That ain’t workin’

I know I ought to be working on the various bits of Flash programming for one of our healthcare clients, but the more I work on the TN tunes, the more easily I can find reasons to be tinkering with them, finding new sounds or a different slant on them to offer the rest of the guys when we meet up for official rehearsals in a couple of weeks.

Usually, my role as Tactical Work Avoidance Officer sees me clearing out another host tower in Oblivion or completing a quest in the huge world of Tamriel (if you don’t know what I’m on about, think yourself lucky that you’re not a computer geek like me...). Now, however, I seem to be neglecting my duties as a sword-wielding adventurer, saving the virtual world of Tamriel from certain doom, and instead find myself wondering whether I could replace a particular synth sound with something else, whether a part could be changed or removed entirely, or if I could somehow surreptitiously fit a banjo solo in somewhere.

Okay, that last bit was stretching it somewhat, but you get the picture.

Even though I’m learning other peoples’ parts (oo-err), there’s much fun to be had working out the tunes. Obviously, I’d never listened to them in this manner before, and I’m discovering some real gems tucked away in the arrangements. If there’s anyone reading this that’s a TN fan from way back and that is going to be at the gigs, fear not. The songs are NOT going to unrecognisable caricatures of their earlier incarnations. Some have so little need of input from me in terms of arrangement, and stand up on their own. Others need a little coaxing to emerge into the light, while a few need a damn good thrashing to sort them out. ;-)

Now, apart from putting that always-tempting banjo well out of reach, I need to remove two desks from my studio in order to put together a live keyboard/bass/guitar setup that isn’t the size of Mount Olympus. TTFN...