the chaos. Perhaps a song can transform us, maybe a book, a poem or sometimes a smile. Maybe a talk from a couple of crazy guys who have been around the block, learnt a bit and want to share it with you. 

Come along if you can:

Surviving The Chaos of the 21^st Century – Music, Life, Spirit, Love

http://nakeddragon.co.uk/events/talks/andy-dovey-russell-leak-surviving-the-chaos-of-the-21st-century/