In The Present Tense

In The Present Tense (Original EP)

1. Power of the Air
2. Warning
3. Rapids
4. Haven't Got The Time
5. It's Impolite To Point
6. You Can't Trust Yourself
7. Submerging
8. No Time Like The Present
9. After All

First, to set the stage...

The songs that comprise In The Present Tense are very special to me for many reasons.
The circumstances which produced them are not ones that I would have ever dreamed of.
All of the material (except for 'Rapids', which was written in October 2003, and
'Submerging', which was produced July 2003) was written, produced, and recorded in
the summer of 2004. Through my late teenage years and into my twenties, I struggled with
drug abuse. This is not an uncommon story, of course, but the stories never lose
meaning or importance. My addiction got progressively worse until May 2004, when it
was decided that I must seek help. I moved away from my home in east Tennessee to
spend the summer with my aunt and uncle in central Florida. It was there, in completely
unfamiliar surroundings, that I learned to live again. Or perhaps, how to live in the first
place. The story of this miraculous transformation is likely best left to my "life story"
page, which will no doubt show up on this site before too long. To get to the heart of the
matter: I had grown up in the Christian faith, and had made the choice to commit myself
to following it. However, I was mixed up. I had a hard time dealing with the world around
me. I was unreliable, unpredictable, and unstable. I was unsure of my future, and not quite
certain what to do with the present. The only things that really seemed to keep me afloat
were drugs. I found myself living a double life; trying on the one hand to be a productive
and upstanding member of society, playing music in church, teaching in schools, and on
the other hand living in the grey areas of life - trying in every way to become invisible....It
goes without saying that this dichotomy was taking its toll on me. I became out of touch
with the real me, and I alienated a lot of people who cared a lot about me.

At any rate, there is a happy ending to the story. Changing my location proved to be the
very thing I needed. My family was there for me in a way that honestly surprised me. I had
always felt like a black sheep that wasn't thought of very highly by my family, but I was
proven wrong. I had much love and support in an environment that allowed me to find my
true self. I got a fresh start; a new lease on life. I did have to start from a clean slate,
however, and that was more painful than I can express in words. At least in written words.
In The Present Tense is the sound of a man who is discovering things about himself and
the world around him, and in turn passing on these lessons to those who wish to listen.
You will not find any "woe is me" music here: I had already made plenty of that in the
previous phase of my life. What you will find are positive, uplifting songs that bear heavy
messages. Most of the songs have Christian overtones, but this is not religious music. AT
ALL. I wanted to share with the listener the freedom that I had found in relinquishing
control of my life to Jesus Christ. I also wanted to share lessons that I had learned
through this experience. The songs on this album are honest, heartfelt, and NOT AT ALL
WHAT YOU MAY BE EXPECTING!

About the music!

This is without a doubt the most commercial material I had written up to that point, and is
marked by a fairly drastic change in musical direction from my earlier work, for several
reasons. One of those is that I was using an EXTREMELY limited amount of gear
compared to what I normally had access to. When I moved to Florida, I only had room for
what would fit into an SUV, and so my palette was quite narrow. No Rhodes, no SH-3, and
preeminently, no acoustic drums.
All of the drum sounds on this record came from drum machines, except for the ones on
"Haven't Got The Time", which were some very old no-name drums that lived in my aunt
and uncle's church. Relying on the computer for most of the instrumentation led to a
radically different sound from what I was used to, which we will discover....

1. Power of the Air.
Instruments used: DeArmond 6-string electric guitar, Yamaha bass guitar, Propellerhead
Reason, voice.
One of the most "radio-friendly" songs I have ever produced or written. Somehow, songs
just started coming very easily to me. Before, I would write part of a song and MAYBE
finish it later if inspiration hit again. Then I would wait months for the inspiration to record
it. The songs that were written for this record, in the summer of 2004, however, only
required me to invest the time needed to finish them, and then they were ready for
recording. I think I did pretty well for a bedroom recording. I tried many production tricks
that I hadn't ever before, such as stacking 12 vocal parts on the "la la la's" behind the
guitar solo.
This song is about the things that we take in, such as music, news, books, magazines,
TV, movies, and so on that have an influence on the way we view life. All of these things,
music chief among them, hold tremendous power to influence us for better or for worse. It
is a charge to take care what we listen to and watch; for these things can corrupt us in
incomprehensible ways.

2. Warning.
Instruments used: Yamaha PSS-470, Propellerhead Reason, voices, DeArmond 6-string
electric guitar.
HEAVY, HEAVY PROGRAMMING. The most meticulously-programmed song I have
produced before or since. The tracking and programming took a few weeks. There are
chopped-up samples that come and go throughout the piece, especially about halfway
through, where the rhythm drops out.
This song was written in the shower in July 2004. I was thinking of myself and how I had
once foolishly subscribed to the belief that I had some extra insight on the basic elements
of life that all the older people around me didn't have. This fallacy led me into all sorts of
bad times. I feel that the youthful pride/arrogance issue is something that is often
celebrated rather than properly dealt with. The words to this song are to myself as much
as to anyone else. I know a lot of people my age who have fallen into this trap.

3. Rapids.
Instruments used: Propellerhead Reason, Tuned Water Glasses, Voice.
The fake-o piano, the fake-o Mellotron, the fake-o Moogs and everything are played from
Reason. I guess they actually sound quite passable. But I'm a purist. I hate 'fake'
instruments. Hitting water glasses with spoons is nothing new, as every kid who's ever
eaten dinner surely knows. I felt that the timbre of glasses worked much nicer than a
typical glockenspiel, which is what most producers would have put here.
This song was written in October 2003, at Walters State Community College, where I was
a student. The idea came to me in class, and I hurried out of there to bang it out on the
piano in one of the vocal practice rooms. Even though this was written while I was in the
thick of it all, I still think it is one of the most effective pieces of work that I have ever been
inspired to write. It's about morality, mortality, and man's constant struggle to find his
place in this world.

4. Haven't Got The Time.
Instruments used: DeArmond 12-string electric guitar, Yamaha bass, no-name drumkit,
voice.
This is an attempt to be as authentic 60's as possible. I think I succeeded for the most
part, except for the fact that the vocals were recorded digitally and no tube gear of any
kind was used. Everything besides the vocal was recorded on an analog 4-track.
Very simply, this song says in a friendly tone, THINK ABOUT YOUR LIFE AND WHICH
PATH YOU'RE GOING DOWN. There really is a right and a wrong way. Choose one. (To
quote a great Rush song, "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice!")

5. It's Impolite To Point.
Instruments used: Reason, Voice, Yamaha bass, DeArmond 6-string electric guitar, Sigma
acoustic guitar.
This is a tip of the hat, musically, to my favourite group, Stereolab. This was not written to
sound like them, but after demoing it I realised that it did indeed. So I went ahead and tried
to make the whole thing work to that effect. It's got the Farfisa, the picked bass, the
strumming guitar, the tight, jazzy drums, and the Moog lead. I guess it sounds like Dots
and Loops ! Many people really like this tune, for many reasons.
The words came about while thinking about some things I had heard certain TV
preachers (I won't name names) say that really put me off. It seemed to me that they had
made their entire ministry agenda into a shouting match. I was put off, and still am, by
politics invading the pulpit. I thought, here we are trying to spread God's love, and these
(highly visible, mind you) preachers just want to throw stones and point fingers. This isn't
right! So I wrote this song. Did you ever point at someone in public as a child and your
mother scold you and say, "It's impolite to point!" Well, in life, it is! Because if we point
fingers, there will only be more of the same action reciprocated.

6. You Can't Trust Yourself.
Instruments used: Reason, Voice.
I know, I know, more fake-o instruments. I was making do with what I had. Eventually
these songs will reach the ears of the world in the manner in which I intended. Anyway,
the song itself is VERY CCM. It's probably not very modern-sounding, but it's definitely
commercial. I wrote it in the middle of the night, in the dark. I am proud of this song, even
though I find these "verse-chorus-verse-chorus-middle 8-repeat chorus 500 times" songs
to be rather formulaic and predictable. I think this song would probably get airplay if
produced slickly enough. And that doesn't bother me in the slightest.
About the song, the lyrics are all about recognising that we are weak and unstable, even
at our best, but our weaknesses are turned into strengths when we trust in God.

7. Submerging.
Instruments used: Reason.
This was a thematic piece which was originally intended for an independent film project
that I was involved in. Unfortunately, circumstances prevented the film from ever coming
to fruition. I suppose that it's just as well. I came out with two nice theme pieces, this one,
and another called "The Lair" which may make an appearance on the "Download Of The
Month" sometime. I felt that this could work on this album, to sort of diversify the textural
landscape a bit.

8. No Time Like The Present.
Instruments used: Reason, Voice.
I feel that this type of music is what Reason was originally intended for. Just some dance
music type stuff. This is the third version of this song that exists. The first was
programmed entirely on a Yamaha QY-20 and recorded crudely on a handheld tape
recorder. The second was produced with a bunch of modern digital keyboards and
Digital Performer at a friend's small project studio. This version was produced in a sort of
early-80's techno/new wave style, a la Depeche Mode, Japan, or Kraftwerk or something.
The idea expressed in the lyrics to this song really form the backbone of this album:
moving forward and leaving the past behind. This is a completely autobiographical song.
The words speak for themselves, I think! I sometimes still get chills when I listen to this
one.

9. After All.
Instruments used: DeArmond 6-string electric guitar, DeArmond 12-string electric guitar,
Yamaha bass, voice.
The song that started it all. This is the first thing that came to me when I was on the road
to recovery: a simple song of the mercy and grace of God. This one is like an old-school
Phil Keaggy song or something. Actually, the lead guitar is my trying to play like him.
(That's a laugh...NOBODY, in my opinion, comes close except the man himself. Well, Jon
Brion sings like him...) This was the last thing recorded for this album. I had my original
demo, which was three months old at this point, that I never seemed to be able to improve
upon. I will admit that this version is not as good as it could have been, but it was
completed at the 11th hour before the "release date", which was me selling these CD's at
my first solo public performance of the material.

This record (I'm calling it an EP, because it's just a little over 30 minutes long) is no longer
available, because I am in the middle of re-recording the songs in a proper way, with real
instruments. When the album is finished, it will have other songs added to it, and will
(hopefully) show up on some store shelves, as well as right here on the MooT BooXle dot
com world wide website. Thank you for your support.

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