Same songs, different interpretations

I’m currently working with my good friend Dean on recordings which started back around 1993 / 94, we aren’t too sure, but we know it is somewhere around there, when we were in a band called “Hollow Spirit” which included our friend Paul on drums.  Most of these songs, I recorded with Don and Dane when we were in the band “Armslength” in 1996 / 97, which later became “For My Dear Friend” in 2013 when I finished and released the recordings.

For me, finishing the Armslength recordings, was closer on a part of my life and also a rebirth.  We are finishing off the Hollow Spirit recordings for the same reason.

In these two recordings, I am pretty much the only constant.  I played bass and sang with both bands and the end product is different, but the same.

The same meaning:

• Same note structure (FMDF is a step down on almost all the songs, where HS is in standard E tuning)
• Same lyrics (pretty much)

What is definitely different would be playing styles and end results with both versions of the songs.  On the FMDF recordings, two songs Cold Black Sky and Standing in the Rain have the guitar work of Dean because Don hadn’t recorded any.  I’ve had the pleasure of listening to both versions of the completed songs and started wondering how much different Cold Black Sky and Standing in the Rain would’ve sounded if Don had laid down some of his guitar playing.  Even with Dean’s guitar work on these two songs, it is still a different drummer with his own interpretation of how the song should go.

I’m not knocking one player over another, it is more the differences in style on the same songs that intrigues me.  It is something that I’ve also enjoyed.  I love listening to another band’s interpretation of a song, esp. if the band plays the song as if there wasn’t an original version.

In this case, the only truly released versions of any of the songs were I Don’t Care and How Much I Love You on a cassette EP,  if you have one, cool!  To add to the confusion, these were recorded by another producer who had his own ideas of how the songs should be done.

Maybe someday I will release the cassette versions of the two above songs on SoundCloud.  For now, we’re going to finish the recordings and release them, slowly.

— Mike