Premiering at 2.00pm AEST is the official video for “Who Could Have Seen?” from the recently released “Chance” EP!!!
Featuring cameos from Steve Triffit, Darren “Mossy” Bleathman, Mathew Szkup, Jake Cowburn, Nathan Adams, Dylan Beast, Matt Perry and Dallas Braddock, and footage from Hobart, Melbourne and Wellington.
The track features Brett Collidge on drums and extra piano, Rick Curran on strings, and myself on guitars, bass, vocals and piano. The “Chance” EP was mixed by Dennis Leeflang at Livelong Productions, mastered by Joe Carra at Crystal Mastering, and artwork by Dan Verkys.
It will be arriving in most online digital retailers on September 06, 2021, but is already available at http://cs-songs.bandcamp.com/
Today sees the release of “Chance”, my new EP and first official solo release since 2014!!!
During the writing and recording of two albums with The Feckers during lockdown in 2020, I looked one day and realised that I had even more songs ready to go, and as fun and inspiring as doing The Feckers is, sometimes doing some tunes on a smaller scale is a good “yin” to the “yang” of that crazy but amazing situation we have created. I might not have looked at these songs again seriously for a couple of years, but with the pandemic hitting and so many friends losing months of work instantly, I thought of Brett, and figured that all things considered, that it might be a good “chance” to do some tunes together. Luckily for me he was keen! This whole “lets do this while we can” line of thinking, which is how I try to approach life anyway, was really apparent after something as big as what happened, and became a big theme to the songs, and meaning of the EP.
It was recorded very quickly mostly during July of 2020, with Brett busting out a track or two at a time, and myself chipping away on the remaining tracks over the remaining weekends in July and August with a plan to mix a song here and there for a while, and release it around July of 2021. Just a nice casual thing that wouldn’t interrupt anything else or be too stressful for anyone. When I did revisit things in the leadup to release, I noticed a couple of things I wanted to touch up which happened over the last couple of weeks literally.
One of my favourite moments from the creation of this EP with when the song “Who Could Have Seen” was coming together. It came about from a little idea I captured in my hotel room in Brisbane during a trip there visiting friends and family the previous year, and when it was time to record it for real it was likely going to be a stripped back acoustic song, with maybe a cajon but lots of space. I sent it over to Brett, mentioned this and said “what do you reckon”, and he responded something like “give me a couple of hours”. I had lawns to mow, so figured I would do that and come back and check my emails. Not too long after I had finished I had a version of the song from him with a drum track AND a totally cool orchestral section that he had mapped out on his keyboard. DAMN!!!
When it came down to those beautiful lines appearing on the song, there was no choice but to have real instruments playing them, which is what led me to coming across the amazing Rick Curran, a great person and player from the UK. Boy did he deliver!!!
To listen and / or purchase, check out my Bandcamp Site.
Links to more digital stores will be coming asap!!!
CREDITS:
Words and music by Chris Szkup (Except “Who Could Have Seen” – Words and Music By Chris Szkup and Brett Collidge), mixed by Dennis Leeflang @Livelong Productions, mastered by Joe Carra @ Crystal Mastering, artwork by Dan Verkys.
Chris Szkup – Vocals, guitars, bass, piano Brett Collidge – Drums, extra piano Rick Curran – Strings
Happy to announce that “Chance”, my new EP and my first official solo release since 2014, will be out on August 27, 2021, here and on my Bandcamp Page!!! I hope you enjoy these preview clips!!
It features Brett Collidge Musician on drums and extra piano, Rick Curran on strings and myself on vocals, guitars, bass and piano.
The new album is out September 29, but you can check the video out for audio previews. Self recorded over 2020, and was mixed by Dennis Leeflang, mastered by Thomas “Plec” Johannson, and artwork by Dan Verkys.
The new album is out October 29, but you can check the video out for audio previews. Self recorded over the last couple of years, and was mixed by Dennis Leeflang, mastered by Thomas “Plec” Johannson, and artwork by Dan Verkys.
The second single from the forthcoming album “Live To Fight Another Day” (due later in 2020), a fun look at rock n roll being a lifestyle, dedicated to ultimate rocker, Mr Jim Gillbanks, who has been showing them how it’s done since 1936!! CHEERS TO YOU MATE!!
This was a song Chris had sitting around not being used anywhere, and once he and Richard started collaborating on the lyrics, all these gags and references to artists we love started making their way into the song – it very quickly turned into a classic Feckers song, and one that we knew very quickly would be a single.
Raphael Gazal – Lead Vocals Reese Morin – Bass Pat Valley – Lead Guitar (0.02 – 0.15, 2.56 – 3.38) Dennis Leeflang – Drums and Mix Chris Szkup – Guitars and Backing Vocals Richard Anderson – Backing Vocals
Written by Chris Szkup and Richard Anderson. Mixed by Dennis Leeflang @ Livelong Productions, Mastered by Thomas “Plec” Johannson @ The Panic Room, Artwork by Dan Verkys.
Thanks to everyone for appearing in the video and making it even more fun for us to do. Cameos: 0.37 – Yohei Eto (Japan), 1.45 – Dan Verkys (Australia), 2.28 – Ponch Satrio (Indonesia), 2.34 – Chris Hickling (UK), 3.05 – Gorilla Elvis (New Zealand), 3.10 – Rob Smith (New Zealand), 3.20 – Anne Milne and Spider Anderson (New Zealand), 3.46 – Mathew Szkup and Jake Long (Australia), 5.08 – Jim Gillbanks (UK).
“Cheers Jimbo” cameo’s (in order of appearance): Chris Hickling (UK), Paula Gonzalez (USA), Dave Mather (New Zealand), Shannon Gillbanks (UK), Johnno “King AWOL” Troulis (USA), Jordy Gibson (New Zealand), Paul Taylor (UK), Aaron Edwards (Australia), Ponch “Bugger” Satrio (Indonesia), Raewyn Anderson (New Zealand), Richard Anderson (New Zealand), Chris Szkup (Australia).
Was a great thing to finally get the remainder of the TCSO songs I recorded with Dennis Leeflang, Mathew Szkup and Rob Lundgren finally finished and released, and boy did they come up amazing!!! Listen below – in the process of creating a section of the site for this which will feature all kinds of “making of” and “story behind the song” type of stuff!! More sooooon!! 😀
During the making of the second album from The Feckers “Live To Fight Another Day”, we found, as is often the case that we had too much stuff, and somehow this version of the great W.A.S.P. song “Mean Man” happened, which when we decided to throw it out there, also happened to be the first music from The Feckers in five years!!! Hope you enjoy. Head over to the official site to download it for free!!!
“Mean Man” (Written by Steve Edward Duren), originally appears on the W.A.S.P.album “The Headless Children” from 1989. That is a killer song and album, so make sure you check it out and go buy it you bastards!!
The fifth in a “once a month or so” series of tracks from TCSO, a mellow acoustic song written by Chris in his Mount Stuart unit up in the hills in 2001 on the old Tascam four track, where he would sometimes write and record three songs in a day. Not having a job had some benefits.
Featuring fellow Fecker Paul Jolley (Piano), and Rob Lundgren (vocals) alongside Chris Szkup (guitars, bass, cajon, shaker, backing vocals).
“It’s a song about being a very single goofy guy that is wondering if there is anyone from the better gender that would even notice any of these things which he thinks he has underneath the long hair and taking the mickey out of himself”, says Chris.
For a long time there wasn’t a title for it, until inspiration came from the Sara Bareilles song “Manhattan” from “The Blessed Unrest” (2013) – killer album by the way!
Once again, mastering on this track was done by Andy VanDette at Engineroom Audio in NYC, while artwork was done by Dan Verkys.
The fourth in a “once a month or so” series of tracks from TCSO, a very personal song, “I Will Wait For You”, and as Chris will tell you, one of his proudest moments as a songwriter.
Featuring TCSO regulars Rob Lundgren (vocals) and Dennis Leeflang (drums and mix) alongside Chris Szkup (guitars and bass), due to the content of this song, Mathew Szkup was high on the list of people that Chris wanted to try and get on the track. While his schedule was tight, he does appear on acoustic guitar which was an awesome touch, and makes the whole thing “complete” in a lot of ways.
“Lyrically the song talks about the whole dealing with losing loved ones, and also what it means for the people left behind, really trying to make sense of everything and offering some thoughts on it all, as well as some personal recollections of people that were close to me who are no longer with us”, says Chris.
Another thing of note with this song is that with the “bridge” of the song, which to me was meant to be a bit of a Beatles esque jammy section, I realised that the lyric “Come Together” was in that section followed by a gap, so I had Rob sing “shoot me” as a little nod to the masters. Great fun to do that, and I think it sets the section offperfectly.
Once again, mastering on this track was done by Andy VanDette at Engineroom Audio in NYC, while artwork was done by Dan Verkys.
