I love hearing about the song writing processes of other bands. It’s fascinating how so many different methods of song writing and collaboration can lead to some of my favourite music.
Compared to the last two and a half years that The Ruffled Feathers have been a band, there has been a song writing explosion. I’m not surprised, since every band member is now writing material in preparation for our upcoming album.
First, I’ll explain what our song writing process used to be.
Our first EP, Lost Cities, has songs written by Gina and Charley. For most of the songs on that album, here’s how they were created.
1. Gina or Charley come up with a simple song
2. They introduce the song to the band
3. The band contributes countermelodies, ideas, and interpretations.
4. The song is developed and performed
For our upcoming album, here’s what’s new with our song writing process.
What I’ve noticed lately is that a band member comes up with an idea, and instead of bringing the song to the band and having the band learn it, there is collaborative development. For example, for one of our newest unperformed songs, "Mandolina", Charley and Matty collaborated to create it.
For me, a noobie song writer, there are many more opportunities to bring an idea to one of my bandmates, who have been writing songs for years. One of my newest songs, now called “Rosin and Horse Hair” was almost abandoned and deleted from my computer. Instead, I showed it to Matty and it is now in the running for inclusion in our next album.
What I’m most excited about for our next album is the diversity of song styles and origins that are being adapted to our sound. It’s the collaboration between different combinations of our members that is creating beautiful new songs.
- Andrew
Compared to the last two and a half years that The Ruffled Feathers have been a band, there has been a song writing explosion. I’m not surprised, since every band member is now writing material in preparation for our upcoming album.
First, I’ll explain what our song writing process used to be.
Our first EP, Lost Cities, has songs written by Gina and Charley. For most of the songs on that album, here’s how they were created.
1. Gina or Charley come up with a simple song
2. They introduce the song to the band
3. The band contributes countermelodies, ideas, and interpretations.
4. The song is developed and performed
For our upcoming album, here’s what’s new with our song writing process.
What I’ve noticed lately is that a band member comes up with an idea, and instead of bringing the song to the band and having the band learn it, there is collaborative development. For example, for one of our newest unperformed songs, "Mandolina", Charley and Matty collaborated to create it.
For me, a noobie song writer, there are many more opportunities to bring an idea to one of my bandmates, who have been writing songs for years. One of my newest songs, now called “Rosin and Horse Hair” was almost abandoned and deleted from my computer. Instead, I showed it to Matty and it is now in the running for inclusion in our next album.
What I’m most excited about for our next album is the diversity of song styles and origins that are being adapted to our sound. It’s the collaboration between different combinations of our members that is creating beautiful new songs.
- Andrew
