Music
Good Christian Bad Christian
A cover of the song by Pagan Wanderer Lu. His is quite a quirky electronic number, mine is a more mainstream inde number with a solo influenced by Adrian Belew’s work with David Bowie. I must say, his lyrics are way better than mine and I’m sure a lot of his fans won’t really be into this but what the hell, I like it.
I’d like to thank Andy (for that is his name) for letting me record it in the first place (he even emailed me the lyrics) and for giving me permission to put it up here for anyone to have. Go visit his MySpace and have a listen to his stuff.
(Right-click the title to save)Two Years Without Oxygen (full album)
Sometime in 2001 I got into a band called Barcelona. I heard a couple of tracks on an internet radio station called Spacelab and loved them, so I went over to Audio Galaxy and downloaded as much as I could find. I know, that music wasn’t mine to download but free stuff is so hard to resist (possibly why you’re reading this in the first place). However, I loved it so much that I eventually bought their album, Zero One Infinity and listened to it solidly for quite a while.
This album is the result of me listening to Barcelona and then er… ripping them off. I didn’t lift songs off the album or anything but they say you are what you eat and I certainly ‘ate’ a lot of Barcelona during that period. The album’s not just a Barcelona rip-off; there’s a rocky number called Summer with my sister singing, there’s a ballad I’m really proud of called Your Words Are Warm and a really good punky-pop song called Don’t Want You No More. It was all recorded as I was finding my way around my eight-track recorder (which took me 5 years to pay off) and is a charming mix of dodgy vocals, bizarre mixing decisions and bad mastering but it serves as a good indication of where I was musically. I was tempted to remaster it but there’s no point; it was finished years ago and I’ve moved on since then.
Anyway, it’s yours to have. The zip file is around 48MB and contains 10 MP3’s and cover art. I do hope you enjoy it.
(Right-click the title to save)I Can See Everything
The first Ballard single. I Can See Everything is a Cheap Trick-esque rocker about 3 friends who have bad jobs, become pop stars and end up back in their bad jobs. Like me without the pop star bit.
The second track, I Need Your Energy, is a song about lethargy. I’d tell you more but I can’t be bothered…
This single is available for purchase from the Ballard store. Just click on the name to visit the store.
What You Want
A spunky little song about not very much at all. This one’s more about the music, which was inspired by Bara No Hana, a song by Japanese band, Quruli. I love the middle section, especially the Eighties-style chorused guitar. I played it whilst wearing a pastel-coloured jacket with the sleeves rolled up.
(Right-click the title to save)Time With You demo
A song about shopping that turned into a song about a girl. Like they always do. It’s a demo, not a finished product like the stuff you buy in the shops. Where you meet girls.
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