gschmitt song: Hands
July 12, 2008
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Hands (lyrics) – gschmitt discusses this song from The Year in Pictures
“This tune came about during a pretty rough time in my life. I was confronted with a serious life change and to be honest, I was scared shitless of it. Thing is, I wasn’t alone and I realized that I couldn’t NOT be strong, for both myself and someone else. I had to step up. I think I did, too.
Musically, it was a pretty spiritual thing. (If you’d just indulge me here.) Sometimes when I’m playing and singing without really paying too much attention, I’ll come up with a little melody and guitar part and I’ll make some quick lyrics that fit on a purely musical level. I adopt the “just sing whatever comes to mind and fix it later” approach.
The funny thing is nine times out of ten, what I come up with in the moment has a meaning in and of itself and it winds up setting the tone of the entire song. I don’t know how to describe it besides my unconscious leaking out. The chorus and first verse of this song happened like this. (I can’t say “written”…they just happened.) It was a relatively quick write. It came together quickly in the studio, too.”
- gschmitt
gschmitt song: A Reconciliation of Sorts
July 12, 2008
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A Reconciliation of Sorts (lyrics) – gschmitt discusses this song from The Year in Pictures
“This came from guitar playing. It all started with me fooling around with that riff you hear right from the start. Most of my favorite instrumental ideas are the result of not thinking too much and just enjoying making sounds.
Lyrically, it’s about growing past a lot of the bullshit we hold onto as we pass through this life. It’s about letting go of bitterness and letting others live; even if you don’t agree with the way they do it.”
- gschmitt
gschmitt song: One More Day
July 12, 2008
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One More Day (lyrics) – gschmitt discusses this song from The Year in Pictures
“I wrote this song after meeting my [not yet] wife, spending a year with her, and knowing that she had to go back home afterward. It was just enough time for me to realize that she was all I wanted and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how it was going to work after she left. “Am I just giving her away?” was the primary thought in my head in the weeks before she left. It’s the closest thing to a straight love song I’ve ever written, honestly.
Musically, it’s also the simplest song I’ve ever written. It’s just three chords, but what made it so appealing to me was the dynamic contrast between the verse and chorus. That was very much on purpose. I was going for “weak/sad/lethargic” in the verses and “pissed off/frustrated/cathartic” in the big “wall ‘o guitars” chorus. The first few mixes of it didn’t pan out exactly that way, but after I told Bob St. John that I felt Smashing Pumpkins “Siamese Dream” guitars were the most appropriate, it happened. My favorite part of the tune is the second electric guitar that comes in at the end . . . . rockin’.”
- gschmitt
gschmitt song: Castles
July 11, 2008
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Castles (lyrics) – gschmitt discusses this song from The Year in Pictures
“People ask me what this tune is about all the time. More accurately, they ask me if it’s autobiographical. It’s actually an homage to the couple in the first verse of Jimi Hendrix’s song, “Castles Made of Sand”, with a slightly different twist.
The song has gone through a few different recordings and it was the centerpiece of a demo I put together with me playing all the instruments. I gave it over to Isaak Sakko, good friend and owner of Redemption Studio and he said “Let’s record this . . . I’m playing bass.”
I think I owe this albums existence to this tune. The distorted guitar part is still one of my favorite parts of the album.”
- gschmitt
gschmitt song: Muddy Water
July 11, 2008
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Muddy Water (lyrics) – gschmitt discusses this song from The Year in Pictures
“This tune started out with the chorus. The line, “A personal messiah who could turn your muddy water to wine“, jumped out at me and was quickly put to the guitar groove.
The tune itself is about how some people wear faith in God on their sleeve as if it was a fashion statement and dedicate themselves to it for a limited time, only to eventually lose interest and change focus.
I wasn’t even sure if I would include it on this record until I sat down with Ariel Cedeno to try and flesh out a drum part. That day in the studio was magic, man. After one or two run-throughs, I was convinced it had to open the record.”
- gschmitt
John Korbel gallery
July 5, 2008
