Musical influences (current): Rufus Wainwright, U2, Drunken Tiger (a great
Korea-based hiphop act), Kate Bush, Blue Rodeo, Huun Huur Tu; (historical)
Tom Robinson, the Grapes of Wrath (famous only in Canada), Black, the Mighty Lemon Drops, the Dagar Brothers (best singers ever), the whole Guess Who diaspora (Domenic Troiano, Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Don MacDougall, etc.), The Boomers, Roger Waters, John Lennon, George Harrison and many others. Separated-at-birth compositional soulmates, or at least I try to get there: Vlad Vissotsky, Ron Romanovsky, Jeff Stone, Ian Thomas.
Sounds Like
If you want to see why some of us are big fans of the Netherlands (get your hankies out...)
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ALBUM REVIEW: G-CD (A magnificent and diverse gay compilation including my song 28th Floor Apartment) available from Woobie Bear Music
Review of G CD by DJMach1 at Scene-out.com
PURE INDULGENCE FOR THE UBER CHIC!
"G" CD Global
WOW! WOW! WOW! This belongs in the museum of the best albums ever made... A total marriage of mish mash genres from funky, electro, dance, rock, ballads and 80's sounding tracks included. Sounds messy but trust me; it works as every track is an absolute masterpiece in its own right. Any album that covers songs incorporating lyrics about a day at the hair salon, farting on the dance floor and wanting a plastic man surely can't be taken seriously? Don't be fooled, this album on its production, vocal and lyrical talent brings it smack bang up to date on today's music trend and is, in places, as camp as Christmas in Bognor Regis.
My favourites amongst the many are 'Beauty Salon', 'Could It Be True' and 'Where Are You Now', each appearing on CD1. CD2 takes the tone down somewhat to a more rock/pop/ballad genre and requires a more learned ear but nevertheless continues to hold its own on sheer brilliance.
This album certainly deserves pride of place in the centre of your mantle piece for all to see / hear. If you don't appreciate this album then you really should have your entire music collection confiscated by the 'I don't have any taste in music' team on patrol in your area soon. You have been warned!
Thanks to my friend Danny Black, year 11 student from Australia, for pointing out this magnificent and little known gay love song by Elton John (lyrics by Tom Robinson)
Richard has gone indie-rock! Working with guitarist/producer Tom Glenne (see top friends), Richard has just produced the songs for a hard hitting new CD (not yet released), called Windows Blazing in the Summer Sun. It has a burning collection of story-songs and anthems done in a unique style with echoes of Fugazi, My Bloody Valentine, Spoon, Queens of the Stone Age, the Dears, Velvet Underground, and Led Zeppelin, among others. Not to mention the Tom Glenne 5.5.
background Richard appeared regularly in the Toronto
singer-songwriter scene from 1995-2000. In 2004, he teamed up with lead guitarist and producer Carlos Vamos to produce his first CD, Light Carries On. Despite, or maybe because of, its "rules are made to be broken" attitude, the CD has been playlisted by forward-looking radio stations in Canada, the US, Europe and Australia (see comments at www.cdbaby.com/cd/summerbell). Its sleeper track '(Thank you for Being) My Dog' won 1st place and an Outstanding Achievement in Songwriting Award in the special music category in the 2005 Great American Song Contest (see http://www.greatamericansong.com/hall-of-fame.html). Another track, Civilian Romance, was on heavy rotation by the internet's "Bear Radio" station (http://www.bearradio.net/station/playing.php) throughout Nov 2005. That song and another track, "Make the Connection" are playlisted on Bear Radio. A single based on two 16th century Christmas songs redone in rock style, the Huron Carol and Tu Scendi dalle Stelle, was released Nov. 2006.
Woobie Bear Music (see Top Friends) has picked up two tracks on compilation CDs, '28th Floor Apartment on the G-CD Global gay CD compilation, and 'Shucks [the homosexual song]' on Bear Tracks 4. 'Get it right away,' the lead track from Summerbell's 2007 album Reality Re-bells, won an honourable mention in the 2005 Unisong contest, upbeat pop category.
Comments from the Great American Song Contest judges: "what can I say? This is just fabulous?" "A real sense of genius here ... You're undoubtedly one
of the most brilliant songwriters we've seen this year...".
ABOUT THE SONGS THAT ARE POSTED RIGHT NOW
Don't Worry About Yourself A song about being in school and falling in love just when you hate yourself the most. This is the toughest song that ever made me cry.
Tom's production notes mentioned Dinosaur Jr. and Rein Sanction. See if you can spot where the vocal pops up a harmonic overtone.
Angel of Love
I'd better let this song speak for itself. There's something strangely recognizable about this heaven. Tom's production notes mentioned Velvet Underground.
I Could Be a Little Worse Off You're 50+, with a drunken wife, a half-assed job and a TV set. It's not a matter of 'what could be better?' but rather of 'couldn't things be a little worse?'
My partner calls this "the scariest song ever written." The music is Led Zep gone country-metal. One of the drumbeats is right out of the Immigrant Song but you'd never have known it if I hadn't told you.
Listen for the beer cap coming off and, if your ears are sharp, the referee's whistle in the hockey game at the end.
Lucky to be Near You. About meeting the perfect boyfriend. Wow.
Easy Looking back at the bf who abandoned you way back when because he was tied up in knots about being gay. This is the tough version of this song, very different from the easygoing version on the Light Carries On album. Production notes mention Red Hot Chili Peppers, Gang of Four and Metric.
Cats of Fire These are science-fiction cats with metal claws. The first draft of this song, including the lyrics, was written when I was 18 or 19. Even getting to my current age was unimaginable. You'll see where this comment is coming from when you hear the song. One of my favourite things about this song is that it's in a completely new take on 5/4 time, a 5/4 for indie trance rock, without the swing rhythm of Dave Brubeck's Take 5 or the two-step feel of Jethro Tull's Living in the Past. Also, I've just been added to two myspace groups for overtone (khöömi) singers so the overtone extro on this song salutes everyone out there who likes to sing two tones at the same time.
Thomas Teassdale Inspired by the gritty real-life punk epics of Art Bergmann, this is a fast moving song about kids following their natural impulses on the internet and getting into horrible trouble. The whole internet stew is in there and the song even ends with the world's first sung emoticon. This is the dark side of the 2000s in a nutshell.
Happy late and early thanksgiving Richard. I halfway done with my longlong long letter to you. sorry its takingme so long. things have been very busy and stressful latley. My drag mother has been helping me so much lately. if you want to check out her page she is number 3 on my friends Olivia Gardner
Hey Richard, that's a lot of new songs there. nice to hear you rocking some. from first hearing i like cats on fire. looks like Tom pulled off a Clockwise-sound there, and it sounds good.
laptop proves elusive. but when it comes, i'm going to review a song from the record in each one, with the influences etc. that'll make it sexy alright....
thanks Richard -- so many web pages, so little time! MySpace & FaceBook plus jayspears. com all require too much of my meager attention span. Thanks for helpin out! Cheers dude Jay
