Dave Paris and Curt Harman Collaboration: Yesterday, Today, and Forever
There is a FREE DOWNLOAD available at my MySpace page! The song titled "Yesterday, Today, and Forever" was co-written by and features a good friend of mine, guitarist Curt Harman. This song started out simply as a way for us to write something together to learn my recording equipment. Our approach was to take this as a "real" song utilizing the equipment in a way consistent with major production studios. It ended up being something we were both really proud of, and something very exciting to be a part of. It was cool working with Curt as he's a great player and extremely knowledgeable on the technical side of recording and engineering.
This was the first truly collaborative effort I've been a part of for quite a while, as Curt and I shared ideas and worked up the arrangements of the parts of the song. What was also new to me is that this is the first time I've traded leads with another guitar player on an original recording outside of my wife! It will be obvious to many that this was a song written by two guitar players desperately wanting to be equally represented! For those of you interested, here are some very detailed credits on the tune:
- Curt Harman: Electric lead and rhythm guitar
- Dave Paris: Electric and acoustic lead and rhythm guitar
- Sal Vation: Bass
- Phyllis Dean: Drums
Curt's parts are primarily in the left speaker, with the exception of the middle sections where his leads are in the center. He plays the harmony guitar parts in the middle section, but the "outro" harmony leads feature him in the left speaker, and me in the right.
I am in the right speaker, except for the parts where I play the melodies over the acoustic parts. At the "guitar solo" section in the middle where we trade leads, I'm the first solo (right speaker), Curt is the second (left speaker), etc. All acoustic guitars were done by me.
I came up with the main "retro" intro riff, but Curt plays it better, that's why he got to play it at the start of the song. Curt is a better rhythm guitar player than me, although we did enjoy an extensive conversation on the construction of altered D minor arpeggios when working on his solo sections. The acoustic verse was a riff I had laying around for over 15 years, and figured if I haven't used it yet, I never will, so I put it into this song. That was hard to do at first because I figured nobody would ever hear it and it would be wasted. But if it was truly for God, and I was going to commit to our project, I put it in and we worked it up. There's still no guarantee anyone will hear it, but it's not about popularity, it's about making something you can be proud of, & that you can dedicate to what you believe in, even if "local music supporters" don't like it. The title is based on Hebrews 13:8, and also signifies our earlier influences, what we are working on now, and hopefully that our performance will last through the passage of time.
Curt was responsible for the middle section, the low-end walking riffs, and many of the turn-arounds. He was really good to bounce ideas off of, and he's got a really melodic approach to his lead playing. I'd be interested in hearing opinions differences between his playing versus mine.
As the song progressed we began taking it more seriously, and admittedly, we spent a lot of time working up the song. However, there were many (of my other) projects that we did in the middle of this, including my acoustic jazz sessions. I have been busy with my band and acoustic shows, and Curt works on his own music as well, not to mention the interference of our "real jobs" and overtime. Time was not a factor, and as we did stuff, we would often do parts again to make sure they were "just right"; not to mention we'd record them wrong and figure out how to do the parts correctly later so we'd have to re-record! Our intentions were to do it like it was a "real song" with "real studio-level professionalism".
We called on some studio masters and sought advice from friends in people like Doug Johnson (Recording Guy's Studio/Leven), Elliot Pollite (Metro Studios/Dave Paris Group drummer), and Mike Scanlon (independent). These guys were really helpful in offering us tips and advice in our setup and sessions. It pays to have friends you don't have to pay!
Overall, we were happy with the turnout, for a song that wasn't supposed to be anything more than a test project. For me it was great to work with and succeed in collaborating with another songwriter outside of my circle of influence. The local music scene is about clicks, and my biggest problem is being typecast and pigeon-holed by people; if they hear an acoustic song they assume I'm a folk player, if they remember me from 1993 they assume I'm still an arena rocker, if they hear a metal song they assume I'm a shredder, and then they assume that the particular single style makes up all my music. I'd love for the opportunity to write with other musicians, but pride and stereotypes will prevent that. Thankfully, Curt didn't appear to listen to those people, or to have that mentality.
Anyone is welcome to download this song, and please encourage others to do the same. If using it for any performance medium, whether Pod casts, radio, live, etc., please let us know to obtain permission. This song is © 2007 Paris / Harman Music.
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
King James Version