Another year rolls past. I’m a self-confessed music nerd. It’s probably unhealthy music meaning so much to me. In the last few weeks of a year one tradition I have is to search out all the Album of the Year lists. Last year those lists yielded limited fruit and this year provided even slimmer pickings. That’s why I’m proud to say that it strikes me that Doing Something doesn’t sound like anything else being released right now, which is either very worrying or exactly the fucking point! 🤣
Doing something is a meditation on fame, values, creating rather than consuming, the cultural moment, disatisfaction, hope, rushing to judgement and the dangers of disengagement with the real world. That might sound pessimistic – but in the end it’s an optimistic song. It’s about putting these challenges in the rear view mirror, waking up, shaking things up and making a new start. What better time of year to do it?
Musically the track went on quite a journey (more on that below) but finally in this version the dominant influences were John Frusciante’s guitar, the explosive drums of the Flaming Lips and that dirty bass sound that seems to glue everything together. It struck me that clean guitars and dirty bass are a surprisingly rare combo.
The artwork is a photo I took at the Whitechapel gallery “Archive of Disent” exhibition earlier this year. This wasn’t an actual artwork but a kind of blackboard wall in the gallery where people were invited to write and scribble their thoughts. As soon as I saw it I thought I like that and took the photo. And then somehow it seemed to link with the song quite nicely.
Well for those that are interested in that long journey… Some songs come quickly, some take an eternity. But this one probably has had the longest gestation of any I’ve recorded so far. Originally it was an acoustic folky number. Another version, almost croony! Regardless, from the start there was something about it I really liked – hence it stuck around for so long – but whenever I recorded it, it just sounded dull and didn’t work. After the nth time over a period of years I decided to try something very different. Upping the tempo significantly forced the change from folky strumming to a far more choppy and busy rhythm that reminded me of some of Fruscante’s RHCP work. And with that and some tweaking of the original far more laid back vocal this new and definitive version of Doing Something had arrived.
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SOURCE: Official Bio
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