Jesus Meets the Harmonicas

I’ve made an album!

As discussed in my last post, I’ve been playing lots of punky harmonica music, mainly inspired by Stupids and their album ‘Jesus Meets the Stupids’. I’ve now made an album based around it, and have put it up on Bandcamp. You can listen and download for free, or pay if you feel like it!

After worrying about getting it sounding right, and doing multiple takes for each track, I’ve pretty much gone back to my first takes and uploaded them, as they have the right sound and energy. I did redo a few tracks, but only as I thought they weren’t quite fitting in with the others.

It’s fun trying to play harmonica like a guitar, as most of the tracks are based around the guitar riffs rather than anything else. I seemed to be more inspired by guitarists than harmonica players when it comes to my music anyhow.

I’m really happy with how it’s come out, as it has the feel of the original songs whilst sounding like me too. I hope you dig it too!

https://ruke.bandcamp.com/album/jesus-meets-the-harmonicas

Punk Rock

Hello, how’ve you all been?

I’ve been revisiting my youth lately, prompted by my old college class popping up on Facebook and meeting up again. I’ve also been going back musically, listening to a lot of the music I was listening to back then, namely Stupids and Suicidal Tendencies.

As my health has improved this year, I’ve started making music again, with more of a punk ethic, fast and short tunes that are heavy and rock. Listening to Jesus Meets the Stupids has been a real blast, and made me realise that it might be one of my favourite albums ever.

So, I’ve been playing along with the album, and have made 12 demo versions of harmonica tunes based and inspired by the Stupids and punk rock in general. Punk is huge, with such a wide range of sounds and styles, but short, fast riff based jams are seemingly my thing, so that’s what I’ve been playing.

I want to get these tracks right without sounding too polished, after all, punk is raw and ready to me, but I want them to sound good and be able to play them live. I have a great setup now, with my Pignose amp, selection of harmonicas and stereo recorder, ideal for blasting out tunes and lofi recording.

Stay tuned, there’s some great stuff coming up…