Dan Barracuda: Inside A Musician's Mind

It's so amazing to finally hear new music from Tool. They just performed 2 brand new full songs. After Adam Jones recently posted a video of him playing a new riff, I instantly wanted to cover it. Check it out here!

This is the 10th and final track off "Wavelength" - featuring Lasya on the Bansuri Flute. I'm really proud of this piece. It sounds like a garden in heaven, which is pretty much what I was going for! Hope you enjoy this one guys.

Here's the 9th track off the new album "Wavelength". This song is from the perspective of the passion, the art, the ambition, speaking to the creator. Had a lot of fun crafting out the sound of this track!

Here's the title track off the album, "Wavelength". This is one of my current favorites! I really like the sound of this song - drums, basslines, vocals, guitar, sound effects, lyrics. Here are the notes from my notebook:

We are washed up on the shore, with our subconscious speaking to the Universe, the Way. And so we yield to enmity. Opposing waves of energy – the friction. This happens all the time, to everyone. Sometimes good things come, and they go away. What can we learn about this? This yin + yang of happenings, of life. When someone we love dies, we tend to really feel the finite-ness of life. Mortality. It takes a death to look all around. The Universe then speaks – “You won’t see, until we’re swimming. Try moving still – through me, through the same breath, as the sea’s spectrum of wavelengths. In this point of subconscious enlightenment from the Universe, we rise and regain strength. “I no longer am afraid. It takes death to look all around”.

Moving on to Track #8! This one's called "I, The Lurker". It sticks out like a sore thumb because of its mood. It's chaotic, evil, dark, all those things. Here are my stream of consciousness notes I had when creating this song: 

So the album is going along, starting with inspiration, enlightenment, excitement, infatuation. Leads to confusion, reality sinking in, and then comes doubt. Extreme doubt, lack of confidence + direction leads to feeling lost and depressed. Down. At the bottom, we are most desperate. Ravenously looking for a way out. What happened to the old me, when I was excited & passionate about my path, my art, my mission? Looking for that old self so desperately. All of this happening in the mind and heart. This depression exposes a side of you, a dark side. Impatient, selfish, cynical, extreme. In our darkest moment, we fade away. Facing ego death. A part of us dies, here at the end of “I, The Lurker”.

Sharing my cover of Pink Floyd's "Dogs" - let me know what you think about the execution!

Here's the 6th track from "Wavelength" - it's called "Down". Here are my stream of consciousness notes for this song:

It’s out of sight? What is? The purpose. The drive, the will. It’ll always be away from your grasp, your reach. Never to be seen. It’s all been an illusion. Unattainable. A mirage. Not feeling connected to something brings me way down. I always want something to work on, to create. I remember around “Soliloquy” days, I would come home from work and just lay on the couch. Feeling such low drive. Lost. I’m on the same couch right now, 1.5 years later. The sadness hints are from doubt + frustration + fear that maybe I’m not on the right path and I’m wasting my time doing something I’ll never succeed in. And then you hear about how Chevy Chase was so depressed, or Cornell/Bennington killing themselves. There will always be something trying to bring you down. Some thought, or army of thoughts.

Discussing Track#5 off my new album "Wavelength" - this one's called "Champagne Dizza". It's extremely psychedelic. This one hits home! I've had this idea since 2009. Check it out :D 

Talking about Track #4 off "Wavelength". This one's called Cadabra Pearls. Stream of Consciousness writings from my notebook: 

I like what I wrote for Sundrug. It ends in a confused state of calm with that sudden modulation to F. It’s serene, but very odd and confusing…sort of like the music is saying “well, that’s life – that’s how the cookie crumbles”. The rays get pitched down at the end, like drooping down and melting away. Falls into Cadabra Pearls. In this song, it’s all about the doubt. “I’m not so sure…these pearls of wisdom…are they to draw me in…and push me down?” Sort of talking to people that say “do what you love”, “keep going, never give up”. Days like today make me really doubt it. Am I on the right track? Am I not “working smart”? Feeling like I need to justify myself. Always starting things that I don’t finish. So much doubt about my future & dreams. It’s taking too long, waves of losing patience. Am I on the wrong track? The cadabra pearls are the words of wisdom, these magical balls of inspiration that drive you to pursue your dreams. But are they magical because of their motivational power, or because they may be an illusion? This song is about the doubt of the journey. Gotta think of more words and phrases.

Learning about “abra cadabra”. First known mention is by Serenus Sommonicus, physician to Roman Emperor Caracalla. He prescribed that Malaria sufferers wear an amulet containing the word in triangle form:

ABRACADABRA