Songwise

If you’re already annoyed about me talking about my yet-to-be-born-baby, boy howdy do I have some bad news for you. This week we have an all new episode and song focused around that very topic. I want to write songs about things that I am thinking about and this is the majority of what I think about. It’s this baby, the dying planet, my insecurities and how to turn this into a true crime podcast. That’s it. So - I’m sorry but we’re going to talk about pregnancy stuff more this week. BUT! We have the added treat of being joined later on in the show by the incredibly talented, Mike Krol - who’s new album is out NOW!

Per always, you can download the song on the bandcamp page.

Follow the show on Instagram, it don’t cost ya nothing.

I feel so honored that I have been chosen to be the first and only person to ever have a baby. It’s a real trip, man (said in Cheech and Chong voice). Who do I think I am? Special? Bahumbug, just have your kid and move on!

This week on the podcast I share two songs that I wrote about things in my brain in regards to baby stuff. it’s kind of dark, but kind of fun? Enjoy!

You can download all the songs from the show on the bandcamp page.

The Go-Go’s were right. It’s all I want. Vacation. Been working maybe a little too hard recently, to the point where the stress broke my body. FUN! Headed out on a 2 week sabbatical and leaving you with this podcast and song about leaving for Vermont. A week in the woods, pretending to be early period Bon Iver and late period Justin Timberlake. Enjoy?

What do black cocaine, meat-punching percussion and crooning all have in common? Almost nothing... except for the fact that they all appear on Scott Walker’s 2006 album, The Drift. But in order to really appreciate what is happening here we have to go back to 1965.

In a year of music dominated by bubble gummy pop noises and early rock and roll anthems, the same year that the number one hit was "Wooly Bully", in that same year a group of guys formed a family band, despite not being a family and kick started one of the strangest and darkest careers in pop music.

Songwriting is hard, this episode proves it! Come along as we attempt to write a song for Halloween and fail over and over again. Still lots of lols. No dice though.

This was a tough one, not going to lie and why would I? I’m not running for a seat on the Supreme Court. Burn. Political. On this episode of Songwise I attempt to write a song about not drinking, that sounds like a drinking song. I make it almost all the way through before I had to call in the big guns - and John Elliott is a bazooka of songwriting. He has been writing and recording and touring his songs around the country for a decade. He is one of the most talented songwriters I know of and I just so happen to have his cell phone number. What a world! He was a wealth of inspiration and so kind to help out on the song “Old Milwaukee”.

As always, you can find the show on Instagram @hisongwise, all of the songs can be found on the bandcamp page.

And for the love of Scott Bakula, check out John Elliott on tour. You won’t regret it.

I almost can’t believe that ANYONE can have a podcast. “If Alex Jones can!”, I always say. On this episode of Songwise we set out to write the theme song for the show. I say we because I got some help from friends along the way. Starting with everyone on Instagram who shared with me their favorite theme songs as an inspiration starting point. Wow, social media sure does seem fun (hint).

Follow along on this episode while we clumsily walk our way to writing both a theme song and a song that will stand on its own. Something that is about the thing you are making shouldn’t be that difficult, but boy was I wrong. It was super fun to struggle though!

You can find the show on iTunes.

We also have an Instagram, whaaaaat? https://www.instagram.com/hisongwise/

Okay, bye.

When my Dad passed away in June it was obviously difficult. The loss, the confusion, the fear. Those emotions were all so difficult to process and accept. Even though we knew he was sick, it's something that you cannot prepare for. What I didn't expect, however, was how difficult the cleaning process would be. My Dad was a minimalist before it was cool. He kept a clean, tidy and minimal amount of things... that didn't make it any easier to go through. 

One of the boxes I had to clear out was a box of books that he was planning on reading. He never got to read Hammer of the Gods or the book about how to publish your own book. Included in that pile of unread plans was a book by James McBride called Kill Em and Leave. As I stood there looking at the cover, surrounded by the physical items that made up my Dad's life I thought, "Wow. What a perfect tagline for what we just went through."

My father's death gutted us, it was unexplainable, imaginable. His death killed us. Then he left. In that moment I remember thinking that would be a great line for a song. That is how this episode started. 

You can follow the show on Instagram @hisongwise.

Songwise is a show about the creative process. The confusion and excitement that comes along with trying something new. It's about failure and success, but mostly failure. Each episode will follow along as host Dylan Wise conceives of, then writes and records an original song.