As musicians and students of music in general, we are fascinated with the creative process, inner workings, and behind the scenes happenings of our favorite bands. Why write this line or play this part? What does this song mean? Where was your head when you wrote these lyrics? Even something as simple as: What kind of guitar is that?, or What size sticks do you use?
To that end, each of us has selected our favorite feature or aspect of the Concrete Prophet EP and described it in our own words. Hopefully this will give you a little insight into the band, answer a few questions you might have, and provide a new level of enjoyment of Concrete Prophet’s music. Oh, and be sure to check out one of our performances in the upcoming weeks. We’ll be playing with some like-minded bands, Division and Kurgan’s Bane. We can’t wait to share the stage with these fine acts. Thanks for listening!
Concrete Prophet Official EP
Click picture to purchase on CD Baby.
Mike Newberry on “The Conquest” – “The Conquest is easily one of my favorite songs, and not just by Concrete Prophet. I always feel a lot of energy coming from the audience and the other band members, which in turn, fuels me to sing harder, louder and better. The driving rhythm behind the whole thing and the raw energy that comes through when we play the song always makes for one hell of a performance. Lyrically speaking, The Conquest was the first song that Michael and I collaborated on. He came to me one day with the framework for what would become the main riff of Conquest and said something to the effect of “I hear this having sort of a Megadeth style growl to it and I think I want to call it ‘The Conquest.’” I, of course, thought the riff was great and when Michael hears a song in his head, it’s best not to argue and interrupt the grand vision. I remember responding with “Thats great…the conquest of what.” His response was simple. Michael stared at me for about a half a heart beat and said very matter-of-factly “America.”
At that point, it was still just a skeletal framework of a song. Michael and I both went home and began to write lyrics, unbeknownst to the other. We came back together some time later, possibly as long as a year, and compared what we had written. We were surprisingly on the same general track and picked bits from both sets of lyrics that ultimately became the progressive locomotive that is The Conquest.”
Michael Passen on “Mona Lisa” – “I have mixed feelings as a songwriter when it comes to the topic of “inspiration.” I think that that concept falls in to the same category as the thing we call “talent.” They are both things that are more assumed to happen to people rather than to be possessed by people. Rarely is there choice in the things that happen to you, but the things that you possess are those that were deliberately sought. I find more comfort in things in which I’m given a choice, and as a result my definitions of talent and inspiration include the necessity to work hard to attain them.
My inspiration for Mona Lisa lyrically was the easily forgettable instant celebrity pop music being manufactured everyday. The lack of hard work in this genre is almost it’s defining characteristic. The epitome of this, and the incident on which most of Mona Lisa’s lyrics are based, was the infamous SNL performance where Ashley Simpson was outed for lip-synching. All of the worst parts of the pop music machine were evident in this embarrassing “performance.” The cute little sister of an equally vacuous instant pop star was promoting “her” new album on “live” television when her beefed up karaoke machine malfunctioned and she gracelessly exited the stage with a “hoedown”. The whole situation is insulting since she has the pretense to refer to herself as a real singer, but this happens every day. The part that really, really¸ incensed me was during the closing credits when she said that “her band played the wrong song!” To attack your own band (the only talent on stage, mind you) by insinuating that a troupe of trained, experienced, skilled musicians all miraculously jumped in to the same song that they have played just minutes before is unforgivable. Not only is this insulting to her colleagues, but it’s also insulting to the intelligence of everybody watching that night.
“Turn sideways and you disappear….”
Musically, the song was intended to be my first little push for the band in to a more defined prog style, particularly the unison E mixolydian section in the middle that chromatically brings us back to the verse via D Lydian. It originally contained a more improvisational guitar solo, but when Kevin entered the band he made one of his first marks by deleting that section and adding the shorter, effervescent tapping lead that follows.”
Kevin Boenning on “Just Call My Name” – “This song is the poster child for Concrete Prophet’s secret agenda: to place interesting and left-of-center musical ideas in an appealing and subtle context.
When the music was written for this, it wasn’t so much about creating the most unique riffs per se, but more about commanding and directing the sort of dynamics that make songs like “Another Rainy Night,” “Livin’ On A Prayer” and “Civil War” so indelible. We strove for a killer chorus that stuck with you, a solid guitar solo and a tender moment of repose – all resulting in that ‘classic’ type of feel. Nothing too extreme musically, just completely solid all the way through.
We always try to get as much mileage out of a passage of music as we can. Often, we’ll create distinct variations when repeating a riff or a melody to spice things up. This creates sections that are more engaging (but not obtuse) while preserving listenablility. The chorus is a perfect example: the time signature shifts from 15/16 to 4/4 to 7/8 to 13/16 in each chorus, subtly playing on the listeners expectations. I feel this kind of attention to detail is a key component of Concrete Prophet and we really enjoy the challenge it can provide.
Deciding to juxtapose the intensity of the chorus with smooth and serene verses is another element that really adds to the overall range of the song. Again, small changes are present between repetitions, however, instead of changing meter, Michael and I alternate between the natural and flat 2 of the key.
Personally, I feel Mike is the crucial person in pulling the verses together. I absolutely LOVE the vocal harmonies on the recording and live, it really draws attention to his ability to deliver lines.
In general, Michael handles the lyrics, but the phrase “just call my name” popped into my head one day and the whole concept sort of hit me at once. I suppose some people may interpret this as a love song, but it certainly wasn’t written that way. It’s about supporting someone unconditionally. To be able to say to someone “no matter what, I’ve got your back” is a powerful thing and that’s what we set our to capture.”
Brian Dobbs on recording and designing - “Drum tracking was a lot of fun. Mike was kind enough to shoot some video footage of me during the drum sessions at Wrightway Studios (Thanks Mike). You can click my picture to view a brief video I put together. The recording process is always a learning experience. I think everyone always underestimates the amount of time everything takes while your in the studio. It’s hard to account for mistakes time and time again while the clock is ticking and each time you do another take it’s just another trainwreck.
Fortunately for us, Kevin created 100% perfect MIDI representations of our songs as studio guide tracks! Hands down one of Kevin’s best attributes outside of being an inventive guitarist. He definitely saved us all a lot of time and it also allowed us to record independently from one another if we all couldn’t be present on a particular day. For our EP release, I designed all of the artwork using some beautiful photos taken by our good friend and professional photographer Enoch Chan of www.DeviatedArt.com. I also improved the website design and modified it to reflect the artwork of the EP. All of the CD-ROM bonus features were, ahem, also designed, assembled and edited by me. Certainly wasn’t going to pay someone to do something I can do myself! 
BTW…click the video to see studio footage of drum tracking!”
We offer our heartfelt gratitude to all of those who encouraged, supported or contributed to our music education. We support education in the fine arts and we strongly oppose any measure or action that would limit or eliminate music programs in the public school system.
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Posted by concreteprophet 