We Are Family

So, I was talking with Rebel earlier about who we are and how we interact with fans, and he pointed out that the Iron Fist Experience revolves around the concept of "family." I know I've done posts about who we are, and the kind of unquestioning support we get from our Crew. For those who are joining our program in-progress, this is a rundown of who those folks are, and where they fit into the overall IF puzzle:

• Scott Harding: that's me. Co-founder, drummer, lyricist, and (reluctant) background vocalist.

• Mike Rule: co-founder, lead guitar, lead vox…basically, lead EVERYTHING. He's the one with a lot of business sense, who understands the financial & legal side of things. He's a couple of years older than I am, and we met in high school. We formed the band in study hall…when we obviously were NOT studying! (I think that worked out okay…)

• Mike Passmore: rhythm guitar, background vox, and another great business head. Without getting into specifics here, believe me when I say that the Mikes are literally business OWNERS. If there's a driving logic behind what we do in terms of band decisions, these guys are steering. Mike and I met in college, and he's my brother-from-another-mother.

• Drew Pankratz: bass, background vox, and another college "bro." Interestingly, the front line of the band were all trombonists in their marching band days…I'm seeing the opportunity to capitalize on that in the near future!

• Hans Guilbeaux: our indomitable sound-scaper. He's a drummer - from a technical standpoint, probably a much better one than I am! - who is actually degreed in audio engineering and production.  He makes us sound great, live and in the studio. Like Mike P. and Drew, he's an old-skool college marching band brother.

That's the band. Tight-knit. Friendships that were formed through shared vision and experience. Stronger, in some senses, than brothers who share the accidental relationship of birth parents: we CHOSE each other. 

• The Pauls: affectionately known as PP and PC, they are our go-to busy-beaver roadies. They set up and tear down, they move mic stands, they do whatever needs doing. Expertly, and without complaint. 

• Allen: multi-tasking photographer, roadie, and, when required, head of security. 

• Chris: multi-purpose roadie, resident philosopher, and, when required, chef. 

• Chris' wife and kids: they run the merch booth and do whatever we ask of them.

• Brent: roadie, and (with PC), band brewmaster. 

That's the Crew. Five men, all of whom went to high school with me and Rebel. Of the seven of us, five graduated together. These are friendships that go back DECADES, and again: it's chosen family. In the case of Chris, it's BLOOD family. 

When I say the band is a family affair, then, I'm not just tossing out feel-good descriptions. These are people I would trust with my life. No, forget that: these are people I'd trust with my DAUGHTER'S life. Together we're forging a thing that, in the two years since the band's reunion, has taken on a life of its own. And that's how we want Iron Fist fans and listeners to approach us as well: like family. For us, meeting fans shouldn't feel like introduction; it should feel like recognition. Let other bands have "fan clubs." Let Kiss have its Army. We have the Fist Family.

Leftovers

Mmmm, leftovers! Everybody loves some leftovers, yah? Day-old Chinese, last week's meatloaf…add a little hot sauce, nuke your dish in the microwave, and dig in. 

Song leftovers…they can be more problematic, especially as you're trying to identify a sonic "brand" at the outset of your career. One of the the utmost blessings I find as a songwriter is that I am always creating new tunes. A random word, a disassociated phrase, and I find myself thinking "Hmmm, that would make a GREAT song!" Then BOOM! it's off to find my Sony flash recorder and sing it in. I have dozens of song snippets, anywhere from a few seconds of hummed melody or guitar riff to nearly 3 minutes of fully-realized songs. There's a flip side, though: the CURSE of the songsmith! And the curse is this: the doorway that opens onto a universe of unwritten songs does not discriminate. It's wide open, and it lets through ANYTHING! The weirdest stuff can come through that doorway, and it doesn't matter if the song doesn't "sound" like Iron Fist. Which, if you read back to the post about our ideas for Perfect Albums, is actually kind of O.K. I'm into bands that stretch the boundaries of "acceptable." I can get easily bored with albums that sound pretty much the same from song-to-song. But, I also believe that it's important to deliver the "Iron Fist Sound" early, and with force and determination. So right now, these songs don't belong on our forthcoming album Don't Fake It:

"The Journey" This song, like many on my list, was written during the long interregnum that IF experienced. As such, it's a "solo effort" and not the typical partnership writing that Rebel and I engage in. Still…here it is. It's a song about the path from childhood to adulthood, told BY the protagonist, but using "you" as the pronoun (instead of "I"). It's andante, but with a quickly-strummed acoustic guitar and not much in the way of drums…more like a folk song. "Take the first step on your journey/With another hand to guide your way/Another smile to greet each day/You begin to walk your journey."

"A Song For Jessica" This country ballad emerged from one of those serendipitous moments that crop up from time to time.  I was walking down the hall toward my office, and two friends - Angela and Rhiannon - were walking toward me. I knew songs for both their names, and delivered a little of each (as I am wont to do). Then, I saw Jessica a little ways behind them, and apologized: "Sorry, Jessica, I don't know a song for you!" She said "That's okay.", to which I replied "No, I think there should be a song for Jessica!" And, folks: that's how it happens. The chorus was right there, fully-formed in my head: "No one ever wrote a song for Jessica/Maybe that's because there's no good rhyme/I think there should be a song for Jessica/Maybe I should write that song sometime." The rest of the tune grew up as a story about a middle-aged waitress who used to have a positive outlook on life (and here I imagined the visual of Michelle Pfeiffer from Frankie and Johnny), but now knows that she's just trapped forever in the town she grew up in. There's a dude who eats breakfast at her restaurant every day, and he has fallen in love with the true beauty beneath her dull facade; sadly, she can't see him. "Jessica, you don't know me, even though you bring my mornin' coffee/I sit by the window every day/I watch you walk your endless miles/Wonder where you spend your smiles/I can see how life has lined your face."

"Comic Book Couple" This is just a goofy song inspired by the movie Comic Book Villains. (An opinionated word of warning: do not EVER see this movie…it's wholly awful.) The couple who owns a comic shop in the movie are hilariously mismatched, and I thought it could make a clever song about how opposites attract. You know, he's into classic Marvel Silver Age books, likes the capes and the underwear outside the suit, etc. etc., while SHE is into story-centered graphic novels and sweater sets. This image was cemented when I saw a photo of illustrator Kyle Baker and his wife (shown here: he's the dude in dreadlocks, his wife is far left in the tan jacket): while this isn't the photo I first discovered and used for reference, I do like how different they seem, but also a great couple. The tune became a "list song" of their differences: "He likes Mountain Dew, cold and crisp and by the two-liter/She likes chamomile, honey makes it just a bit sweeter."

"The Magic Napkin" This 30-second throwaway borrows heavily from "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window." It's a song about a napkin we have that, unlike its mates, is NEVER wrinkled when it comes out of the dryer. "The magic napkin never wrinkles/The magic napkin never needs an iron/The other napkins come out tangled up in knots, oh magic napkin/I wish I had 15 more just like you."

"The Ballad Of The Jones Boys" This tune is actually slated to be recorded for the SECOND Iron Fist album. It's a slow dirge about two (unrelated) men who died too young. They both figure into my life: one very distantly, the other incredibly close. "Davy Jones died last night/Somethin' 'bout it don't seem right/Never really had a chance to live/Always takin' more than he could give/Near the end he changed his ways/Started livin' better days/Movin' over from the red to black/Tryin' hard to get his life on track."

"That's What She Said" This tune is straight-up country swagger, based on the phrase that we toss around with great regularity during our annual Guy's Camping Weekend. It needs fiddle, electric organ, and a sweet-ass slide or pedal-steel guitar solo in the middle. THAT kind of country.  "That's what she said on the night that I kissed her/That's what she said when I told her goodbye/That's what she said when I messed with her sister/That's what she said, and I tell you no lie/I've been bitten once, and I never ask twice/I won't play at love unless I've loaded the dice/Some days I think that I'd be better off dead/That's what SHE said!"

"Dancing Underwater" Likely Iron Fist could actually pull this one off: it's a mix of '80s New Wave plus early Billy Idol swagger, kind of like "White Wedding." My daughter would need a writing credit on this one: I saw her playing with her little tub-toy dolls, and she had them bobbing around at the bottom of the tub…when I asked what they were doing, she said "Dad! They're dancing underwater!" Boom. Song. I TOLD her that it sounded like a song, and 10 minutes later I heard her singing the chorus melody. I made it a song about how a breakup can make you feel like you're drowning in tears, with the opening line "Love is a dangerous game/You try to ride it: it won't be tamed." 

"Wild Emotion" 25 years in the writing, I only finally completed this Purple Rain-era Prince-y ballad in 2014. And if that doesn't teach you to NEVER let go of a good idea, I don't know what will! "Do you remember wild emotion?/Playing with fire inside/Wild emotion/Nowhere for anger to hide/Wild emotion, wild emotion, wild emotion/Eventually bound to run dry."

"Echo Of Your Tears" I guess I learned from Paul Stanley how to create "my" version of a particular song or writer. Paul heard the Move song "Fire Brigade" on the radio, and quickly wrote the Kiss classic "Firehouse." Same idea with "Hard Luck Woman": it's totally styled on Rod Stewart. Even "Love Gun" is a not-very-subtle, highly-sexualized reworking of Albert King's "The Hunter." So: this is my take on writing a Jim Steinman song, complete with spoken-word intro and sleigh bells. "I can't give you up/I know I was wrong/I traded my heart and my love for a song/I can't give you up/Don't you think that I've tried/It's so damn hard when all I can hear/Is the echo of the tears that you cried."

This is just a small sample of my songwriting leftovers. They're songs that we don't quite feel comfortable releasing as Iron Fist tunes…YET. We're trying to craft a brand and an image, and these just don't fit. Again: yet. But good songs, like good story ideas, don't just fade away or die off. They keep at you, nipping at your heels, pestering you to "Record me! Record me!" We'll see. In an idealized world of off-album singles, many of these could be B-sides. I like that idea. That would let everyone have a taste of our leftovers.